http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/DMCA/20031003_unintended_cons.php
A great many people interested in freedom of information and the unfettered flow of intellectual activities thought the DCMA was a major mistake -- I was [and am] certainly one of these people. This thorough paper: "Unintended Consequences: Five Years under the DMCA" [also available in .PDF] form, with a host of links, demonstrates how truly harmful the DCMA might be.
If anyone had any doubt about the baneful effects of unfettered corporate powers in relation to society as a whole, this article should disabuse them. Provisions of the act chill expression and research, hinder fair use, impede competition and innovation, and are being misused to ban access to computer networks. Once again, it demonstrates powerfully how in North America generally, and the USA in particular, we have the best government that money can buy.
A shorter critical article is presented here:
http://www.mikehealan.com/articles/DMCA/abuses.php
the conclusion to which is worth quoting:
The DMCA must be withdrawn before it causes irreparable harm to our society. Whatever replaces it should acknowledge that our permanent Fair Use rights and our permanent right to free speech are far more important than a corporation's right to protect its temporary copyright.
Of course we all know that it is completely unrealistic, in the current scheme of things, to ever think that anything like this would ever happen.
Posted by jho at October 7, 2003 08:16 AM