PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Copy-Protected CDs

This was a very nice section. We provided complete instructions for circumventing the various copy-protection methods that manufacturers use to make life difficult for honest users. But you’ll never read that material. Why? Because we don’t want to end up like Dmitri Sklyarov, who was imprisoned under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) simply because he exercised his First Amendment right to free speech. (And please don’t ask us to email you the deleted text. We can’t afford to take that risk.)

The sole purpose of the DMCA is to prevent all of us from doing things we have the right to do—such as making backup copies of the CDs and DVDs we buy—and saying things we have the right to say—such as how to make those backup copies. The DMCA was bought and paid for by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), and benefits no one except the music and movie industries.

The definition of an honest politician is one who stays bought, but we nevertheless hope the monstrosity called the DMCA can be overturned. There are several things you can and should do to protect your own interests. Write or call your representatives and senators to complain about DMCA and demand it be repealed. Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org) and support their efforts to preserve free speech. Hit the MPAA and RIAA where it hurts. Boycott their products, particularly those that are copy-protected. Make it ...