WIPO Copyright Treaty - Worldwide DMCA (was: European DMCA)

Alex Hudson home at alexhudson.com
Sun Aug 5 20:07:32 UTC 2001


On Sun, Aug 05, 2001 at 06:41:31PM +0100, MJ Ray wrote:
> Now, maybe I've just been in Amsterdam too long and the fumes have got
> to me, but surely if the copy protections measures are circumventable
> they are, by definition, ineffective technological measures?

You could probably say the same about locks - given people can pick them,
they're not a means of keeping everyone out of your house. The lock not
being a sufficiently able means of access control does not consitute a
defence to burglary (at least, not last time I checked :)

My problem with copyright control isn't actually the fact that it is there -
the fact the people want to exercise fair control over works is okay by me
(we use copyright to enfore the GPL, for example). My problem is where the
control impinges on my lawful right to use something I've paid for, for
example. In that way, I don't really care how effective or not the device is
- the fact that it is there is the problem. 

Cheers,

Alex.



More information about the Discussion mailing list