Re: DMCA, cookies ?

From: Bill Unruh (unruh@string.physics.ubc.ca)
Date: 01/23/03 

From: unruh@string.physics.ubc.ca (Bill Unruh)
Date: 23 Jan 2003 22:10:25 GMT

roberson@ibd.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca (Walter Roberson) writes:

]In article <b0n5mt$4ke$1@nntp.itservices.ubc.ca>,
]Bill Unruh <unruh@string.physics.ubc.ca> wrote:
]:Sure and I have argued that shipping your program on a CD is a copyright
]:control device since such a CD is not readable in a floppy drive. Thus
]:selling any device which can read a CD would be violating the DCMA.

]:If your device is stupid, I suspect, but do not know, that the courts
]:would view it differently, and using cookies stored on another person's
]:computer would be a very stupid control device.

]Recall, though, the claims that even just using ROT13 is enough to
]invoke the DMCA provisions about protective measures. [And wasn't
]there even a case where this came up, where someone -did- use ROT13
](or was it just XOR with 0x80?) and when that was exposed, tried to
]block publication under DMCA?]

What people will try and what the courts will support are two different
things.i Sometimes the threat of a frivoulous law suit is enought to get
your way. However I wish I could categorically state tha the courts would
never support Rot13 as a DCMA eligible provision, but my faith in the
rationality of the courts is not that great.