4 ms·

We're talking about two different things, really: You're saying that RMS was concerned about copy protection and locked-down devices in general back in 1997. Th

by declan 11y ago

We're talking about two different things, really: You're saying that RMS was concerned about copy protection and locked-down devices in general back in 1997. That's true, and nobody has said anything to the contrary. But RMS and the FSF didn't, as far as I remember, oppose the DMCA! It's not because they were in favor of it, but because few people in the tech community outside of the DFC were paying attention. If you look at the FSF's web site a few weeks after the DMCA became law, it talks about the fixing the (bad) Communications Decency Act, fixing (bad) software patents, and fixing (bad) crypto laws, but it doesn't even mention the DMCA: https://web.archive.org/web/19981206082742/http://www.fsf.org/ https://web.archive.org/web/19981206082742/http://www.fsf.or... BTW, late 1998 wasn't exactly exclusively Usenet/phone coordination days. Slashdot with its Your Rights Online section had launched a year before, and Wired had already been publishing its Netizen section, including my contributions, for about three years. EFF had been around for almost 10 years, and there was VTW, CDT, EPIC, ACLU, etc. also in the mix. Even my Politech mailing list. We were there. I was there. We were indeed outgunned. But also the politicians voting for the DMCA's "anti-circumvention" language never intended it to be wielded against farmers with John Deere tractors.

bsder 11y ago
Well, I suspect that you have a better feel for general sentiment given that you ran Politech. I was sitting with folks that had been making chips and systems which were compatible with other systems. They pretty much all recoiled in horror at the implications the moment they found out about the DMCA. It was clear that anybody who made a computer system was going to wield this to prevent compatible competition (our own management even proposed it for our systems, too...) irrespective of how big or small that computer system was. As for coordination, I was thinking more along the lines of 1996 rather than 1998. In 1996, broadband communication was just starting to hit general availability (1996 Telecom Act) when the WIPO treaties originally were signed (late 1996). The big problem was just that there was so much money being thrown against so few who actually understood the implications. 20 years later and we still haven't unwound all the damage. :(

by declan 11y ago

bsder 11y ago

Well, I suspect that you have a better feel for general sentiment given that you ran Politech. I was sitting with folks that had been making chips and systems which were compatible with other systems. They pretty much all recoiled in horror at the implications the moment they found out about the DMCA. It was clear that anybody who made a computer system was going to wield this to prevent compatible competition (our own management even proposed it for our systems, too...) irrespective of how big or small that computer system was. As for coordination, I was thinking more along the lines of 1996 rather than 1998. In 1996, broadband communication was just starting to hit general availability (1996 Telecom Act) when the WIPO treaties originally were signed (late 1996). The big problem was just that there was so much money being thrown against so few who actually understood the implications. 20 years later and we still haven't unwound all the damage. :(