Pardon my soapbox. was: Re: [PLUG]Protest for Skylarov / DMCA
Jiva DeVoe
plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
Wed, 1 Aug 2001 00:47:24 -0700
In my opinion, there is nothing more threatening to the future of
Linux, and indeed, software freedom in general, than this law, and
this particular issue.
I encourage you all to do whatever you deem appropriate (and lawful)
to make sure that your opinions are heard.
I agree 150% with what foodog has written here. If you value PLUG, if
you value Linux, and dammit, if you value your right to USE software
you LEGITIMATELY BUY. You will TAKE ACTION. Or I assure you, you
will LOSE your right to run Linux.
On Wed, Aug 01, 2001 at 12:30:24AM -0700, foodog wrote:
> I asked a friend who learned Russian in the military. A reasonable
> approximation of what he said would be skill-yuh-roff -- except you
> pretty much leave out the short "i" in "skill". His first name's a snap
> though, di-me-tree, the "di" pronounced as for "dip".
>
> Here's an easy one to yell: boy-cott uh-dough-bee
>
> <mounting soapbox>
>
> The DMCA, Digital Millennium Copyright Act, is bad, dangerous law that
> Adobe Corporation endorses and wields.
>
> So, "What's the big deal about a Russian hacker getting busted?".
> That's the popular media, fifteen-second-attention-span spin of the
> story. It's about a lot more than that. *Please* visit one of the
> websites and read about what's happened. Please also consider attending
> the protest Saturday -- it's a very nice library if you need an excuse
> :-)
>
> This isn't just about getting Dmitry out of jail although that's the
> immediate concern. It's about the first amendment - free speech. It's
> about intellectual freedom, and it's also about the security and quality
> of software and systems.
>
> Dmitry isn't a "cracker". He's a professional programmer whose company
> pissed off and embarrassed Adobe Corp. He didn't pirate any ebooks, or
> encourage anyone else to, and there's no evidence presented to suggest
> that anyone ever has as a result of his work. In Russia his program is
> legal, and the Adobe ebook protection scheme is illegal since it doesn't
> allow the purchaser to make a legitimate backup copy.
>
> According to the U.S. government, Dmitry "...willfully and for financial
> gain imported, offered to the public, provided, and otherwise trafficked
> in a technology, product, service, and device that is primarily designed
> or produced for the purpose of circumvent[ing] a technological measure
> that effectively controls access to a work.".
>
> It's getting easy for computer professionals, particularly those
> involved in security research, to become "felons" in the course of their
> legitimate work thanks to laws like the DMCA and UCITA (another huge
> mess worth learning about).
>
> <digression>
> In 1992, one of my tasks was installing software on a Netware server for
> students to use. One challenge of that job was getting programs to run
> from a read-only volume. We didn't want students deleting or adding
> files to the application directories or infecting them with viruses.
> Most software wasn't a problem. The worst were the one's that were
> supposedly "network aware".
>
> I wrote a tiny DOS TSR that intercepted file opens. If it was an
> "exclusive open with write" to drive G:, I changed it to a "friendly"
> file open. That was so the network version of Lotus 123 would work
> (safely) in our student labs despite their lame attempt at copy
> protection. We owned licenses for everything we ran and used our own
> homegrown software metering. My program was "primarily designed or
> produced for the purpose of circumvent[ing] a technological measure that
> effectively controls access to a work.". Oops. I guess I wouldn't do
> that today. Under UCITA I'd be a criminal just for having investigated
> why Lotus required write access to the server. Too cute.
> </digression>
>
> The U.S. is close, and Europe is even closer to having laws making it
> illegal to write or posess "hacker tools". Lawmakers are pondering how
> to take into account the intent of the author. Did the author write it
> to test the security of his own network, or to break in somewhere?
> Suppose you can't prove you have a tool to legitimately test security?
> Gosh, I guess you must be a dangerous criminal.
>
> "First they arrested the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I did
> nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social
> Democrat, so I did
> nothing. They arrested the trade unionists, and I did nothing because I
> was not one. And then they came for the Jews and then the Catholics, but
> I was neither Jew nor
> Catholic, so I did nothing. At last they came and arrested me, and there
> was no one left to do anything about it."
> - Pastor Martin Niemoller
>
> The are coming for the programmers now.
>
> </soapbox>
>
> L8r
>
> Chris Cowan wrote:
> >
> > Anyone know how to pronounce his name exactly... I don't want to run around
> > shouting the his name if I can't say it correctly?
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > on 7/31/01 1:37 PM, Michael March at march@indirect.com wrote:
> >
> > > http://www.dmcasucks.org/free.html
> > >
> > >
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--
Jiva DeVoe
VP Of Software Development
Opnix, Inc. - Thoughts rule the world - R. W. Emerson
GPG Fingerprint: 0A17 DF84 516A 1DC4 B837 FE6D 3128 41CD 97CB 4AA7