The June 20 issue of The Economist has a profile of Edward Felten, who has generalized his complaint against the DMCA. It doesn't just prohibit circumvention devices and the publication of research on security and circumvention. It prohibits tinkering. "Today's debate, [Felten] says, is too focused on the negative aspects of tinkering in the virtual world —such as making copyright infringement possible, or developing products that unfairly compete with the original. His more positive argument is that tinkering —which he defines as understanding, repairing and modifying technological devices one owns— is a valuable activity, which is akin to free speech and should be protected as such....As more and more of our cultural material is digitised and made available online, these technical restrictions could become restrictions on culture itself. Thus, the freedom to tinker ends up being about the freedom of culture."
Posted by
Peter Suber at 7/25/2002 08:14:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
