post 52

By anders pearson 02 Aug 2000

here’s the best article i’ve seen yet on the MPAA vs. 2600 case. it should be interesting to see how the case progresses since both sides intend to take it all the way to the supreme court if necessary. that means that either programmers will have a strong legal ground to code freely and the fair use parts of copyright law will be extended into the digital age, or we’ll all be really fucked.

i just get really nervous because the case is quite clear-cut and the implications of a ruling against 2600 are painfully obvious if you have a technical background and can understand how it all works. but most judges — supreme court or otherwise — just don’t have that background and so can be easily swayed by the MPAA’s cries of ‘piracy’ and ‘copyright violation’. the DOJ really lucked out with the microsoft trial by getting a judge who was willing to make a serious effort to understand the technical underpinnings of the case and not just take microsoft’s words at face value. let’s just hope that 2600 is that lucky.