[saganus]

Ah. Good point. This is under the DMCA act? I guess the problem then becomes defining what exactly constitutes a tool that aids in infringement.

A debugger is potentially a tool that can be used to circumvent copyright (let's say, by means of bypassing a very weak protection scheme). But it's obviously not only for this case, so you might argue that if the tool's sole purpose is to circumvent copyright it would have a leg to stand on.

But what happens when this tool can also be used for something else? Like someone said elsewhere in this thread, what if the tool is changed such that it could be used to stream movies from, let's say, remote places (you go to your cabin in the woods and stream your legally owned movies, directly from your house, but also from your office, from your parents' house, etc), but it's only one config file away from streaming illegal content from torrents.

Then what? Is the tool at fault here? or is the configuration at fault? And these are honest questions I really can't even begin to try to answer, but I guess the point still stands that making this law able to take down tools is a slipery slope to say the least.

Edit: Typos

[squeaky-clean]

(2) No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof, that— (A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title; (B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title; or (C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with that person with that person’s knowledge for use in circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201

>A debugger is potentially a tool that can be used to circumvent copyright

IANAL, but it seems that what matters is that the tool is primarily designed for circumventing copyright, has practically no other use than to circumvent copyright, or is marketed by the manufacturer as a tool to circumvent copyright.

You can pirate things with a browser, you can crack software with a debugger or hex editor. But these aren't the primary and only purposes of these tools.

>[...] but it's only one config file away from streaming illegal content from torrents.

If it has legitimate legal uses, and the config file that allows illegal streaming isn't provided by default, nor advertised by the manufacturer, or a group that the manufacturer gives approval to, then hopefully everything will be ok.

[saganus]

Interesting assessment squeaky. Thanks!

I was unaware of this and it does seem like indeed popcorn fits this description.

And yeah, I agree with you that it will hopefully be ok if you don't do the aforementioned stuff, however I guess we can't ever be truly sure until it's tested in court.

[zevyoura]

As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the section you're quoting is about breaking DRM, which PopcornTime does not do.