Re: [nylug-talk] Legal Paper

[Michael Sims <jellicle@inch.com>]

On Thu, 21 Dec 2000, Ariel Rosa wrote:

> Yeah the need comes when you want to decrypt the dvd to view it. For that 
> there are standard dvd players. The hardware needed to copy a dvd is quite 
> simple if some one wanted to pirate dvd's it is very easy. furnish your own 
> mechanisms to copy the data bit by bit 0 by 0 and 1 by 1 from one disck to 
> another.
> not at all impossible.
> take a look at those devices that oems use to mass copy harddrives

> > > I can just set up some hardware to copy a dvd to a dvd as raw data. So
> > > there is no need for de-encryption.

I'm going to have to take issue here.  The whole debate over copy-protection
has some very poor arguments thrown around, and this is one of them. 
Copy-protection does not have to be 100.0000000% effective in order to be
effective.  The mere fact that DVD-duplicating devices exist, somewhere, does
not mean that DVD copy-protection is ineffective.

There isn't one person on this list who could make a duplicate of a
commercial DVD within 24 hours.  You don't have the equipment.  And it isn't a
matter of "I can just set up some hardware, so there's no need for
de-encryption".  YOU CAN'T DO IT.  Just because someone, somewhere in the
world, can, doesn't mean the copy-protection was ineffective - it's 100%
effective against you.

Somehow, somewhere, a meme ingrained itself - if something isn't absolutely
perfect, it's worthless.  Au contraire.  CSS isn't even AIMED at
mass-duplication piracy, never was - they explicitly say it is intended to
prevent consumer-level copying.  And it performs its job rather well - 99.9% of
the human race will never, ever, in their entire lives, copy a DVD.  I could
probably add a few more nines to that figure and still be accurate.

So, you know, I think it's great that people can pick nits and point out that
someone, somewhere, isn't stopped from pirating a DVD.  But I think it's a hell
of lot more accurate, and a hell of lot more useful, for people to focus on the
fact that CSS is an INSURMOUNTABLE barrier to fair use of DVD content for damn
near everyone affected by it.