hymn

randyguthrie · Joined: 23 Dec 2008 Posts: 3

Would someone please explain something to me. What happened to the Bill of Rights and Freedom of Speech? I have the constitutional right to tell people how to make meth or a silencer, but I dont have the right to post information about how to hack iTunes? Obviously if the moderator makes that choice on his own then that is his business, but how can a private company force him to do it?

DrmBytes · Moderator Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 3002

Because a program like requiem is not covered under free speech laws. It's covered under the DMCA, at least in the United States. As requiem implements a method for circumvention of a copy protection mechanism, it falls directly under the DMCA. What pisses me off is that the pricks at Apple decided to use a Cease and Desist legal tactic to get us to remove a LINK to a program not hosted by this forum. The more I think about that situation the more is pisses me off. We were not hosting software that could circumvent copy protection mechanisms. (I would argue correctly that myFairTunes and QTFairUse6 did not in fact circumvent a goddamn thing. It merely attached to a running process in memory and streamed bits to a file. And requiem was never hosted here.) It was the link to requiem that got us served. We could have attempted to tell Apple to go pound sand but the decision was made to remove the "infringing" material and play nice. Apple is rightfully afraid of requiem, but, unfortunately by pushing as hard as they did they now lost control over the distribution of it. Freenet and torrents are going to prove impossible for them to stop. I'm personally laughing my ass off on that situation. It was their own heavy handed tactics that caused the author of requiem to take it so far underground. The C&D letter sent to this site was overkill. We have ALWAYS been about restoring fair use and not about pirating music. Those that have been around here long enough know how well I tolerate piracy on this site. IMO, we struck a very fine balance with Apple where they mostly tolerated what we did on this site and they used technical means to block the things that were hosted here. That was a good balance and fair. But that balance was broken by them, not us, and as a result I no longer do business with them. Once they get their head out of their ass and remove the DRM from their music and videos, then I'll start buying stuff from them again. A few weeks ago there was hope that it was going to happen, but, it turned out to be a false rumor. As such they still do not get a dime from me. I've taken my business to companies that recognize that people want to be free to do as they please with their products. DRM has never been about controlling piracy rates. It's 100% about controlling the user experience. Apple has a nice lock in of iPod users. DRM keeps that in place. Requiem scared the shit out of them. Hence the heavy handed approach. But in the end, it backfired. The sad thing is that the utilities that were hosted on this side did more to help Apple than it EVER did to hurt them. They're a bunch of morons for upsetting that balance. Oh well.
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randyguthrie · Joined: 23 Dec 2008 Posts: 3

That is just it. A link is just speech, not the offending item.

If you really want a laugh read up on Vista's DRM. Microsoft and the MPAA are insisting on security features such as an encrypted bus that the military could not even get to work. They must know that it is not going to work in the end, which might explain why there are so many politically correct references in the specs that speak to making a good effort and talking the talk.

DrmBytes · Moderator Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 3002

All DRM is the same. It can never work.

As for links being free speech, things have changed on that front. Many sites are getting in trouble for linking to content these days. The owner of this site didn't want such issues so the "offending" material was removed.
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sk8rpro · Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 205

The 1st Amendment is BS - there's really no such thing as free speech. Whenever you put limits on freedom of speech (perjury, harassment, DMCA, limits on what school teachers are allowed to say, etc.) it shows how hypocritical our system of government is. Whenever there is a threat, limits on freedom must be made "for the security" of our nation. The more security our nation has, the more our freedom is taken away (like wiretapping or the Patriot Act).
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JHymn, rest in peace! You will be missed.

randyguthrie · Joined: 23 Dec 2008 Posts: 3

My point was that there are in fact no limits in this context. Apple and the other companies are just trying to con and intimidate people. If this were my website AND I felt like paying a lot of legal bills I would tell Apple and the rest of them to fuck off.

beetlejuice · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 230

That's just it. I don't think the site owner wishes to spend scads of money on this. Of course, Apple is still told to fuck off occasionally. Wink

georgebush · Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 1

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Austeon347 · Joined: 25 Dec 2009 Posts: 1

God... I JUST got an MP3 player and a $15 iTunes GIFT CARD*, and now they're saying I CAN'T use them together? Apple has pissed me off big time.
Nice job Apple iTunes! You've managed to piss us all off!

* I stress GIFT CARD
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DrmBytes · Moderator Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 3002