[LINK] Lessig on Sklyarov and the DMCA

[Tony Barry]

 From slashdot -

>Lessig on Sklyarov and the DMCA
>
>Posted 07/31/2001 - 1:13am EDT [Discussion]
>Law professor Lawrence Lessig (of DeCSS fame) has written an 
>excellent piece 
>http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/30/opinion/30LESS.html&OQ=searchpvQ3DnytToday 
>for the NYT that breaks down exactly what's wrong with the DMCA and 
>the Sklyarov arrest in very simple, straightforward terms. This is a 
>link to send out to your non-techie friends and family, who may not 
>understand what all the fuss is over. Here's his main point, in a 
>nutshell:
>
>The D.M.C.A. outlaws technologies designed to circumvent other 
>technologies that protect copyrighted material. It is law protecting 
>software code protecting copyright. The trouble, however, is that 
>technologies that protect copyrighted material are never as subtle 
>as the law of copyright. Copyright law permits fair use of 
>copyrighted material; technologies that protect copyrighted material 
>need not. Copyright law protects for a limited time; technologies 
>have no such limit.
>
>Well, there you go; he hit the nail on the head. This should help 
>some of the folks who naively equate intellectual property law with 
>traditional property law. (This kind if mistake is at the root of 
>the fallacious and oversimplified "Napster = shoplifting" analogy 
>that you see used in many debates). -Hannibal
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