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 COLUMN
Copywrong ONE OF THE SMARTER things the founding fathers wrote into the Constitution was the clause giving the federal government the power to issue patents and, ultimately, what we now know as copyrights. I certainly don't have any quarrels with the idea of intellectual property. Not surprisingly, I think copyright is a great thing, given that I write for a living.
Unfortunately, the laudable notion of protecting the rights of creators is ensnared in a mass of incredibly wrongheaded law known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1996, the infamous DMCA. Why am I so cranked up over DMCA? Because some of my most paranoid fears are coming to pass. DMCA is being used to stifle open discussion of bad design and security flaws, and I'm afraid things are only going to get worse. It was bad enough last year, when a music industry trade group threatened legal action and kept academic Edward Felton from presenting a paper on flaws in a copy-protection technique supported by the recording industry. But when some idiot vice president at HP (it's not Hewlett-Packard anymore, right Carly?) starts threatening Snosoft security researchers with the full weight of DMCA because Snosoft did what everyone in the security community should do when they have knowledge of a flaw, I have a problem. The incident was widely reported, but for those of you who were too busy swatting mosquitoes in East Troy, Wisconsin, or waiting for Barry Bonds to hit number 600, the super-condensed version goes like this: Researchers at Snosoft find hole in Tru64 Unix, the ex-Digital, ex-Compaq Unix that HP is starting to strip of goodies and will tart up in future versions of HP-UX. Researchers inform HP of vulnerability and supply exploit code. HP -- which must be a really distracting place to work this summer -- puts bug into its normal pipeline. Vulnerability becomes publicized, HP veep throws tantrum and threatens a DMCA prosecution. Press finds out, mocks HP. HP flacks restate situation in less-threatening tones, so in the end no one's going to jail for anything. This time. The pitiful thing is that copyright law is only going to become more absurd if some interests get their way; just punch "Fritz chip" into Google and you'll see exactly what I mean. We live in a world where "fair use" is taking a back seat to the deep pockets of industry. We know that we can't depend on hardware and software vendors to deliver secure products or be upfront about risks and responsibility. But if a neighbor knocked on your door and pointed out that your barn was on fire, you'd thank him -- not threaten him with a trespassing charge. P.J. Connolly is section leader of the InfoWorld Test Center, covering security and collaboration. Contact him at pj_connolly@infoworld.com.  RELATED SUBJECTS  SecurityBusiness NewsClick here for all of P.J. Connolly's past columns. SPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
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