Liberating the Bits

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 2:55 PM -0700 7/1/97, Anonymous wrote:

> I have never had any problem with someone recording a copy of my
>music from a purchased copy if they are a music lover with a thin
>pocket, or can't readily purchase it. If someone with a $2000.00
>stereo wants to enjoy the fruits of my labor without contributing
>any money to my health and welfare, then I consider them to be just
>another thief.

Well, my stereo system costs considerable more than $2000. And I copy CDs
whenever I can.

I have copied to DAT (Digital Audio Tape) several hundred CDs. And a friend
of mine has really gone overboard, copying more than 4000 CDs (rock, blues,
jazz, country, you name it) onto more than 1000 DATs.

Given that a new CD typically costs about $16 US, and a blank DAT tape
costs about $4 for a 3-hour tape, the savings are spectacular. (My friend
uses a lot of the 4-hour DATs, but I don't trust them. They jam in some
machines.)

We get these CDs by borrowing from friends (who haven't gotten into DATs
yet), and especially from libraries. My friend has library cards at more
than 6 library systems, covering about 20 actual library sites. Each has
thousands of CDs (though there is much duplication, and a lot of junk.)

And I now have a SCMS defeating DAT machine, a Tascam DA-P1, so I can
"mine" his collection of 4000+ CDs-on-DAT and make flawless digital copies.
(The copies from a CD are flawless with any dubbing that uses the digital
I/O, but DAT to DAT copies have been disabled on consumer-grade machines
with SCMS, the Serial Copy Management System. SCMS defeaters reset the SCMS
bits to allow any number of perfect copies.)

Technology liberates the bits.

--Tim May


There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."