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Jon Johansen Indicted by the MPA (A)
Jon Lech Johansen (jlj) writes "The National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime in Norway raided my home today and seized my Linux box, FreeBSD/Win2k box and Nokia cellphone. Not only I, but also my father has been indicted, since he owns the mmadb.no domain (webhotel) where my homepage(s) have been located. They also took me in for questioning which lasted 6-7 hours. It's 2 am CET now (I just got back), I haven't eaten, and someone's definitely going to pay for this. I have shut down my old e-mail account, and I'm now using linuxdvd@mmadb.no - More information coming tomorrow, once I've talked to my lawyer. Did someone whisper countersuit?" Jon Johansen is the young man from Norway who reverse-engineered DeCSS.
i've been reading a lot about what's goin on in the US about the DeCSS, but what's being done in other countries such as norway in the courts adn whatnot?
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
what does prosecuting him do for these people? Do they really think that what he did is going to cause any serious problems? If anything, it allowed others to expand DVD into realms that would not have been possible otherwise (basically b/c of stupidity on the parts of companies not supporting Linux/BSD). I really am beginning to wonder about the future of the world if they are going to persecute people for doing really ingenious things.
;)
I personally believe that they are more mad that he cracked it, and because of it being easy to crack the other keys they are embarassed
Can someone else see the similarities here? Operation Sundevil? Hacker Crackdown? Possibly even First Post?
First of all, what exactly does this mean? What inherent rights do people in .no have? Are you actually guilty now, or is there a trial, or what?
Secondly, economic and environmental crimes? Why does the same organization do both?
Windows 2000: Designed for the Internet. The Internet: Designed for UNIX.
I saw it stated many times in previous news items that reverse engineering was legal in Norway.
The power of these large corporate entities has been grossly underestimated.
-------------------------
"After Careful Consideration, Bush Recommends Oil Drilling" - The Onion
Just a technical detail:
He has been indicted by his government. Criminal charges are generally filed by governments, civil charges may be filed by anyone. Of course, the government is undoubtedly acting at the prompting of the DVD CCA or some similar organization.
So while the government may call DVD CCA people as expert witnesses and consult with them on the case, it is ultimately the government's case. This means a government prosecutor, not a DVD CCA lawyer.
Of course, I might have it totally wrong, as I'm not a legal expert in Norway (or anywhere else, fo r that matter), but I'm pretty sure that's how it works in most western countries.
So no matter where you are in the world, big brother will still be knocking on your door? But why is this a surprise? I mean, come on, everyone here in the states has been getting lawsuits for having it on their servers; its no surprise that the guy who actually CREATED DeCSS would be investigated. He'll probably be arrested, as well, and most likely get the same thing everyone else is getting, if not more. But seriously folks, think about this: I know a lot of you have 4.7 GB to spare, but how many people really carry around a DVD-R? And they think we're gonna be making copies of our DVD's up the wazoo? Right.....
When will this all end i wonder. The Big fat music and Video companies are stamoing down on small individuals who have donw nothing more than try and help people play "Their" movies on linux systems. Does this seem a little unfair? Where does it all end? DeCSS reverse engineering hardly sounds like world wide forgery to me. Does the fact i have a cdrw mean i a duplicating cds and l33t warez for all my friends, no it doesn't i use mine for acchives of my scans and brother bans music. Welcome to a bastardised 1984 where it is not the goverment in control but the media and their fat rich lawers. I did like the few hackers who treid to submit T-Shirts today to a judge with the DeCSS code on it. -my opinion is my own not yours
I know here in the US we have a number of organizations that try to protect the individual against abuses of power, but who helps in these cases (open source and right to reverse engineer, etc.) and what about outside the US? With the growth of profile for the open source movement this is going to happen a lot more before it gets better. Large companies often would rather lobby, legislate and litigate then change a flawed technology (like the one in this case or scanners for cell phones) or bussiness plan.
Is there a list of organizations that can be supported, promoted, and/or contacted for these issues?
'Cause you're one of those evil 'hax0rz' that's out to take all capitalism out of the software and hardware industries. I don't know the laws of Norway enough to offer any advice, other than saying good luck in court. Try to get a court date during which the moon is in Aquarius. People tend to be more understanding and open minded during those times.
-- Count Spatula: The Culinary Vampire "...because my cooking sucks."
This sucks, but is to be expected. DVD isn't just a USA thing, AFIAK, but has to have cooperation worldwide for the zone deal to have happened.
The question is, will we have the right to use what we have rightfully bought? That's all he did, after all, helped users access data that they PAID for. This will stop, once people get fed up with corporations screwing them over.
ok, end rant now. But i had to say something..
David
bash: ispell: command not found
This sig left intentionally blank.
Didn't he repeat over and over that he was not the one who did the reverse engineering (those people rightly stayed silent) but just was the first to publically distribute it? Or am I thinking of someone else?
