Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 15:39:55 -0800 (PST) From: Annalee Newitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: black market in circumvention devices To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Hi Declan. Thought the politech list might be interested in my latest article about how the DMCA is creating a thriving black market in circumvention devices and pirated software. Among other people, I interviewed a very interesting (though naive) guy in Silicon Valley who has set up a shop in his garage to do illegal mods on Xboxes and PS2s. Here's the first bit:
High-tech black market Copyright infringement is a criminal offense. Meet the new generation of geek outlaws and heroes. By Annalee Newitz
IT WAS AFTER midnight on a San Francisco street popular with young hipsters. Groups of glittery girls and boys with 1960s protomullets slid past homeless people too tired to beg for money. As my friends and I rounded a corner, we heard a shuffle and a soft cough. A man huddled in a doorway full of shadow, his arms curled protectively around a cardboard box so old that its edges had gone soft and fuzzy.
"Want to buy some records?" he croaked. "I've got really good old stuff."
I paused, uncertain. He paused, too.
Then, in a voice so low I thought he might be talking to himself, he muttered, "I've got some software, too. You want to buy some software?"
That got my attention. It was the first time anyone had ever offered to sell me pirated software on the street. In New York City the streets are packed with people selling crappy pirated DVDs of new movies, but I had never heard of people doing the same thing with software programs.
"What do you have?" I asked.
http://www.sfbg.com/38/11/cover_hightech.html
===== Annalee Newitz tech * pop * sex 415.487.2559 - cell: 415.378.4498 www.techsploitation.com
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