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To: Panerai
In a 3-0 decision, the court upheld a trial judge's ruling from October, concluding the programmers' "circumvention in this case constitutes infringement."

This is BS. The DMCA, even as bad as it is, allows reverse engineering for purposes of interoperability. In this specific case, interoperability with other game servers.

Ever since it came out, the DMCA has been used as a cudgel for big business to restrict competition and fair use. Even though it hasn't been legally effective in every case, it can still be used as a deterrent -- not everybody has the money to defend themselves.

3 posted on 09/02/2005 8:00:12 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: antiRepublicrat
This is BS. The DMCA, even as bad as it is, allows reverse engineering for purposes of interoperability. In this specific case, interoperability with other game servers.

Do you bother to even read these articles? They're not talking about interop. They're talking about "reverse engineering Blizzard Entertainment's video games to improve their playability." In other words, to gain an advantage over other players and essentially compromise the integrity of Blizzard's service. Here's an example: You hack Starcraft so that your ships can move twice as fast or hyperjump to random locations of your choosing. Because you've taken an advantage that isn't available to other players, those players would consider it cheating and wouldn't want to play. Why would they? It isn't fair. Consequently, Blizzard is arguing that they will lose money when people start defecting in frustration.

Ever since it came out, the DMCA has been used as a cudgel for big business to restrict competition and fair use. Even though it hasn't been legally effective in every case, it can still be used as a deterrent -- not everybody has the money to defend themselves

This isn't about restricting competition and fair use. It's about protecting Blizzard's ability to provide a service that its customers would want to use. Hacking that service in order to cheat causes Blizzard's offering to be devalued. Only the most strident anti-business bigots can't see that...
10 posted on 09/02/2005 9:14:37 AM PDT by Bush2000 (Linux -- You Get What You Pay For ... (tm)
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To: antiRepublicrat

Good, a stupid law can do what parents can't - get rid of mindless games.


39 posted on 10/04/2005 12:05:38 PM PDT by Old Professer (Fix the problem, not the blame!)
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