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

[Richard Hartman <hartman(at)onetouch.com>]

LPs are not digital, so do not fall under protection of the DMCA.

This question has been raised in relation to CDs, however, given
that the _process_ of shining a laser beam & reading the reflectivity
is applied in the ordinary course of it's operation ...

-- 
-Richard M. Hartman
hartman@onetouch.com

186,000 mi./sec ... not just a good idea, it's the LAW!


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roy Murphy [mailto:murphy@panix.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 2:52 PM
> To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
> Subject: [dvd-discuss] What is a "Technological Measure"?
> 
> 
> 
> 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
>