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Re: [dvd-discuss] More on the decision not to appeal the Felten case
- To: dvd-discuss(at)cyber.law.harvard.edu
- Subject: Re: [dvd-discuss] More on the decision not to appeal the Felten case
- From: tneu(at)smithmicrotech.com
- Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 08:44:32 -0600
- Reply-to: dvd-discuss(at)cyber.law.harvard.edu
- Sender: owner-dvd-discuss(at)cyber.law.harvard.edu
This is exactly what I was looking for.
I think the decision was a good one. Thanks for the explanation.
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______ _ __ Military Intelligence
/ ' ) ) -KC0LQL- Honest Politician
/ o ______ / / _ . . Intellectual Property
/ <_/ / / < / (_</_(_/_ -- tneu@visi.com / http://www.visi.com/~tneu --
Seth David Schoen
<schoen@eff.org> To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
Sent by: cc:
owner-dvd-discuss@eon.law.h Subject: [dvd-discuss] More on the decision not to appeal the
arvard.edu Felten case
02/06/02 05:18 PM
Please respond to
dvd-discuss
----- Forwarded message from Cindy Cohn <Cindy@eff.org> -----
We did not drop the Felten case, of course, the decision was made by the
clients, but we support them in it. Obviously we believe that all
researchers should be protected, not just those at big institutions.
We felt that the government's unequivocal statement that the DMCA did not
reach "attempting to study access control technology" was very broad--broad
enough to reach all researchers. (See footnote 5, government's motion to
dismiss) Of course we would have preferred an enforceable court decision to
that effect, but it seems that both the government's statement and the
RIAA's statements along the same lines meant that the Felten case wasn't
going to be the best vehicle to ensure that protection, since we would have
had to spend at least a year more fighting about even whether we could have
a live case before we even got to the bigger questions.
While we want to be able to pick the fact situations and clients who carry
this flag, and not leave that to the content holders, we may not have that
luxury. Or perhaps once a sufficent number of these threats occur with the
content holders backing down only after lawsuits are filed, the courts will
see that this is a broader issue that they should address.
Either way, it's not like we're going away. We filed an amicus brief about
1201 in the Elcomsoft case on Monday and have been working with several
other folks who face DMCA uncertainties. And of course we will be closely
watching the situation and if the government or content holders try to
interfere with legitimate research again, we'll be there.
Cindy
************************************************
Cindy A. Cohn Cindy@eff.org
Legal Director www.eff.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation
454 Shotwell Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel: (415)436-9333 x 108
Fax: (415) 436-9993
----- End forwarded message -----
--
Seth Schoen
Staff Technologist schoen@eff.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation http://www.eff.org/
454 Shotwell Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 1 415 436 9333 x107