MPAA Aftermath

[Tim Neu <tim@tneu.visi.com>]

I like to think of it this way. 

If the MPAA is not stopped, then we can all kiss our free-market economy
goodby. 

If reverse-engineering is made illegal even for the Motion Picture
industry, other companies would have a legal precident for doing the same
thing. 

You will start seeing License agreements on boxes of consumer prodcuts.
"By opening the box to this toaster, you are agreeing to the license
agreement contained in your instruction manual...". 

Why?

Because if post-purchase license agreements stand, then the manufacturers
can arbitrarily dictate what they want people to do with their products.
What company wouldn't want to do that?  Imagine - no more "generic"
cereals - just sue competitors and claim that they are all in violation of
the name-brand cereal license agreements that prohibit reverse
engineering!

No more off-brand replacement parts for cars, computers - anything!

As soon as all companies have License agreements on their products, the
death of the free-market economy comes next. 

If every company can prevent any other company from reverse-engineering
their products - then by definition EVERY COMPANY GUARENTEES ITS OWN
MONOPOLY!!!

Once that happens, competition between companies is no longer possible and
the free-market economy breaks down. 

Now, consumers end up paying $5,000 for a light bulb because only one
company makes them and you have no other choice. 

That is the seriousness of this case, and is why anyone who values their
choices has to stand up against the MPAA. 

The MPAA will not stop until you:

1. No longer "own" your media - you "License" it.  Once that happens, (and
if license agreements stand up in court) - they can truely dictate what
they want you to do with YOUR POSSESIONS!!  It's as ludicrus as the
Software market -> "This software package is LICENSED, not SOLD.  This
license is non-transferrable, etc, etc".  Already software companies try
to tell you that you cannot resell licenses.   WHY NOT?  YOU HAVE PAID FOR
YOUR SOFTWARE and can sell it to whomever you damn well please by LAW.  If
licenses are held above law - then the constitution of the united states
is just a peice of paper and the companies control our country! 
   
2. Have to pay EVERY time you want to play a movie that YOU own!!!  Again,
"This movie is licensed, not sold.  You are hereby granted the right to
view this video for 3 days, after which you must pay $3.00 to view it
again".  Don't laugh - THEY ARE ALREADY WORKING ON SELF-DISTRUCTING
DVDS!!!! 

http://www.keysites.com/ns/971115/nmission.html

3. "Fair use" dissapears. Just think - singing along to a song WILL be
illegal if the song comes from a digital device.   THERE IS NO "Fair Use"
provision in the DMCA!  In fact, there is NO WAY provided by the DMCA to
utilize the rights that have ALREADY been guarenteed by law.   For
example, in the supreme court case Sony vs Betamax the Supreme court ruled
that "Time-shifting" was a non-infringing use of a copyright.  Also,
"Media-Shifting" has also been proven in court as a "non-infringing" use. 

That means, that it is PERFECTLY LEGAL for you to copy a CD to a cassete
to listen to in your car, or to make a copy of a DVD that you own on VHS
for use in your bedroom.  The MPAA makes NO PROVISIONS in DVD players for
your rights under law to do these things.  If you attempt (for example) to
make a copy of a DVD that you own for VHS (by bypassing copy protection) -
you are in violation of the DMCA and subject to criminal persecution EVEN
THOUGH BY LAW YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO SO!!! 

Those of you who haven't read the Linux Journal articles listed below
should seriously consider doing so. (they are long - but this is YOUR
future we are talking about)

Copyright Strikes Back
http://www2.linuxjournal.com/articles/currents/012.html

What the MPAA is really after
http://www2.linuxjournal.com/articles/currents/016.html

I hate to waste all this bandwith on the DVD/MPAA issue - but it is TRUELY
MUCH larger issue than I think many people take it for. 

I'll try to shut up now because I'm sure you all are tired of hearing
about it!  :-)

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