Re: [dvd-discuss] DMCA, 'creative web surfing', and linking.

[Scott A Crosby <crosby(at)qwes.math.cmu.edu>]

On Tue, 30 Oct 2001 Michael.A.Rolenz@aero.org wrote:

> I've got problems with the whole notion that robots are bad things that
> sites should be able to stop others from using. It really comes down to a
> DoS aspect. Unlike a person, a robot can consume bandwidth and accesses
> faster than a human can and that affects the quality and access to a
> website. If a website wants to 'detect" a robot and terminate the

I was careful with my robot, usually each instance only sent 5-15 queries
a minute. (I noted that when loading some of these pages manually with my
browser, it was answering 20 queries in a half-second to download the page
and the inline images.)

> connection (and even refuse other connections from that IP address for a
> short period) that's their right but they also run the risk of making
> their customer's very angry. But why should the law even get involved?

DMCA threats seems to be used when someone wants to intimidate someone
else to stop doing something. In that the party making the threats is
unhappy and just using it as a tool.

Ergo, intimidate people who realize that '02' comes after '01'. And,
'circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to
a work'?

> There are solutions that don't involve lengthy lawsuits or jail time for
> offenders. But also they can't tell if I'm using a robot or just quickly
> opening windows or saving links to disk. Is the latter allowed but the
> former isn't. How can they tell? They can't really even make a case by a
> proponderance of the evidence . Ergo, that provides a legal defense for
> any anti-circumvention laws or procedures.

I brought up the robot as a point that I was purposely configuring it to
not trigger the web server's access-restriction on robots. Thus,
'circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to
a work'?



And, a URL could be thought of as being a sort of access-control
technology, which was my point, thus leaking it as Noah illustrated is
'circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to
a work'?

I just mentioned these to stimulate discussion.


Scott