Connect360
Posted on February 15, 2006
Tonight I started writing a post about Windows Media Connect and these guys and how I think they managed to make an application that pretended to be Windows Media Connect on the Mac. I haven’t figured out how WMC works completely (yet) so don’t get your hopes up. However I have found out a lot about it a few months back. The only reason I did this was to figure out if I could stream from WMC to my PSP. So I assumed it was covered by the DMCA fair use but in absence of a lawyer I decided to not publish that post (yet)…
One thing for sure is that it’s a matter of time before WMC is reverse-engineered and cracked…
Feb 15, 2006
There really is no such thing as fair use under the DMCA. Fair use exists within the law as a DEFENSE but it is not a RIGHT and there is no mention of it within the DMCA. The DMCA only says that one can not circumvent technological methods used to protect authorized access to copyrighted materials. Currently one does not have the RIGHT under the law to do this for any reason. However, if you do decide to circumvent copy protect technology, the copyright owner can sue you and they will cite the rules of the DMCA. It is only at this point, can you use fair use as a possible defense.
I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advise.
Feb 20, 2006
How did DVD-Jon win in the DVD CSS encryption case? He reverse-engineered the DVD encryption so that he could play his DVDs on his linux computer. Doesn’t it fall under fair-use though?
There’s one difference with what I am trying to do. I am not trying to circumvent the protection. I am trying to figure out how devices talk to WMC so that they can talk to me to. For example, the Xbox 360 would exclusively talk only to WMC on the PC and no other UPnP media server. Is it illegal for me to reverse-engineer the protocol and build a fake WMC?
Feb 23, 2006
No I don’t think it would be illegal for you to reverse-engineer the protocol. Real did that with Apple’s DRM and no legal action was taken.
In regards to the DVD-Jon case, it was argued in the Norwegian courts not in US courts. I don’t know if Norwegian law even has the legal concept of ‘fair use’. DVD-Jon was acquitted on all charges because he owned the DVDs that he decrypted and according to Norwegian law one can make copies of data for personal use.
Here is a small paragraph about the DMCA from a CNET article “The DMCA makes it a crime to offer for sale products that circumvent digital copy protections, including encryption schemes, the issue at stake in the ElcomSoft case. Other provisions create penalties for creating and distributing such tools, raising protests from programmers that the law could, among other things, bar academic research and inhibit open discussion of encryption technology, including in news reports. Last year, in a major ruling favoring the film industry, a federal appeals court ordered a Web site to remove links to code capable of cracking encryption on DVDs, citing the DMCA.” http://news.com.com/2100-1023-978176.html
The EFF has a whole page on the unintended consequences of the DMCA as well which is an interesting read.
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/unintended_consequences.php
Feb 23, 2006
I just saw this today. You may want to attend these hearings at Stanford.
HEARINGS ON 1201(a)(1) RULEMAKING ANNOUNCED; REPLY COMMENTS ON COPYRIGHT OFFICE WEBSITE (71 FR 9302)
The Copyright Office is announcing hearings in connection with its Section 1201 rulemaking proceeding to determine whether there are particular classes of works as to which users are, or are likely to be, adversely affected in their ability to make noninfringing uses due to the prohibition on circumvention of access controls. The hearings will be held at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., on March 23 and March 24, 2006, and at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on March 29 and 31, 2006, and April 3 and 4, 2006. Requests to testify must be received by March 10, 2006. For further information, go to the Copyright Office website at
http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2006/71fr9302.html
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