Why is this important to us?

* The AFS is a publisher
* We are all readers and authors.
* Copyright law has been used to suppress expression and research
* Many of our jobs depend on copyright protections.

1. Copyright as a Hack to encourage innovation.

A balance between the interests of the creators of a work, the public, and
people who wish to use that work for more creation, with a view to increasing
the amount of work produced.

   * In the constitution
Section 8 (powers of congress) paragraph 7

   * Inheres in everything you create, registered with the US Copyright
   Office or not. Registration makes it easier to sue and increases your
   award if you win.

   * Made for an age of books and records.
-- Copies require manufacturing 
-- Derivitive works require physical manipulation of media

   * Clearly needed at the time
-- Beethoven, Shakespeare

2. Computers: Work of the Devil

a) Making exact copies becomes trivial
    * What is an exact copy?
    * Some exact copies are legitimate
    * Transmitting an exact copy is trivial
    * Changing work in small ways to produce 'new' work becomes trivial
       ** Charles Frazier's _Cold_Mountain_ in pig latin
    * What is a link?

b) Current solutions to this problem:
   * You do not own your computer -- the EULA and what it means to you

     i) You own your data but not the tools you used to create it.
     ii) You use your computer essentially at whim
     iii) If you attempt to use your sofware in certain ways, you are
violating the EULA.
    
    * The Wild West: file sharing and peer-to-peer networks
      i) Are these a Bad Thing?
      ii) Hollywood: terrified, maybe rightly.
      iii) Microsoft: frightened, maybe rightly.

3. The DMCA: Saving Microsoft and Hollywood from Us
   * DMCA and World Intellectual Property Organization: international 
   Conspiracy

   i) The DMCA and free speech
        a) The "DMCA Letter" 
           Who sends DMCA letters?
            * Scientologists used DMCA notifications to remove anti-Scientology
              sites from google's search engine -- 20 Mar 2002

            * Lexmark vs Static Control Components -- Dec 2002
                 (Lexmark claims that Static Control Components printer
                  cartridges violate the DMCA by emulating the chip
                  Lexmark uses to force you to use only their own 
                  ink cartridges in their printers)
         b)  Using the DMCA for SLAPP suits

            * RIAA vs Richard Felten (Secure Digital Music Initiative cracked
              by Felten, but RIAA forced him not to publish his 
              results) Aug 2001
	    * RIAA tries to stop Diamond Multimedia from even selling the first
	     MP3 player -- 1998

	 c) Trafficing in circumvention machinery
              * ElcomSoft and Dimitry Skylarov
              * DECSS and Jon Johansen


4. Palladium/TCPA and Digital Rights Management: protecting us from ourselves
Trusted Computing Platform Alliance

a) How to tell a copy from the Real Thing on a computer
   * Technical reasons why this is a difficult problem
   * The only reasonable approach: global strong cryptography
      i) A chip inside your computer which it's a crime to change, which
         decides essentially how you are allowed to use your computer.
       
a) How it will be sold: 
   * DRM for everyone
   * Secure payment options
   * Secure ID 
   * No more viruses

  
b) How it will be used:
   * Rental software
   * Rental music and movies
   * Forced upgrades
   * Software lock-in
   * Payment for access to your own data.


5) The Last Step: closing the Analog Hole

   Consumer Broadband Digital Television Promotion Act
   Fritz Hollings, Mar 2002 (defeated for now)

  Would make it a crime to manufacture or sell any playback or recording
     equipment which does not contain DRM.  

     * All current stereos, radios, tv sets, computers, and mp3
     players would become "pre-ban" machinery.

     * No (legal) computer would ship without DRM enabled

     * Security monitors, cameras, PA systems, emergency notification
     systems, medical and security equipment would all have to implement
     DRM software and hardware

     * Shot down, for now.

5) Resources

EFF -- http://www.eff.org
OSI -- http://www.opensource.org
Anti-DMCA -- http://www.anti-dmca.org
Open Source -- http://www.fsf.org