In a case that envelops two of the most bitter battles currently
being waged in the online arena, a rogue hacker magazine is set to
fight round two against The Motion Picture Association of America
(MPAA) today, arguing an appeal that gnaws at the heart of
copyright and free-speech issues.
2600:The Hacker Quarterly, a telephone and computer hacker
magazine, is expected to argue that the US Department of Justice
(DOJ) overly stretched its interpretation of the controversial
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) when it ruled last January
that the magazine could not publish or provide online links to a
source code that descrambles digital versatile disk (DVD)
encryption.
The decryption code, called DeCSS (De Contents Scramble System) was
originally intended to descramble DVD encryption so that DVDs could
be played on Linux-based systems. However, the MPAA, an umbrella
group for eight powerful Hollywood studios, saw the publishing of
the code as a direct threat to the copyright privileges of films.
The group claimed that by providing the descrambling code, the
magazine was virtually giving people the key to steal protected
materials.
At the crux of the battle is the DMCA, a 1998 law that prohibits
cracking access codes and is designed to protect digitally recorded
material such as movies, software and books from illegal use. While
the MPAA is crying foul under the terms of the DMCA, the magazine,
with support from the non-profit civil liberties group the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), is arguing that the Act is
being interpreted too broadly and is beginning to elbow aside First
Amendment rights.
In the brief filed for its appeal, 2600 argued that it was
"providing truthful information about a matter of public
significance", which is protected by the First Amendment, and
outlawing the circulation of this type of information leads to
self-censorship.
DMCA has been at the heart of a maelstrom of debate as opponents
argue that the Act inhibits computer science research and steps on
the toes of fair use rules, that allow for the public to use
copyrighted material for non-commercial purposes.
One of the most recent spats over DMCA came last week when the
Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) asked a professor who
participated in one of the group's hacking challenges not to
publish his findings, saying that by doing so, he would be
violating the Act. Princeton University professor Edward Felten and
his team were just one of only two groups that were able to crack
the watermark technology SDMI presented in a hacking
challenge.
The professor demurred to SDMI's request, and some DMCA opponents
are using the case as ammunition to prove that the Act stymies
academic research.
The DMCA has also been the thorn in the side of the high-profile
online song swapping service Napster, whose case has raised myriad
questions as to where fair use begins and copyright protection
ends.
Any and all of these concerns could be addressed in the 2600 appeal
as the film studios stand firm over copyright protection and the
magazine touts First Amendment rights.
The appeal, formerly called Universal versus Remeirdes, will go
before New York's Circuit Court of Appeals today.
2600:The Hacker Quarterly can be contacted at
http://www.2600.com/ .