Juries have been known to simply vote "not guilty" if they suspect the judge isn't playing fair with them....maybe he doesn't want to have them read the law because they'll start asking even more questions "what's this "effectively" word mean judge"? "How does it have to CONTROL ACCESS?" What accesses are being controlled Judge?"
"Glendon M. Gross" <gross@xinetd.ath.cx> Sent by: owner-dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
12/16/2002 01:57 PM
Please respond to dvd-discuss
To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
cc:
Subject: Re: [dvd-discuss] [OT] elcomsoft/sklyarov jury denied text of law?
Perhaps the DMCA qualifies as "SMUT" or in other words, material that is
considered sufficiently obscene that it is not appropriate to distribute
it. :)
Or could it be that the judge wanted to avoid a referendum on the DMCA?
Regards,
Glendon Gross
Ole Craig wrote:
> The premier IT fishwra^Wrags report that the jury in the
> Elcomsoft case wanted a copy of the DMCA text, and the judge denied
> the request. WTF?
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,56853,00.html
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/28587.html
>
>
> Wired reports that since retiring the jury has requested
> clarification on the DMCA from the trial judge. Initially, the
> jury requested a copy of the 100+ page Act to assist in their
> deliberations. U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Whyte declined
> this request, instead offering to answer questions on parts of the
> law they need to consider in order to reach a verdict in the case.
>
> How in hell are the jurors supposed to understand the law and
> whether it applies if they're not allowed to READ it?
>
> Ole, in complete disbelief
> --
> Ole Craig * UNIX, linux, SMTP-ninja; news, web; SGI martyr * CS Computing
> Facility, UMass * <www.cs.umass.edu/~olc/pgppubkey.txt> for public key
>