[mythtv-users] Slightly OT - Hollywood after the Analog Hole again

R. Geoffrey Newbury newbury at mandamus.org
Wed Nov 2 10:01:50 EST 2005


On Tue, 1 Nov 2005 20:19:06 -0500, Dewey Smolka wrote:

>> In short, these guys don't have our best interests at heart...  The most
>> treacherous enemies are those we think of as friends.
>I'm also a musician and audio engineer, and the day they make my
>microphones, patch cables, XLRs, rack-mount DSPs, etc illegal is the
>day I start looking into bulk fertilizer prices and truck rentals.
>
>But I know that's not going to happen.
>
>On the whole I agree with your analysis of PCs and video. On the other
>hand, I don't think it's possible, constitutionally speaking, for any
>industry to legislate tinkery. If I design a circuit and choose to
>make my design available to anyone who wants to use it, that's a First
>Amendment issue. If someone chooses to build it, that may or may not
>be subject to legislation, but is pretty much unenforcable. If someone
>chooses further to use the circuit to circumvent copyrights, that's
>their business and not my fault. Case in point -- it is not illegal to
>write, publish, buy, or own a guide on how to grow marijuanna.

The real problem is that the constitutionality of the form of free speech
is constantly being whittled down. The DCMA in effect makes it an offence
to use your First Amendment rights to talk about ways to circumvent DRM
methods. On the face of it, that concept is crazy, but it will still be
some years before it makes it to the US Supreme Court.  In the meantime,
the spin (and take-down notices) make it appear that those who speak are
the bad guys... remember Dimitry....? And most people think that the DCMA
was upheld by the Court of Appeal in the Goldstein/Johanson case
...whereas the Court actually upheld the imposition of injunctive
restraint against Goldstein, from continuing to publish and the validity
of his punishment for breaking that injunction.

And if some local potentate decides that he needs a good scapegoat even
publishing a guide about how to grow marijuana can get you in trouble..
and didn't Cheech (or was it Chong) go to jail for selling 'drug
paraphanalia' but not *drugs*?

But don't feel too bad... here in Canada it is illegal under the
Radiocommunications Act, to even subscribe to DirectTV satellite service,
even if you fake a US address. (Gee, didn't the Soviets ban people from
listening to Voice of America...?)  And that is *all* about copyright: 
Direct TV properly does not have a copyright licence to transmit to
Canadians.. that licence is granted by the various Hollywood producers for
the Canadian market to Canadian satellite broadcasters. So DirectTV is not
a 'lawful distributor' *in Canada* and therefore it is illegal for someone
to decode that encrypted signal, (even though it is not an encrypted
signal broadcast by a lawful disbributor who has an interest in it not
being stolen). Yes, you can drive Terrex trucks through that logic, but
no-one ever said the Canadian Supreme Court was logical...

Geoff



R. Geoffrey Newbury                          newbury at mandamus.org
Barrister and Solicitor                         Telephone: 905-271-9600                 
Mississauga,Ontario, Canada              Facsimile:   905-271-1638



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