1. What is DeCSS? What was the defendant’s legal claim, and why did he lose this case?

2. Is there a difference, ethically, between the copyright infringing activity of a music file sharing service and those who use it? Between a hacker like Johansen who created DeCSS, Corley who disseminated it, and someone who accesses and uses it to watch a movie? Is it fair that copyright law, for the most part, is enforced against the Groksters and Corleys of the digital world?

3. Under the DMCA, nonprofit educational service providers (e.g., state colleges) are protected when a faculty member or graduate student infringes copyright while teaching or researching if three conditions are met: (i) the activities do not involve providing recommended or instructional materials for a course taught at the institution within the preceding 3-year period; (ii) within that same time, the university received no more than two notifications of claimed infringement by the same person; and (iii) the institution provides all users with information regarding compliance with copyright law. The individual faculty member or graduate student, however, can be found liable.

(a) Why do you think the law does not apply to undergraduate infringement? Should it?

(b) Find out whether, and how, your school informs Internet users of their obligations to comply with copyright law, and evaluate its effectiveness.