HDCP break and DMCA

[Declan McCullagh]

What makes you, Incognito, believe the DMCA may "criminalize" the
publication of a scientific paper? What makes you believe that
Niels Ferguson's worry was not hyperbole, or a PR stunt designed
to garner press? What makes you think that a scientific paper
would generate even civil liability?

The DMCA may be a terrible law, sure, but let's keep criticisms
grounded in reality. The relevant section of the DMCA is only
a few pages long; let's hear how this could apply to scientists.

-Declan

(Note Dmitry has been indicted because he and his company were selling
software to circumvent copy protection.)



On Sat, Nov 24, 2001 at 03:50:49AM -0600, Incognito Innominatus wrote:
> Congratulations to Ian Goldberg, David Wagner and other cryptographers
> for publishing a break of the HDCP standard for encrypting video data.
> This was intended to be used between HDTV decoders and displays, for
> example, to allow digital communication between them in encrypted form so
> that it could not be captured and shared.  The paper by Crosby et al at
> http://nunce.org/hdcp/hdcp111901.htm is a thorough break of the system,
> which unfortunately is not fielded yet so you can't use the exploit to
> steal HDTV.
> 
> The big question is what about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act,
> which potentially criminalizes such research?  We heard a great deal this
> past summer about what a threat the DMCA was to legitimate cryptographic
> research, and about how the exemptions in the DMCA weren't worth
> the paper they were printed on.  One cryptographer, Niels Ferguson,
> refused to publish his break for fear of prosecution under the DMCA,
> http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46091,00.html.
> 
> It would be interesting to hear the perspective of any of the researchers
> involved as to whether they are concerned about the DMCA.  Do they view
> themselves as creating a possible test case?  Or are they simply going
> to ignore the DMCA and go about their lives, doing their work on the
> assumption that such a bad law will ultimately not hold up in court?