RE: [dvd-discuss] More on the decision not to appeal the Felten case

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

Question: aren't there non-DMCA effects of the letter
to be addressed?  Didn't Felten get fired (or have to
quit) as a result of this flap?  Shouldn't he be compensated
for the fallout of what is now recognized as a non-offense?

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

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


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Seth David Schoen [mailto:schoen@eff.org]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2002 3:19 PM
> To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
> Subject: [dvd-discuss] More on the decision not to appeal the Felten
> case
> 
> 
> ----- 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
>