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Should computer code be protected speech? | by Arcanum | 2006-11-19 12:55:59 |
| Definately |
by Elessar |
2003-04-24 10:29:04 |
First off, a little background on how this issue has become significant in the US, for those who aren't familiar.
Shortly after DeCSS hit the internet, 2600 magazine published it on their web site. The MPAA sued them to prevent them from either publishing the program or linking to it. The basis for the lawsuit was the section of the DMCA which prohibits, among other things "trafficking" in "circumvention devices".
2600 argued against it on several points, including that linking to source code on someone else's website wasn't "trafficking" and that source code, as an expression of ideas, should be afforded protection as speech under the first amendment.
It has also come up more than once in the cryptography community, where source code is often times the best way of expressing the ideas under discussion, and not only is it being used to express ideas, that's its primary use, and the fact that it can be compiled to actually do something is often secondary. For many years the US regulated the "export" of strong cryptography, and several cases in that area revolved around free speech issues as well.
Dr. Dave Touretzky testified as an expert witness in the 2600 case, claiming that there is no meaningful way to distinguish source code from other forms of written communication. He put together a website illustrating this fact at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Gallery/
I strongly agree with Dr. Touretzky and others that trying to distinguish between source code and other forms of written communications is not possible, and, as such, should be afforded the same protections under the first amendment as any other written speech. |
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Clicky | by Elessar | 2006-11-19 12:55:59 |
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