09-28-2007, 08:31 AM | #76 |
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I entirely agree with you, Liviu - we all break laws, inadvertantly or otherwise, every day of our lives. I was simply disagreeing with Jon's assertion that "breaking DRM doesn't make us criminals". Personally I think it's a ridiculous law, and I'm very glad that we don't have such a law in my own country, but nonetheless, it is the law in the US at present.
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09-28-2007, 08:44 AM | #77 | |
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Do you mean it is OK to crack DRM in the UK? |
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09-28-2007, 08:49 AM | #78 |
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Correct. The EU Copyright Directive (EUCD) makes the sale of "devices" which remove DRM illegal (eg devices which bypass "Macrovision" copy protection on video tapes or DVDs), but that doesn't apply to software. The EUCD allows a rights holder to apply to the civil courts to take action against someone removing DRM, but it's a "civil" offence, not a criminal one, unlike the DCMA in the US, which imposes specific criminal penalties for DRM removal.
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09-28-2007, 08:51 AM | #79 |
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09-28-2007, 08:59 AM | #80 | |
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09-28-2007, 09:02 AM | #81 |
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Are you saying that nobody has ever been prosecuted for removing DRM under the DCMA?
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09-28-2007, 10:24 AM | #82 | |
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Instead, they made it illegal to
You'll note, for example, that if someone not covered by the DMCA (a non-US citizen not resident in or located in the US, for example) produces DRM breaking tools, they haven't violated US law. No jurisdiction. And if I somehow (psychically, perhaps) figure out how to get those tools, and use them, I'm still in the same old never-really-tested-in-court but probably OK grey-zone as before. On the other hand if I tell someone where to get those very same tools, or do any work on those tools, or do the reverse engineering needed to build those tools in the first place... Well, since I'm a US citizen and I reside in the US any of those acts would be illegal under the DMCA. And it would be a felony with major major penalties, too. Using the tools, on the other hand, doesn't cause any DMCA violation at all. That's a plain old copyright question, where the answer is "it depends." I really hope (and pray ) that we get some sanity in this area -- the current legal situation is totally hosed. And I wish a big fat for the bozos who voted the DMCA into law in the first place. |
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09-28-2007, 10:28 AM | #83 | |
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Conversely, people have been prosecuted for producing DRM-removing tools (software as well as hardware). The only case I know of to date was eventually dumped for lack of jurisdiction (the Russian who provided the crack for Adobe's Secure PDF), but there may be others. So far, the DMCA seems to have been used mostly for its chilling effect. It hasn't really been tested in court. That said, the kind of folks who'd go after you have much much deeper pockets than you do. I certainly wouldn't want to be the test case! |
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09-28-2007, 12:24 PM | #84 | |
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The DMCA only prohibits you from figuring out how to break DRM and then publishing (in either code or written word) how it was done. If you want to crack the DRM on your eBooks, you are free do do so. You just can't tell anyone how you did it. It's perfectly legal for me to download some software to rip my DVDs to play on my portable video player. It's not legal for me to distribute such software. |
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09-28-2007, 12:28 PM | #85 |
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Thank you for the clarification.
Can I just make sure that I understand correctly: anyone in the United States who says "you can remove DRM from a MobiPocket book with Aenea's program" is breaking the law, right? |
09-28-2007, 12:40 PM | #86 |
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09-28-2007, 12:51 PM | #87 |
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But is MobileRead OK. We are on a server located in the United States - could the site be taken down for breaking US law?
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09-28-2007, 01:05 PM | #88 |
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We should be clear on this: In the U.S. the only cases that have been brought to court have been those where someone publicly released DRM-cracking information, and those where someone has used a DRM cracker and subsequently made available DRM-cracked files (like music) at reduced or no price. The only thing that has led to court cases so far has been doing something that can potentially or has been demonstrated to cost another property owner to lose money.
This is why no one in the U.S. who cracks DRM, just so they can archive their own copies of a file, has to fear prosecution for it. However, if somehow one of their cracked files got out into the public, they could be held liable to the full extent of the law. |
09-28-2007, 01:22 PM | #89 |
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I think HarryT's point and question is that if MobileRead (which is U.S. Hosted) distributes or whatever else is illegal under the DMCA, doesn't that open the site up to some sort of legal action?
Did I interpret that about right, HarryT? |
09-29-2007, 02:53 AM | #90 |
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What I meant was that, if it's illegal in the US to provide someone with information about how to remove DRM, and someone does that on this site, which is hosted in the US, would that leave the site liable to legal action?
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