DMCA: Ten Years of Unintended Consequences

The collected stories are like a trip down memory lane for those who have followed digital freedom issues over the past decade. Here are a few examples of DMCA abuse in the report that you might remember:

* In 1999, Sony sues Connectix over the Virtual Game Station, which let you play your legit Playstation games on your Macintosh.
* In 2001, the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) threatens Princeton Professor Ed Felten's research team over disclosure of vulnerabilities in audio watermarking technology.
* In 2001, Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov is arrested after speaking at Defcon, accused of building software for his employer, ElcomSoft, that converted Adobe e-books to PDF.
* In 2002, Blizzard sues a group of hobbyist open source developers over bnetd, server software that allows people to play Blizzard games against each other over the Internet.
* In 2003, Lexmark uses the DMCA to block distribution of chips that allow refilling of laser toner cartridges.
* In 2004, Hollywood succeeds in shutting down 321 Studios' DVD X Copy software, which allowed people to make backup copies of their own DVDs.
* In 2006, computer security researchers at Princeton delay disclosure of the Sony-BMG "rootkit" based on fears of DMCA liability.
* In 2008, Hollywood targets Real Networks over RealDVD, software that allows you to copy DVDs to a hard drive for later viewing.

The collection of stories makes vividly clear what EFF has been saying for the past ten years: the DMCA has harmed fair use, free speech, scientific research, and legitimate competition.

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