Re: [TCLUG:12738] DVD/Reverse Engineering/etc.

[Scott <pope@ossuary.net>]

On Fri, 21 Jan 2000, Mike Hicks wrote:

> I'd like to find out what reactions people are having to the DVD issues
> popping up in the courts recently.

     Before I got too busy for it, I was doing some reviews
for Hollywood Bitchslap, a rather caustic movie review site.
After the news broke that people were now able to rip DVD's,
most everyone there went a little nuts.  The prevailing
opinion there was that this was going to usher in an era of
massive piracy, which would cause studios to kill off DVD
production.  Only one other person besides myself seemed to
understand that nothing like that happened when VHS machines
became readily available, and nothing like that would happen
after DVD encryption had been broken.
     I'm far from an expert on the subject, but all the
people who are panicking over this haven't really taken
history into account.  Now that the source for decryption is
out there, the courts can't really stop it.  They'll do a
lot of posturing due to corporate pressure however, just
like in the RIAA/mp3 mess.

Scott
-- 
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I don't expect that will last.
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