Re: [dvd-discuss] New DMCA case: ACLU sues filtering software maker N2H2

[Declan McCullagh <lists(at)politechbot.com>]

Right, but it isn't enough to cover Edelman, the ACLU (correctly)
believes. I go into this in some detail in the article. --Declan


On Thu, Jul 25, 2002 at 08:53:30AM -0700, Bryan Taylor wrote:
> Wasn't there something about blocking software in the LOC's report. I vaguely
> remember that web blocking software was specifically named as an exception. 
> 
> --- Declan McCullagh <lists@politechbot.com> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > http://news.com.com/2100-1023-946266.html?tag=politech
> > 
> >    ACLU lawsuit targets copyright law
> >    By Declan McCullagh
> >    July 25, 2002, 6:30 AM PT
> > 
> >    WASHINGTON--The American Civil Liberties Union plans to file a lawsuit
> >    on Thursday in an attempt to overturn key portions of a controversial
> >    1998 copyright law.
> > 
> >    The suit asks a federal judge to rule that the Digital Millennium
> >    Copyright Act (DMCA) is so sweeping that it unconstitutionally
> >    interferes with researchers' ability to evaluate the effectiveness of
> >    Internet filtering software.
> > 
> >    By suing on behalf of a 22-year-old programmer who's researching the
> >    oft-buggy products, the civil liberties group hopes to prompt the
> >    first ruling that would curtail the DMCA's wide reach.
> > 
> >    After the DMCA was used to intimidate Princeton professor Ed Felten
> >    and his colleagues into self-censoring a presentation last year, the
> >    law became an instant magnet for criticism. But so far, every judge
> >    has upheld the DMCA's broad restrictions on the "circumvention of
> >    copyright protection systems."
> > 
> >    This case will be different, the ACLU hopes, because it features a
> >    sympathetic plaintiff, Ben Edelman, and because it involves the
> >    socially beneficial act of critiquing software that is frequently used
> >    in public schools and libraries. Edelman had testified as an expert
> >    witness in a case the ACLU brought against a federal law that
> >    compelled public libraries to install filters.
> > 
> >    [...]
> 
> 
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