On Sat, Jul 31, 2004 at 08:05:08AM -0400, Anthony DeRobertis wrote: > FIRST SCENARIO > -------------- > > Let's say there is a piece of software who's author, Arthur, resides in > France (or many other European countries with similar laws). A US > resident, Jim, decides to modify the software to use it as Nazi > propaganda. [How exactly he does this isn't important]. To avoid > defaming the original author, he makes it clear that the Nazi > propaganda part is added by him, does not reflect the view of the > original author, etc. Tom distributes this modification on the > Internet. > > Arthur, naturally, is offended. Hate speech is illegal in France > (AFAIK). Assuming this is covered by said laws, can he use those laws > to stop Jim? What if there were a choice of law clause or a choice of > venue clause? Heh, yes, this is the sort of construction I've alluded to in the past, whereby a choice of law clause can be non-free because it chooses laws which are inherantly antithetical to free software. I don't know whether this specific case is a valid example, but it's the right sort of construct. > SECOND SCENARIO > --------------- > > OK, even if the thought of declaring something non-free because it > can't be used for hate speech leaves a bad taste in your mouth, let's > consider this one. > > Let's take another piece of software. This time the author, John, > resides in the US. Someone in France (assuming France doesn't have a > DMCA equivalent; if it does, pick another country), Abel, decides to > modify the code to make it part of a DVD ripper. Abel distributes this > on the Internet. > > Can John (possibly influenced by the DVD-CCA or MPAA) force Abel to > stop using the DMCA? If there were a choice of law or venue, could he? US law does not require choice of law clauses, so long as the prosecuting party can in some sense claim to be in the US. Even if they're a foreign multinational who just has an office there. They can blithely apply their laws to everybody. Yes, this is idiotic. The state of California takes it to extremes - they apply their own *state* law to everybody. This is a close variation on the Syklarov case. > Could John force Abel to show up in the US, where he would be arrested > for violating the DMCA? No, there are no current extradition treaties that would cover this - most countries won't extradite for something that wouldn't be a crime locally anyway. However, Abel can be effectively exiled from the US, since he would be arrested if he ever set foot in the country. Sickeningly there's plenty of precedent for this second scenario. Stay away from the US; they have delusions of imperialism. -- .''`. ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield : :' : http://www.debian.org/ | `. `' | `- -><- |
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