Canada's own DMCA

[Christopher Browne]

On 5/13/05, daniel <danstemporaryaccount-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> 'cmon.  think about the demographic here.  everyone on this list knows the
> dangers of things like drm and the dmca, but the mentality on this list makes
> up no more than 2% of the voting public.  the ndp is doing what any smart
> party would do in this position: looking for the groups that'll hand them the
> most votes.  as far as anyone else is concerned, this whole "dmca thing" is
> just some weird computer thing that doesn't concern them.

You can get a pretty big step away from the "weird computer thing" and
still find them unsympathetic.

The RIAA and such are pushing for it on the basis that people are
illegally copying music when they share around MP3s.

There's TRUTH to that, and it's an easy point to point to.

I can consider the RIAA to be scoundrels, but if I then "pirate"
music, I undermine any notion of "moral high ground."  There are way
more people doing "pirate music" than there are on any 'high ground,'
and that makes the set of DMCA opponents look unattractive.

There's some difficulty in seeing a difference between:
 - Those "software pirates" that make copies of computer games so that they get
   it all for free, and

 - Those "free software advocates" that advocate software being
available for free.

Don't both favor passing around software for free?  That makes them
both kind of the same, right?

There is some seeming similarity, which makes it tough to stand by the
one that isn't blindly immoral...
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