FC: More on judge's order in New York DVD case

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[John is right, of course, that redacted videotapes and transcripts will be 
released. From my perspective, though, that's not as desirable as being 
present at the deposition and seeing nuances and body language and 
interactions that may not be reflected on the videotapes. The MPAA 
plaintiffs also might be -- how should I say it? -- a little overzealous 
when redacting. --Declan]

********e

> To: declan () well com, gnu () toad com, robin () eff org, mgarbus () fgks com
> Subject: Re: FC: Judge approves publication in DVD case
> Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000 12:35:20 -0700
> From: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>
>
> Declan, yesterday's decision in the DVD case is much better than you
> reported it.
>
> Agreed, the judge did not allow reporters to attend depositions.  But
> he did allow the transcripts and video from depositions of famous
> folks such as Valenti to be posted on the Internet within 3 days of
> when they are taken.  Any other transcripts, etc, can be posted
> within 10 days.  EFF and Frankfurt, Garbus are working with noted
> online archivist John Young to make this information widely available.
> at http://cryptome.org.
>
> The few days of delay permits the plaintiffs to review the transcripts
> and remove passages which are trade secrets, or could cause personal
> harm to the deponents, such as their home addresses.  Matters which
> would be merely embarrassing to the plaintiffs cannot be excised.
>
> This is a victory for the media.  The plaintiff movie companies not
> only pounced on little guys, expecting quick victory, but also
> expected to pick and choose what to tell the public about the issues.
> Their position was that all depositions would be permanently
> confidential and would never be released to the public -- many of them
> denied to all but a few of the legal team.  Jack Valenti has been
> quoted numerous times, calling the innocent republishers of DeCSS as
> "thieves", but now he will be quoted testifying under oath about
> whether they have actually stolen anything.
>
> Public access to this information will not only educate the public,
> but will also allow the public to assist in the defense, by pointing
> out dubious information, holes in reasoning, issues that were not
> properly explored.
>
> The purpose of a trial is to reach the truth.  The public will now see
> most of the truth behind the MPAA and the movie company allegations.
>
>         John Gilmore
>         Electronic Frontier Foundation

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