flagrantdisregard » copyright

Fair use lives

John — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:10:51 +0000

The copyright office issued new exemptions on the DMCAs anti-circumvention rule today. The new rules say that it is not a violation of the DMCA to rip lawfully obtained DVDs and remix clips from those DVDs for noncommercial purposes, jailbreak your phone, unlock your phone to use with other wireless carriers, crack lawfully obtained video games to investigate security flaws, crack lawfully obtained computer programs protected by dongles that are no longer available or working, and crack lawfully obtained ebooks that block read-aloud functionality or screen readers.

If you did any of those things before, the DMCA made you a criminal. Now you’re not.

These rules are based on the fact that access control measures (DRM) diminish “the ability of individuals to use copyrighted works in ways that are not infringing.” Fair use. But why don’t they just come out with a rule that says all fair use is exempt from the anti-circumvention law? Why limit it to these specific cases?

U.S. Copyright Office – Anticircumvention Rulemaking

Does the punishment fit the crime?

John — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 04:48:04 +0000

In the United States, copying a DVD can get you up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. At least, that’s what all of my legally rented Netflix DVDs tell me every single time I watch them. For fun, I thought I’d see if that punishment was reasonable by surveying the California penal code (the penal code is actually funnier than it sounds). Here are some other crimes, for comparison:

Crime (penal code section)	Maximum prison sentence	Illegal DVD equivalent
Assault (“an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another”) (241.a)	6 months	10 counts of assault = 1 illegal DVD
Possession of an assault weapon (12280.b)	1 year	5 assault weapons = 1 illegal DVD
Battery (“any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another”) against a peace officer, fire fighter, nurse, physician, lifeguard, paramedic, armed services member, etc. (243.b)	1 year	5 counts of battery = 1 illegal DVD
Deserting your child with intent to abandon (271)	1 year	Deserting 5 children = 1 illegal DVD
Firing a laser at an occupied aircraft (No, I’m not kidding!) (247.5)	3 years	0.6 DVDs
Sexual battery (243.4.b)	4 years	0.8 DVDs
Throwing feces on a prison guard (243.9.a)	4 years	0.8 DVDs
Assault with a deadly weapon (245.a.1)	4 years	0.8 DVDs
Unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (261.5.d)	4 years	0.8 DVDs
Forcing your wife into prostitution (266g)	4 years	0.8 DVDs
Rape (264.a)	8 years	1.6 DVDs
Kidnapping (208.a)	8 years	1.6 DVDs
Mayhem (“unlawfully and maliciously deprives a human being of a member of his body”) (204)	8 years	1.6 DVDs
Sexual assault of a child (269)	15 years to life	3 to 20 DVDs
2nd degree murder (190.a)	15 years to life	3 to 20 DVDs
1st degree murder (190.a)	25 years to life	5 to 20 DVDs

So, in theory, you might do more time for illegally copying a Disney DVD for your kids to watch than if you deserted them in a Hollywood alley. Does that sound reasonable to you?

Corporate greed run amok

John — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 00:27:20 +0000

I just got a spam email in my Flickr mailbox from none other than GE promoting their Picture a Healthy World project. Here’s the email I received:

Dear Flickr Member:

We saw this photo of yours and really love it!

[link removed]

We selected your photo based on its quality and subject matter, which we believe is ideal for our project, “Picture a Healthy World.”

On February 14, 2006, GE Healthcare will launch a worldwide initiative to encourage people to share photos and stories of how they stay healthy.

Go to www.ge.com/health and add your photo by February 10, 2006 so your image can be displayed in Times Square in celebration of World Health Day.

Thanks for your help!

The GE Healthcare Team

P.S. Unfortunately, we cannot respond to your questions individually at this time. If you miss the deadline for early submission, you can still participate in Picture a Healthy World on February 14th.

It all seems so altruistic until you read the terms and conditions and get to this part:

You hereby grant GE and any of its third party vendors engaged to provide services to GE in connection with the Program, the unqualified, unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual and royalty free right, license, authorization and permission, to publicly display (including, by way of example but in no way limited to, displaying Your Content on a large screen display in Times Square, New York, NY), transmit (including, by way of example but in no way limited to, enabling other users of the Program to send Your Content by e-mail to any third party), use, copy, reproduce, publish, web cast, pod cast, broadcast, re-publish, re-broadcast, re-platform and/or port, syndicate, route, link to and from, circulate, distribute, exhibit, perform, edit, adapt, reformat, translate, mix, combine, merge, superimpose, encrypt, encode and decode, compress and decompress, distort, create or add special effects and/or illusions, alter, supplement, enhance and/or modify Your Content and to excerpt and/or extract all or any portion of Your Content in connection with the Program, public displays (including, by way of example but in no way limited to, displaying Your Content on a large screen display in Times Square, New York, NY), presentations, marketing materials, customer lists and financial reports, to do, perform, take advantage of and exploit any and all of the rights set forth herein in connection with the marketing, advertising and promotion of the Program and any products, goods, features, functions, capabilities and/or services associated with us.

Translation: By submitting your photo, you grant GE the irrevocable right to do whatever the hell they want with it forever. Basically, if you submit anything to this project, GE and anyone they work with can use it for anything they want including the marketing of products and services.

And what do you get in return? GE says that they might show it in Times Square on Valentine’s day. Maybe. But they don’t have to. Valentine’s day.

Ain’t love grand?

Update: Flickr staff terminated the account that was being used to send the spam. I love Flickr.

Update Feb 16 2006: I’ve been exchanging emails with Jennifer Walsh, Global Director, Digital Media, at GE about this issue. She wrote that it was not GE’s intent to use the photos for anything other than this campaign. And on February 11th she wrote:

Based on your feedback and similar input from other users, our attorneys have revised the Terms & Conditions for the official site that will launch next week. They have agreed to more specifically limit the T&Cs to this campaign. There are no broader intentions for the photo contributions of site visitors. Bear with us while we make this update to the site over the next couple of days.

I hope you will consider participating in this campaign in the near future. And thanks again for your input.

Today I’ve checked the website and read the revised terms and conditions. They’re mostly the same but instead of granting GE a license to use the photos for anything under the sun, the license is limited to using the photos “solely in connection with the Program and the promotion and advertising thereof.” That’s much better.