Re: [Cdn-DMCA] DVD cartel examples sought

From: Russell McOrmond <russell _-at-_ flora.ca>
To: No DMCA in Canada <canada-dmca-opponents (at) flora.org>
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 17:33:31 -0400 (EDT)

On Fri, 28 Sep 2001, Tom A. Trottier wrote:

> We need examples of what's wrong, not what should be. I guess you're 
> saying most DVDs and players are examples of what's wrong. 

  The fact that there is no alternative player market, and that DeCSS is
illegal to use according to the DMCA, is a core part of what's against the
Canadian Competition Act.  For the argument I am making, it is the USA's
DMCA itself that makes the DVS-CCA illegal under section 77 of the
Canadian Competition Act.


  The regional encoding then becomes an "additional complaint" above the
section 77 complaint.




  I am an example of someone who wants to purchase/rent DVD's
(specifically North American ones), but does not want to purchase a
DVD-CCA controlled player.


  I already have the hardware to play DVD's, and can go to a variety of
places to download the right software for my Linux computer:

Examples:

http://linuxvideo.org/
http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/groups/dvd/  - GPL player

http://kdvd.sourceforge.net/
http://rachmaninoff.informatik.uni-mannheim.de/dvdview/
http://www.prout.be/dvd/  - tool to ignore regional settings
  etc.


  Considerable information can be found at http://www.opendvd.org/ , and
includes references to the problem from a US perspective.    Also see
http://www.lemuria.org/DeCSS/  which includes very interesting and
relevant information, including:

    A smoking gun - read this WIPO document (.pdf format) for some
    interesting information straight from the horse's mouth - a Time
    Warner analyst and a DVD CCA lawyer. It clearly refutes most of the
    claims made by judge Kaplan and the MPAA and tells a quite different
    story.


  Part of what we can do at a later point is put together materials on the
Canadian situation, including a stronger push to get Industry Canada to do
this investigation if they don't move forward with what they have so far.

  For me the first issue is this: I can't just purchase/rent a DVD and
play it as the DVD-CCA is using the DMCA to disallow me from using DeCSS
to play the video. This is something that would normally be fully
protected and legal under "fair dealings" rights.

> Perhaps we need a person, an individual, who is personally affected, 
> perhaps because she bought a DVD made in England that won't play on 
> her player.

  No DVD-CSS encoded video I can purchase/rent anywhere can play on my
Open Source/Free Software based Linux computer legally.  I am left with
few options:

  a) Purchase a proprietary player (eithor bundlede with hardware as most
consumers are purchasing, or a proprietary player for my Linux computer).

  b) Risk going to jail under DMCA for exercising my "fair dealings"
rights and running DeCSS to file-convert from the CSS encoded CD to a
file format I can view.

  c) Only purchase videos not encoded in CSS  -
     http://www.videolan.org/freedvd.html



> Or a video store which can't get particular DVDs that will play here.
> 
> In other words, a practical complainant rather than a theoretical 
> one.


  This only deals with the complaint of regional encoding when playing on
a DVD-CCA licenced player. While we should persue this angle as well, I
don't know that it is the one that is really going to catch them (IE:
Where the DMCA itself makes the DVD-CCA a cartel).

  Regional encoding is also not my personal immediate complaint given that
what I really want to do is rent DVD's (all north american) and play them
on existing equipment I have at home.  The player I would use would also
ignore the regional encoding and play all DVD's regardless of where they
were purchased/rented from.

---
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
 See http://weblog.flora.org/ for announcements, activities, and opinions
 Oppose DMCA in Canada! (C) reform process....  IP Counter Essay Contest!
 It is time to mourn and reflect, not anger.... Appeal 'No more violence!' 

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