Gray Hats / Who decides what to censor?

[Dobbs, Aaron]

Not to throw more wood onto the fire, but here goes...

How can hackers "taking down tobacco company sites" be considered "white
hats"?

If you are trying to repress an expression of an idea you disagree with you
are censoring.  Plain and simple.  The main idea behind what libraies are
about is provision of access to ideas - all ideas, any ideas.  That is just
one of the reasons ALA decided to oppose CIPA (and its predecessors).

Remember, just because it's legal doesn't mean it's "good".

Ms. Parks didn't accept being repressed that fateful day -- the law of the
time said she belonged at the back of the bus -- she took a personal stand
that was later used as a symbol against a law. (and a mindset)

The DVD hackers are also taking a personal stand -- most who flout the law
are merely trying to get better/more usability from their purchases.  Fair
use of a DVD isn't possible without DeCSS.  The DVD encryption prohibits me
from using what I purchased the way I want - a compilation CD is a good
comparison, I bought CDs by my favorite groups, but happen to really dislike
some of the songs on those CDs (not everything they play is great) so I burn
the tracks I like onto a new CD and put the original CDs into my CD storage
case - I dislike some of the scenes in a movie I have purchased so I edit
them out & burn a new copy.

Those people who are buying DVDs, copying them wholesale & reselling the
copies are uncreative scum trying to make a buck (or some other personal
capital) off of other people's work and should fry for it.  However, I, as a
DVD buyer, should not be penalized for their lack of ethics.  

CIPA is the same as DVD encryption, it blindly targets everyone - whether
they have misuse a resource or not - and prevents full usage of the resouce.
(in this case we haven't purchased a copy so perhaps the metaphor breaks
down)

Blanket filtering software and blanket encryption are flawed "solutions".
User education and a serious effort at ethical persuasion aren't perfect but
they are better than smacking everyone in the head and screaming "No
questions!" everytime someone asks a question.

-Aaron
:-)'
-Wow, that got tangental didn't it?


-----Original Message-----
From: Drew, Bill [mailto:drewwe at MORRISVILLE.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 4:02 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: Gray Hats Re: Re: Jack Valenti: Copyright and


I'm really bothered by classifying hackers of DVD and other entertainment
products as white hats.  What they are doing is not true civil disobedience
in the same vein as sitting in the front of the bus because you are supposed
to sit in the back.  A hacker of a DVD movie is not Mrs. Parks.  They are
stealing pure and simple.  Now, if those same hackers were out taking down
tobacco company sites,  sites spouting hatred, and such then they might be
able to justify their actions.

Bill Drew