[free-sklyarov] This is much bigger than software

[Roger Kramer]

On Wednesday 25 July 2001 12:31, Klepht wrote:
> >>>>> "JO" == Jon O <jono at microshaft.org> writes:
>
>     JO> It's too early to know what Sklyarov's legal fate will be. But
>     JO> anti-DMCA protesters may need to find a better case to
>     JO> convince the public that the law is misguided and should be
>     JO> rolled back.
>
>     JO> http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/010725/u2uwdgj7_smmdbiz41ntqa.html
>
> Well, this is a load of hooey. His argument seems to be that Dmitry
> was arrested properly under the phrasing of the DMCA.
>

I've read the full text of  the part of US Copyright law that contains the 
DMCA provisions we all know and love. IANAL, but things don't look good. But 
if the American public can't be made to grasp the flaws in the DMCA this 
country will deserve its fate. 

> I'm not sure if that's true, but SO WHAT if it is? This is why we
> don't like the DMCA! It's a bad law! We want Dmitry freed and the law
> changed. Laws can be wrong.

And as tech progress accelerates, laws *will be* wrong more and more often. 
Gov is decreasingly able to keep up intellectually and even when good 
legislation occurs, it will suffer obsolesence faster and faster as the 
assumptions on which it's based become invalid with the next technology 
wave. This is much bigger than software.

roger