[10215] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: password-cracking by journalists...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Arnold G. Reinhold)
Mon Jan 21 12:38:25 2002
Mime-Version: 1.0
Message-Id: <v04210100b871da9ea66c@[192.168.0.2]>
In-Reply-To: <20020120205714.B5039@navel.introspect>
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 10:30:02 -0500
To: "Karsten M. Self" <kmself@ix.netcom.com>,
cryptography@wasabisystems.com
From: "Arnold G. Reinhold" <reinhold@world.std.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
At 8:57 PM -0800 1/20/02, Karsten M. Self wrote:
>...
>Note that my reading the language of 1201 doesn't requre that the work
>being accessed be copyrighted (and in the case of Afghanistan, there is
>a real question of copyright status), circumvention itself is
>sufficient, regardless of status of the specific work accessed:
>
> 17 USC 1201(a)(1)(A):
> No person shall circumvent a technological measure that
> effectively controls access to a work protected under
> this title.
>
>...if the measure controls access to _a_ work protected under 17 USC,
>than _any_ circumvention is illegal, whether or not that circumvention
>affects a protected work?
>
>I don't see the statuatory exceptions as covering the case of the WSJ.
>
Circumvention is defined in 17 USC 1201 (a) (3):
"As used in this subsection - (A) to ''circumvent a technological
measure'' means to descramble a scrambled work, to decrypt an
encrypted work, or otherwise to avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or
impair a technological measure, without the authority of the
copyright owner; ...
I'd read that as implying that the law is talking about a copyrighted
work; otherwise if someone encrypts text in the public domain, no one
would be allowed to decrypt it. But an aggressive prosecutor might
adopt your interpretation. It's a very poorly written law with great
potential for abuse.
Arnold Reinhold
Who is not a lawyer and is not offering legal advice
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo@wasabisystems.com
