Ghitulescu
8th July 2009, 14:21
I think we all had once a problem with Rule 6 (http://forum.doom9.org/forum-rules.htm), which says: No warez, cracks, serials or illegally obtained copyrighted content! Links to content of a questionable nature, asking for, offering, or asking for help/helping to process such content in any way or form is not tolerated.
I will not explain what warez, cracks etc. are but what is the copyright and how it involves Rule 6 provisions. These are by no means the authorised opinion, they cannot be used as a defense in a copyright infringment case (they might serve as a general guidance though), they are not exhaustive and may be anytime superseeded by a new EU directive or US law (BTW, we have a new directive as of April.2009 that prolongues the copyright term to 70 years instead of 50). Also I'm not a native English speaker, those of you who are I'm sure you already know that.
A bit of history
The copyright is by no way a modern invention, although the term was coined first some 150 years ago. The idea of copyright appeared only after the scientific world regained its importance, after the Dark Age. Then, like now, it was not very uncommon for some scientists or literats to steal from others works, pretending to be the owner. Although the first dispute known to history led to a battle with about 3000 casualties (557 AD; Cúl Dreimhne; Irland), it was not until the invention of the printing when the copyright became an issue. Copying a book was possible in several days instead of months maybe years. The iluminists brought people to the art of reading and the libraries and bookshop grew, soon bookprinting became a real business.
So in 1710 the first copyright act in the modern sense appeared (Statute of Anne), followed a century later by the Bern convention (1886). The latter one is the mother of all intellectual properties treaties and conventions since then, as it laid the basic principles that govern the copyright. Notice that US joined the Bern convention only in 1989.
The basic principles:
1. the copyright is automatically given to everything produced by the human mind
2. the copyright allows the owner to use his/her creation as s/he likes, the rest of the world need however an approuval or a licence to be paid.
3. the copyright expires after a certain period
4. under certain conditions anyone can use the copyrighted creations without approuval or licence
Let's translate the items:
1. it simply implies that everything is copyrighted, that means that copyrighted content (Rule 6) is a pleonasm (a repetition, like young child - forget Benjamin Button ;)), because you don't have to do anything (pay fees, ask for a registration, or simply say explicitly my creation is copyrighted or similars) to have your rights established (US has a special law here).
2. solely the owner has the right to copy/multiply/sell his/her creation, all others need a permit/licence - hence the common name of copyright. In other words, everything you created is yours and only yours, everything someone else created is not yours, but you may be allowed to use it under item 4. below. You may sell your right (as most musicians do today), that's why you'll find the term "copyright holder" where author should otherwise be found
3. there is "best before" date, otherwise the copyright would impede the research and/or the cultural progress. After "expiring date" the creation becomes public domain, ie everyone can use it without any restriction and free of any charge
4. one can use copyrighted creations even if the owner forbids it, if one or several conditions are met. The most known one is Fair Use, there are also several others, however they are country/jurisdiction dependent.
What's illegal?
Illegal is the opposite of legal. But what's legal, so one can derive the opposite? Legal is everything that conforms to the law. What law? Nowhere in this doom9.org domain is mentioned the jurisdiction under which the site and its participants are.
The subforums of Decrypting are therefore completelly illegal in the States and EU because they spread the knowledge and the tools of circumventing the technical measures used to protect copyrighted works (DMCA+EU latest directive). On the other hand many posts have been closed as their content implied downloaded of copyrighted bits (sounds, video, subtitles etc.), which is permitted in EU for private use, provided no "decryption" occured. In some countries you are allowed to do what you want with a DVD you bought, provided some conditions are observed.
Since the jurisdiction under which doom9 falls is located neither in USA nor in EU, it must be located then somewhere in an undisclosed zone in the Solar System, where you can crack the protections but you can't download anything. As I've already told this to the owner, not mentioning the contact data (real postal address included) is illegal in Germany, as in The Netherlands as well, and in many other countries.
