What makes you, Incognito, believe the DMCA may "criminalize" the publication of a scientific paper? What makes you believe that Niels Ferguson's worry was not hyperbole, or a PR stunt designed to garner press? What makes you think that a scientific paper would generate even civil liability?
The DMCA may be a terrible law, sure, but let's keep criticisms grounded in reality. The relevant section of the DMCA is only a few pages long; let's hear how this could apply to scientists. -Declan (Note Dmitry has been indicted because he and his company were selling software to circumvent copy protection.) On Sat, Nov 24, 2001 at 03:50:49AM -0600, Incognito Innominatus wrote: > Congratulations to Ian Goldberg, David Wagner and other cryptographers > for publishing a break of the HDCP standard for encrypting video data. > This was intended to be used between HDTV decoders and displays, for > example, to allow digital communication between them in encrypted form so > that it could not be captured and shared. The paper by Crosby et al at > http://nunce.org/hdcp/hdcp111901.htm is a thorough break of the system, > which unfortunately is not fielded yet so you can't use the exploit to > steal HDTV. > > The big question is what about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, > which potentially criminalizes such research? We heard a great deal this > past summer about what a threat the DMCA was to legitimate cryptographic > research, and about how the exemptions in the DMCA weren't worth > the paper they were printed on. One cryptographer, Niels Ferguson, > refused to publish his break for fear of prosecution under the DMCA, > http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46091,00.html. > > It would be interesting to hear the perspective of any of the researchers > involved as to whether they are concerned about the DMCA. Do they view > themselves as creating a possible test case? Or are they simply going > to ignore the DMCA and go about their lives, doing their work on the > assumption that such a bad law will ultimately not hold up in court?
