DMCA against constitution??

[Homer]

Elcomsoft will base its defence on the fact that the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) would be against the constitution...

Elcomsoft wrote a program once which disabled the copy-protection in some Adobe product...

What do you think...?
Against the constitution or not... Also, WHY?

 

[thewitt]

Which constitutional right is being violated here?

 

[Homer]

Freedom of speach / free oppinion...

 

[thewitt]

The First Ammendment to the Constitution reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

So no, I don't see how the DMCA goes against anyone's freedom of speech.

Do you have the right under the constitution to redistribute someone elses copyrighted materials? Nope.

-t

 

[Homer]

See...

Looking from a legal angle here... The question is: Is making/writing software a form of speech?
If considered so, yes, the DMCA can do d*** against them...

Howcome? The constitution is a Lex Superior ... Meaning that it goes above all inferior laws... Such as copyright laws for example.

Now... ask yourself, should something like:

print "Hello World!";

... be considered a way of expression, a way of speech, or even oppinion if you like...

If the supreme court agrees, the DMCA broke the law.

Your input......?

 

[thewitt]

Homer, I'm not a lawyer, but in my opinion you are reading too much into the freedom of expression thing.

Copyright law has held up under constitutional scrutiny many times. That's not going to change now simply because we have added a new medium, to the mix.

-t

 

[Homer]

Well it is all upto what the supreme court thinks about software being a form of speech... Is so, which I doubt, freedom of speech is a Lex Superior which will beat the copyright law...

That is the whole thing, IS it or IS IT NOT a form of speech???