My cow-orker Jason Schultz reports on a breaking new DMCA
horripilation: a court has ordered a company to stop fixing
tape-drives because in so doing, it makes unauthorized access of a
copyrighted "Maintenance Code."
A district court in Boston has used the DMCA to grant a preliminary
injunction against a third party service vendor who tried to fix
StorageTek tape library backup systems for legitimate purchasers of
the system.
How is this a DMCA violation? Well, it turns out that StorageTek
allegedly uses some kind of algorithmic "key" to control access to its
"Maintenance Code", the module that allows the service tech to debug
the storage system. The court found that third party service techs who
used the key without StorageTek's permission "circumvented" to gain
access to the copyrighted code in violation of the DMCA, even though
they had the explicit permission of the purchasers to fix their
machines.
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IBM researchers eye 100TB tape drive
IBM researchers eye 100TB tape drive12/19/2004 03:34 PM Using advanced "nanopatterning" techniques, IBM researchers plan to
build 100TB tape storage devices.
Iomega Launches REV Drive as Tape Alternative
Iomega Launches REV Drive as Tape Alternative04/12/2004 06:08 PM The company is targeting small-business owners and others looking for
inexpensive backup solutions that can be stored offsite.
IBM release the TotalStorage Enterprise Tape Drive 3592
IBM release the TotalStorage Enterprise Tape Drive 359205/31/2004 02:13 PM Research and Markets have announced the addition of the Component
Cost Benchmark Report for the IBM TotalStorage Tape Drive 3592 report
to their offering. [PRWEB May 29, 2004]
IBM begins development work on 100Tbyte tape drive
The Vosonic X'S-Drive Pro VP 300 is 40GB external
hard drive that is clunky, cheap-looking, has a crappy text-only
integrated screen, plays MP3s, but not WMA, AAC, or OGG Vorbis, and
can only read from one card from its card reader at a time. So why
would any photographer want it? Because it's cheap, it does the
primary job it was designed to do (act as remote backup for memory
cards), and can accept as many additional 2.5-inch laptop hard drives
as you want to swap into it, meaning that all other things aside, you
can purchase this single $335 drive and continue to upgrade it for
only the price of additional hard drives. Read -
Hard disk: X'S-Drive Pro VP 300 [BIOS]
Console Drive makes hard drive removable or external
Console Drive makes hard drive removable or external06/04/2004 03:52 PM Addonics Technologies announced on Friday the release of its
Console Drive, which turns a standard 3.5-inch hard drive into
either aremovable internal hard drive cartridge or an external hard
drive thatconnects to your Mac via USB 2.0 or 1.1, FireWire, SCSI or a
PCMCIA slot,depending on the model you choose. Internally, the Console
Drive can connectto a Power Mac's Serial ATA slot. In addition, the
Console Drive acceptsAddonics' series of Pocket CD, DVD, CD-RW and
DVD+/-R/RW drives, all ofwhich are Mac compatible.
MCE slot-loading drive replaces original iMac drive
MCE slot-loading drive replaces original iMac drive06/14/2004 02:50 PM MCE Technologies is now offering an internal 24x slot-loading CD-R/RW
drive for replacing the tray-loading CD-ROM drive in the original iMac
(233, 266, and 333MHz, Rev...
The DMCA goes Down Under
The DMCA goes Down Under02/10/2004 02:44 AM As part of a free trade pact with the U.S. signed over the weekend,
Australia will be implementing DMCA-like controls on intellecutal
property and media
Rethinking the DMCA04/08/2005 09:54 AM At its inception, many people called it a lousy law. CNET News.com's
Charles Cooper says that proved to be too charitable an appraisal.
DMCA under attack?
DMCA under attack?06/29/2004 08:29 PM A group calling themselves the Personal Technology Freedom Coalition
is holding a press conference today to show their support for a repeal
of a portion of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The current
rules that the DMCA outline are quite forceful in stating that no one
shall “sell or distribute any product that is primarily designed
or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological
measure.” While this is frustrating to those of us that wish to
make legitimate back-ups of software, music and games, the DMCA is
quite clear that this can not be done.
Help may be on the way though with the up coming review of a bill
referred to as The Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act. While
allowing circumventing of many of the rules outlined by the DMCA, it
will not allow for any tolerance for piracy however.
The DMCA: Not controversial
The DMCA: Not controversial08/03/2004 11:40 PM Last week I was chatting with a friend who now works on the House Ways
and Means Committee. Talk turned to the Australia-US Free Trade
Agreement, which Congress passed in July and which President Bush
ratified yesterday. "That DMCA and copyright term extension stuff," he
said to me, "None of...
