Re: [dvd-discuss] Microsoft's DRM OS Patent

[Seth Johnson <seth.johnson(at)realmeasures.dyndns.org>]

Yes.  Let's do it.

But a failure-is-not-an-option approach.

Who has the spirit and will?

I'm not financially well-endowed, but will organize.

Let's see if we can't shape something up.

Seth Johnson
Committee for Independent Technology


Michael A Rolenz wrote:
> 
> You know...this one might be interesting for the community to "crack" or
> formally challenge the validity of it ($2000 filing fee and EFF provides
> the legal representation)....it looks pretty vacuous  after just a brief
> scan of it
> 
> Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@realmeasures.dyndns.org>
> Sent by: owner-dvd-discuss@lweb.law.harvard.edu
> 12/12/01 11:05 PM
> Please respond to dvd-discuss
> 
> 
>         To:     dvd-discuss@lweb.law.harvard.edu
>         cc:
>         Subject:        [dvd-discuss] Microsoft's DRM OS Patent
> 
> Following are my comments to Dave Farber on the recently unveiled
> Microsoft Software Patent for a Digital Rights Management Operating
> System.
> 
> Seth Johnson
> Committee for Independent Technology
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 01:46:42 -0500
> From: Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org>
> To: dave@scripting.com
> 
> Dave:
> 
> In the essay at the bottom of this post, you asked what Microsoft gave
> up in a deal you felt they had to have reached with the Bush
> Administration.
> 
> I think we see it right here.  Microsoft didn't have to give up anything
> -- Microsoft just had to own the patent on a DRM OS, providing the
> Government with an almost absolutely assured trajectory toward
> establishing the terms by which exclusive right to digital information
> would be policed.
> 
> The real kicker is right here:
> 
> > The digital rights management operating system
> > also limits the functions the user can perform on the
> > rights-managed data and the trusted application, and
> > can provide a trusted clock used in place of the
> > standard computer clock.
> 
> The ability to use information freely is now going to be policed at the
> most intricate level, in the name of exclusive rights and to the
> detriment of the most fundamental Constitutional principles of our
> society.
> 
> Whereas The U.S. Constitution assures that every American citizen has
> the full freedoms accorded to the First Amendment, we see here the
> trappings of the final phases of the legislative demarcation of the
> public into a mass of information consumers.
> 
> Seth Johnson
> Committee for Independent Technology
> 
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: [C-FIT_Community] MS Patent for Digital Rights Management OS
> > Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 01:17:07 -0500
> > From: Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org>
> >
> > AAcckk!!
> >
> > It's a LOGIC DEVICE, not a consumer appliance!!
> >
> > Okay, so we can stop Microsoft from establishing that this kind of OS is
> > legally required on our machines, right?  *RIGHT??*
> >
> > Seth Johnson
> >
> > (Forwarded from Law & Policy of Computer Communications list,
> > CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM)
> >
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 23:18:08 -0800
> > From: John Young <jya@PIPELINE.COM>
> >
> > Microsoft's patent for a Digital Rights Management
> > Operating System was awarded yesterday:
> >
> >   http://cryptome.org/ms-drm-os.htm
> >
> > Abstract
> >
> > A digital rights management operating system protects
> > rights-managed data, such as downloaded content, from
> > access by untrusted programs while the data is loaded
> > into memory or on a page file as a result of the
> > execution of a trusted application that accesses the
> > memory. To protect the rights-managed data resident in
> > memory, the digital rights management operating system
> > refuses to load an untrusted program into memory while
> > the trusted application is executing or removes the
> > data from memory before loading the untrusted program.
> > If the untrusted program executes at the operating
> > system level, such as a debugger, the digital rights
> > management operating system renounces a trusted identity
> > created for it by the computer processor when the
> > computer was booted.  To protect the rights-managed data
> > on the page file, the digital rights management
> > operating system prohibits raw access to the page file,
> > or erases the data from the page file before allowing
> > such access.  Alternatively, the digital rights
> > management operating system can encrypt the
> > rights-managed data prior to writing it to the page
> > file.  The digital rights management operating system
> > also limits the functions the user can perform on the
> > rights-managed data and the trusted application, and
> > can provide a trusted clock used in place of the
> > standard computer clock.
> >
> > **********************************************************************
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> > **********************************************************************
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: dave@scripting.com (DaveNet email)
> > Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2001 18:49:31 GMT
