Re: Comment on DMCA, Security, and Vuln Reporting]

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Thu Aug 01 2002 - 07:12:29 PDT

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    [I subscribe to bugtraq but haven't seen Glenn's message appear. It did go 
    out to vuln-dev, and someone forwarded the message to me. I'm not on 
    vuln-dev; feel free to forward this to the list.]
    
    "Wolf, Glenn" <glenn.wolf@we-inc.com> wrote:
    >In light of the fact that 2600 was successfully sued over merely linking to
    >DeCSS source code under the DMCA (and losing a subsequent appeal), and
    >especially since News.com mentioned that fact in their article, I'm
    >absolutely AMAZED that they would do just that, linking directly to exploit
    >code in three separate places in the article!!!  Oh, and HP is apparently a
    >corporate sponsor of News.com (by the ad banners that pop up on their site).
    >I wonder how THIS will play out...
    
    I'm the author of the CNET News.com article, though I do not speak for my 
    employer. Three points:
    
    * 2600 was sued for *posting* the DeCSS.exe utility, not for linking to it:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/MPAA_DVD_cases/20000114_ny_mpaa_complaint.html
    >Defendant Eric Corley a/k/a Emmanuel Goldstein also posted DeCSS on his 
    >Internet web site...
    
    * The judge in the case crafted a rule limiting but not banning linking:
    http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/MPAA_DVD_cases/20000830_ny_amended_opinion.pdf
    >there may be no injunction against, nor liability for, linking to a site 
    >containing circumvention technology, the offering of which is unlawful 
    >under the DMCA, absent clear and convincing evidence that [lots of details]
    
    * When I was at Wired News, we joined an amicus brief in the 2600 case that 
    said journalists should have the right to link to controversial material 
    such as DeCSS.exe:
    http://www.politechbot.com/docs/linking-amicus.012601.html
    
    -Declan
    



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