I’m not quite sure I understand this. A website, specifically 2600.com, links to the infamous DeCSS.zip file, which allows the copying of DVDs, and is taken to court. It is ruled that the site is guilty of allowing people to pirate copyrighted intellectual property. The decision is based on the judge’s ruling that HTML code is not protected as free speech.So this mean I can lawfully opine that I’ve heard U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan romances farm animals. But if I type it like this:
<html>
<body>
Unidentified sources claim U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan
romances farm animals.
</body>
</html>
…then I’m a criminal.
Interesting. And also a telling example of how the legal profession is so paranoid about the computer revolution. The World Wide Web is evil, right? You can use if to download porn and find the ingredients for bombs. So everyone using a computer — including you! — must be guilty of something.
The new motto of our times: Innocent until proven online.
