Thread: DVD copying & fair use

Originally Posted by 84RegalRider

yea telling me its illegal to take apart and mod something of mine is what ****es me off. I could understand if it harms someone else.Like hackin fm transmitters. But that i cant mod a ps2 or xbox.
what bs

I think Xbox mod chips are still legal - it depends on how you use it
- becaue it can have a legal use, Like Linux - PS2 mod chip is a little
different it can only be used for stealing games - I guess you could
say for playing backups of games you own, plus sony sells a linux kit
for the PS2 so its a gray area

My mod chip uses a linux based bios/os

Modchip From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Attack of the Mod Squads

Just to clear up what mbayers has said.
In a lot of cases you havent bought and dont own anything. All you have done is bought the right to use something. This doesnt really apply to harware so much although it can in some cases. Software has been like this for years and so is DVD video. Any comercial software on the market's TOU almost always states this as well as forbidding decompiling and reverse engineering. It sucks big time especially with DVD (why shouldnt I be able to make a DIVX copy to play on a portable player) but if you read the small print thats what you handed the money over for and nothing else.

Originally Posted by 84RegalRider

yea telling me its illegal to take apart and mod something of mine is what ****es me off. I could understand if it harms someone else.Like hackin fm transmitters. But that i cant mod a ps2 or xbox.
what bs

You can mod your Xbox. Add a toaster to it. Paint it pink. Whatever. It's not ALL modding that causes a problem. However, if you break the protection around a copyrighted portion of the device, you may then run afoul of the DMCA.

MBA

Originally Posted by v8 scimitar

Just to clear up what mbayers has said.
In a lot of cases you havent bought and dont own anything. All you have done is bought the right to use something. This doesnt really apply to harware so much although it can in some cases. Software has been like this for years and so is DVD video. Any comercial software on the market's TOU almost always states this as well as forbidding decompiling and reverse engineering. It sucks big time especially with DVD (why shouldnt I be able to make a DIVX copy to play on a portable player) but if you read the small print thats what you handed the money over for and nothing else.

Exactly right. I really think a lot of the issues around copy protection coudl be addressed by the power of the wallet, rather than by the power of the hack. Rather than pointing to all the ways that copy protection can be broken and claiming that this justifies not having it at all, why not merely choose to not buy such products, and make sure the studios are aware of it? My recollection is that this was rather effective many years ago when many software vendors were selling their applications with required security dongles and so forth. People thought the restrictions were too inconvenient, and would rather do without than deal with them. Software vendors changed their practices.

MBA

Originally Posted by mbayers

Exactly right. I really think a lot of the issues around copy protection coudl be addressed by the power of the wallet, rather than by the power of the hack. Rather than pointing to all the ways that copy protection can be broken and claiming that this justifies not having it at all, why not merely choose to not buy such products, and make sure the studios are aware of it? My recollection is that this was rather effective many years ago when many software vendors were selling their applications with required security dongles and so forth. People thought the restrictions were too inconvenient, and would rather do without than deal with them. Software vendors changed their practices.

MBA

Thats what I think DRM is going to do - kill Hollywood and may be
even Microsoft , I made my own video projector and PVR ,
So I may be able to hold off that DRM crap for years, well, untill
the parts I used wear out, or they change formats - I will buy
extra parts

But, I will find a way around it

Thanks for all the input, obviously this is a hotly debated topic, that's what made it stand out. mbayers, I will definitely take you up on your offer to talk on this topic once I get a little deeper into it. Thanks

I figured I'd revive this topic w/ an update. Currently, I have broadened the topic to Copy Protection. My thesis right now is:

Copy Protection of Digital Content:
The stepping stone to striping consumers of their rights

I've done a bit of research on this, so it's coming along. The paper is due in May, so once it's done, I'll have to post it...Anyway, if anyone has anything to add to aid in my copy protection research, then feel free to comment. Thanks

Originally Posted by migel628

I figured I'd revive this topic w/ an update. Currently, I have broadened the topic to Copy Protection. My thesis right now is:

Copy Protection of Digital Content:
The stepping stone to striping consumers of their rights

.....

You might want to be careful about the factual basis of your approach. Those who criticize copy protection often invoke "rights" which just plain don't exist. For instance, fair use itself is often mistakenly referred to as a "right". It is not. It is a legal defense to a claim of copyright infringement. If it were a "right", copyright owners would be required to enable such activities. They are not. In fact, the DMCA clearly trumps fair use.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong. Just telling you how it is.

Let me know when you want to talk about this.

MBA

@ mbayers
How international is your law knowledge, specifically regarding the UK? It all sounds logical though.

I totally agree on spending power being the most effective way to discourage further erosion of fair use practise. Unfortunately public knowledge is lacking on issues such as root kits and cactus protection. Until the average buyer is enabled to make an educated decision on their purchase, aggressive copyright protection schemes will continue.

On a side note, I believe Microsoft is trying to distance itself from DRM.