[free-sklyarov] Fwd: 8wire Newsletter

[Vladimir Katalov]

This is a forwarded message
From: 8wire <8wire at 8wire.com>
To: vkatalov at elcomsoft.com <vkatalov at elcomsoft.com>
Subject: 8wire Newsletter

===8<==============Original message text===============
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   The 8wire Newsletter    http://www.8wire.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Latest news from the DCMA front: Rep. Rick Boucher
(D-Va.) of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Internet
and Intellectual Property seeks to amend the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act to protect the right of consumers
to copy digital files for personal use (Los Angeles
Times, 1/9/02). DCMA criminalizes tools that can be
used to make copies of digital content - such as software
able to break encryption on music CDs or DVD movies
- regardless of whether the copies are legal, potentially
making law-breakers of the owners and developers of
such technology. Boucher believes the law should come
down on those using the tools to make illegal copies,
not the tools themselves. Boucher also suggested, in
a letter to the Recording Industry Association of America,
that copy-protected CDs and DVDs may constitute a violation
of the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act, which protects
users' rights to record copyrighted content for personal
use only and "taxes" consumers several pennies for each
blank recordable CD purchased to compensate the entertainment
industry for any losses caused by copying.

Why do I care about the DCMA? Admittedly, my interest
was initially piqued by a battle that seemed to pit
consumers against big business in the battle to control
technology use and development. Then I thought of all
those CDs sitting in our CD jukebox that I've also copied
onto my laptop so I can listen to them while at work
or on the road, and all the tapes I've made from our
CDs for commuting and road trips. Tell people they're
breaking the law because they want to be able to listen
their music in their cars, offices, and hotel rooms
without buying three copies of a $17.99 CD, and they'll
most likely get ticked off enough to either agitate
to change the law or just subvert it.

In completely unrelated news, Microsoft announced today
that they've sold 17 million copies of Windows XP (retail
upgrade, full-product, and license sales) since its
release two months ago. In addition to increased support
for multimedia and wireless computing, XP features product
activation technology that, the company hopes, will
decrease software piracy.

-Anne
alear at 8wire.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Copyright 2001, 8wire, Inc.

Original recipient of this email is vkatalov at elcomsoft.com.

===8<===========End of original message text===========



Best regards,
 Vladimir                            mailto:vkatalov at elcomsoft.com