The region code system created by DVDCCA (DVD Copy Control Association) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has been deemed illegal by courts in several countries -- as a form of censorship. Consumer groups and open DVD associations have declared it illegal on many more reasons:
1. A copyright violation. A copyright holder has no right to discriminate against paying customers basing on their location.
2. A violation of fair competition laws. An association of dominant producers using their influence to suppress competition and maintain conrol over distribution chains.
Most countries have taken no stance. Some have given in to DVDCCA/MPAA blackmail, restricting sales of foreign disks and multiregion equipment. Perhaps someone would also like to lobby for no sales of foreign books? Perhaps we should not read/listen/watch anything not from our counry? Most justifications for the region code system are malicious nonsense.
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The region code system seeks to artificially divide the world. It constitutes censorship and limits the free exchange of ideas. Its supporters use closed standards and lawsuits to harrass the individuals and companies who bypass it. It serves the explicit goal of profit. If it were meant to protect, there would a be timestamp system with expiring region codes.
There is a serious risk of it succeeding. But this risk is balanced by the hope that it fails. It is within our power as consumers to make it fail -- as a lesson for future monopolists. I will personally do everything I can.
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To show how utter nonsense the region code system is, let me ask you a question. Would you like your favourite book to be only readable in Europe? Australia? China? What if Linux were only usable in Finland? What if Windows would only be usable in America?
The "local" cinema industries Hollywood claims to "protect" are not local industries, just their distributors. The region code system actually harms local production. It is good only for maintaining price differences (and not having to bother with worldwide releases).
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What is worse - some large corporations (Sony for example) have significant stakes both the movie industry and video equipment. This is why you should avoid Sony DVD players.
Pioneer has gone along with the system while leaving the possibility to modify most of its products. Pioneer players are modified by switching them to a regionless mode (RPC1) which preceeded current region-locked drives (RPC2). This may create problems with the "RCE-contaminated" disks.
Being a large computer company with less connections to MPAA, NEC has chosen to make drives which can be hacked in a better way. After altering, NEC drives are seemingly region-locked but you can change regions infinitely.
The best solution would be producing completely multiregion DVD drives, but getting a license for this from DVDCCA is impossible (to reverse-engineer and use DVD technology without their license, you will have hire an entire army of very good lawyers). Therefore we should not direct our anger at computer companies -- they have chosen to keep both sides happy.
They buy the license to avoid lawsuits and leave a back door into most products so hackers can do the modification. Luckily DVDCCA has no hope of ever stopping the hackers, who in this case do a very commendable job of allowing consumers to use their lawful rights.
We as consumers can destroy the region code system by always choosing region-free or hackable hardware and using only Region 1 disks (R1 is the home market of MPAA, the market which they can't escape from).
We should make sure our countries will not try to please DVDCCA or MPAA by resticting imports or exports. Some World Trade Organisation treaties should also prevent that. More coverage on this issue can be found at
www.opendvd.org
[This message has been edited by Lennier (edited November 30, 2001).]
