Is it though? DVD players conform to region code requirements.
And at the time DVDs were launched, many in hacker/geek/whatever circles were pretty horrified by this development. To me, it's more than a little alarming how rapidly we've normalised the idea that end users' devices should be obeying the wishes of content publishers rather than their owners.
And at the time DVDs were launched, many in hacker/geek/whatever circles were pretty horrified by this development.
And yet right here in this HN discussion there are numerous people openly defying the current legal and technological position, which is just going to promote more and stronger technical measures to limit how content can be consumed. For example, it's already hard to just buy a permanent copy of a lot of TV shows on disc any more. They're moving to online, streaming-only channels where it's harder to copy, and that's reducing choice even for legitimate paying customers.
To me, it's more than a little alarming how rapidly we've normalised the idea that end users' devices should be obeying the wishes of content publishers rather than their owners.
I agree, but it's also more than a little alarming how rapidly we've normalised knowingly breaking the law and/or explicit agreements with other parties and totally ignoring economics just because something is technically possible.
In what other circumstances would it be OK to make an explicit deal with someone, then totally renege on that deal and just say "Well, I don't think you really deserved what we agreed anyway"?
In what other circumstances would it be OK to knowingly break the law to someone else's cost and in the expectation of suffering no adverse consequences and just say "Well, I don't think this law is a good law so I'm not going to follow it"?
The everything-should-be-free culture of Generation Me isn't sustainable. Maybe the laws and economic models we're using today aren't the best way forward, but that doesn't mean we should support or condone totally ignoring them until we've got a better idea.
libdvdcss is also consider to be illegal for distribution in the US as it is circumvention tool in violation of DMCA
It is a legal gray area if a individual who obtains libdvdcss breaks the law by using it, however no software vendor can include it if they are a US Company
This is why VLC, Handbrake, and many other organizations that distribute it are very very clear they are not US Organizations and exist outside the Jurisdiction of US Courts
And at the time DVDs were launched, many in hacker/geek/whatever circles were pretty horrified by this development. To me, it's more than a little alarming how rapidly we've normalised the idea that end users' devices should be obeying the wishes of content publishers rather than their owners.