Re: International implications of the DMCA (was Re: [dvd-discuss] Inexplicable)

[microlenz(at)earthlink.net]

On 19 Oct 2002 at 15:41, Glendon M. Gross wrote:

Date sent:      	Sat, 19 Oct 2002 15:41:15 -0700
From:           	"Glendon M. Gross" <gross@xinetd.ath.cx>
To:             	dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
Subject:        	International implications of the DMCA  (was Re: [dvd-discuss] Inexplicable)
Send reply to:  	dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu

> While it is true that the DMCA does not apply in China or Germany, or in 
> Russia for that matter, the DMCA reflects some of the differences 
> between the way some in the United States view intellectual property and 
> the way it is  viewed in other nations.  The international implications 
> of the DMCA clearly can be seen in the Skylarov case, because Russia 
> should not be governed by the DMCA either... yet thanks to a paranoid 
> response by Adobe Software due to the disclosure of a poor 
> copy-protection scheme,

The real tantilizing question is what to do when the DON"T have a poor copy-
protection scheme? This is the real question. The LOC doesn't have clue. 
Congress doesn't have a clue, and the MPAA< RIAA are consumed by their own 
greed....what to do when REAL copy protection is available...


> 
> [which they should have been happy had been disclosed so it could be 
> improved, thereby decreasing Adobe's liability for potential cracking 
> episodes...]
> 
>   we now have a case where international computer security experts are 
> afraid to share information in the United States for fear of a similar 
> reaction.  This is actually worse than when the RSA algorithm could not 
> be exported, and results in the same problem... the U.S.A. will be left 
> behind in the development of further encryption and security 
> technologies, because as the rest of the world shares information while 
> we try to prosecute those who share information, we are going to fall
> farther and farther behind the intelligence curve.
> 
> To my mind this issue is at the heart of why DVD's should not have 
> region codes.  In an attempt to prevent the piracy of DVD's, the 
> industry has criminalized many legitimate uses of the media.  For 
> example, if Skylarov had enabled deaf people to read their e-books on 
> the Linux operating system, how would that have hurt the sales of 
> e-books?  The reality is that it probably would have helped popularize 
> them and speed up their adoption.  Instead, Adobe suffers a massive PR 
> failure among programmers and loses credibility while others migrate to 
> open formats other than .PDF.   The lesson I get from this is that the 
> very same thing may happen to the DVD industry if they continue to 
> restrict fair use in their attempt to protect intellectual property.
> It also closes the export market to nations where MS-Windows has not 
> been or will not be adopted for security reasons, thereby decreasing 
> potential profits.
> 
> Richard Hartman wrote:
> > Neither the Chinese nor the Germans are governed by the DMCA.
> > 
> > 
>