Press Shift – Go Straight to Jail, Do not pass go, do not collect $200
This is about the stupidest thing that I have heard to date in regards to the DMCA laws in the US. I would like to think that this is joke, except that there is a PhD student being sued for pressing the shift key. (Click on the article link below to see what I am talking about). What’s next? My only hope is that some of this idicocy will eventually prove how ludicrous the DMCA really is.
“SunnComm Technologies, a developer of CD antipiracy technology, said Thursday that it will likely sue a Princeton student who early this week showed how to evade the company’s copy protection by pushing a computer’s Shift key.
Princeton Ph.D. student John “Alex” Halderman published a paper on his Web site on Monday that gave detailed instructions on how to disarm the SunnComm technology, which aims to block unauthorized CD copying and MP3 ripping. The technology is included on an album by Anthony Hamilton that was recently distributed by BMG Music. ”
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5089168.html
Wow.. That’s dumb.. If they don’t want the music to be ripped, they’d better get a lot better stuff figured out.. I can record from my shelf stereo directly to my computer, and export as MP3. I could go pick up a copy of Linux, and rip it there. Go get a Mac, and rip it on there. Windows users aren’t the only rippers.
But that is the illusion of the DMCA which says that it is illegal to even try to crack someone’s encryption or DRM software. Therefore, all a company needs to do is to put some safeguard, no matter how pathetic, on their product and then charge anyone, under the DMCA, who circumvents that safeguard.
I agree, the will never be able to stop people from ripping music from a CD. Instead of fighting the technology they need to learn how to work with it. Thankfully, Apple is showing everyone how this can be done.