> > Subject: You're free to think
> >
> >
> > ***The right to think
> >
> > No matter where you live, in what time period, no matter who you work
> > for, you can think for yourself. We don't need a Constitution or a
> > First Amendment to guarantee the right to think. This is a point worth
> > noting as our freedoms are whittled, controlled and choked, for good
> > reasons or bad.
> >
> > ***The right to speak
> >
> > Now the right to speak is a whole other matter.
> >
> > In Nazi Germany, or Stalin's Russia, had you spoken out, you would have
> > been killed.
> >
> > That's how extreme it gets some times in some places.
> >
> > ***The fear of government
> >
> > Even the US government under a Democrat president was scared of the
> > Internet [1]. Perhaps with good cause, I'll give them that much, it's a
> > powerful communication medium, and it can be used equally well by
> > scientists, thinkers and people doing good as it can be used by
> > terrorists, racists, abusers of children, and promoters of hate.
> >
> > However silly it may seem, we made a historic decision [2] in the US,
> > in the 18th century, to take the bad with the good. In the US, the
> > right to speak is something the government, by design, has very little
> > power to regulate.
> >
> > ***What did Microsoft give up?
> >
> > It's a fact, Microsoft made a deal with the US government. No
> > theorizing necessary there, it's not a matter of probability, it's a
> > certainty. The deal was announced. Ashcroft spoke. Gates spoke. We all
> > know it happened.
> >
> > But what was the deal? What did Microsoft give up to get full control
> > of the Internet?
> >
> > What did the government want from Microsoft, and what did Microsoft
> > give them?
> >
> > Was it merely a campaign contribution in the 2000 election?
> >
> > Or did Microsoft promise to provide the government with access to all
> > the information they accumulate in the Hailstorm database?
> >
> > Did Microsoft give the government the power to censor websites they
> > think are being used by terrorists? With that power will they be able
> > to shut down sites like the NY Times or the Washington Post if they say
> > things that compromise the government's war effort?
> >
> > Will Microsoft support an Internet tax?
> >
> > What else? These are just the ideas that occurred to me as I thought
> > about the possibilities this morning. I'm sure there are others I
> > haven't thought of.
> >
> > ***And who did they sell out?
> >
> > At a certain level I'm just beginning to understand how powerful
> > Microsoft has become.
> >
> > They own the chokepoint for most of the electronic communication over
> > email and the Web.
> >
> > Now, they have to get people to upgrade to Windows XP -- that's the
> > final step, the one that fully turns over the keys to the Internet to
> > them, because after XP they can upgrade at will, routing through
> > Microsoft-owned servers, altering content, and channeling communication
> > through government servers. After XP they fully own electronic
> > communication media, given the consent decree, assuming it's approved
> > by the court.
> >
> > Here's how it works. Because their operating system is a monopoly, so
> > is their bundled Web browser. If one day my site were not reachable
> > through MSIE I'd lose most of my readers. They could shut down any site
> > they want to, and with their new partnership with the US government,
> > they could have justification, if not moral, at least legal and
> > pragmatic. The government has law on its side, and the FBI, CIA, NSA,
> > FAA, FDA, the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force. Nukes and biological
> > weapons. They're a powerful partner, and a now, a Friend of Bill.
> >
> > The rest of us are totally cut out of this deal. We're taken for
> > granted, we're dumb, fat and happy, supposedly, and the future no
> > longer looks so bright. The fat period is over. Microsoft had a lot of
> > power to offer to the government. The government has been granted new
> > electronic surveillance power [3] by Congress. Now how do they
> > implement it? Microsoft can help. In my mind I'm not so naive to
> > believe this was an arms-length deal, I'm certain there are aspects to
> > the partnership between Microsoft and the US government that we can't
> > see.
> >
> > If this scares you -- good. I think we've got a problem, and the
> > government and Microsoft are not likely to help us.
> >
> > ***Your freedom will persist
> >
> > No matter what happens to the Internet, remember you are free to use
> > your mind.
> >
> > Dave Winer
> >
> > PS: In my heart I cling to the hope that the Bush Administration really
> > doesn't understand the Web, and that Microsoft really doesn't want the
> > power to control what is said on the Internet. In my dream they wake up
> > and say "Holy shit we didn't see that we were accumulating this much
> > power."
> >
> > PPS: Failing that, I pray for the integrity of the Judicial branch of
> > the US government. Gotta love those checks and balances.
> >
> >
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > (c) Copyright 1994-2001, Dave Winer. http://davenet.userland.com/.
> > "There's no time like now."
> >
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