Interview with Canadian Anti-Sony lawyer, Glyn Hotz

Written by tinfoil on Friday, 03 February 2006 18:15

As many of you now know, Sony is being sued in Canada over their rootkit infested CDs, along with lawsuits springing up in many other countries. Some of you may also know that I am a Canadian, so this case interests me a great deal. The lawyer for the Canadian case is Glyn Hotz and I've had an opportunity to exchange some email with Glyn.

Glyn,

First of all, thanks for your reply!

Now, questions:

Tinfoil: What are you basing this class-action on? My research has shown that while the software installed on the machines isn't pleasent in a taking care of your children and buying you flowers type of way, it hasn't damaged computers or data on said computers. How has the consumer been harmed?

Glyn Hotz: I had one guy who called from Nova Scotia and had to rebuild 2 servers, though admittedly this was rare. But he is a computer IT expert, so if he got caught by XCP then you can just imagine it's treachery. It actually did impact on his business. Mostly, it's people whose computers are running slowly, but some have crashed.

T: Obviously, the consumer wants fair use and they want it now, and as Canadians we are granted fair use. However, the entertainment industry wants to protect their copyrights from those who would do them harm. Listening to the industry, piracy is killing it and DRM protection is the only way to save the industry. What is the middle ground for DRM?

GH: The middle ground is to focus on the business model that works, just as movies adapted to VHS, recording industries thought cassettes would kill, and so on as the DVD market has adapted (by giving bonuses and incentives not to copy). It's not ideal but it works better than imposing XCP on people's systems. Computers are somehow seen as a frightening new target, because they're not understood (that's why Thomas Hesse made statements about nobody even knows what a rootkit is, so who cares...)

T: Speaking of fair use and DRM, why hasn't anyone cried shenanigans on these DRM schemes? They seem, to me atleast, to fly in the face of fair use rights, preventing pesky things such as copying music I purchased legally over to my iPod, or copying a CD for use in my car so I don't destroy the original. Why aren't DRM schemes like Sony's totally against the law? Candians pay a levy on blank media so that we can have fair use, yet DRM prevents us from such.

GH: You said it better than I could, ever.

T: How similar will this case be to cases filed by the EFF, New York, Texas et al?

GH: Ours is different. I'll forward you why in the next email where I also send the claim. [Click HERE for the PDF of the claim -- Tin]

T: In the end, what do you hope to accomplish?

GH: Compensation. Message to Sony. Legal fees. Stop bullying the people who buy your products. Listen to the user. Make music available. Change your business model. Don't dare tamper with property. And I hope not to take the US slap on the wrist settlement (or pat on the wrist) but I may get no choice as the lawyers now battle it out for who gets control of the class action.

----

My thanks again to Glyn for answering my questions. I realise that I could have asked many more, but Glyn's gotta be pretty busy right now with all the law-talking stuff.

You can contact Glyn here: www.glynhotz.com

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites