Re: Advice on Drip (ITP #156287)
Hi Sam,
On Mon, Jul 28, 2003 at 07:52:57PM -0400, Sam Hartman wrote:
> I continue to believe that like other packages already in Debian,
> supporting libdvdcss if it is found is perfectly reasonable. If you
> manage to dlopen it and find the right symbols, use it.
>
> If someone complains, we can reevaluate the situation at that point.
To my understanding, the legal problem is not in libdvdcss nor in drip,
but in the combination of them. libdvdcss itself doesn't violate the
DMCA because it can be used for purposes other than ripping DVDs (for
players), and Drip itself doesn't violate the DMCA because the default
configuration has CSS support disabled.
However, when put together we have a program that is clearly intended
for DVD ripping _and_ able to break CSS. This fits the DMCA definition
of a "circumvention device of copyright protection technology".
I want to have libdvdcss in Debian (it's ITPed, and there's a satisfactory
discussion in -legal about it), but avoid this problem particularly. The
situation that installing both drip and libdvdcss automagically enables
CSS support in Drip (with dlopen) is not acceptable, since it could make the
user break law without even knowing it.
My approach is that users who explicitly desire to have a CSS-enabled Drip
can obtain it (since it's perfectly legal if you don't live in the USA) but
no person gets it without knowing what person is doing and thus accepting
responsability for pers actions.
--
Robert Millan
"[..] but the delight and pride of Aule is in the deed of making, and in the
thing made, and neither in possession nor in his own mastery; wherefore he
gives and hoards not, and is free from care, passing ever on to some new work."
-- J.R.R.T, Ainulindale (Silmarillion)
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