Foxtrot takes a swipe at the DMCA

Today, Foxtrot (easily the geekiest of the mainstream comic strips) took a great little swipe at the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the notorious 1998 US Copyright law that makes it illegal to break DRM. Link (Thanks, Kim!)

[#1 posted by zuzu , December 30, 2007 11:00 AM]

So everyone uses HandBrake to import their DVD videos into their iPods, because iTunes is defective by design.

The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. -- John Gilmore

[#2 posted by Tommy , December 30, 2007 11:15 AM]

Except didn't the RIAA just claim that ripping your own CDs is illegal?

I'd like to see that get more play. It might actually get the public to give a damn.

[#3 posted by Porsupah , December 30, 2007 1:36 PM]

@2: indeed they did:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122800693.html

"In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer."

[#4 posted by Vatan , December 30, 2007 1:52 PM]

eheh nice ;)

[#5 posted by Clumpy , December 30, 2007 2:34 PM]

"READ CAREFULLY. By opening this magazine you agree to follow certain standard irrevocable TERMS and CONDITIONS now and forever, inheritable by your future prosperity and until the end of time."

[#6 posted by themindfantastic , December 30, 2007 3:33 PM]

Im still waiting for the US President to be brought forth on charges from the RIAA for having an IPOD with some Beatles tunes before they were available to be legally purchased for his ipod and not simply ripped from a CD which is most likely the case (or maybe they were nabbed with some sort of P2P?)

[#7 posted by kevinv , December 30, 2007 4:24 PM]

Hmmm, tried viewing the comic on my cellphone awhile ago. It requires flash to view (or you get a really low-res version with a warning that the non-flash version won't be available for long.)

Perhaps a form of copy-protection? Perhaps, eventually to be a way to force ads to be viewed before the comic?

I fail to see how Apple being forced to bide by a stupid law makes iTunes defective by design. iTunes is perfectly happy managing my 180GB of non-DRM music and video (all from my own discs) without complaint.

[#8 posted by Crash , December 30, 2007 5:16 PM]

When he says "you voted," he really could mean any member of Congress. I found a record of the Senate's vote on the DMCA: it passed unanimously. I can't even find the voting record for the House because so far as I can tell it passed by a unanimous voice vote; they didn't even bother with a roll call.

[#9 posted by wn , December 31, 2007 1:10 AM]

Kevinv, defective is defective. Doesn't matter if it's a law or a bug, it still won't do what it should.

Software that doesn't do what you tell it is defective.

Knives that don't cut are defective. It's against the law to murder someone with a knife, but we have a right to have knives which could murder someone.

Similarly, we need software that *could* break the law, not plastic sporks. Not i-tunes, the spork of the media world.

[#10 posted by RagManX , December 31, 2007 6:54 AM]

I cut this one out of the paper when I saw it. Naturally, my wife didn't find the humor in it that I did. But then, she's never understood my excessively awesome geekiness.

[#11 posted by Jeff , December 31, 2007 7:13 AM]

Win saidn, "Software that doesn't do what you tell it is defective."

It might not be defective, but just a little un-refined. You know, it's evolving and needs more work. Just like humans. We don't always work the way we should, but we (our software) is not necessarily defective. On that note I'm going to go dump some media software that isn't working right. Then it's into the lab for another round of electroshock therapy!

[#12 posted by hemidemisemiquaver , December 31, 2007 7:31 AM]

Can anyone tell me why Jason's character is drawn with those odd vertical lines on his glasses? I've wondered for years and even Google doesn't seem to know.

[#13 posted by Shawn Struck , December 31, 2007 8:58 AM]

@12:

It's his hair.

[#14 posted by kevinv , December 31, 2007 9:01 AM]

"Kevinv, defective is defective. Doesn't matter if it's a law or a bug, it still won't do what it should."

No the law is defective. If iTunes were to rip DVD's Apple would be sued and prohibited from distributing versions with that capability. Hardly a positive change from current situation.

If you spend all your time bad-mouthing Apple for following a stupid law, the law will never be changed. Focus on the real problem.

Additionally this concept of "Software that doesn't do what you tell it is defective." is just plain dumb.

I've told photoshop thousands of times to make a movie for me, but it refuses. Guess it's defective.

I've told my Linux kernel to run Microsoft Office plenty of times too, but it won't. guess it's defective.

I've told my car to fly lots of times, but it doesn't, guess it's defective.

[#15 posted by adamdma , December 31, 2007 10:49 AM]

nyn wh nstlls Tns s dfctv by dsgn. Sftwr s nthng wtht sr ntrctn.

[#16 posted by Chevan , December 31, 2007 12:27 PM]

#2+3: Ripping wasn't the problem; putting the ripped tracks into a KaZaA shared folder was.