[NTLUG:Discuss] MI2 boycott

[Steve Baker]

Brian Koontz wrote:
> 
> Jeremy Blosser wrote:
> > Third, it's not a fine line.  There is a large difference between dubbing
> > something so you can sell it, and just wanting to view what you yourself
> > legally bought.
> 
> Please, spare me the rhetoric.  You and I both know the purpose of DeCSS
> is to make illegal copies of DVD's, just like the intent of Napster is
> to illegally trade in MP3's.  Don't try to insult the public's
> intelligence (or mine) by telling them something that isn't.

No - you are actually ill-informed (although I agree with some of
your sentiments).  I genuinely believe that DeCSS doesn't either
help - or attempt to help DVD piracy.  This is the big issue that
the general public don't understand "because they aren't programmers".

You can make illegal copies of DVD's simply by copying the sectors
of one DVD onto another using 'dd' or 'cat' or something - you don't
need DeCSS to do that.

What DeCSS actually does is to un-encrypt the DVD into a simpler
file format (something you can then replay with xanim or something).

As I understand it, you copy the DVD image onto your
hard drive using standard disk access routines and then use DeCSS
to decrypt it so it can be played.  If that's true (I'm pretty
sure it is) then the act of copying the DVD has already been
done - and without DeCSS's help.

Once it's de-crypted, it's actually almost impossible to copy
(usefully) because it's a 10 or 20-gigabyte file on your hard
drive that certainly won't fit back onto a CD/DVD disk again...
and wouldn't be playable by a DVD player even if you could.

That's the reason people are upset about the court case - if
this were just a Napster-like issue that would be different.
The bottom line is that DeCSS is useless for almost anything
other than Linux Users being able to watch legally obtained
DVD's.


Admittedly, you could lend someone your DVD disk - and they
could make a decrypted copy on their hard drive - but with
the cost of hard disk space, you'd be better off buying the
DVD disk yourself - it would be cheaper.  You are tying up
$100 worth of hard drive space to store a single $15 movie!

Using this to condem DeCSS is like condeming Xerox for making
it possible for people to pirate 600 page novels by photocopying
them.


MPAA are pissed because:

1) They charge a licensing fee to DVD player manufacturers
   for using their decryption code - and DeCSS's code allows
   for unlicensed players.

2) I suspect that their other beef is that the DVD coding
   incorporates a regional code that prevents 'grey imports'
   of DVD disks and players from (say) Japan into (say) the
   USA because a US player won't play a Japanese DVD or
   vice-versa.   I guess DeCSS might well circumvent that
   too - which could perhaps prevent MPAA's members from
   charging wildly different amounts for DVD's in different
   regions. This practice is common amongst (for example)
   video game console manufacturers.

-- 
Steve Baker                  http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
sjbaker1 at airmail.net (home)  http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker
sjbaker at hti.com      (work)