DMCA going too far???

[Daniel Messer]

Raymond Wood wrote:

> Of course not - very few repressive laws advertise themselves as
> such.  One has to read in between the lines for the 'subtext'.

    Agreed. The situation is similar to how despotic dictators never
call
themselves a despotic dictator. It's their actions that make them what
they
are. The DMCA follows this example. When it was railroaded through
congress
like a frieght train driven by an engineer on crack, few people in the
House
and Senate actually mentioned how repressive this law would be. And of
course, we saw how much the Reps and Senators listened to their
constituent's opinions... It passed in the face of heavy opposition from
the
common folks like us.
    So let's take a look at the DMCA scoreboard for today, brought to
you by
the good folks at Corporate America and the National Socialist Party.
We've
got 1 foreign national in jail for "breaking" the DMCA on Russian soil.
We've had 2 scientists get their work suppressed by the RIAA. We've got
1
Russian company also being brought under charges via the DMCA. In
addition
we've had several reverse engineering and bug fixing schemes supressed
because people were afraid of going to jail. And finally, we've got 2600
and
the DeCSS gig going on as well. And that, my bookloving friends, are
only
the cases that I know about. I'm sure there's more.
    Hrmm. DMCA, RIAA, MPAA, CIPA, COPA.... There's gotta be some
connection
with all these laws and organizations being four letter words and ending

with the letter A.

Dan

--
Mondai wa
The subject in question...
-------
Daniel Messer, Technology Instructor
Yakima Valley Regional Library
102 N 3rd St Yakima, WA 98901
(509) 452-8541 x712
dmesser at yvrls.lib.wa.us
-------
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
                     -Hunter S. Thompson