Criminalising Web users for "stealing" "content" won't work in Europe

Summary: The W3C is unlikely to pull away from DRM, but a high European court says that DRM can sometimes be legally circumvented

THE outrage over DRM inside Web 'standards' is a thing of the past. It couldn't last forever and people have moved on to other problems. The MPAA got its way and given the new financial dependence on it (W3C was bribed by the MPAA [1]) we find it hard to believe that the Web's founder and his colleagues will change course. TechDirt received credit for its coverage of the subject [2] and a new report from TechDirt says that "Europe's Highest Court Says DRM Circumvention May Be Lawful In Certain Circumstances" [3].

Maybe civil disobedience or even circumvention of DRM on the Web will therefore be legitimate protest. Will that only be permissible in the Europe and, if so, under what circumstances? Either way, it's good to know that the legal grounds of DRM (claiming that format shifting is an offence) are challenged and the illusion of control over surfers shaken somewhat. ⬆

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Don't let the MPAA buy the Web

   Last week, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) became a paying and governing member of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (no, seriously).





2. Will Hollywood force DRM on web users via HTML5?

   Techdirt has a disturbing report about Hollywood attempting to force DRM on web users via HTML5.





3. Europe's Highest Court Says DRM Circumvention May Be Lawful In Certain Circumstances

   
   
   One of the many problems with DRM is its blanket nature. As well as locking down the work in question, it often causes all kinds of other, perfectly legal activities to be blocked as well -- something that the copyright industry seems quite untroubled by.