[mythtv-users] CableCARD spoofed by DIY community

[Johnny]

> Not so relevant comparison.
> By breaking a cable card there is no physcial destruction of a lock by brute
> force. It's primary goal is to decrypt the content that we paid for for
> private use.
> (C) protection has gone too far, and you kow it.
>
>> You'll still be on the wrong side of law.
>
> I can make legal copies of songs on the radio onto cassette, CD-R, etc.
> I cannot copy teh contents of this cable network that I stupidly or by
> chance of monopoly signed on to. So I may reverse engineer their system so I
> can make copies of the content for my private use.
>

Although your reasoning makes perfect sense. Just because you want it
to be that way and you have logical arguments doesn't make it legal
(in the US). This very week the Library of Congress is holding
hearings (they do so every 3 years) to determine if there should be
any additional exemptions allowing people to circumvent
encryption/DRM. They will be hearing arguments on basic things like
ripping a DVD for fair use purposes, and this is unlikely to receive
an exemption. Here is an interesting article about some of the people
that will be arguing for various exemptions:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/fight-for-your-right-to-crack-drm.ars.
If you want to discuss how stupid the DMCA is you won't find many who
disagree. If you want to argue about why it is legal for you disregard
it then you would be wrong in a legal sense.