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The Web Thrived In Spite Of The DMCA, Not Because Of It

While I was pointing out all of the reasons why the DMCA needs to be re-examined from scratch, Wired has put up an article detailing the one single positive aspect of the DMCA: the safe harbor provisions that protect service providers from liability for copyright infringement done by users. However, I think Wired, and the various people quoted in the article, give way too much credit to the DMCA for a variety of reasons. In fact, Wired goes way too far in claiming that the DMCA "saved" the web and allowed it to become what it is today, suggesting (incorrectly) that things like blogs and YouTube wouldn't be successes without the DMCA.

EFF Marks 10th Anniversary of DMCA with Report on Law's Unintended Consequences

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release For Immediate Release: Monday, October 27, 2008 Contact: Fred von Lohmann Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Electronic Frontier Foundation fred@eff.org +1 415 436-9333 x123 (office), +1 415 215-6087 (cell) EFF Marks 10th Anniversary of DMCA with Report on Law's Unintended Consequences Ten-Year Legacy of Harm to Fair Use, Free Speech San Francisco - Ten years ago Tuesday, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law. In a report released to mark the anniversary, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) documents the ways in which this controversial law has harmed fair use, free speech, scientific research, and legitimate competition. "Unintended Consequences: Ten Years Under the DMCA" focuses on the most notorious aspect of the law: its ban on "circumventing" digital right

Coupons.com Drops DMCA Case Against Guy Who Told People To Delete Files On Their Hard Drive

We've been covering the DMCA lawsuit filed by Coupons.com against a guy, John Stottlemire, who figured out that if you delete a few files on your hard drive you could make extra copies of the coupon. Coupons.com tried to greatly stretch the DMCA to claim that this was circumventing copy protection -- but simply telling people to delete files on a hard drive hardly seems to be an circumvention tool. Plus, there were some legal issues over whether or not what Coupons.com was doing was really "copy protection." In many cases, Coupons.com's arguments seemed to contradict itself, though Stottlemire (who defended himself) was quick to point that out to the court.

Happy Birthday DMCA

The DMCA has been around for 10 years now. It remains as controversial as it has ever been. The most controversial aspects of the Act, the anti-circumvention provisions, don't generally apply to hosts. The "notice and takedown" aspects of the Act do. In spades.

Walmart Sends DMCA Notice to SearchAllDeals, TechCrunch

Walmart has sent a DMCA notice to TechCrunch and SearchAllDeals.com, a shopping search engine and deals aggregator. (Think of it as the Techmeme for deals on the web, with a Google custom search engine to boot.)

Apple adds DMCA charge to Psystar suit

Tags: Complaint, DMCA, Apple Inc., Psystar, Apple Mac OS X, Productivity, Operating Systems, Digital Media, Software, Apple Mac OS

Apple hits Psystar with DMCA charges

Tags: Apple Macintosh, DMCA, Apple Inc., Psystar, Copyrighted Works, Defendant, Apple Mac OS X, Apple Mac OS, Operating Systems, Desktops

Apple adds DMCA violation claims to Psystar suit

Apple has stepped-up its lawsuit against Psystar, adding claims of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) violations, according to Computerworld. The clone-maker is accused of reverse engineering the piracy protection methods employed in Mac OS X. "Defendant has illegally circumvented Apple's technological copyright-protection measures," the amended complaint states. The change comes five months after the initial filings, as the company has "discovered new information."

Apple throws DMCA at Psystar

Apple changed the strategy in its legal dealings with Mac clone maker Psystar, which became famous for hacking Mac OS X to run on cheap PCs it calls "Open Computer". New court filings reveal that Apple will be using the DMCA against the Mac clone maker. The filing also shows that Psystar planned to release Macbook clone this fall. Full Story...

Apple unleashes DMCA on PsyStar

ZDNet reports that court papers filed by Apple the day before Thanksgiving (perhaps to add a note of vehemence?) indicate the Mac maker has added new charges against PsyStar and 10 "John Does." Specifically, the mothership cited violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for bypassing copy-protections embedded in Mac OS X.

10 Years Later, Misunderstood DMCA Is the Law That "Saved the Web"

mattOzan writes "On the tenth anniversary of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [PDF], Wired Magazine posits that the DMCA should be praised for catalyzing the interactive '2.0' web that we enjoy today. While acknowledging the troublesome 'anti-circumvention' provision of the act, they claim that any harm caused by that is far outweighed by the act's "notice-and-takedown" provision and the safe harbor that this provides to intermediary ISPs. Fritz Attaway, policy adviser for the MPAA weighed in saying 'It's not perfect. But it's better than nothing.'"

Apple Hits Psystar with DMCA Charges

IconThe legal back-and-forth between Apple and clone-maker PsyStar continues to develop, with the latest news being a move by Apple - the Cupertino company has invoked something with many already predicted Apple would call upon: the DMCA, or the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. This was done in an amendment to the original suit, filed in July this year.

