[Prensa] Free Software and The Matrix

[Alexandre Oliva]

[From http://fsfla.org/svnwiki/blogs/lxo/2007-04-09-matrix-press-release]

Campinas, Brazil--April 9, 2007--At 10 AM on the next Friday 13,
Alexandre Oliva is supposed to deliver the speech "Free Software and
The Matrix" at FISL 8.0.  There's a lot of legal uncertainty about it,
and it looks like legal gray areas are going to be brought up in this
debate.
http://fisl.softwarelivre.org

Alexandre says the initial idea was just to use some quotes from the
Matrix trilogy to talk about Free Software.  "It is truly amazing how
it fits", he says, excited.  "If you think about it, the Matrix is all
about how humans lost control over the machines, and how most don't
seem to care about it."

As the idea evolved, he ended up realizing the entire presentation
could be built interacting with portions of the movies.  "I've never
done anything like that before, but it sounded cool, and I couldn't
help it!".  To give an idea of what he's talking (and will talk)
about, he posted on his web page a couple of teasers.
http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/papers/whatisthematrix/

However, this poses very interesting questions.  Is copying portions
of DVDs for public presentations fair use, or does it require
permission from the copyright holders?  How far could copyright
holders go to stop or try to stop such uses?  Could DRM (Digital
Restrictions Management), such as the weak encryption used in DVDs, be
used to stop Alexandre from delivering his speech?
http://drm.info

Obviously he believes he's not done anything wrong.  "Morally, I'm
sure I'm doing the right thing.  Besides, I'm promoting sales and
rentals of the movies; how could the copyright holders possibly
complain?"

But what about the law?  Alexandre doesn't appear to see a problem.
"I'm not a lawyer, but I get the impression that my use of portions of
other works is clearly permitted by Brazilian copyright law."  There
are DRM provision in Article 107 of that law, but he says "they're not
even close to being as draconian as the DMCA, in the US."

Interestingly, a lot of the speech is precisely about restrictions and
control, and the quest for freedom.  "People don't know their rights,
and they often don't realize they can do something other than go on
accepting more and more restrictions to their freedoms!"

It is sure going to be an interesting debate, as fair use rights face
legal and technical restrictions.  Even more so if the speech is
actually broadcast live or recorded on the Internet.

He says the organizers have already been informed, but no legal
threats have been made so far.  "But then, I didn't ask for
permission, because I don't see that I need it."  It sounds like a
political statement very much in line with the contents of the speech.
"I'm going to be there, how about you?", he invites.  We shall see...


== About Alexandre Oliva

He's been a Free Software user, developer and evangelist since the
last decade of the past millenium.  In 2005, he co-founded FSFLA, the
Latin-American sister organization of the Free Software Foundations in
USA, Europe and India.  Graduated in Computing Engineering and Master
in Computer Sciences at Unicamp, he's been a Free Software developer
at Red Hat since 2000.


== Press contacts

Alexandre Oliva
lxoliva en fsfla.org
+55 19 3243-5233


Copyright 2007  Alexandre Oliva

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.


Disclaimer: This is not a press release by FSFLA, it does not
necessarily represent FSFLA's positions.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva         http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/
FSF Latin America Board Member         http://www.fsfla.org/
Red Hat Compiler Engineer   aoliva@{redhat.com, gcc.gnu.org}
Free Software Evangelist  oliva@{lsd.ic.unicamp.br, gnu.org}