[87186] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: can a random number be subject to a takedown?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (lists@notatla.org.uk)
Tue May 1 17:00:32 2007
Date: Tue, 01 May 2007 21:40:10 +0100
To: perry@piermont.com, cryptography@metzdowd.com
In-Reply-To: <87abwo9v7n.fsf@snark.piermont.com>
From: lists@notatla.org.uk
> A lot of sites have been getting DMCA takedowns for the HD-DVD
> processing key that got leaked recently.
> My question to the assembled: are cryptographic keys really subject to
> DMCA subject to takedown requests? I suspect they are not
> copyrightable under the criterion from the phone directory
> precedent.
I'm as far from being a copyright lowyer as most of you.
http://www.dilbert.com/comics/pearls/archive/images/pearls2007042261849.jpg
I suppose that we mean a "randomly-generated number", rather than a "random number".
Then the production process would not be creative as expected for direct copyright
and you'd be right that it can't be copyrighted.
As far as the DMCA is concerned I think this is a paracopyright issue - the
(alleged) significance of the number in relation to HD-DVD would make it a
circumvention tool and therefore subject to takedowns. I don't know whether an
alternative legitimate use is a defence, but you might have a job finding such
a thing for a randomly-generated number (as opposed to something more structured
like "Netscape engineers are weenies.").
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