Wed May 6 15:38:21 2009: #dmca1201 Rob Kasunic: 'Let's ask the lawyers [about reverse engineering]' @csoghoian: 'But they have no incentive to be nice to me.'
Wed May 6 15:49:50 2009: #dmca1201 Does Steve Metalitz concede that there is a consumer interest (for review by FTC) in fair terms of service & access to (c) works?
Wed May 6 15:53:38 2009: #dmca1201 David Carson: 'The real world is happening whether we give the exemption or not' re: Aistars's arg that people will overstep.
Wed May 6 15:54:59 2009: #dmca1201 The 'anticircumvention law enables new business models' argument is alive and kicking here in 2009:, via Aistars and Metalitz.
Wed May 6 17:43:38 2009: Peter Decherney argues for #dmca exemption to protect students too, describes a class project that sputtered because of poor-quality video.
Wed May 6 18:02:00 2009: Renee Hobbs: Media literacy teachers hobbled on all fronts - no one has VCRs, YouTube access is blocked, and DVDs are DMCA'd. #dmca1201
Wed May 6 18:58:46 2009: Carlton Jackson: #dmca1201 exemption should extend beyond film studies to all educators, because video is the modern text.
Wed May 6 19:04:17 2009: #dmca1201 theme: Technology opens the walls of the classroom and extends the curriculum; copyright must keep up, not inhibit.
Wed May 6 19:09:04 2009: Martine Courant Rife asks LoC to see educators as more than 'consumers.' #dmca 'I can't model activities that would be unlawful for students
Wed May 6 19:21:51 2009: Metalitz: we don't object to these uses, we object to circuvmention to make these uses. [i.e., we want to keep commentary abnormal] #dmca
Wed May 6 19:36:53 2009: Fritz Attaway breaks out the camcorder. You don't get convenience or optimal quality, mere availability of some alternate means. #dmca1201
Wed May 6 19:40:37 2009: MPAA demo of camcording a television display required 00 HD video camera, 00 monitor, extensive setup (and a tripod). #dmca1201
Wed May 6 19:43:45 2009: Bruce Turnbull: Our interest is in protecting the commercial viability of the technological protection measure. That's what 1201 aimed at.
Wed May 6 19:44:45 2009: Bruce Turnbull: Our interest is in protecting the commercial viability of the technological protection measure. That's what 1201 aimed at.
Wed May 6 19:51:35 2009: Turnbull: the key to that system is to keep legitimate users and retailers from using the circumvention that is admittedly available #dmca
Wed May 6 20:31:11 2009: Jon Band: The folks across the room (CE/MPAA) have changed our expectations of quality. Now, lower quality video distracts from pres. #dmca
Wed May 6 21:06:25 2009: In the #dmca1201 alternate universe, the camcorder is ok because it doesn't threaten technology of CSS (or technological lock of licensors).
Wed May 6 21:35:33 2009: For those just tuning in, I'm live tweeting Copyright Office DMCA exemption hearing, http://www.copyright.gov/1201/hearings/2009:/ #dmca1201
Wed May 6 21:49:01 2009: Between the Scylla of Circumvention and the Charybdis of Censorship? Debating 'permission-required' access at #dmca1201
Wed May 6 22:03:33 2009: #dmca1201 theme: (c) law increasingly separates privileged classes from 'the rest of us.' Just as it becomes easier for all to create, teach
Wed May 6 22:10:01 2009: #dmca1201 No documented case of abuse of the prior 3-year exemption. But 'erosion of the principle of anticircumvention,' integrity of DRM.
