Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Napster and Software
Author: Paul Snively Posted: 7/13/2000; 1:12:24 PM Topic: scriptingNews outline for 7/12/2000 Msg #: 18582 (In response to 18579) Prev/Next: 18581 / 18583
Robert Cassidy: Er, how does the license get extended to my family? How far through my family? A cousin?Or is it through the household - community property, as it were?
The "license" gets extended at least to your wife :-) by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, according to Orrin Hatch, its principal author. The copying of a CD for play in his wife's car was the example he used.
As for how far through the family, or whether it's actually household (hmmm... is the car CD player "intra-household?"), I'll leave those to Senator Hatch to answer.
The point that I was driving at was that we can't trust Hilary Rosen to know what's fair use and what's not and that, at least in Orrin Hatch's case, she's not going up against some random legislator who knows nothing about the music business. The RIAA also seems to have run headlong into the problem of arguing legality before the very body that determines what's legal and what isn't at that level. If Ms. Rosen asks Senator Hatch why it's fair use for him to buy a CD, rip it, and allow his wife to play it on the CD player in her car, a perfectly legitimate answer from him would be "because I said so."
To me, the most fascinating aspect of these proceedings isn't even what the ultimate fate of Napster will be; it's how poor a showing the RIAA is providing about their understanding of copyright law to begin with!
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