So what's legal and what's illegal? As we cannot study ourselves the law, we have to believe that the moderators know it and they are able to discerne all the legal subtilities in order to assess the [il]legitime use of a material. There is also no possibility to appeal against a decision.
Finally, questionable.
Questionable is when one cannot assess neither the veridicity of a fact nor the opposite. The civil law has here in most countries if not in all the basic principle of "in dubio in favour of the suspect", since it implicitly derives from the ancient law principle of one has to prove that someone is guilty and not vice-versa. The Spanish Inquisition is history, at least since 1918 ;) ...
Final observations
It's irrelevant if the forum rules match or not the civil/criminal laws of the outside world. What counts however is that the forum as such does not offend the laws valid in the jurisdiction under which it activates. It can be more restrictive, it is however not allowed to be more permissive (if the applicable law says don't copy and the forum rules allow it then the forum can be on trial under this ground). That means that if one is allowed to do something in the real world but one forum rule forbids him/her to do it, then he's forbidden to do said action (within the forum), unless that rule offends the applicable law. You don't like the rules, quit. Don't argue that in your country this is allowed: you're not in your country, you're in a virtual city called forum.doom9.org. You have to obey the rules that govern that city (given by the mayor ;)), but also the laws of the country wherein the city is placed. You may however challenge the rules insofar they are not fully understandable. To me, illegal and questionable are the 2 major issues with Rule 6.
Pure fabricated examples:
1. Let's assume one lives in another country and part of his large family remained in place. He wants to share with them various family video (weddings, holidays, parties etc.). The internet is the cheapest medium (sometimes the most expedient too) to transmit a home DVD converted into a DivX one for the sake of space and band consumption. The designee cannot play the Divx for various reasons and asks the forum for help. Moderator: -it appears that you're not the owner of this downloaded movie. thread closed.
2. Some movies are now in public domain, mostly in EU. Public domain works can be used without restrictions, no licences to be paid, no agreements, almost completely free. Since it's impossible for a private person to own this kind of movie (it may be that s/he was not yet born in those days) it has somehow to be obtained, most usual nowadays using the internet. You want to "rework" it, ask for a hint. Moderator:-it appears that you're not the owner of this downloaded movie. thread closed.
I will not explain what warez, cracks etc. are but what is the copyright and how it involves Rule 6 provisions. These are by no means the authorised opinion, they cannot be used as a defense in a copyright infringment case (they might serve as a general guidance though), they are not exhaustive and may be anytime superseeded by a new EU directive or US law (BTW, we have a new directive as of April.2009 that prolongues the copyright term to 70 years instead of 50). Also I'm not a native English speaker, those of you who are I'm sure you already know that.
A bit of history
The copyright is by no way a modern invention, although the term was coined first some 150 years ago. The idea of copyright appeared only after the scientific world regained its importance, after the Dark Age. Then, like now, it was not very uncommon for some scientists or literats to steal from others works, pretending to be the owner. Although the first dispute known to history led to a battle with about 3000 casualties (557 AD; Cúl Dreimhne; Irland), it was not until the invention of the printing when the copyright became an issue. Copying a book was possible in several days instead of months maybe years. The iluminists brought people to the art of reading and the libraries and bookshop grew, soon bookprinting became a real business.
So in 1710 the first copyright act in the modern sense appeared (Statute of Anne), followed a century later by the Bern convention (1886). The latter one is the mother of all intellectual properties treaties and conventions since then, as it laid the basic principles that govern the copyright. Notice that US joined the Bern convention only in 1989.
The basic principles:
1. the copyright is automatically given to everything produced by the human mind
2. the copyright allows the owner to use his/her creation as s/he likes, the rest of the world need however an approuval or a licence to be paid.
3. the copyright expires after a certain period
4. under certain conditions anyone can use the copyrighted creations without approuval or licence
Let's translate the items:
1. it simply implies that everything is copyrighted, that means that copyrighted content (Rule 6) is a pleonasm (a repetition, like young child - forget Benjamin Button ;)), because you don't have to do anything (pay fees, ask for a registration, or simply say explicitly my creation is copyrighted or similars) to have your rights established (US has a special law here).
