Full Disclosure mailing list archives
Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom
From: Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:40:55 -0500
On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:53:12 EST, Charles Morris said:
A) Every time you execute/install/download a program you are committing evil data theft by not only copying
Actually, at least in the US, the copy into RAM required to execute a program is already covered in 17 USC 117 (a)(1). http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000117----000-.html There is no similar rule covering the ephemeral incidental copy created as part of viewing a webpage, nor is there case law covering it, mostly because everybody is too scared to bring a test case to trial because it may result in a precident nobody likes. So the general case law has tended towards a gentleman's agreement that a website has implicitly given permission to authorized users to make ephemeral copies similar to 117(a)(1), and prosecute unauthorized users under 18 USC 1030 and other computer hacking statutes, and we're all going to pretend the 'Save As..' menu option isn't there because it makes our collective brains hurt. ;)
B) You can't "copyright" or "own" a number, all digital representations are numbers, due to the boolean nature (no fuzzy data), etc.
Nice try of saying "the encoding isn't the information". But that horse left the barn when sheet music became copyrightable - because whether it's symbols on sheet music, or grooves on a phonograph record, or digital recordings, you can copyright *that particular sequence* of symbols, wiggles, or numbers as expression. Heck, for that matter, the sequence of letters in a book. ;)
C) Any data is a form of any other data given a specific transform, e.g. manifold / encryption key + algo, something as trivial as XOR
Again, nice try. See Adobe v Skylarov and the use of ROT-13 for an example of how *that* logic worked out with respect to the DMCA anti-circumvention clause.
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Current thread:
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom, (continued)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Christian Sciberras (Jan 28)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Benjamin Kreuter (Jan 28)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Ferenc Kovacs (Jan 28)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Christian Sciberras (Jan 28)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Valdis . Kletnieks (Jan 28)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Christian Sciberras (Jan 28)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Laurelai (Jan 28)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Ferenc Kovacs (Jan 28)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Charles Morris (Jan 29)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Ferenc Kovacs (Jan 29)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Valdis . Kletnieks (Jan 29)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Byron L. Sonne (Jan 29)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Christian Sciberras (Jan 29)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Mike Hale (Jan 29)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Christian Sciberras (Jan 30)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Mike Hale (Jan 30)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Christian Sciberras (Jan 30)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Zach C. (Jan 30)
- Re: when did piracy/theft become expression of freedom Valdis . Kletnieks (Jan 30)
- This is when piracy/theft become expression of freedom Byron L. Sonne (Jan 29)
- Re: This is when piracy/theft become expression of freedom Valdis . Kletnieks (Jan 29)