Re: Dr. Dobbs Cryptography and Security CD-ROM
Copyright laws will do nothing to prevent the text from being distributed. All copyright laws will do is make you able to punish "offenders" after the fact. They have no mystical value to "protect" anything, especially digital medium, which is easy to copy.
What makes this case especially awkward is the fact that the CDROM can't legally be sold outside the US, which means the only way the rest of the world can get it is through illegal copies. Given the immense usefulness of something like this, I'd say it's only a matter of time before bootleg copies start appearing outside the US, but because of the USG's position we can't pay for it even if we want to (DDJ wouldn't look too good if they accepted payment for what they knew was illegally exported crypto). Perhaps a donation of the same amount to charity would serve as some equivalent to payment... Peter.
At 8:58 AM -0700 7/1/97, Peter Gutmann wrote:
Copyright laws will do nothing to prevent the text from being distributed. All copyright laws will do is make you able to punish "offenders" after the fact. They have no mystical value to "protect" anything, especially digital medium, which is easy to copy.
What makes this case especially awkward is the fact that the CDROM can't legally be sold outside the US, which means the only way the rest of the world can get it is through illegal copies. Given the immense usefulness of something like this, I'd say it's only a matter of time before bootleg copies start appearing outside the US, but because of the USG's position we can't pay for it even if we want to (DDJ wouldn't look too good if they accepted payment for what they knew was illegally exported crypto). Perhaps a donation of the same amount to charity would serve as some equivalent to payment...
It might also be a nice gesture if the parts of the CDROM available outside the US were not posted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | The Internet was designed | Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | to protect the free world | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | from hostile governments. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA
[Coderpunks removed as its off topic there.] On Mon, 30 Jun 1997, Bill Frantz wrote:
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 21:57:39 -0700
[...]
At 8:58 AM -0700 7/1/97, Peter Gutmann wrote:
What makes this case especially awkward is the fact that the CDROM can't legally be sold outside the US, which means the only way the rest of the world can get it is through illegal copies.
IIRC if something is not published in australia within some time perod of it getting published elsewhere interesting things happen to the copy and publishing rights. Please excuse my spelling as I suffer from agraphia see the url in my header. Never trust a country with more peaple then sheep. Buy easter bilbies. Save the ABC Is $0.08 per day too much to pay? ex-net.scum and prouud I'm sorry but I just don't consider 'because its yukky' a convinceing argument
participants (3)
-
? the Platypus {aka David Formosa} -
Bill Frantz -
pgut001＠cs.auckland.ac.nz