EFF on the RealDVD decision [LWN.net]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has sent out a release on the RealDVD decision. "The heart of Judge Patel's ruling is her interpretation of the DVD-CCA license agreement, and since large portions of those agreements remain confidential, it is difficult to evaluate the merits of her reasoning. However, she does make the troubling suggestions that fair use is never a defense when you circumvent an "access control" like encryption on DVDs. She also suggests that irreparable harm can be presumed whenever copyright infringement or a DMCA violation is likely..."

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EFF on the RealDVD decision

Posted Aug 12, 2009 14:04 UTC (Wed) by AndreE (guest, #60148) [Link] (12 responses)

I guess there is irreparable harm done in watching my legally purchased DVDs on the operating system of my choice.

maybe she's joking

Posted Aug 12, 2009 14:48 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link] (5 responses)

Maybe it's "irreparable" in that there's nothing to repair :-) Like if you insulted my cup of tea, the harm to my cup of tea would be irreparable.

maybe she's joking

Posted Aug 12, 2009 15:10 UTC (Wed) by Zenith (guest, #24899) [Link]

Oh my, did I ever laugh out loud upon reading your comment! :D

maybe she's joking

Posted Aug 12, 2009 16:25 UTC (Wed) by gps (subscriber, #45638) [Link] (3 responses)

bwhahaha! :)

Real would've been better off never signing a contract.

maybe she's joking

Posted Aug 12, 2009 16:53 UTC (Wed) by dlang (guest, #313) [Link] (2 responses)

from the quote in the posting on /. it's not that they signed a contract, it's that they didn't return or destroy (and formally certify that they had done so) the CSS spec, so the judge assumes that they agreed to it's terms.

if true, this makes click-wrap licenses look tame by comparison.

maybe she's joking

Posted Aug 12, 2009 16:58 UTC (Wed) by drag (guest, #31333) [Link]

I assume that to get access to the CSS spec you have to enter into a agreement prior to that.

I doubt that it's like the MPEG/DVD/whatever folks mailed the CSS spec to some poor sap at Real then proceeded to sue them on those grounds.

maybe she's joking

Posted Aug 13, 2009 20:05 UTC (Thu) by proski (guest, #104) [Link]

It's just like Moses. He didn't return or destroy the Ten Commandments, so he must have agreed to them.

EFF on the RealDVD decision

Posted Aug 12, 2009 14:50 UTC (Wed) by etrusco (guest, #4227) [Link] (5 responses)

Guess I (and everybody else) will have to stop buying DVDs so they get a message... Maybe we should start a pledge?

EFF on the RealDVD decision

Posted Aug 12, 2009 17:07 UTC (Wed) by AndreE (guest, #60148) [Link] (4 responses)

No point.

It will be blamed on piracy

EFF on the RealDVD decision

Posted Aug 12, 2009 17:43 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link] (3 responses)

This is pretty true. Boycotting them is always worthwhile, but it's not enough to force a change.

A boycott has to be accompanied by an awareness campaign such as petition people can sign which says "I'm cutting my music and video purchases because I'm sick of excessive power and restrictions being used by the music and video industries". Or such.

EFF on the RealDVD decision

Posted Aug 12, 2009 18:16 UTC (Wed) by drag (guest, #31333) [Link] (2 responses)

How about you write to your congressman and complain about them handing over this excessive power to the music and video industries?

They are only excersizing rights granted to them and protected by the US Federal government. If it wasn't for the DMCA it would be a cottage indutstry providing work arounds and cracks for digital media.

It's that way for analog devices! It's legal to sell analog descramblers and whatnot, and even use them.. as long as your not violating copyrights. Once you use them to steal cable, or whatever, that was when they became illegal.

The difference being that with analog data it's illegal to violate copyright were with the DMCA and digital media it's illegal to have the _capabilities_ to violate copyrights (aka digitally 'protected' media)

EFF on the RealDVD decision

Posted Aug 13, 2009 5:51 UTC (Thu) by AndreE (guest, #60148) [Link] (1 responses)

Spare a thought for those living in backwards countries like Australia where we can only copy the information tech policies of other countries, rather than elect savvy people to define our own direction

EFF on the RealDVD decision

Posted Aug 13, 2009 7:38 UTC (Thu) by Los__D (guest, #15263) [Link]

This seems no different to me, than how the DMCA and InfoSoc arrived to pest our lifes; they were both results of the WIPO Copyright Treaty, just as the Copyright Amendment Bill came from the US-Australian free trade agreement (free my a**).