Pardon my soapbox. was: Re: [PLUG]Protest for Skylarov / DMCA

Wed, 01 Aug 2001 02:09:59 -0700

could we use the npo as a political organization?
it might be helpful if there was an organized movement afoot with 
a company to give the movement some credibility.

How about a political action committee as well...

Technomage Hawke

** the best way to beat the system is to use its own rules against it.

Jiva DeVoe wrote:
> 
> 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
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