I Am Peppered, I Warrant, for This World
Norwegian prosecutors indicted Jon Johansen and his father
Per last week for the younger Johansen's role in creating the DeCSS program that hacked
DVD's CSS copy-protection system.
This might not seem earth-shattering to you, but it went a
long way towards souring this audiophile toward the music and film industries. Let me back
up a bit.
Ever since the introduction of Rio's MP3 player, the battle
lines have been drawn between the content industries -- the record and movie industries,
mostly -- and hordes of consumers who insisted on their right to copy and propagate that
content.
At first, I thought the question was relatively simple. If
you bought a CD or a film, you had the right to transfer it to your format of choice and
use it according to your desires -- as a CD at home, a DAT tape on the road, or a digital
file on your computer. The most important issue, as I saw it, was that the creator of that
content -- the musician or filmmaker or author -- received his just copyright royalties.
I wasn't among those who saw the RIAA (Record Industry
Association of America) or the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) as corporate
villains out to screw the consumer and the artist alike. I wasn't wild about the RIAA, but
I considered them the only group looking out for the artist -- even though I knew in my
heart of hearts that they only gave artists' rights lip service in their frenzy to protect
their own profits.
But now, I'm starting to reconsider. Not my belief that
musicians, writers, and filmmakers should be paid for their work -- that's simply looking
out for my own backside, after all. I'm starting to think we need to start over and come
up with a system that jettisons such "allies" as the RIAA and MPAA.
Let's look at Jon Johanesn's "crime." Johansen,
just turned 18, collaborated with several other individuals, collectively known as the
Masters of Reverse Engineering (MoRE), in deciphering DVD's CSS encryption scheme. The
57kb code made the rounds on the Internet and courts around the world were enlisted by the
MPAA in its drive to suppress what it viewed as an invitation to piracy.
Now what has gotten lost in all the hoopla about DeCSS is
what it actually did. Listening to the MPAA, you'd be forgiven for assuming it
allowed perfect DVD copies to be made at will. It doesn't. Johansen is one of the
thousands of computer users around the world who support the Linux operating system. CSS
encryption prevented DVD from being accessed by Linux. DeCSS was developed to create DVD
playback software for computers running the Linux OS. There is nothing in DeCSS that makes
it possible to record DVDs.
Boy, that sounds criminal doesn't it? In fact, under US
law, Johansen has not commited a crime. He's been charged under a statute of the National
Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Environmental Crime in Norway (OKOKRIM), a
section of the criminal code which prohibits opening a closed document to gain access to
its contents. The law also forbids circumventing protective devices to illegally obtain
access to protected data.
The law is normally used to prosecute hackers who break
into bank or phone company financial records -- it has never been used to prosecute anyone
who accessed data he already owned.
Johansen's lawyer maintains that the MPAA demanded that
OKOKRIM investigate Johansen pére et fils, resulting in the charges -- he also
claims the MPAA lobbied hard for charging them with contributory copyright infringement,
pressure which OKOKRIM has so far resisted.
Okay, you ask, what about DVD piracy? There's no question
there's an international plague of pirated videos. But we're not talking DVDs. What you'll
find in the contraband section of every souk in the third world are video compact
discs (VCD) -- a low-rez storage system that delivers sub-videocassette picture and sound
quality. And how do the video pirates manufacture these discs? They record first-run films
with handheld video cameras and use that shaky, dark, muffled-sounding master to run off
millions of copies long before the authorized DVD ever hits the market. Pirates aren't all
that picky about perfect digital copies -- and neither, it seems, are their customers.
Securing official help in piracy-riddled countries such as
Russia, China, India, Israel and Brazil is difficult, however, so the MPAA throws its
weight around in law-abiding countries like Norway going after master criminals like the
Johansens.
Meanwhile, most of the major record labels are furtively
introducing restriction technologies to their discs. These discs aren't labeled, so
consumers don't know what they're buying and, frequently, these discs aren't playable on
computers or DVD players -- players which can legally play CDs and which many consumers
rely upon for their legal music listening.
The situation has become so egregious that even the
National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) has issued a scathing indictment of
the Copyright Office Report of Section 104, claiming "The [Report] offers
important clarifications that could help facilitate electronic commerce in copyrighted
works, but it also offers suggestions that, if followed, would seriously undermine public
rights while offering additional rights to copyright owners without adequate
justification." As little as a year ago NARM had hoped that free-market forces,
personified by PressPlay and MusicNet, would counterbalance the encroachment of consumers'
fair-use rights by the record industry. In the face of those businesses' failures, NARM
now questions the wisdom of "continuing to just let the marketplace try to solve
these issues."
"We are disappointed that this Report suggests that
copyright holders may enjoy carte blanche to nullify the rights granted copy owners
in Section 109(a) of the Copyright Act," NARM's statement reads. "The
Constitution and the public policy foundations of copyright law lend no support for
allowing copyright owners to expand their control over electronic commerce once they have
been fully compensated for the license to their exclusive rights."
Boy, they got that right!
The RIAA's argument for all of this arm-twisting and
chicanery (and pre-emptively treating its customers as thieves) is that it is the
musicians' only chance to be fairly recompensed for their recordings. The funny thing is,
the musicians don't seem to be aware of this.
The Recording Artists Coalition (RAC), a trade group
representing musicians, has announced a series of concerts for February 28, the night
before the Grammy Awards telecast to (get this) raise money for a legislative fight
against the record industry for allegedly denying musicians a share of royalty earnings!
The RAC has booked five venues around Los Angeles for shows
featuring different genres ranging from pop to r&b to country to alternative. The RAC
has had no problem recruiting performers such as the Dixie Chicks, Stevie Nicks, Weezer,
Billy Joel, the Eagles, Elton John, and No Doubt. "It's about time for artists to
take control of our music and how it's presented to our fans," said Offspring's
Dexter Holland.
Record company executives deny the allegations, claiming
they are fair and generous to the musicians. These are, I might point out, the same folks
who say that you are I are probably pirates, so draw your own conclusions.
Like the musicians, all I want is what’s rightfully
mine -- the right to enjoy the music I purchase as I see fit. I want to keep my fair use
rights and I want to be fair to the artists. As for the RIAA and the MPAA? They're bullies
and thugs, as far as I can see. I say a plague o' both their houses!
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
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