Re: It's legal to crack Apple II copy protection

[dalloff@gcfn.org (Dave Althoff Jr)]

Andy McFadden (fadden@fadden.com) wrote:

:     (2) No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide,
:     or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device,
:     component, or part thereof, that--

:         `(A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of
:         circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls
:         access to a work protected under this title;

:         `(B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use
:         other than to circumvent a technological measure that effectively
:         controls access to a work protected under this title; or

:         `(C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with
:         that person with that person's knowledge for use in circumventing
:         a technological measure that effectively controls access to a
:         work protected under this title.

:     [if you have a copy of DeCSS, you're trafficking in illegal devices]

Funny you should mention DeCSS...

Because originally, the purpose of DeCSS was to provide a means of
accessing data to which the author had every reason to believe he had a
legal right to access...he bought the DVD, he owned the computer, he owned
a DVD drive, and because he could not buy the software to play that disk
on his computer, he wrote DeCSS to give himself access to the data.  The
hardware in question was not obsolete, but it sure looks to me like it
ought to be a non-infringing use!

In fact, if duplication is a concern, then CSS isn't a factor, as DeCSS is
not required to duplicate a CSS-encoded work.  DeCSS is only required to
*access* an encoded work.  The fact that there are infringing uses for DeCSS
are secondary; the primary use of that "device" does not infringe on the
rights of the copyright holder.

Just an opinion, of course, and probably not one shared by most lawyers...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
-- 
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