Since the subject of Tim Lee came up in the comments to an earlier post, it is perhaps opportune for me to mention his talk given during the panel on the DMCA. I should emphasize that Tim and I scarcely agree on everything: it is clear from his comments on the conference that I didn't persuade him that abolishing copyright is a good idea. Be that as it may - I thought he gave one of the most coherent criticisms of the DMCA I have heard. Since I don't think copyright achieves the intended purpose of increases the production or quality of books, movies, music or other copyrightable creations, I obviously don't have much use for the DMCA. But it is possible to be in favor of copyright and also against the DMCA. I think the EFF falls into this category - and while I think they make valid criticisms of the DMCA, I think if I agreed that copyright was a good idea, I wouldn't be persuaded by their arguments. I thought Tim made a much stronger case: basically that the DMCA isn't being used for the intended purpose, but rather to create monopolies unrelated to copyright at all. His example of the ipod using the DMCA to lock out competition seemed like a strong one.