This is completely ridiculous.  We should all thank the judge in the case for single-handedly setting back the rights of consumers 15 years.  Consumers deserve the right to make copies of works they purchase for their own personal use and backup.  I’m a DVD X Copy user and proud of it – you see, I have a 2 year old.  We buy countless copies of Blues Clues this and Dora the Explorer that – they’re like crack for toddlers, you know.  Each one of those costs between $12 and $20.  The first time I found Benjamin sitting on the floor using his DVDs as munitions in some sort of weird assault on his recently-created Lego Mega Tower, I purchased DVD X Copy.  I can now make a copy of the DVDs we purchase for him and store the originals in a safer place.  I say “safer” because nothing is completely safe where a hyperactive child is concerned. 

I understand the Motion Picture Association’s side of things – they want to protect their intellectual capital and ensure that they can sell as many copies of their works as possible.  However, what ever happened to just building a better mouse trap?  You’re telling me that no one is smart enough to come up with a way to prevent people from making countless copies of a DVD movie and redistributing them but still allowing honest people the right to protect their investment!?  Or, for goodness sake, are they not able to pursue and punish those who break the law by distributing pirated movies – you know, instead of just assuming every one of their customers is a thief?

This is not a new problem for these corporations, folks.  People that sell music and movies have been dealing with pirates for decades.  Yes, now it’s a bigger problem because of digital duplication and the Internet.  The real difference for these corporations now, though, is the DMCA.  They can now hide behind the biggest piece of legislation that has ever passed through our government.  And that’s saying a lot – we’ve passed some pretty bad laws in our history.  The problem with the DMCA is that it’s too vague, too comprehensive and does nothing to protect the rights of the consumer.  Just talking about how someone might be able to circumvent the copy protection on a DVD or CD is punishable.  Ever heard of free speech?  Not to mention the fact that any security person worth their weight will tell you the best way to ensure that a security measure is effective is to make the basis of it well known and scrutinized.  The lobbyists for the record companies and Motion Picture Association earned their keep on this one. 

Let’s hope this isn’t the end of this and that more reasonable minds prevail.  The next thing you know, they’ll be outlawing photocopiers, video recorders, audio recorders, cameras, word processors, and so on…  Any of these could be used to easily steal someone else’s intellectual property and redistribute it.    

321 Studios, makers of DVD X Copy, have lost their lawsuit and now have 7 days to stop distributing their software (presumably only in the US).

The bludgeon used was the DMCA, that awful legislation that pretends to preserve rights by taking them away.

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[The .NET Guy]