Yesterday's NY Times' Circuits section had a great article about the impediments of DRM and the DMCA for those who legitimately own DVDs (Whose DVD? A Debate Over Copies). One example used is of a couple who take copies of their large (expensive - lots of money sent to Hollywood already) DVD collection when they travel on their boat. The ability to copy saves hauling the DVDs back and forth and the consequent risk of loss, damage or theft. Well, we may not all own boats in Bermuda, but we can all sympathesize with the couple who have no intention of harming Hollywood.

The story publishes the counter arguments:

The Federal District Court judge in one case, Susan Illston of San Francisco, was unswayed by arguments that users of the company's products did not routinely engage in piracy or otherwise damage the market for DVD movies. "It is the technology itself at issue, not the uses to which the copyrighted material may be put," she wrote in her opinion.

It is stories like these that will eventually undermine Hollywood's desparate attacks on consumers.