You're not allowed to read this...
.. if you live in the US of A.
Thank you DMCA, for bringing absurdity into our daily Internet-based lives.
Red Hat has struck a small blow against the DMCA, by publishing a security patch which can only be explained fully to people who are not within US jurisdiction. The company's position here seems to be not altogether voluntary - according to a spokesman "it is bizarre, and unfortunately something Red Hat cannot easily do much about," but like it or not Red Hat has been recruited to the campaign to make the DMCA look ridiculous.
Comments
Now that's freaky. Now how did the DMCA pass again?
Posted by: Techie2000 | October 16, 2002 11:47 PM
Well, sometimes when a lobbyist backed by a major media corporation loves a congressman very much they get in bed together and nine months later... well, you know the rest.
Posted by: PopeMatt | October 17, 2002 01:29 PM
What often happens is that these hideous worst-case scenarios (that we see now) are pooh-pooh'd by the backers when they are raised by the opponent, and sometimes specifically disclaimed in the legislation itself. But once into law, those that seek to benefit find a way to do exactly what was predicted.
And we're not talking just big media companies: first big abuse I heard of was Adobe going after the Russian programmer.
Posted by: Steve | October 17, 2002 03:42 PM