I'm sorry if I'm being a wet blanket here, but do we even know this is real? It's not that hard to fake an e-mail, and as has been proven before, the /. posters are not the most vigilent bunch of people on the planet.
In practically every news story we've seen on this, prior to this one, I've seen comments to the effect that Norway's legal climate made him 'untouchable.'
What changed? I guess the better question would be: "What legal provisions does Norway offer to protect reverse engineering, and why is he now in trouble?"
For those that would die defending it, Freedom
has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
// zyqqh
What can we do to help? Please list. I can help out with money. What's his address? Does anybody know the gov't in Norway's email address who did this to him? I want to write them a letter or two. I want to sue that gov't on an international level as well. Kent
on the livid archives you will notice that he said that he did not do the reverse engineering.
Mirror the source. Nobody's knocked on my door yet, and I've made a dozen offers for people to mirror from my site. The RIAA does not read slashdot. =)
Join the EFF and pay attention to the action alerts.
Alert the press! Get our side out there! They think we're pirates - this isn't about piracy, it's about interoperability.
Start a legal defense fund for *all* DeCSS victims.
That being said, here's why they're doing it: Scare tactic. They want to "get tough" on the "pirates" and scare people into submission. Ain't gonna happen - don't let them. Fight back - we're talking about something central to the open source community: the right to reverse-engineer to promote interoperability and open standards. This just reeks of proprietary do-it-our-way-or-the-highway. Fight back! I know alot of us aren't political enough - but consider donating a few bucks and also mirroring the source. Post to slashdot. Sign up to become a DOE for the case. But do something - get involved.. or we may wind up with another kevin mitnick - en masse.
This is a full-fledged war now against the open source movement: they're trying to stop reverse-engineering and black-box everything. They can justify and rationalize all they want - but it's really about them trying to gain/maintain their monopoly on distribution. It's high-time we kicked our ass into gear and get people like Ralph Nader on board. This is about consumer rights - something any average joe on the street should understand. WRITE TO THE PRESS NOW. Give a counter-point, make it so your mom can understand the key points.
It is not clear whether he is going to hire legal help, but it might be easier for him to make that desision if some sympathetic supporters made an offer. Would this be an cause for the EFF to be involved in? If so, I would be willing to kick in a bit, perhaps through an EFF trust fund.
If the EFF is not interested, perhaps another reputable rights organisation would be willing to set up a legal defense fund? To me, the key is knowing that the money is being used for its intended purpose. I don't just want to send an envelope full of cash to some foreign country and hope it arrives!
Sorry I am asking questions and not answering them, but I would like to help, and I am sure others feel the same way.
A dingo ate my sig...
Alas, common sense like this just doesn't come into it.
A very huge and powerful industry has just realised that somebody has swept the control of their product right out from under their feet.
As soon as they release a DVD copy of something, people who want it at high quality, for free, can get it.
Our arguments about the obsolesence of this kind of Intellectual Property, and the fact that they're still going to be making more money than they were from video, don't really matter. What's at stake here is vast amounts of power and money, and big corporate machines don't react well (or rationaly) to losing it.
I would expect that the Norweigan Government came under vast amounts of pressure to take this action.
Well - for those that doubted it - the war is on now. Without without intending to sound absurdely melodramatic, the stakes are what kind of future this planet is going to have...
Fixing copyright
My heart goes out to this poor kid and his family for the abuse they're no doubt suffering. I hope we, as a community, can speak out against these injustices and stop them from happening again.
What can we learn from this, if you think you might be raided some day?:
1. Use an encrypted file system. Don't give the spooks any more information than they possibly can get.
2. Don't let them touch a fucking thing until you've spoken to a lawyer. I have a feeling it's very illegal for them to remove things from your home until you've had a lawyer look over the warrant.
3. Don't let them frighten you. Intimidation is their most powerful ally. I know I'd be shitting my pants if I were called in for questioning. Just remember, if you live in a reasonably free country, you're not going to lose anything by keeping your mouth shut, but you have a lot to lose by talking.
Whatever you do, *don't* let these government bastards take away your rights. Just because you're suspected of a crime doesn't mean you have no freedom.
And I call on every Slashdot reader to do something about this. Write letters, make phone calls, give money.
It's kind of funny, so soon after Kevin Mitnick was freed, that we have another martyr on our hands. This is one instance when I hope the hacker (and cracker) community will rise up and speak out for freedom.
Remember the writings of Jefferson and the other American founding fathers, and live by them.
or 3. send them to the trashbin.
Get your head out of the sand. The sad truth here is that no one really cares. Only the technical people in the world are fighting this. and the mpaa has enough lawyers to fight us off with ease. We're pretty fucked here. I think the best tactic would be to find some illegal action caused by the mpaa and bring the ball back into play on OUR terms. That and get some MAINSTREAM media coverage. Not just a bunch of geeks who code the stuff and a bunch of 14 year old computer nerds spouting "first post".
