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Federal Judge Finds DVD-Copying Software Illegal
Posted by Steven Wu on Saturday, February 21 @ 17:10:03 EST News
CNET reports:
After eight months of deliberation, a San Francisco federal judge has ruled that software company 321 Studios' popular DVD-copying products are illegal. . . .

[Judge] Illston wrote that federal law made it illegal to sell products that--like 321 Studios' software--break through DVDs' antipiracy technology, even if consumers do have a legal right to make personal copies of their movies.

"It is the technology itself at issue, not the uses to which the copyrighted material may be put," Illston wrote. "Legal downstream use of the copyrighted material by customers is not a defense to the software manufacturer's violation of the provisions (of copyright law)."

Jack Valenti is overjoyed.
 
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Re: Federal Judge Finds DVD-Copying Software Illegal (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Sunday, February 22 @ 00:24:12 EST
So the DMCA is working as designed, then -- as a legal barrier to fair use. Just as well, otherwise mister Valenti might have demanded a refund from congress.


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Re: Federal Judge Finds DVD-Copying Software Illegal (Score: 1)
by JimCYL on Sunday, February 22 @ 13:53:11 EST
(User Info | Send a Message) http://synicism-online.blogspot.com
Honestly, this isn't about backups. It's about format-shifting (DVD to, for example, Quicktime video).

By all accounts, this is the correct interpretation of the section 1201(a) of the DMCA. While it is possible to exercise limited fair use rights to digital media without circumventing access controls (the 2nd Circuit specifically mentions pointing a video camera at a TV screen), none of them provide a way for DVD buyers to make an effective backup copy of their personal property. Format-shifting, which is legal for music, is apparently not legal for movies.

This is going too far. Personally, I think that CSS should be subject to a compulsory license for a very modest fee, on the condition that anyone who wants to use CSS to produce a software tool that enables format shifting employs DRM to limit the redistribution of the copies. I'd use the iTunes technology as an example of what it should do - limited copying to authorized computers and unlimited streaming over a local network.


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Need for DVD Copies (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Monday, February 23 @ 01:07:55 EST
Although I've been against the DMCA for quite a few years now, I've often considered the argument about making back-up DVDs to be a little weak. No longer...

Last November I bought a DVD player for the minivan. In the past 4 months or so, I've lost the use of 4 DVD disks completely, and have lost partial use of 4-5 more (scratches that block out whole chapters, etc.). Only one incident can be directly blamed on my 4-year-old, the rest of the damage happened in a variety of ways including just stopped working.

I have now declared a new policy in my house; no original DVD's are going in the van (although it will take me a while to back up all of the current DVD movies). I can make the back-ups fairly cheaply using DVD-R discs, the biggest hassle for me is the time.

Oh yeah, that and the small matter of it appearing to be illegal because of the bought and paid-for DMCA! {Insert profanity directed against the MPAA here} Despite 4 years of copyright activism, I never felt the need to actually make copies of DVDs until now. I now do, and it was trivially easy for me to find shareware that allowed me to do this (actually as a cryptographer and embedded software geek, I probably could have done this on my own time, but as I said earlier, time is an issue).

The supposed illegality of action does not really come into my decision. I believe my actions are fair and moral; and that there is little chance that I’ll be caught and prosecuted (no, I’m not interested in being a test case either). I have not totally boycotted DVD purchases, because even crippled as they are, they offer value over the alternatives. On the other hand, I figure I’d have bought 4 to 5 times more DVDs than I have if the MPAA had not played their stupid games (my extensive CD and Laserdisc collection are proof that I have spent money on this type of thing before). In the end, I’m not the person being hurt when the MPAA and RIAA make criminals of their best customers!


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DVD Burners do not Violate the DMCA (Score: 1)
by JimCYL on Monday, February 23 @ 17:32:09 EST
(User Info | Send a Message) http://synicism-online.blogspot.com
Actually, I'd be inclined to suggest that the use of a DVD-R to make a backup copy of a DVD is not a DMCA violation. The DMCA outlaws the circumvention of a technological access control, in this case, cracking CSS.

When you burn a DVD, you're copying the CSS along with the digital video. The goal of the anticircumvention provisions of the DMCA is to prevent the widespread distribution of media on the internet. A DVD burner that copies the disc with the CSS intact doesn't allow that.


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