HOT!!! I've been reviewing the DMCA a bit, and don't understand why the
exceptions don't help here(?)... There are two primary exceptions, and six
auxillary ones. Of the six, the first is for nonprofit libraries,
archives, and educational institutions (these researchers _are_ under an
academic umbrella); the second is reverse engineering (think decss ); the
third is encryption research ("in order to identify flaws and
vulnerabilities of encryption technologies"); and the sixth is for
security testing... Please read the DMCA and other good stuff for details:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Intellectual_property/DMCA/
I suppose the issue is whether said paper can be _published_,
but since SDMI's Public Challenge (Sept 2000, read below) was
proposed to Netizens collectively, it seems fair to share...
uh, I guess NOT.
cheers
-ben
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2001 06:15:15 -0400
From: David Farber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: IP: Princeton Scientists Sue Over Squelched Research -- Electronic
Frontier Foundation Challenges Record Companies
>
>
>Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release
>
>For Immediate Release: June 6, 2001
>
>
>Contacts:
>
>Cindy Cohn, EFF Legal Director, +1 415 436-9333 x108,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Edward Felten, Princeton University Professor,
> +1 609 258-5906, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Robin Gross, EFF Staff Attorney, +1 415 436-9333 x112,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Gino J. Scarselli, Esq., Outside Lead Counsel,
> +1 216 291-8601, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>James S. Tyre, Esq., Outside Counsel, +1 310 839-4114,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Ellie Young, USENIX Executive Director,
> +1 510 528-8649 x18, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>Princeton Scientists Sue Over Squelched Research
>
>Electronic Frontier Foundation Challenges Record Companies
>
>
>Trenton, NJ - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
>today asked a federal court to rule that Princeton
>University Professor Edward Felten and his research team
>have a First Amendment right to present their research on
>digital music access-control technologies at the USENIX
>Security Conference this August in Washington, DC, despite
>threats from the recording industry.
>
>When scientists from Princeton University and Rice
>University tried to publish their findings in April 2001,
>the recording industry claimed that the 1998 Digital
>Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) makes it illegal to
>discuss or provide technology that might be used to
>bypass industry controls limiting how consumers can use
>music they have purchased.
>
>Like most scientists, the researchers want to discuss their
>findings and publish a scientific paper about the
>vulnerabilities of several technologies they studied.
>Open discussion of music customer control technologies
>has resulted in improved technology and enhanced consumer
>choice.
>
>"Studying digital access technologies and publishing the
>research for our colleagues are both fundamental to the
>progress of science and academic freedom," stated
>Princeton scientist Edward Felten. "The recording
>industry's interpretation of the DMCA would make
>scientific progress on this important topic illegal."
>
>Felten's research team includes Princeton University
>scientists and plaintiffs Bede Liu, Scott Craver, and
>Min Wu. Also members of the research team and plaintiffs
>are Rice University researchers Dan Wallach, Ben
>Swartzlander, and Adam Stubblefield. Another scientist
>and plaintiff is Drew Dean, who is employed in the
>Silicon Valley. The USENIX Assocation has joined the
>case as a plaintiff.
>
>The prominent scientist and his research team originally
>planned to publish the paper in April at the 4th
>International Information Hiding Workshop. However, the
>scientists withdrew the paper at the last minute because
>the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and
>the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) Foundation
>threatened litigation against Felten, his research team,
>and the relevant universities and conference organizers.
>
>SDMI sponsored the "SDMI Public Challenge" in September
>2000, asking Netizens to try to break their favored
>watermark schemes, designed to control consumer access
>to digital music. When the scientists' paper about their
>successful defeat of the watermarks, including one
>developed by a company called Verance, was accepted for
>publication, Matt Oppenheim, an officer of both RIAA
>and SDMI, sent the Princeton professor a letter
>threatening legal liability if the scientist published
>his results.
>
>EFF filed the legal challenge in New Jersey federal
>court against RIAA, SDMI, Verance, and the U.S. Justice
>Department so that the researchers need not fear
>prosecution under DMCA for publishing their research.
>
>"When scientists are intimidated from publishing their
>work, there is a clear First Amendment problem," said
>EFF's Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "We have long argued
>that unless properly limited, the anti-distribution
>provisions of the DMCA would interfere with science.
>Now they plainly have."
>
>"Mathematics and code are not circumvention devices,"
>explained Jim Tyre, an attorney on the legal team,
>"so why is the recording industry trying to prevent
>these researchers from publishing?"
