> How do you sue someone under criminal law? I thought the DMCA is
> a criminal statue.
Hi Rick,
The bit you quoted came straight from Richard Smith's page. I can't comment
on that.
http://www.privacyfoundation.org/commentary/tipsheet.asp?id=47&action=0
Smith's examples:
1. If a media player contains a security hole that allows a hacker to break
into someone's computer, a researcher may not be able to alert the public
about the problem. If the vendor chooses not to fix the problem itself, the
researcher risks a lawsuit by going public with details. This provision of
the DMCA flies in the face of more than 20 years of computer industry
practice. Public disclosures of security flaws are important to get
companies to fix problems in a timely manner and to educate other
programmers on how not to make the same mistakes.
This is Smith's example no 2:
2. Virus writers can use the DMCA in a perverse way. Because computer
viruses are programs, they can be copyrighted just like a book, song, or
movie. If a virus writer were to use encryption to hide the code of a virus,
an anti-virus company could be forbidden by the DMCA to see how the virus
works without first getting the permission of the virus writer. If they
didn't, a virus writer could sue the anti-virus company under the DMCA.
Regards, Tony Healy
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