Re: Just-out comment on *Eldred*

The author is probably referring to works that are protected by Adobe's "Content Server" -- a DRM feature available for PDF's that can determine the permitted use of a .pdf file. Although the entire file can always be copied and re-copied, copies that are ported to a different piece of hardware cannot be opened for reading because the "right to read" is associated with a hardware ID. Other "rights" such as copying to the clipboard or printing can be controlled or disabled in these PDFs. This is accomplished through an interaction between the PDF file and a "license" file that is obtained at the same time.

Remember, it was Adobe's PDF protection that was "hacked" by the Russian company and lead to the arrest of Dmitri Sklyarov here in the US on DMCA grounds. Protected content of this nature is already common in the e-book arena.

Karen Coyle
http://www.kcoyle.net

At 12:46 AM 9/30/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>List members may be interested in the commentary on *Eldred v. Ashcroft*
>(on the SCOTUS agenda for 9 October) just published by BusinessWeek.
>
>"A Case to Define the Digital Age," by Jane Black, is at:
>http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2002/tc20020927_7367.htm
>
>
>Okay. Read it. Digested it. Neato.
>
>But I don't get this part:
>
>The rise of the Internet makes such incursions all the more threatening,
>according to Lessig. That's because, technically speaking, every download is
>a copy, which can be tracked and restricted by the copyright holder. So
>while you can photocopy a chapter of author George Eliot's 1873 novel
>Middlemarch and give it to a friend, that's not true for newer file formats.
>
>For example, if you try to print or copy sections of Middlemarch on an Adobe
>eBook Reader, you'll be informed that Adobe allows users to copy only 10
>sections every 10 days. Readers of Aristotle's Politics, which as far as
>anyone knows was never copyrighted, aren't permitted to copy or print any
>text.
>
>
>
>Huh? Obviously, I can copy and re-copy .pdf files to my heart's content,
>outside Adobe Reader.
>
>or, am I missing something
Received on Tue Oct 01 2002 - 20:39:46 GMT