The MPAA Letter - 2600.org.au
Sure
enough the MPAA found out we have the DeCSS software (among other things)
on the 2600 Australia site, so they wrote me a nice letter. I've pasted
it below so you can read it and laugh at it. I say laugh at it solely
because 2600 Australia is obviously Australian and any links from this
site to the material on a site hosted in Australia are clearly beyond
their legal jurisdiction.
And
anyway, how a company that represents a number of motion picture studios
hopes to maintain a good relationship with it's customers when they harass
with baseless legal threats outside their possible legal reach is beyond
me. In the long term, we'll always have this software online somewhere,
somehow.
The
only disturbing thing for Australians is that a representative from the
Motion Picture Association visited Canberra in the last week or so (today
is the 3/3/2000) to discuss the lack of provisions for dealing with so-called
circumvention devices in the changes to the Commonwealth Copright Act
(1968) that are currently being written and debated by Federal Parliament.
The
letter is pasted below and is also available in the following formats:
The
MPAA's laughable letter:
*Address
and headers have been removed* Please grab the copy from the links above
for the missing information* - Editor.
Dear AusMac Archive:
The
Motion Picture Association is authorized to act on behalf of the following
copyright owners:
Columbia
Pictures Industries, Inc.
Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Studios Inc.
Paramount Pictures Corporation
TriStar
Pictures, Inc.
Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation
United
Artists Pictures, Inc.
United
Artists Corporation Universal City Studios, Inc.
Warner
Bros., a Division of Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P.
We
have knowledge that the above-referenced Internet site is providing a
circumvention device commonly known as DeCSS. DeCSS is a software utility
that decrypts or unscrambles the contents of DVDs (consisting of copyrighted
motion pictures) or otherwise circumvents the protection afforded by the
Contents Scramble System (CSS) and permits the copying of the DVD contents
and/or any portion thereof. As such, DeCSS is an unlawful circumvention
device within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. ¤1201(a)(2),(3). Providing or offering
DeCSS to the public on your system or network violates the provisions
of ¤1201(a)(2) which prohibits the "manufacturing, importing or offering
to the public, providing, or otherwise trafficking" in an unlawful circumvention
device.
On
January 20, 2000, the United States District Court for the Southern District
of New York granted a Preliminary Injunction prohibiting the Internet
posting or other provision of DeCSS, having found that DeCSS was a prohibited
circumvention device within the meaning of ¤1201(a)(2) and that the offering,
providing or trafficking of DeCSS on the Internet violated ¤1201(a)(2).
That court thus enjoined:
Posting
on any Internet web site, or in any other way manufacturing, importing
or offering to the public, providing, or otherwise trafficking in DeCSS,
and (b) posting on any Internet web site, or in any other way manufacturing,
importing or offering to the public, providing, or otherwise trafficking
in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof,
that: (i) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing,
or circumvention the protection afforded by, CSS, or any other technological
measure that effectively controls access to plaintiffs' copyrighted works
or effectively protects the plaintiffs' rights to control whether an end
user can reproduce, manufacture, adapt, publicly perform and/or distribute
unauthorized copies of their copyrighted works or portions thereof...
The
Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California also recently granted
a Preliminary Injunction against the Internet posting of DeCSS.
If you are bound by an injunction, maintaining the DeCSS utility on your
system or network violates the above injunction[s] and risks court sanctions
for contempt. We hereby demand that you:
1) take appropriate steps to cause immediate removal of DeCSS from the above
identified URL, along with such other actions as may be necessary or appropriate
to suspend this illegal activity;
2) provide appropriate notice to the subscriber or account holder responsible
for the presence of DeCSS on your system or network, advising him/her
of the contents of this notice and directing that person to contact the
undersigned immediately at the e-mail address provided above;
3)
advise us of the name and physical address of the person operating this
site; and
4) maintain, and take whatever steps are necessary to prevent the destruction
of, all records, including electronic records, in your possession or control
respecting this URL, account holder or subscriber.
Thank
you for your cooperation in this matter. Your immediate response is requested.
The
information in this notification is accurate, and we declare, under penalty
of perjury, that the Motion Picture Association is authorized to act on
behalf of the owner[s] of exclusive rights described above.
Should
you have any questions, please contact us at the above listed address.
Respectfully,
The Motion Picture Association
2600
Australia - Now more than ever, watching the watchmen...
Please
feel free to make comments to webmaster@2600.org.au
This
article previously appeared on www.2600.org.au
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5.)
MPAA's
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