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To: Bush2000
The California case has nothing to do with information disclosure.

He was convicted of "circumvention of a technological measure used to protect a work", which is the heart of the DMCA. There's also a reference to a second case in Nebraska which involved mod-chipping a Playstation. That answers your original question, "has anyone been prosecuted successfully under this law?"

There aren't any convictions under the "disclosure" interpretation; but remember that Sklyarov was charged with trafficking in circumvention technology, even though he personally distributed no software, only information, and that is what has everyone so concerned about the possibilities.

30 posted on 10/17/2002 10:12:43 AM PDT by TechJunkYard
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To: TechJunkYard
He was convicted of "circumvention of a technological measure used to protect a work", which is the heart of the DMCA. There's also a reference to a second case in Nebraska which involved mod-chipping a Playstation. That answers your original question, "has anyone been prosecuted successfully under this law?"

Sure, but the primary complaint being registered by people on this thread is that they can't even talk or write about security issues. The California and Nebraska cases don't support that theory at all. In both of those cases, the individuals in question implemented copyright workarounds. They weren't merely exercising their right to free speech. It's analogous to talking about how to steal a car and actually doing it.

There aren't any convictions under the "disclosure" interpretation; but remember that Sklyarov was charged with trafficking in circumvention technology, even though he personally distributed no software, only information, and that is what has everyone so concerned about the possibilities.

It may have you concerned; however, disseminating non-copyrighted information is guaranteed by the first amendment. Sklyarov and Elcomsoft, if I understand correctly, actually implemented circumvention technology for Adobe eBooks. Sure, they may have talked about it; however, it was the actual implementation that truly got them in trouble.
34 posted on 10/17/2002 11:03:42 AM PDT by Bush2000
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