[NTLUG:Discuss] MI2 boycott

[Brian Koontz]

Jeremy Blosser wrote:
> If you want to keep this discussion going, please let me know which part of
> the MPAA's position is "wrong", since you have said previously that you
> think that a) DeCSS is a tool for copying and b) such a tool is illegal, or
> at least dubious.  If I got either of those wrong, please correct me, as
> I'm interested in dialogue, not pigeonholing you.

Let's get back to basics here, Jeremy, instead of trying to obfuscate
the issues.  My position is that DeCSS make a poor poster child for
"software freedom."  The MPAA's position is irrelevant.  Yes, I've read
the history of DeCSS.  I don't believe everything I read, though (do
you?).  There are some issues involving the way DeCSS performs the
actual decryption, and whether this in itself violates certain laws and
company proprietary interests.  

Personally, I have no problem with DeCSS, or Napster, or any other piece
of software out there.  I do not agree with the MPAA's tactics in trying
to shut down distribution of DeCSS and prosecute those responsible for
its creation.  However, there are enough legal issues swirling around
the whole DeCSS scenario that it simply doesn't make sense to hold it up
as the embodiment of the software freedom movement.

This has been my point from the beginning.  

  --Brian