>
>USENIX Executive Director Ellie Young commented,
>"We cannot stand idly by as USENIX members are
>prevented from discussing and publishing the results of
>legitimate research."
>
>EFF is challenging the constitutionality of the
>anti-distribution provisions of the DMCA as part of its
>ongoing Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression (CAFE).
>The CAFE campaign fights over-reaching intellectual
>property laws and restrictive technologies that threaten
>free speech in the digital age. "The recording studios
>want to control how consumers can use the music they buy.
>Now they want to control scientists and publishers, to
>prevent consumers from finding out how to bypass the
>unpopular controls," said EFF Staff Attorney Robin Gross.
>
>Media professionals are invited to attend a press
>conference or simultaneous teleconference on the Felten
>case featuring the legal team and Professor Felten:
>
>What: Felten Case Press Conference
>
>Date: Wednesday, June 6, 2001
>
>Time: 9:00 am Pacific (12:00 noon Eastern)
>
>Teleconference: Call +1 800 311-9402 with passcode "EFF"
>
>Or In Person--
>
>West Coast Physical Press Conference:
> Electronic Frontier Foundation, 454 Shotwell Street,
> San Francisco, CA 94110
>
>East Coast Physical Press Conference:
> Princeton University, Computer Science Building, Room 105
> 35 Olden Street, Princeton, NJ 08540
> Directions: From Route 1, turn toward Princeton on
> Washington Road. Follow Washington Road across a bridge
> and into the town of Princeton. At the third stoplight,
> turn right onto Prospect Street. Go one block on
> Prospect and turn left onto Olden Street. Go half a
> block, and the Computer Science building will be the
> four-story brick building ahead on your left.
>
>Map: http://MapsOnUs.switchboard.com/ or http://mapquest.com/
>(no endorsement implied)
>
>The legal team includes EFF attorneys Lee Tien, Cindy Cohn,
>and Robin Gross. Outside lead counsel Gino Scarselli,
>argued the Junger case where the 6th Circuit Court of
>Appeals ruled unanimously that computer code is creative
>expression worthy of First Amendment protection.
>Also members of the legal team are James Tyre, a
>technology savvy lawyer from Southern California who
>co-founded the Censorware Project and wrote an amicus
>brief in Universal v. Reimerdes, and Joe Liu, a Professor
>of Law at Boston College. Local counsel in New Jersey
>are First Amendment specialists Frank Corrado of Rossi,
>Barry, Corrado, Grassi and Radell, and Grayson Barber,
>chair of the ACLU-NJ privacy committee.
>
>For more background on Professor Felten and his team's
>legal challenge:
>http://www.eff.org/sc/felten/
>
>For EFF's legal filing in the Felten case:
>http://www.eff.org/sc/felten/20010606_eff_complaint.html
>
>RIAA/SDMI letter threatening Professor Felten and his team:
>http://www.eff.org/sc/felten/riaa_sdmi_letter.html
>
>Professor Felten's website:
>http://www.cs.princeton.edu/sip/sdmi/
>
>Listen to an audio file about EFF's legal challenge to
>SDMI (MP3):
>http://www.eff.org/sc/felten/felten_audio.html
>
>For more information on the August USENIX Security
>conference:
>http://www.usenix.org/events/sec01/
>
>About EFF:
>
>The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
>liberties organization working to protect rights in the
>digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages
>and challenges industry and government to support free
>expression, privacy, and openness in the information
>society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
>maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world:
>http://www.eff.org
>
>About USENIX:
>
>The USENIX Association, an organization representing some
>10,000 computer research scientists is dedicated to the
>free exchange of scholarly information through its many
>conferences and publications. See its website at:
>http://www.usenix.org/
>
> - end -
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>James S. Tyre mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Law Offices of James S. Tyre 310-839-4114/310-839-4602(fax)
>10736 Jefferson Blvd., #512 Culver City, CA 90230-4969
>Co-founder, The Censorware Project http://censorware.net
>
For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/
hope y'all enjoy this -- do you think big change is really afoot?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"slide" to www.euglug.org and benb.org ~ shanti ~ in lake'ch, my kin...
Finally, I (this text) would be delighted to be included, in whole or in
part, in your next discussion of self-reference. With that in mind,
please allow me to appologize in advance for infecting you.
