Effective and ineffective technological measures

[Trei, Peter]

> ----------
> From: 	Alan Barrett[SMTP:apb at cequrux.com]
> 
> 
> The DMCA said:
> > 1201(a)(1)(A):
> >    No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively
> >    controls access to a work protected under this title.
> 
> What does "effectively" mean here?
> 
> If it has its plain english meaning, then one could argue that ROT13,
> CSS (and anything else that can easily be broken) are *ineffective*
> technological measures, so circumventing them is not prohibited by this
> clause.  Distinguishing effective measures from ineffective measures
> might reduce to measuring the resources required to break them.
> 
> Or does the clause really mean "No person shall circumvent a
> technological measure that *purports to control* access to a work
> protected under this title"?
> 
> --apb (Alan Barrett)
> 
Take a look at Sklyarov's presentation:
http://www.treachery.net/~jdyson/ebooks/
and especially 
http://www.treachery.net/~jdyson/ebooks/slide11.html

The listed company allegedly puts ROT13 in a dongle,
and then encrypts documents for $3000 a pop.

[In fairness, I can't confirm this from their own website,
and I suspect that they are just 'protecting' their own
investor reports].

....but read the whole Sklyarov presentation - this is
not the most fraudulent form of 'protection' being
foisted on naive e-publishers.

Peter Trei






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