2. solely the owner has the right to copy/multiply/sell his/her creation, all others need a permit/licence - hence the common name of copyright. In other words, everything you created is yours and only yours, everything someone else created is not yours, but you may be allowed to use it under item 4. below. You may sell your right (as most musicians do today), that's why you'll find the term "copyright holder" where author should otherwise be found
3. there is "best before" date, otherwise the copyright would impede the research and/or the cultural progress. After "expiring date" the creation becomes public domain, ie everyone can use it without any restriction and free of any charge
4. one can use copyrighted creations even if the owner forbids it, if one or several conditions are met. The most known one is Fair Use, there are also several others, however they are country/jurisdiction dependent.
What's illegal?
Illegal is the opposite of legal. But what's legal, so one can derive the opposite? Legal is everything that conforms to the law. What law? Nowhere in this doom9.org domain is mentioned the jurisdiction under which the site and its participants are.
The subforums of Decrypting are therefore completelly illegal in the States and EU because they spread the knowledge and the tools of circumventing the technical measures used to protect copyrighted works (DMCA+EU latest directive). On the other hand many posts have been closed as their content implied downloaded of copyrighted bits (sounds, video, subtitles etc.), which is permitted in EU for private use, provided no "decryption" occured. In some countries you are allowed to do what you want with a DVD you bought, provided some conditions are observed.
Since the jurisdiction under which doom9 falls is located neither in USA nor in EU, it must be located then somewhere in an undisclosed zone in the Solar System, where you can crack the protections but you can't download anything. As I've already told this to the owner, not mentioning the contact data (real postal address included) is illegal in Germany, as in The Netherlands as well, and in many other countries.
So what's legal and what's illegal? As we cannot study ourselves the law, we have to believe that the moderators know it and they are able to discerne all the legal subtilities in order to assess the [il]legitime use of a material. There is also no possibility to appeal against a decision.
Finally, questionable.
Questionable is when one cannot assess neither the veridicity of a fact nor the opposite. The civil law has here in most countries if not in all the basic principle of "in dubio in favour of the suspect", since it implicitly derives from the ancient law principle of one has to prove that someone is guilty and not vice-versa. The Spanish Inquisition is history, at least since 1918 ;) ...
Final observations
It's irrelevant if the forum rules match or not the civil/criminal laws of the outside world. What counts however is that the forum as such does not offend the laws valid in the jurisdiction under which it activates. It can be more restrictive, it is however not allowed to be more permissive (if the applicable law says don't copy and the forum rules allow it then the forum can be on trial under this ground). That means that if one is allowed to do something in the real world but one forum rule forbids him/her to do it, then he's forbidden to do said action (within the forum), unless that rule offends the applicable law. You don't like the rules, quit. Don't argue that in your country this is allowed: you're not in your country, you're in a virtual city called forum.doom9.org. You have to obey the rules that govern that city (given by the mayor ;)), but also the laws of the country wherein the city is placed. You may however challenge the rules insofar they are not fully understandable. To me, illegal and questionable are the 2 major issues with Rule 6.
Pure fabricated examples:
1. Let's assume one lives in another country and part of his large family remained in place. He wants to share with them various family video (weddings, holidays, parties etc.). The internet is the cheapest medium (sometimes the most expedient too) to transmit a home DVD converted into a DivX one for the sake of space and band consumption. The designee cannot play the Divx for various reasons and asks the forum for help. Moderator: -it appears that you're not the owner of this downloaded movie. thread closed.
2. Some movies are now in public domain, mostly in EU. Public domain works can be used without restrictions, no licences to be paid, no agreements, almost completely free. Since it's impossible for a private person to own this kind of movie (it may be that s/he was not yet born in those days) it has somehow to be obtained, most usual nowadays using the internet. You want to "rework" it, ask for a hint. Moderator:-it appears that you're not the owner of this downloaded movie. thread closed.