U.S. Exports DMCA Down Under
U.S. Exports DMCA Down Under09/13/2004 05:08 AM Negotiations for a trade agreement between the U.S. and Australia are
raising a ruckus among Aussie digital rights activists. At issue is a
plan to enact a law there modeled on the controversial Digital
Millennium Copyright Act. By Patrick Gray.
Apple uses DMCA
Apple uses DMCA04/10/2004 08:46 AM We are asking Apple to Play Fair. For those who are interested,
playfair built automatically with
GNU-Darwin x86, although I haven't tested it, because I am clearly
_not_
an iTunes user. For those who are interested in downloading and
distributing the code, here is the project link and source code link
as
well.
The DMCA arrives Down Under08/03/2004 09:52 PM A free trade agreement between Australia and the U.S. will bring
DMCA-like laws to the land Down Under.
DMCA Infracture
DMCA Infracture12/19/2004 03:51 PM I was served a DMCA infraction for a posting about Next Door Nikki's
naked breasts on my babe log. I thought I'd share some of...
This just in: the California Institute of Technology and Loyola Law
School are presenting a mock trial this Friday, May 21st, to play out
a scenario in which a student creates a distributed computing
application to crack DRM systems, leading to the criminal prosecution
of everyone involved under the DMCA.
The trial will have many realistic touches: a real federal judge will
hear the case, the prosecution will be advised by real federal
prosecutors, and the defense by EFF 's Fred von Lohmann. Brad Hunt of
the MPAA will provide expert testimony for the prosecution, while EFF
Staff Technologist Seth Schoen will provide testimony for the defense.
Even cooler: the event is free and open to the public. If you're in
the Los Angeles area and can get away from work or study mid-day, stop
by and check it out.
DMCA to be possibly toned down06/22/2004 10:51 AM The infamous Digital Millenium Copyrights Act may have some of its
parts toned down or taked out. The “Digital Media Consumers
Right Act of 2003” was introduced by Representative Rick Boucher
and has the support of 24 other representatives. The bill is also
being supported by The Personal Technology Freedom Coalition,
including companies like Intel, Sun Microsystems, Verizon, Qwest,
Gateway, and BellSouth. The EFF and the ALA are also supporting the
new bill.
Red Hat's DMCA Quibble
Red Hat's DMCA Quibble10/17/2002 08:03 AM UPDATE: The open-source software company is forced to rely on a
European anti-DMCA group to publish full information about a security
patch.
Petition against the Canadian DMCA
Petition against the Canadian DMCA04/23/2004 01:34 AM There's a petition against Canada's proposed DMCA-like copyright law
up at the Digital Copyright Canada Wiki:
We, the undersigned residents of Canada draw attention of the House to
the following:
THAT the Copyright Act is properly recognised as being a careful
balance between the rights of creators and the rights of the public
(including viewers, readers and listeners);
THAT the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously affirmed this view in CCH
Canadian Ltd v Law Society of Upper Canada;
THAT digital technologies have recently given copyright holders the
ability to upset the balance in the Copyright Act by preventing
Canadians from accessing works for purposes that have been legally
granted to them;
THAT the creation of original works is nourished by wide accessibility
of earlier works, including a vibrant public domain;
THAT dissemination of cultural ideas requires that they be preserved
in a form that is accessible to future generations; and
THAT historically, consultations regarding changes to the Copyright
Act have mostly taken place with creators, intermediaries and only
some special users (such as educators and librarians)
THEREFORE, your petitioners call upon Parliament to ensure generally
that users are recognised as interested parties and are meaningfully
consulted about proposed changes to the Copyright Act and to ensure in
particular that any changes at least preserve all existing users'
rights, including the right to use copyrighted materials under Fair
Dealing and the right to make private copies of audio recordings. We
further call upon Parliament not to extend the term of copyright; and
to recognise the right of citizens to personally control their own
communication devices.
MP candidates on the "Canadian DMCA"06/24/2004 09:39 AM With the Canadian election coming up in four days, Ray called up all
the candidates in his riding and asked them what they thought of the
Canadian version of the DMCA:
What I believe needs to happen is the creation of a new "industry
model", one that understands that all music, programs, books, etc,
will be distributed over the internet. What this means is that a huge
infrastructure of advertisors, retailers, wholesalers, etc, are going
to wither away and have to find new ways of making a living. Instead,
modern technology will allow consumers and artists to interact
directly. Until industry realizes that this is the new "rules of the
game", they will be in the situation of King Canut trying to order the
tide to not come in. Part of this realization will be the
understanding that consumers simply will not pay the same price for a
book, music, etc, that they download and print themselves off the
internet that they would have to pay if they went to a physical store
and made a purchase. And why should they? They have removed almost
all the "middle-men" who previously had to do work to get it into
their hands.
