[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Brian T. Sniffen) writes: > The ban on use of circumvention devices for copy-prevention schemes is > probably toothless, given the fair use doctrine. However, the > following activities banned by the DMCA are not copyright > infringement, and so fair use is not a defense for them: > > * Trafficking in access-control circumvention devices. > > * Accessing a protected work.
Here we have a different question, with a very different answer. The first is easy. The "access-control circumvention device" is not actually a device, but a program; that is, a set of bits. Indeed, nobody is accused of trafficing in a *device*, but only the bits, given that in general not even a CD is being sent. Moreover, trafficking is not merely transmitting, but specifically commercially. Debian doesn't in fact "traffic" in anything. Anyhow, the point is that there is no existing first amendment category which allows such a restriction on speech. Telling someone how to circumvent access is manifestly speech; there are exceptions to the first amendment for copyright or trade secrets, but in the instant case, this is neither. Nor is it libel, or obscene. As for the second, it is not at all clear to me that the DMCA actually prohibits "accessing a protected work", in the context in which I have actually purchased the copy. I have, in fact, purchased the right to access the information on my DVDs. When I play it using my home-unit Yamaha DVD player, I do not break the law, and when I do so using DeCSS, I do the same. Now, if my copy were illegally obtained, it might well be illegal for me to "access" it. I don't know. But this doesn't affect us; the fact that there is a legitimate use for the software immunizes us against the fact that someone might also use it for nefarious purposes. I agree that, if the issue comes up, Debian should make clear that our intention in distributing DeCSS would only be for access to legal copies. Thomas
