Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.misc > #5496

Re: Conservancy Files Petition for DMCA Exemptions for "Smart" TVs

Show all headers | View raw

On 1/11/2014 2:44 PM, Rich wrote:
> http://sfconservancy.org/news/2014/oct/31/dmca-petition/
>
>     Software Freedom Conservancy, with the pro-bono assistance of Tor
>     Ekeland, P.C., filed today a petition for a proposed exception to the
>     anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
>     ("DMCA"). In its filing, Conservancy asks that the U.S. Copyright Office
>     to legally permit circumvention of encryption for firmwares found on
>     Smart TV products from manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony and LG.
>     Conservancy's full Petition for Proposed Exemption under 17 U.S.C. §
>     1201 is available in PDF and in ODT format.
>
>     By default, the DMCA prohibits users from examining and attempting to
>     decrypt firmwares on these devices when the manufacturer has used
>     Digital Restrictions Management ("DRM") to prohibit modification and
>     augmentation of the software on the device. Most of these devices
>     include software licensed under GPLv2, such as Linux and BusyBox, but
>     the DMCA often legally stymies users' ability to installed modified
>     versions of the firmware, even when the device manufacturer provides the
>     complete, corresponding source for these components and "scripts used to
>     control compilation and installation of the executable" (per
>     requirements in the GPLv2). If granted, Conservancy's requested
>     exemptions would liberate users of BusyBox/Linux-based encrypted
>     firmwares to circumvent the encryption (if they find a technically
>     feasible way of doing so), and such users would need not fear the harsh
>     penalties under DMCA for disseminating information on how to circumvent
>     such DRM.
>
>     ...
>

Or people could just disseminate such information via associates in 
Australia, where the legislature did something about this abuse of DCMA 
in 2006.

Sylvia.

Back to comp.misc | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Conservancy Files Petition for DMCA Exemptions for "Smart" TVs Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2014-11-01 03:44 +0000
  Re: Conservancy Files Petition for DMCA Exemptions for "Smart" TVs Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2014-11-01 19:25 +1100

csiph-web