TidBITS (a venerable Mac-focused weekly newsletter) is running a wonderful summary of the issues around the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
…it’s been used to jail programmers, threaten professors, and censor publications, and because of it, foreign scientists have avoided traveling to the U.S. and prominent researchers have withheld their work. […] …the Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that the DMCA chills free expression and scientific research, jeopardizes fair use, and impedes competition and innovation. In short, this is a law that only the companies who paid for it could love. […] However, the DMCA is merely one link in a chain that’s being used by the Content Cartel and many others to restrict access to the shared cultural heritage of the world, and in the process, extract money from our pockets, stifle innovation and competition, and protect entrenched interests.
The article is also filled with great links, which everybody involved in digital media should read and understand before content distribution becomes a closed system that you may not be allowed to participate in (especially if you’re using a “rebel” OS). | “The Evil That Is The DCMA”