[NTLUG:Discuss] MI2 boycott

[Jeremy Blosser]

Brian Koontz [pongo at cinnabar.valtech.com] wrote:
> travis.farral at nokia.com wrote:
> > This is an interesting point of view.  I don't know if I necessarily agree.
> > As opposed to Napster which I believe was created with less than moral
> > intent, I truly believe that DeCSS was orginally created for the shear
> > purpose of being able to view DVD's on Linux instead of being forced to load
> > Windows or purchase an external player to view them.
> 
> I will concede this point.  But to those who still stand by their
> rhetoric (I know, it's hard to see it as such when you're the one
> spouting the rhetoric), this is proof positive that there is in fact a
> fine line which separates DeCSS from other apps developed, as Travis
> puts it, with "less than moral intent."

a) there is nothing wrong with "rhetoric".  look it up in the dictionary.
b) IFF DeCSS was at all useful for copying DVDs, you would have a point.
   but it is not, and you don't.
c) instead, you're taking what the MPAA claims is possible and likely,
   because they have another agenda, and believing it to be true.

> I'm in no position to judge moral intent, and I doubt there's anybody
> other than the creator of a particular app who could shed light on moral
> intent.  It's very narrow-minded, however, to blindly ignore the gray
> areas that all of these "fair use" issues tread upon.  

I don't deny the grey areas that come up in fair use discussions.  People
probably have used xerox machines to pirate print publications.  But it's
just not relevant here, because that's not what the software does.
Claiming it does doesn't change that fact, anymore than claiming an MP3
*player* is used to make illegal copies of CDs makes it true.  The app in
question there is the ripper.  It isn't even the encoder, since the encoder
has no idea where you got that huge .wav from.

Just look into the details of the issue, not the MPAAs "rhetoric", and
you'll hopefully see that they're not calling a spade a spade.

- 
Jeremy Blosser   |   jblosser at firinn.org   |   http://jblosser.firinn.org/
-----------------+-------------------------+------------------------------
the crises posed a question / just beneath the skin
the virtue in my veins replied / that quitters never win