[Rumori] Detritus Update: Monolith: a software experiment with copyright

[Steev Hise]

on Thu, 10 Jun 2004 Darren Wershler-Henry told me:

->Here's the devil's advocate position on Monolith:
->
->http://www.corante.com/copyfight/archives/004291.html

lots of interesting comments on that item too:
http://www.corante.com/copyfight/archives/004291.html#comments

I think the most interesting thing about Monolith is the author's
discussion of bringing home taping back into the home. if the
transmission is not infringement, but rather, the decryption is,
then we have a different situation than what prosecutors
currently are assuming.

of course it's all sort of unrealistic, since as the author notes
in the beginning, and various commentators keep restating, this
is "logical gymnastics", a world quite apart from that in which
the Law operates.

smh

->
->
->June 09, 2004
->Monolith - An Uninteresting Experiment in Copyright
->
->BoingBoing links to a new "copyright experiment" (Monolith and digital
->copyright). The software project, called Monolith, takes two digital files
->and XOR's them (what the author refers to as "munging"), creating a third
->file. The author calls the two input files "element" and "basis." I think
->many people might call them "plaintext" and "key." The output file (aka the
->"monolith" file) would be called the "cryptotext."
->
->The conceit of the concept is that neither the cryptotext nor the key is
->copyrighted. Thus, it should be legal to distribute both. Otherwise, the
->author of Monolith claims, everything is copyrighted and nothing can be
->distributed because there is always a number such that, if XOR'd with
->another number, will produce a copyrighted work.
->
->This argument is not new and it not terrible interesting. It basically
->postulates that any encrypted transmission of information is actually not a
->transmission of information at all.
->
->On 6/10/04 11:54 AM, "steev at detritus.net" <steev at detritus.net> wrote:
->
->> (((( Detritus Update: Monolith: a software experiment with copyright ))))
->>
->>                            June 10, 2004
->>
->>
->> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
->>
->> http://detritus.net/blog/archives/000061.html
->>
->>
->>
->
->
->---------------------
->
->Darren Wershler-Henry
->darren at alienated.net
->
->"George Jones is a funky motherfucker."
->--Ray Charles
->
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Steev Hise .  steev at detritus.net . http://detritus.net/steev
new blog: http://steev.hise.org
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