[FS-UK-announce] New Scientist: Aibo custom code pulled from website

[Julian T J Midgley]

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991495

17:23   30  October  01    Will Knight

Excerpts:

Complaints from Sony have led to the removal from the web of unauthorised
computer programs that teach the Aibo robot dog to perform new tricks.
However, the move has upset many Aibo enthusiasts.

...

"I understand and respect Sony's rights, which is why I pulled the site,"
the anonymous programmer told New Scientist  in an email. But he claims
"nothing on my site could be used to break the copy protection. The
information provided was minimal. No algorithms, no code, no schematics."

...

The DMCA, introduced in 1998, prohibits the distribution of any technology
or information that enables the circumvention of system used to protect
digitally stored information. The Act could prove a useful weapon against
digital piracy, but some say it also threatens to stifle research and
innovation.

Julian Midgley of the UK's Campaign for Digital Rights argues that the
Aibo copy-protection system was circumvented only to make the new programs
compatible, not to promote piracy. He warns that the DMCA could in the
future be used to maintain a monopoly over software for a particular
hardware architecture, rather than to protect copyright.




Julian

-- 
Julian T. J. Midgley                      http://www.xenoclast.org/
Cambridge, England.                          PGP Key ID: 0xBCC7863F
Beware the European Copyright Directive:  http://uk.eurorights.org/