Re: [dvd-discuss] Geeks in government: A good idea?

[Ken Arromdee <arromdee(at)rahul.net>]

On Fri, 16 Aug 2002, Tom wrote:
> One other lesson to be learned from the Warez scene: Law makes no
> difference. For the past 15 years, the warez scene has adopted to
> technological change, but I'm not aware of any laws having even the
> slightest impact on the volume or kind of warez or the methods of
> trading.
> 
> Maybe the policy makers (politicians and lawyers) have realized that
> already, and that's why they're so technophobe. You'd be afraid of
> anything that makes you irrelevant, too.

If you're willing to count copyrighted music files traded through Napster as
warez, I'd say that the law has had a big impact on warez trading.

But even not counting that, the reason we haven't seen a bigger effect from
the law is that it's hard to go after individuals, and companies usually
don't like to go after more individuals than they need to make examples of.
Warez trading is done by individuals, so there hasn't been much effect.  If you
look at things not done by individuals, there's been a huge effect; for
instance, you just can't walk to the store and buy a region-free,
Macrovision-free, DVD player.  If it weren't for the law, you could.