Boing Boing: EFF explains the law on AACS keys

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Wednesday, May 2, 2007

EFF explains the law on AACS keys

EFF's Fred von Lohmann has posted an excellent, incredibly depressing story about the AACS key that's been at the center of so much controversy lately. Basically, the DMCA is such a terrible law that it's almost certainly a losing proposition to publish or link to the key (though Fred says nothing about linking to sites that link to the key).

This is the law of the land, and it stinks. If there was ever an example of why the DMCA needs to die, this is it. The idea that a sixteen-digit number is illegal to possess, to discuss in class, or to post on a news site is offensive to a country where free speech is the first order of the Constitution. The MPAA and RIAA are conspiring to unmake America, to turn this into a country where free expression, due process, and the rule of law take a back-seat to a perpetual set of governmental handouts intended to guarantee the long-term profitability of a small handful of corrupt companies. Link

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:17:44 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

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Support Bloggers' Rights! HOWTO: Get a link posted to Boing Boing Boing Boing Mobile powered by Winksite Fark rules! This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States [and other countries]. Stats (About our stats) defeat censorware Policies Our first five years' worth of posts in one file	View a recent day: June 10 \| June 09 \| June 08 \| previous days \| by month and year Wednesday, May 2, 2007 EFF explains the law on AACS keys EFF's Fred von Lohmann has posted an excellent, incredibly depressing story about the AACS key that's been at the center of so much controversy lately. Basically, the DMCA is such a terrible law that it's almost certainly a losing proposition to publish or link to the key (though Fred says nothing about linking to sites that link to the key). This is the law of the land, and it stinks. If there was ever an example of why the DMCA needs to die, this is it. The idea that a sixteen-digit number is illegal to possess, to discuss in class, or to post on a news site is offensive to a country where free speech is the first order of the Constitution. The MPAA and RIAA are conspiring to unmake America, to turn this into a country where free expression, due process, and the rule of law take a back-seat to a perpetual set of governmental handouts intended to guarantee the long-term profitability of a small handful of corrupt companies. Link posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:17:44 PM permalink \| Other blogs' comments View a recent day: June 10, 2007 \| June 09, 2007 \| June 08, 2007 \| June 07, 2007 \| June 06, 2007 \| June 05, 2007 \| June 04, 2007 \| previous days \| all BB archives by month and year Email this entry to: Your email address: Message (optional):	Boing Boing Sponsored by: Your Text Ad Here Get BB by email: