Duplicate and Die

Khoi

20 years ago

When conservatives complain about “activist judges,” I wonder if they would include the growing number of adjudicators who have been systematically destroying consumers’ fair use rights (or, for that matter, those appointed under Republican presidents who have been diligently repealing environmental protections). The latest of these is Judge Susan Illston, who sits on the federal bench in San Francisco, and who last week in a suit between 321 Studios and the Motion Picture Association of America, ruled that DVD-copying software is illegal.

As it happened, I watched a DVD that had been duplicated by 321 Studios’ DVD X Copy software for the first time just this past weekend, and I have to admit that it was impressive, and practically perfect. Unlike the somewhat kludgy method that I’ve been using on my Mac, this Windows-only package does not require multiple software components (and multiple, unwieldy steps), and most significantly does not omit a DVD’s navigational menus and extra features. To an untrained eye, there’s practically no difference between a DVD Copy X-authored movie and one bought from the store, which is frightening but also somewhat liberating, at least until you realize that this using this feature will, if the ruling stands, render you a criminal by the end of the week.