Thu May 7 14:28:41 2009: Filmmaker Gordon Quinn was unable to license 'Coming to America' clip to illustrate Nigerians' amusement at US portrayal of Africa #dmca1201
Thu May 7 14:30:04 2009: Quinn shows typical license agreement that prohibits 'derogatory' or critical use. That's why we need fair use, circumv to preserve. #dmca
Thu May 7 14:39:04 2009: Quinn: props to Pat Aufderheide & Peter Jaszi's documentarians' best practices, enables E&O insurance around fair use http://is.gd/HXA #dmca
Thu May 7 14:44:43 2009: Jim Morrissette: There are two kinds of quality: image quality, and broadcast quality. Bcasters will reject out-of-spec video. #dmca1201
Thu May 7 14:55:35 2009: Morrissette gives great technical detail on high source-quality requirements for public broadcasting. 'Point a camcorder' won't cut it #dmca
Thu May 7 15:06:27 2009: Bruce Turnbull of DVD-CCA suggests filmmakers should 'negotiate with industry' for access; another effort to divide the fair users #dmca1201
Thu May 7 15:12:43 2009: Metalitz: you don't need permission to make fair use, but permission is an alternative to circumvention. Huh? #dmca1201
Thu May 7 15:31:30 2009: David Carson presses for an answer 'If CSS covers a disc with both public domain and (c) content, can users access PD?' Metalitz ducks #dmca
Thu May 7 15:53:11 2009: Quinn: You're saying technology this, permission that; We're talking about a fundamental free speech right #dmca1201
Thu May 7 15:57:36 2009: Rebecca Tushnet, OTW: The adverse impact we're addressing is an impact on the system of fair use, user creation of noncommercial works #dmca
Thu May 7 16:03:28 2009: Tushnet: We can't get Art.III fair use precedent if we can't make uses & face court challenge. #dmca is digital literacy test and poll tax
Thu May 7 16:07:19 2009: Tushnet: We need to make copyright comprehencive to ordinary people who are trying to comply. #dmca anticircumvention regime is nonsensical.
Thu May 7 16:13:50 2009: Tushnet: What we're hearing here is 'you've got to be this tall to make fair use.' Cutting out the underprivileged is not fair use. #dmca
Thu May 7 16:15:23 2009: Francesca Coppa: a vid is a visual essay that critiques popular culture in its own medium. #dmca1201
Thu May 7 16:18:48 2009: Coppa: Vidding is minorities talking back to culture. Needs high quality to foreground what the original puts in the background. #dmca
Thu May 7 16:24:14 2009: #dmca 512 vs 1201: Coppa says users are afraid to defend fair uses vs YouTube takedowns if methods involved circumvention.
Thu May 7 16:29:50 2009: Coppa: Forcing vidders to use lower-quality video further marginalizes the often women/minority-driven commentary. #dmca
Thu May 7 16:30:22 2009: Tisha Turk: I have circumention technology and I know how to use it. I also have lots of DVDs. Good art & commentary adds to DVD sales.#dmca
Thu May 7 16:41:08 2009: M Courant Rife: I want my students to be able to use skills they learn in the classroom after graduation. [even obvious must be said] #dmca
Thu May 7 16:59:02 2009: Turnbull: the terms and conditions on the DVD-player-licensees of CSS are all a part of the 'technological protection measure' #dmca1201
Thu May 7 17:14:42 2009: Tushnet: Imagine how hard this is to teach, if we're fighting about whether screen capture is circumvention... #dmca
Thu May 7 17:20:12 2009: Tushnet: Free speech doesn't come with a lawyer in hand. We're losing the uncounseled fair uses. #dmca
Thu May 7 17:26:23 2009: #dmca unreality zone: Metalitz says fair users shouldn't fear anticircumvention litigation, so shouldn't get exemption. Saying 'break it'?
Thu May 7 17:32:40 2009: Turnbull: the purpose of 1201 was to enable the technology and not to force c-holders to sue individual users. #dmca
Thu May 7 18:40:06 2009: Alex Halderman describes the frequent, systemic tension between DRM systems and individual computer security. #dmca
Thu May 7 18:43:49 2009: Halderman on #dmca chill: Several of my computer security research papers have listed more legal team members than security researchers.
Thu May 7 18:55:20 2009: @blakereid points out the limited reach of 1201(j)'s security testing exception. We need broader right to investigate. #dmca
Thu May 7 19:49:23 2009: Halderman: There isn't any credentialing process in the computer security community. Good work often done by non-experts. #dmca
Thu May 7 19:57:41 2009: #dmca theme: Paradoxically, (c) industry claims we're too law abiding if we're chilled by the threat of circumvention liability.
Thu May 7 20:26:13 2009: Halderman: DRM's endemic security side-effects on the PC stem from complexity, control, limiting user's understanding of the system. #dmca
Thu May 7 20:29:02 2009: #dmca hearings over for the day. Will follow-up by blog. #dmca1201
Fri May 8 13:32:45 2009: Blogged a recap from #dmca #dmca1201 http://wendy.seltzer.org/blog/archives/2009/05/08/theater-of-the-dmca-anticircumvention-hearings.html