[KLUG Advocacy] The TEACH Act...

[Adam Williams]

>>2) Provide technological controls on storage and dissemination of digitized
>>information, which must include technical measures to prevent "retention of
>>the work in accessible form by recipients of the transmission ...for longer
>>than the class session." "Technical measures must be applied to prevent
>>recipients of the content from engaging in unauthorized further
>>dissemination of the work in accessible form." No definition of class
>>session is provided.
>Class session (I would assume) would be for that week's material.  Taking 
>away a student's right to review before an exam doesn't sound logical.  
>If they mean session by term or semester, then I don't see how that would 
>work either.  (DRM has a lot of hurdles to cover)
>Like Bryan said awhile back, as long as an analog loop exist (and EVERYTHING 
>boils down to analog, right ;) )  you can circumvent DRM measures.

Sure, but legally it is more complicated than that.  Taking "reasonable" 
means to protect your copyrighted material makes the person violating in 
obvious violation of the law.

Thats why I think a software mechanism in something like an operating 
systems VFS layer (everybody has one these days) is the right way to do 
this.  Sure it can be exploited - but then your exploiting it, which would 
be illegal (at least depending on where you live).  And the lawyers could 
eat your flesh red off the bone.  

Burying some proprietary fascist cheap deep in the bowel of the computer is 
the <i>fool proof</i> way to do it, but I think presents real technical 
and civil problems.

And as for the analog loop argument.  Thats easy to fix.  HDTV displays 
will have encryption all the way to the display circuitry.  Sure you could 
implement an anolog trap in there,  but it would be alot of work.

>Example, If I am able to view it on my screen right now, what is to keep me 
>from doing a screen capture...or using a TV out to capture it to VCR...or
>using a camera to take a picture of the screen.

A camera picture of the screen?  Your not going to be able to do much with 
that.  Screens are difficult to photograph,  and they can technically be 
made much more so.

Currently you can genlock your video output.  But with the next generation 
of displays I pretty much guarantee that you won't be able to do that 
without a licensed device.

>>time that copyrighted material may be made available electronically.
>>Further the institution may not maintain the information on a network or
>>system that is accessible by anyone other than the "anticipated recipient."
>More pushing of DRM strategies like those of Palladium 

DRM is going to happen, the question is how.

>(latin for castration)

Actually it is a bastardized to Latin from Greed word meaning protection 
or someone/something that provides sanctuary.