2 Apr
2002
2 Apr
'02
12:35 p.m.
I guess I should have been a bit clearer. The DeCSS
lawsuit was not about posting source code, but about
posting a Windows executable version which was known
as "DeCSS." As stated by 2600 Enterprises in its
post-hearing brief: "Jon Johansen testified that . .
. he wrote the program for Windows rather than for
Linux in order to test it properly because Linux did
not then support the UDF file system used on DVDs."
Um... can you explain then, if this is what the lawsuit was about, WHY it
was deemed illegal to post or link to, copies of the SOURCE CODE for the
DeCSS algorithm.
After all THAT is what 2600 was arguing. They didn't disagree that an
executable could be used to pirate a DVD. Nor did they flat out disagree
that distributing it might not be such a hot idea... what they were
fighting for, was the RIGHT to post and say anything you damn well please.
If you stop people from posting source code, even if that source code
when used serves no purpose other than to commit a crime... you are STILL
crushing free speech. There should be no law to stop it... much as their
should be no law stopping me from explaining in detail, if I so choose,
how to commit murder and get away with it. There is no practical
application for executing the knowledge of how to commit and get away
with murder, but that doesn't mean that one should be stopped from
sharing that knowledge.
The moment someone puts the knowledge into use for illegal purposes...
THAT is when the law should step up and prosecute someone. But since
there are already laws in place that appear to cover the actual illegal
activities... then things like the DMCA should just be repealed... they
are redundant in places of stopping actual crime, and they cause things
that should not be crimes, to now be listed as such.
What amazes me is... it has been deemed in a court of law, that it is
free speech and ok to publish detailed instructions on how to build an
atomic bomb. But it is illegal to post instructions on how to play a DVD
that I bought, on a computer that I bought, using an OS that I bought.
You can't go around assuming that everyone, when given the chance, will
be a criminal. Gee... NJ did that, and now they are 160 million in debt
with their EZ-Pass system... why? Because they figured that they would be
able to pay for the system from tickets issued to toll jumpers... but
funny thing is, they have now found out the hard way, that 99% of the
population of NJ is honest... and now the state is stuck with the bill to
pay.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>