Copyrights Gone Wild
We've been saying for a long time that the DMCA was an asinine measure to protect copyrights. Here's another reason why. A major cell phone company is suing the maker of software that unlocks phones. A "locked" phone is a phone that is programmed to work specifically with one wireless carrier. An unlocked phone can be programmed for any carrier.
The above linked article goes into how the issue plays out in terms of violating the DMCA, and cites another example: the Lexmark Printer case. Lexmark sued makers of generic print cartridges claiming they violated the DMCA by circumventing the software that requires Lexmark ink.
In either case, the very fact that people think its a good idea to sue people using the DMCA over cases like this, we think, is reason enough to scrap the whole law.
If we buy a cellular phone, its ours, not the phone companies. If we want to change the software on it, there is no reason why we shouldn't be allowed to. The DMCA was largely pushed by the recording industry to stop Napster and Napster like services. Again, the problem comes along with what rights does the consumer have.
If you buy a recording of music, there should be no reason for the recording industry to dictate how you listen to that music. If you want to copy the CD onto an ipod, well yuo should be able to do that. If you want to copy the music onto a cassette, then power to you for that also. The only issue that really comes up is if you start handing out copies of the music to friends. Handing out copies to friends for free, was allowed before the DMCA, which closed the loophole. But then the recording industry used the DMCA to prevent not sharing copies of music, but to prevent people from listening to music they purchased in the format they wanted.
Another similar instance is game consoles. Consoles, particularly the more powerful xbox, were modified by users with additional harddrives and software to turn the devices into full portable media centers. Under strict interpretation of the DMCA, such modification are illegal. And early on, Microsoft had looked into taking legal action.
All of these instances are thanks to the DMCA, which big business essentially wrote, handed over to congress, who then passed the bill without actually reading it.
The above linked article goes into how the issue plays out in terms of violating the DMCA, and cites another example: the Lexmark Printer case. Lexmark sued makers of generic print cartridges claiming they violated the DMCA by circumventing the software that requires Lexmark ink.
In either case, the very fact that people think its a good idea to sue people using the DMCA over cases like this, we think, is reason enough to scrap the whole law.
If we buy a cellular phone, its ours, not the phone companies. If we want to change the software on it, there is no reason why we shouldn't be allowed to. The DMCA was largely pushed by the recording industry to stop Napster and Napster like services. Again, the problem comes along with what rights does the consumer have.
If you buy a recording of music, there should be no reason for the recording industry to dictate how you listen to that music. If you want to copy the CD onto an ipod, well yuo should be able to do that. If you want to copy the music onto a cassette, then power to you for that also. The only issue that really comes up is if you start handing out copies of the music to friends. Handing out copies to friends for free, was allowed before the DMCA, which closed the loophole. But then the recording industry used the DMCA to prevent not sharing copies of music, but to prevent people from listening to music they purchased in the format they wanted.
Another similar instance is game consoles. Consoles, particularly the more powerful xbox, were modified by users with additional harddrives and software to turn the devices into full portable media centers. Under strict interpretation of the DMCA, such modification are illegal. And early on, Microsoft had looked into taking legal action.
All of these instances are thanks to the DMCA, which big business essentially wrote, handed over to congress, who then passed the bill without actually reading it.
Labels: Consumerism
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