dcentity2000 said:
The authors of Fair Play don't actually do the decoding but they ARE accessoried to it, guilty of incitement, aiding and abetting all contractual breaches.
Your whole post was made true by the DMCA. Before that you could draw lines on your CDs, crack programs, and do whatever you wanted, so long as you did not
pirate.
Personally, I think the DMCA is unconstitutional--or most certainly against the spirit of property rights given by the constitution.
There is no victim when someone cracks the DRM on tracks they already own. That act alone is not immoral, and I would argue in most cases it isn't even linked to piracy in any way so as to imply causation.
If a company wants to make its products useless by trying to limit what you can do, that's one thing, but making you a criminal for doing what you want with your own property is another.
With itunes it's a slightly different case, in that the EULA stated that they can screw you over at any time, and you had to agree to that to begin with. But with CDs and DVD players, you didn't agree to anything, and yet the DMCA allows them to still have control over the actions you perform with the product.
However, I'm pretty sure the constitution makes that agreement illegal. As with many rights, the right to property is impossible to "sign away." That's why people can sue doctors after they sign wavers. That's also why contractual agreements with minors are unenforceable without parental consent.
I don't pirate, and it's not anybody's business WHAT I do until I DO pirate. Piracy is wrong, using products you've previously purchased is not.
