Two for the price of one.
Only a few criminal prosecutions have been filed under the DMCA. Among these are:
??? A case in which the defendant was convicted of producing and distributing
modified DirecTV access cards (United States v. Whitehead).
??? A case in which the defendant was charged for creating a software program that was
directed at removing limitations put in place by the publisher of an e-book on the
buyer??™s ability to copy, distribute, or print the book (United States v. Sklyarov).
??? A case in which the defendant pleaded guilty to conspiring to import, market,
and sell circumvention devices known as modification (mod) chips. The mod
chips were designed to circumvent copyright protections that were built into
game consoles, by allowing pirated games to be played on the consoles (United
States v. Rocci).
There is an increasing movement in the public, academia, and from free speech
advocates to soften the DCMA due to the criminal charges being weighted against legitimate
researchers testing cryptographic strengths (see www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/Felten_v_
RIAA). While there is growing pressure on Congress to limit the DCMA, Congress is taking
action to broaden the controversial law with the Intellectual Property Protection Act
of 2006.
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