"Pirate" turns himself in to police ...

[RoyGBiv]

I interrupt your regularly scheduled flame war for an illustration of how one actually challenges the status quo. Actions matter.

In order to force a change in the law, last month a man reported himself for breaching copyright more than a hundred times, hoping an anti-piracy group would take him to court. The group’s lawyer said they would respond by today – they haven’t – so the Danish copyfighter is now reporting himself to the police.

http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-refuses-bait-drm-breaker-goes-to-the-police-091201/

The man's "crime," btw, is ripping his legally purchased DVD collection to his computer for archival purposes. This is legal in Denmark (and here, FWIW), but the technology required to circumvent the DRM to prevent copying is illegal.

This message has been brought to you by the Piracy Shills of America, a wholly owned subsidiary of no one with headquarters nowhere and a membership of none.

[Deja Q]

1. Unless the software legally authorizes backing up for personal uses only?

If there are no exceptions, I just thought of two really cool lawsuits that, to my knowledge, haven't been made yet.

[RoyGBiv]

2. There are several angles ...

The problem, in the US anyway, is the extraordinary amount of money that RIAA/MPAA (and BSA, though I don't consider them purely evil) have at their disposal to take the matter to civil court. They want to stay the hell out of criminal court at all costs and really only want civil court to be used as a threat. Facing against that takes massive courage, disposable income, and life circumstances such that engaging in the legal wrangling, win or lose, wouldn't completely ruin a person.

There's also just the general ambivalence of the public to consider. RIAA/MPAA have played a masterful PR game and have made people think it's just not important to them. Even when RIAA, for example, is sanctioned by a court for engaging in illegal DoS attacks themselves, you don't hear of it unless you read the right publications. Even then, follow up information is hard to come by, so the whole thing goes down the memory hole.

I don't expect much from what this guy in Denmark is doing, but I admire the conviction required to force a confrontation.