[dvd-discuss] What is a "Technological Measure"?

["Roy Murphy" <murphy(at)panix.com>]

Quoting the DCMA:
1201(a)(3) As used in this subsection - 
(A) to ''circumvent a technological measure'' means to descramble a 
    scrambled work, to decrypt an encrypted work, or otherwise to 
    avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or impair a technological 
    measure, without the authority of the copyright owner; and 
(B) a technological measure ''effectively controls access to a work'' 
    if the measure, in the ordinary course of its operation, requires 
    the application of information, or a process or a treatment, with 
    the authority of the copyright owner, to gain access to the work. 

Is an ordinary vinyl LP a "technological measure" under the DMCA?  It 
requires a process or treatment to gain access to the work (use of 
a device called a "phonograph") in which the original sound recording is encrypted
in the shape of a spiral groove in the vinyl.  The measure is applied with the
authority of the copyright owner becuase she has apparently consented to having
it published in this format which requires the application of a process to gain
access.

Is a stereo system with a turntable and an integrated cassette recorder a "circumvention
device"?  Are manufacturers of such (say Sony) liable 
for criminal prosecution under the DCMA?

Applying this analysis to ordinary CDs is left as an exercise for the student.

 
-- 
Roy Murphy      \ CSpice -- A mailing list for Clergy Spouses
murphy@panix.com \  http://www.panix.com/~murphy/CSpice.html