Digital Copy’right’
ElcomSoft verdict: Not guilty - Tech News - CNET.com
“The DMCA makes it a crime to offer for sale products that circumvent digital copy protections, including encryption schemes, the issue at stake in the ElcomSoft case. Other provisions create penalties for creating and distributing such tools, raising protests from programmers that the law could, among other things, bar academic research and inhibit open discussion of encryption technology, including in news reports. Last year, in a major ruling favoring the film industry, a federal appeals court ordered a Web site to remove links to code capable of cracking encryption on DVDs, citing the DMCA.
Lawyers not involved in the case said the ElcomSoft verdict boded ill for future criminal prosecutions under the controversial copyright law. A “not guilty” verdict in a criminal case comes without the ability to appeal, unlike the civil copyright cases targeting Napster and other companies that have bounced through federal court in recent years. Future courts won’t be bound by Tuesday’s verdict, which will stand untouched.”
Good.