Lexmark DMCA Battle Far From Over11/03/2003 04:24 AM
Last week, soon after the Copyright Office made their four
tiny exemptions to the DMCA, a story started spreading widely
saying that the Copyright Office had said it was okay for companies to
create chips that circumvent copy protection for use in printer
cartridges. This artic
le was the result of a press release from Static Controls, a
company engaged in a legal
battle with Lexmark over offering such technology. The press
release was a bit misleading, and many people misinterpreted the announcement, as if the
Copyright Office was a judicial body ruling on the Lexmark case.
However, the real details are a bit more complex. First of
all, the Copyright Office actually ruled against Static
Control's requested exemption - but did say that reverse engineering
is already allowed, and therefore doesn't need a special exemption.
Static Controls declared that as a victory, and many people
incorrectly interpreted this as some sort of judicial victory for
Static Controls over Lexmark. However, the Copyright Office is not a
judge and wasn't deciding any case. In fact, the court in the actual
case ruled
against Static Control back in February and granted an injunction
against the company preventing them from selling its chips.
Meanwhile, Lexmark is still claiming victory themselves - saying that
the exemption only applies to reverse engineering and they contend
Static Control did more than reverse engineer the chip. They believe
Static Control stole the chip design outright. Either way, the case
is going back to court and the Copyright Office's rulings should have
little impact.
BSA Wants To Make The DMCA Worse01/06/2005 07:34 PM While the BSA has mostly sat back and let the RIAA and MPAA take the
brunt of the bad publicity for suing customers, you can be pretty sure
that they're also freaking out over file sharing and avoiding any and
all evidence about how it could help their member companies. Just as
the RIAA lost yet
another case saying they have to actually file lawsuits before
sending subpoenas to ISPs for user info, the BSA is asking Congress to modify the DMCA to force ISPs to
cooperate and give up user info without a lawsuit being filed.
This is very problematic for plenty of reasons -- not the least of
which is that it would turn ISPs into an enforcement arm that will be
forced to monitor how people use their network. ISPs just provide the
service. If companies have a problem with what an individual is
doing, they should file a lawsuit and then request the info from the
ISP. Without a lawsuit, it's all just a fishing expedition. At the
same time, however, the BSA is at least interested in exploring
some amount of patent reform -- including plans to make it easier to
challenge granted patents. That might be a slight improvement -- but
it could also lead to many frivolous challenges. It seems a much more
reasonable idea is to open up the patent process so that people have
an easy process to make prior art claims before a patent is
granted.
Canada fights off DMCA-like law
Canada fights off DMCA-like law03/25/2005 04:52 PM As a member of the World Trade Organization, Canada is expected to
eventually ratify a number of intellectual property treaties, but they
won't go for a repeat of the DMCA.
Opening Doors With the DMCA
Opening Doors With the DMCA11/15/2003 05:33 AM A U.S. District Court rules that it's OK to use a universal remote to
open a garage door, despite the plaintiff's claim that the DMCA
prohibited it. By Katie Dean.
Canada's DMCA dissected
Canada's DMCA dissected06/22/2005 01:49 AM Cory Doctorow:
On the heels of the introduction of Canada's Bill C-60, a
Made-in-Canada version of the DMCA, Michael Geist has posted several
long, thoughtful blog posts about the bill's effects on different
interests: search engines, ISPs, and P2P users:
While Bill C-60 therefore contains extensive provisions to cover
uploading, downloading on peer-to-peer systems remains largely
untouched (with the exception described above). Many experts believe
that peer-to-peer downloading is covered by the private copying levy,
though CRIA disputes that interpretation.
Seems CES does not consider Endgadget a weblog so they have full
access to CES and have lot's of really good CES news. Check out their
review of the new Hard Drives announced by Hitachi. [Endgadget]<
/p>
Trade deal exports DMCA down under
Trade deal exports DMCA down under08/03/2004 12:36 PM President Bush signs a trade deal that extends controversial software
patents and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to Australia.
Opening Your Own Garage Safe From The DMCA
Opening Your Own Garage Safe From The DMCA11/14/2003 08:38 PM As expecte
d a judge has ruled in favor of a summary judgment that a universal garage door opener does not violate the DMCA
for circumventing the original garage door opener maker's copy
protection system. The judge seems to take a common sense approach to
the matter, pointing out that it's ridiculous to believe that opening
ones own garage door could be seen as a violation of the DMCA. This
is a good ruling, and hopefully we'll see more based on this
precedent. Now, the question will be whether or not people will be
able to use such a ruling to support the idea of being able to open
other things they thought they owned - like a gaming console or some
software...