Copyright Office Should Right DMCA Wrongs in Rulemaking

Electronic Frontier Foundation: "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed three exemption requests with the U.S. Copyright Office today aimed at protecting the important work of video remix artists, iPhone owners, and cell phone recyclers from legal threats under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)." Full Story...

Apple lawyers hand iPod hash cracking site a DMCA notice

Although not a widely-publicized addition, one of the newer "features" Apple has added to its iPods and iPhones is a hash that protects the iTunesDB file, which stores information about what music you have on your iPod and where it's located on the iPod's hard drive. As it turns out, Apple doesn't seem to like people meddling with the iPhone and iPod touch hash, and according to Slashdot, Apple lawyers recently sent a DMCA violation notice to a project that was attempting to reverse-engineer the current version of the iTunesDB protection.

Apple DMCAs iPodHash Project

TRS-80 writes "Apple has sent a DMCA takedown notice to the IpodHash project, claiming it circumvents their FairPlay DRM scheme. Some background: Apple first added a hash to the iTunesDB file in 6th-gen iPods, but it was quickly reverse-engineered. They changed it with the release of iPhone 2.0 and a project was started to reverse the new hash, but weren't successful yet. My guess is Apple used the same algorithm as FairPlay for the new hash, so Apple could use the DMCA to prevent competing apps like Songbird and Banshee from talking to iPods/iPhones. BTW, don't tell Apple, but the project uses a wiki, so the old page versions from before the takedown are still there."

Toyota Demands Removal of Fan Wallpapers

An anonymous reader writes "TorrentFreak reports that Toyota's lawyers have recently contacted computer wallpaper site Desktop Nexus in a blatant example of DMCA abuse. Toyota issued a blanket request to demand the immediate removal of all member-uploaded wallpapers featuring a Toyota, Lexus, or Scion vehicle (citing copyright violation), regardless of whether Toyota legally holds the copyright to the photos or not. When site owner Harry Maugans requested clarification on exactly which wallpapers were copyrighted by Toyota, he was told that for them to cite specifics (in order to file proper DMCA Takedown Notices), they would invoice Desktop Nexus for their labor."

DMCA Exemptions Desired to Hack iPhones, Remix DVDs

An anonymous reader writes "For copyright activists, Christmas comes but once every three years: a chance to ask Santa for a new exemption to the much-hated Digital Millennium Copyright Act's prohibitions against hacking, reverse engineering and evasion of Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes protecting all kinds of digital works and electronic items. Judging from the list of 20 exemptions requested this year [19 shown], some in the cyber-law community are thinking big. The requests include the right to legally jailbreak iPhones in order to use third party software, university professors wishing to rip clips from DVDs for classroom use, YouTube users wishing to rip DVDs to make video mashups, a request to allow users to hack DRM protecting content from stores that have gone bankrupt or shut down, and a request to allow security researc

DMCA exemptions desired to hack iPhones, DVDs

For copyright activists, Christmas comes but once every three years: a chance to ask Santa for a new exemption to the much-hated Digital Millennium Copyright Act's prohibitions against hacking, reverse engineering, and evasion of digital rights management (DRM) schemes protecting all kinds of digital works and electronic items.

DMCA exemption day

Paul Sweeting is the editor of ContentAgenda.com and a columnist for Video Business. He has covered the home entertainment industries since 1985 for Billboard, Variety, Publishers Weekly and other leading business publications. He is based in Washington, DC.

Apple levels DMCA on iPodhash project

The worst thing about DRM? The things it makes people do. Take the iPodhash project, a group of coders dedicated to reverse-engineering Apple’s database files on the iPod classic and iPod touch. Doing so allows for third-party utilities to access information on the iPod, which is particularly useful for those who want to use their iPods on Linux, since there’s no version of iTunes available for that platform.

Facebook Using DMCA Notices To Takedown Private Videos?

You may remember last month that we had a story about Google taking down a video on Google Video for copyright infringement, even though the video itself (a brief Christmas home movie) was set to private, and only 3 or 4 people had seen it. We were curious as to why Google would be scanning videos set to private and taking them down. At least in that case, Google admitted that it was an automated scanner (though never explained why it was reviewing private videos).

EFF Seeks DMCA Exemption for iPhone Jailbreaking

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EFF proposes DMCA exemption for iPhone jailbreaking

Every three years something special happens—and I’m not talking about a new Harry Potter movie. The U.S. Librarian of Congress is required to issue exemptions to the anti-circumvention clause of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the law that makes it a crime to work around encryption or Digital Rights Management protecting copyrighted materials. This year, among the exemptions proposed by the public is one that would make it legal for consumers to hack their phones (PDF link) via a process called jailbreaking, in order to install third-party applications available from sources other than Apple's App Store.

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