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<title>Correcting My Mistake about French Law - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> |
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<h2>Correcting My Mistake about French Law</h2> |
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<p>by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/"><strong>Richard |
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Stallman</strong></a></p> |
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<p>For several years I've said in my speeches that it was a crime in |
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France, punishable by imprisonment, to have a copy of the free |
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software that can decrypt the video on a DVD. That encryption is an |
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example of DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), the malicious |
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features <a href="http://DefectiveByDesign.org/">designed to restrict |
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users</a>.</p> |
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<p>That is what Sarkozy's DADVSI law said when it was adopted, but I |
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recently learned that the Conseil d'Etat introduced some |
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exceptions. In fact, free software to decrypt and play DVDs is |
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legally distributed in France—unlike the US, where it was censored |
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by the infamous 1998 law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.</p> |
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<p>However, it's not clear whether this will apply to other DRM schemes. |
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There is a danger that the complex conditions will specifically |
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prohibit free software for playing Bluray disks and allow only |
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proprietary software. Thus, it is not a crime in France to possess |
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the free software that can play a DVD, but it is yet to be decided |
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whether it is a crime to possess a free program to play a Bluray disk.</p> |
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<p>It is certainly not <em>wrong</em> to have a copy of such a program. |
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The software that's wrong is nonfree software; the only ethical |
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program to play a video, or do anything else, is a free program. The |
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wrong here is in the law itself. However, as long as it exists, if |
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you are a dissident in France you should keep such programs hidden.</p> |
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<p>When I first got a drive that handles DVDs, the reason I decided not |
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to install free DVD-playing software was because of this French law. |
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I go to France from time to time, and I was concerned there might be |
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some who would wish to have me imprisoned for this so as to terrorize |
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other netizens. I refuse to have any nonfree software, and the only |
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option that left me was to have no software for this job. Thus, I |
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could not play encrypted DVDs at all.</p> |
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<p>Knowing now that I won't be imprisoned for bringing libdvdcss into |
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France, I could consider having a copy, which would give me the option |
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of playing DVDs that have DRM.</p> |
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<p>However, I think I won't do it. I have got used to avoiding encrypted |
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DVDs, and this has the bonus of giving Hollywood no money with which to |
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lobby for nasty laws like SOPA. Why change?</p> |
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<p>Copyright © 2012 Richard Stallman.</p> |
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<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" |
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href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative |
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<p></p><p class="unprintable">Updated: |
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$Date: 2013/07/09 10:41:30 $ |
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