[Glob2-devel] Re: DMCA & bnetd

[Stephane Magnenat]

Hello,

>     I'm a swiss citizen and the swiss law protects reverse engeneering. We
> are not in europa so there is no patent problem right now and we don't have
> any law like DMCA. So I propose to create an "us-illegal" server in
> Switzerland that can store stuff that are illegal due to DMCA, for instance
> DeCSS and bnetd.
>
> I think that it is a good idea to set up a site for bnetd.  But if you
> do it, please do NOT say that bnetd is illegal under the DMCA.
>
> As far as I know, bnetd is a product that interoperates with
> Battle.net.  The DMCA does not prohibit this.  Rather, the DMCA makes
> it easy to censor someone with unjustified accusations of copyright
> infringement.
>
> It is very important NOT to associate bnetd with any programs that
> really are prohibited by the DMCA, such as DeCSS.  If you did that,
> you would help the smear campaign against bnetd.  You would be saying
> that the bnetd case is similar to that of DeCSS.

I agree; bnetd doesn't fall under DMCA, and it will be fine to have a server 
for it in Switzerland. I will wait until bnetd's webmaster to talk to me 
about this (as I'm a student I've not lot of ressources but we can try to 
contact some people that could help us).

But I also think that ethical free software (like DeCSS) that are illegal in 
us should also have a home, because they are good usefull free software and 
if we apply US politic everywhere it's like accepting we have already lost 
our freedom. Anyway, it should be a different thing that bnetd's new home. 
But I would like to hear your comment about this.

Thanks ,

Stephane