Would Holly? Hollywood.

Brian writes \”In a Column about the DMCA and related issues, Paul Somerson of Ziff Davis Smart Business says:
\”If Hollywood could ban public libraries, you know they would.\”

This is a very interesting piece indeed, every time I read something about the DMCA I just want to cry.

\”Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), an evil legislative bludgeon rammed through Congress by the Clinton administration, that prevents access to anything that\’s copyrighted unless you have the explicit permission of the owner. This essentially guts \”fair use\” of the material, and outlaws any attempt to break copy protection or encryption, or even reverse engineer anything.\”

Brian writes \”In a Column about the DMCA and related issues, Paul Somerson of Ziff Davis Smart Business says:
\”If Hollywood could ban public libraries, you know they would.\”

This is a very interesting piece indeed, every time I read something about the DMCA I just want to cry.

\”Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), an evil legislative bludgeon rammed through Congress by the Clinton administration, that prevents access to anything that\’s copyrighted unless you have the explicit permission of the owner. This essentially guts \”fair use\” of the material, and outlaws any attempt to break copy protection or encryption, or even reverse engineer anything.\”More from ZDNet
What\’s the real difference between swapping CDs with friends and swapping songs with people who you just met over the Web? Or having the Internet make this material available rather than a library?


Hollywood reflexively fights any technology it thinks will dilute its profits. They failed with VCRs and MP3 players and Internet radio, and they deserve to fail here. To paraphrase former Nixon Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, the toothpaste is out of the tube. Live with it.