[PLUG] Blu-Ray nonsense...

[Michael C. Robinson]

Where is the suggestion that I'm trying to legally entrap someone coming
from?  I'm neither a lawyer nor a judge and even if I was I'd have no
interest in entrapping people who in my opinion want to legitimately
adapt their video collections to work with Linux.  Why is everybody
running scared and crying that the sky is falling?  I see nothing
inherently wrong with trying to build a Linux based media center even if
I do intend to play the content of Blu-Ray discs off of a hard drive for
what should be obvious and reasonable reasons.  Maybe the law right now
is stupid and maybe the FBI warning on videos has gotten out of control.
If the law as it is is bad news and it isn't challenged aggressively, it
won't change.  If we don't speak up against imprisonment of people who
are not Blu-Ray pirates, will that stop either?  Are you telling me
quite honestly that there is a go ahead and break the encryption but
don't talk about it attitude?  Or worse is their a, yes we question the
use of encryption on Blu-Ray discs, but you shouldn't break the law
attitude?  Bad laws have to be broken, to not do so is to accept the
status quo and perpetuate a potentially major problem.  Maybe we should
be proud of people who have gone to prison for cracking Blu-Ray
encryption and telling their friends how to do it.  I
believe Finland is forward thinking in that people aren't thrown in
prison for defeating the encryption on a Blu-Ray disc that they have
purchased.  I realize that people don't want to go to prison, but
standing by and doing nothing, the situation will only get worse.

I have never advocated profiting from the decryption of DVDs/Blu_Rays.
All I ask is that fair use be restored, after all I'm talking about
people who have purchased the DVD/Blu-Ray disc they want to put on their
hard drive.  All I'm asking for is the right to play the movie I
purchased from a Linux based computer.

What is the real problem with copying anyways?  I can understand being
upset if guy a copies movie x and gives that copy to guy b who sells it
to people c-z.  Oops, the holder of the copyright lost on those sales.
But what I am talking about is what should be an easily prosecuted movie
copying operation.  If the major copy houses are prosecuted, that should
be enough for the authors to reasonably profit from their work.  Do
small time copying operations where the copies are used for personal
entertainment really pose a problem?  The common sense answer is no, but
I guess that common sense doesn't prevail this close to Redmond.
Frankly, the abuse of the MPAA and the RIAA are an embarrassment to me.
The greed of the MPAA and RIAA has to be reined in before the situation
becomes completely untenable.

I hope it doesn't take a revolution to end abuses perpetuated through
our horribly bastardized copyright law.

> I have not contributed to this thread earlier because it isn't really of 
> any interest to me, but your latest question is.
> (a) the technical aspect of your quest is on topic (in my opinion)
> (b) the legal aspect of your quest belongs, possibly on plug-talk, 
> probably in a lawyer's office (again, in my opinion)
> I should venture to suggest that few on this list are legal experts, and 
> it would be inappropriate, possibly even deemed as entrapment, to 
> solicit legal opinions on this list.  Possibly no legal professional 
> would care to express an opinion here, on the matter, either.
> While I may or may not sympathize with your predicament and your quest, 
> that would be all that I would be interested in saying.
> Regards
> Fred James