DeCSS, crypto, law, and economics

[Sandy Harris]

Pete Chown wrote:

> John S. Denker wrote:
>
>> Note that in the absence of market segmentation,
>> the society as a whole is worse off.
>
>
> I see what you mean, but do you think it applies to DVDs?  The 
> segmentation needs to be in each market, between rich and poor 
> consumers.  What we actually have is segmentation between markets, say 
> Europe and the US.  Europe and the US have similar income per head, 
> but various obscure factors cause products like DVDs to be more 
> expensive in Europe.
>
> The other interesting thing about market segmentation is that it is 
> often illegal.  Britain's competition law is being reformed in summer 
> this year.  Running a cartel will become a crime, in addition to the 
> current civil penalty regime.  It will also become possible to bring 
> private anti-trust suits.  In other words we are moving towards the 
> American model of anti-trust.
>
> I intend to make a complaint about DVD region coding, and I will wait 
> until the summer because the prospect of going to prison will add some 
> extra pizazz for the defending team.  Don't get too excited, though, 
> it isn't always easy to get these things moving in the UK.  Read about 
> the Walls Ice Cream case if you're curious... 

I've tried to do that in Canada, without a lot of success. See this 
mailing list post:
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/discuss/40

Since I'm now teaching English in China, I am not following up on it. 
See the rest
of that list's archive, or ask on that list, to see if others are.

One interesting result I did get was having a Canadian civil servant 
gleefully
point me to information on what the aussies were up to. See this post:
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/discuss/17

For UK stuff, see:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/9348.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/9357.html


---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo at wasabisystems.com