I really, really, really hope that a mainstream press source takes notice of a recent NewsForge story on how a recent Reuters article may violate the DMCA. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act makes it illegal to publish or disseminate any method to circument copy-protection, no matter how flimsy that protection may be, or how damaging it is to fair use.

While many in the computer science and education communities have seen great faults in the legislation, most mainstream people (and the press that represents them) simply sees the DMCA as a legitimate way to prevent illegal use of commercial products.

So where did Reuters go long? They published a story detailing exactly how to circumvent Sony’s CD protection technology. The circumvention device: a 99 cent magic marker. The distribution of this story: everywhere. At least a dozen mainstream sites, newspapers, and television networks, including CNN and Yahoo!, distributed this story — all of them are responsible for spreading information about circumvention Sony music CDs and allowing a customer to play them in his or her computer for less than a dollar.

I certainly wouldn’t want to post how to do it here, as I follow the law and wouldn’t want to violate the DMCA, a law with very stiff penalties (max $500,000 fine and 5 years in jail). So while Reuters may be a scoff-law, I certainly will not. I respect our recording industry, and the government that allows them to violate the fundamental rights of Americans for some short-term capital gain. No sir, not me. I say the record companies are using their FREEDOMS to create protectionist legislation to perpetrate their LEGAL monopolist practices and LEGITIMATELY destroy the notion of fair use, which hurts their business. I mean, who listens to music on their computer (or MP3 player, or portable, or car player, or cell-phone player) anyway? And why should they have the RIGHT to listen to music?

Seeing as at this point I am abusing sarcasm, I’ll stop.