[mythtv] DVB alpha-0.4

[Michael T. Dean]

Barry Smoke wrote:

> I have done plenty of searching, and what deems it illegal?

First, IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer), but I do think it's just not worth the 
trouble.

The DMCA, Chapter 12, Section 1201, Circumvention of copyright 
protection systems ( 
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/hr2281_dmca_law_19981020_pl105-304.html ) says:

    `(2) No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public,
    provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service,
    device, component, or part thereof, that--

        `(A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of
        circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls
        access to a work protected under this title;

        `(B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use
        other than to circumvent a technological measure that
        effectively controls access to a work protected under this title; or

        `(C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert
        with that person with that person's knowledge for use in
        circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls
        access to a work protected under this title.

    `(3) As used in this subsection--

        `(A) to `circumvent a technological measure' means to descramble
        a scrambled work, to decrypt an encrypted work, or otherwise to
        avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or impair a technological
        measure, without the authority of the copyright owner; and

        `(B) a technological measure `effectively controls access to a
        work' if the measure, in the ordinary course of its operation,
        requires the application of information, or a process or a
        treatment, with the authority of the copyright owner, to gain
        access to the work.

    `(b) ADDITIONAL VIOLATIONS- (1) No person shall manufacture, import,
    offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any
    technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof, that--

        `(A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of
        circumventing protection afforded by a technological measure
        that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under
        this title in a work or a portion thereof;

        `(B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use
        other than to circumvent protection afforded by a technological
        measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner
        under this title in a work or a portion thereof; or

        `(C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert
        with that person with that person's knowledge for use in
        circumventing protection afforded by a technological measure
        that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under
        this title in a work or a portion thereof.

    `(2) As used in this subsection--

        `(A) to `circumvent protection afforded by a technological
        measure' means avoiding, bypassing, removing, deactivating, or
        otherwise impairing a technological measure; and

        `(B) a technological measure `effectively protects a right of a
        copyright owner under this title' if the measure, in the
        ordinary course of its operation, prevents, restricts, or
        otherwise limits the exercise of a right of a copyright owner
        under this title.

> If the exact directions were given to take your legal subscribed cam, 
> and put it here to view your dish on mythtv, then where is that illegal?

a2A would apply unless you can succeed in making the argument (in court) 
that your purchase of a "legal subscribed cam" constitutes "authority of 
the copyright owner" (from 3A). Even if you were able to make that claim 
stick, b1A would still apply because the device is circumventing 
protection afforded by Dish network's satellite/dish/receiver 
combination--which constitute "protection afforded by a technological 
measure." Note that in b1A, there is no "without the authority of the 
copyright owner" clause... My understanding is that in the case of b1A, 
the authority of the copyright owner is provided through the 
technological measures themselves, so bypassing the measures is 
bypassing the owner's authority.

Also, see the Dish Network Residential Customer Agreement ( 
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/aboutus/RCA/index.shtml ), specifically:

1.F. Additional Receivers. To independently tune additional televisions 
within your home, a separate DISH Network receiver is required for each 
television.

4.A. In order to receive the Services it will be necessary for you to 
purchase or lease certain reception equipment consisting primarily of a 
DISH Network compatible satellite receiver, a satellite antenna, LNBF 
unit and remote control ("Equipment”).

4.E. For proper operation of your Equipment, DISH Network requires that 
you connect each DISH Network receiver on your account to a telephone line.

(While you could hook your computer to a phone line, determining the 
"phone home" procedure used by Dish receivers would involve reverse 
engineering the software/protection measures in the receiver, which 
itself would be a violation of DMCA and the Dish agreement.)

> My understanding of the situation is that the DMCA applies to 
> circumventing security, to solicit theft of services.

The DMCA--unlike federal copyright law--makes no distinction between 
circumventing security for theft (or profit or personal gain) and 
circumventing security protections for any other reason (other than to 
place a limit of $500K for the first offense and $1M for subsequent 
offenses on the *criminal* penalty--see Sec. 1204. Criminal offenses and 
penalties). Note, however, that there is no requirement to prove 
commercial advantage or financial gain when bringing civil actions 
against a violator (see Sec. 1203. Civil remedies).

There are a few exemptions--including for nonprofit libraries, archives, 
and educational institutions as well as for encryption/security research 
and testing. Unfortunately, to be considered a legitimate security 
researcher, one must be "sponsored" by an employer or school (i.e. some 
institution that would reasonably be expected to be involved in security 
research must be willing to claim the researcher's actions were taken on 
the institution's behalf--i.e. the institution volunteers to do battle 
in court).

> What I propose is only directions for getting legal CAM info, and 
> allow dish viewing in myth with that. There is no circumvention of 
> Dish hardware for that, and signals are beamed into our backyards, and 
> if we are paying for them, we should be able to view them on any 
> medium we see fit.

If we are paying for DVD media, we should be able to view them on any 
computer we wish... Wait, didn't Jon Lech Johansen try that? Oh, yeah, 
that's why he went to court twice--and spent more than three years 
fighting the Økokrim and the MPAA.

> How is this different than dvd, and decss...?
> decss is readily available for plugging into myth, and discussed much 
> more openly...
> We purchased the dvd's for this, and I remember signing no aggreement 
> that I would only watch them on a windows pc, or home dvd player.

And, yet, if you play the DVD on your (Myth or other) Linux box, you 
have committed a federal felony offense. Actually, if you even 
download/acquire/possess a copy of DeCSS (or libdvdcss or any of its 
relatives), you have committed a federal felony offense. That's why you 
can only find the library on servers that exist outside the US.

Although you didn't sign that agreement, your elected representatives did...

> Write in the functionality, provide legal information only... no harm 
> there.
>
> I feel like I am being treated as a theif, and a criminal!

Welcome to life in the 21st-century US.

Remember, we're talking about legality. This has nothing to do with 
reason or fairness.

Also, even if you can get a lawyer to tell you it's legal, that 
basically means that he/she is willing to represent you in a court case 
(on your dime). Since people working on Myth do so for fun, I doubt any 
of them is willing to burn his/her life savings (and possibly future 
earnings)--not to mention several years of his/her life--in court 
proving that the DMCA is wrong.

Fortunately, though, the government is starting to realize they've been 
played by Hollywood. Now that our congressmen are starting to enjoy 
their iPods and similar devices, they're realizing just how restrictive 
the DMCA is. See http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=15875 for more info.

Basically, IMHO, it boils down to the fact that adding this capability 
is more trouble than it's worth--especially since it's possible to 
connect a Dish receiver to a Myth box and even to control that receiver 
using LIRC.

Mike

> Oscar Carlsson wrote:
>
>> Hello Barry,
>>
>> Thursday, May 13, 2004, 5:25:37 PM, you wrote:
>>
>> BS> I would like to contribute what I can to this, what is the status?
>>
>> Since I guess you refer to softcam, no, that won't be a part of Myth 
>> simply
>> because it's illegal. If you'd done some more searching you'd have 
>> found those
>> answers already.
>