My moment in the Ninth Circuit sun

Jason rawked the 9th Circuit Appeals Court this morning
Originally uploaded by San Fran Annie.

This past Wednesday, I had the opportunity to argue before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for the first time.  It was challenging and quite a bit of fun.  The cases, DirecTV v. Huynh and DirecTV v. Oliver, involved the scope of 47 USC 605(e)(4), a provision controlling who can "assemble" or "modify" equipment primarily designed to intercept satellite signals.  I argued the that provision should be limited to those who facilitate illegal interception (so as to avoid criminalizing security and computer science research into satellite and smart card technology).  DirecTV argued it should cover anyone who works with equipment designed for interception of their signals, regardless of their motivation or whether any interception occurs.

For those interested, I've included links below to background posts, the legal briefs, and an MP3 of the argument that was recorded by the Court. EFF worked on the case with Jennifer Granick from Stanford Law School and one of her students.

• EFF Breaking News

• Stanford CIS Blog Post

• DirecTV's Opening Brief

• EFF Amicus Brief

• DirecTV's Reply Brief

• Audio of Oral Argument

Comments

[Michael Barr]

Go Jason! Great job explaining about the access card modifications, programmers/loaders, unloopers, and related pirate technology in front of the court.