Coupon Hacker Faces DMCA Lawsuit:
"'I honestly think there are big problems when you are not allowed to delete files off of your computer,' says Stottlemire"This is an interesting case. Does the DMCA cover "trivial" protection. Does the DMCA prevent you from merely deleting a file on your own PC? I routinely delete "cookies" off my PC, and I know that doing so prevents some websites from tracking me and maybe from making some money off me (by proving they have repeat viewers). Am I breaking any law by deleting these files? Are these cookies "copyrighted" or protected by the DMCA? The same goes for windows registry keys.
If a company's protection scheme is so trivial, I don' think it warrants this level of legal protection that takes over legal control of my PC (not allowing editing the register or deleting files)
Unless... and this is a big point with me... EVERYONE went to a simple method of "protection". If music (for example) was not actually protected from copying, and the law allowed the people that buy it a wide area of "fair use" then the protection would be "legal" more than "physical". The difference is that people would be able to make fair use copies (since there is no real protection), but if they start mass producing copies, then the law would allow them to be arrested (since there is legal protection).
Typically DRM does NOT stop the mass production pirates that profit from reselling copied movies or music. But they DO stop honest people from making personal copies for iPods or car DVD players or for Grandma (for when the kids visit).
But I digress since this guy is NOT copying something, NOT even CHANGING something, but simply DELETING something.
2 comments:
"Does the DMCA prevent you from merely deleting a file on your own PC?"
Is this case just about deleting a file or registry key, or is it about:
Hacking the software installer to identify the security controls & delete them? Commercially offer on the same site the printed coupons? Attempt to secure a consulting fee from Coupons Inc? Googling the defendant's name also yields interesting results about his activities in the flightsim community including then his being allegedly dead, & in the coldfusion community.
I understand the majority of blogs being alarmed by thinking the case is just DMCA & deleting a file or key.
I realize I don't know all the facts in this case. But I still think it's poor programming on the part of the coupon website.
A quick and probably flawed analogy would be me leaving my car running all them time and giving everyone an RF ID key chain that turns my car off every time they come near it. If someone throws away their key chain and walks up to my car and drives off with it, Are they stealing it? Maybe so, but any rational person would expect this and blame me more than the person who took my car.
This guy is doing something wrong and probably illegal, but the coupon company is just being stupid. Their security should not rely on the presence of a file they give their customers. Once they "give" the file to the customer, the customer should certainly have the right to delete it.
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