My first guess is that Jon Johansen is probably not in as serious of trouble as he would be if he were an adult or if it was in the US, since from what I have heard, minors aren't routinely tried as adults in Europe. Does anyone know for sure?
As far as "someone's going to pay" I think there is a pretty simple solution -- round up the MPAA & associates' expert witnesses who made connections between DeCSS and copying DVDs and throw them in jail for perjury. Since DeCSS is of absolutely no use in making a copy of a DVD, anyone who said otherwise in court (and knew they were blowing smoke up the courts ass) can be put away.
--Kevin
General Norwegian Laws: http://www.law.emory.edu/LAW/refdesk/country/forei gn/norway.html
The relevant Articles of the constitution:
Article 96
No one may be convicted except according to law, or be punished except after a court judgment. Interrogation by torture must not take place.
Article 99
No one may be taken into custody except in the cases determined by law and in the manner prescribed by law. For unwarranted arrest, or illegal detention, the officer concerned is accountable to the person imprisoned.
The Government is not entitled to employ military force against citizens of the State, except in accordance with the forms prescribed by law, unless any assembly disturbs the public peace and does not immediately disperse after the Articles of the Statute Book relating to riots have been read out clearly three times by the civil authority.
Article 102
Search of private homes shall not be made except in criminal cases.
Unfortunately, it doesn't matter if you've actually comitted a crime anymore. So long as A Big Corporation doesn't like something that you've done, you are as good as guilty at least in the eyes of those who can make your life a living hell.
And instead of realizing that the existing laws are in place simply as a convenience to large corporations used to make an example of those who really piss of those corporations, government agencies just overzealously enforce violations when they are told to do so by the corporations.
And what's the moral of the story? It's accountancy that makes the world go round, round, round, round. The simple fact is that these companies have too much power. And, indeed they are crybabies. Remember the kids that used to hit and not share their toys in kindergarten? Now they're all grown up, and they're the board members of the DVD CCA.
Thanks for the link to the source. Now nicely mirrored on my site.
I'm saying nothing at all with regard to the deCSS thang.
I'm addressing the prevailing attitude that's being displayed: that things should be nailed down to the bloody floor to stop y'all from stealing it. And that if you don't use a big enough nail, then it's your own fault if it gets stolen.
Sure as hell says a lot about the state of our society when the victim is blamed for being victimized.
Gah.
--
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
No, DeCSS makes it no easier to pirate. Right now I can go out rent a DVD download the *encrypted* image to my harddrive. Write the encrypted DVD to my DVD writer. Voila! I have an exact copy of the original DVD which, by virtue of being an exact copy, is playable by the same hardware as the original.
What they hope to gain, by scaring people into not mucking with DVD, is to retain their monopolistic control of DVD decoder technologies.
Marriage is the "pseudo-ethics" that cloaks the messy truth of sexuality in the raiment of propriety -- it's "Don't Ask,
Oh man, do we have to see this happen *every* decade? The only difference between this one and the last one is that the police might get suspicious if you took your hard drive out by now.
:)
Other than that it looks like no one else has learned anything apart from the usual "Computer crime is bad. Hackers should be punished. Computer crime is anything computer-related that I don't understand but someone says is bad. Big corporations are there to protect me..." Of course, we hackers know the difference. But that hasn't changed, either.
Yo, NSA and MPA(A)! I can watch DVDs on my computer, break your patented triple-XOR encryption in my head, and therefore decrypt your 31337 secret K0deZ. Better send someone here to shut me up real quick and steal my stuff without cause, 'cause you know I'm an evil HaX0r commie pinko, and I deserve whatever I get, no matter how illegal it is for you to do it!
---
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
I'm afraid I don't buy this story. It seems rather odd that _AFTER_ talking to his lawyer, he would even be mentioning anything about counter suits or anything like that (most lawyers tell you to keep your fool mouth shut, and for good reason). Of course, he has recently "changed" his e-mail address. Bah.
Can we have something like independent verification? Things like this are too serious to screw up on here, let's see some evidence.
Also, looks like mainstream media is actually capable of looking at both sides.. See this very pro-DeCSS article at CNN.com. Interesting how they have no mention of this...
Good thinking, but I really doubt that would work. Usually you pay for the rights to use the standards, while agreeing to quite a few restrictions on that use. For instance, keeping the information secret. Otherwise, you're correct, Red Hat could create an open source version and EVERYONE would have access to it. Including those who would have paid, such as Xing and Apple. Which would make no sense for the DVD Consortium.
The best scenario I can see is:
At which point I'll think about getting a DVD drive and some DVD movies. However, it won't be a done deal: I want the MPAA to apoligize to all of us.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Sorry, just driving me nuts, everyone saying Jon Johansen "reverse engineered DeCSS". DeCSS was the outcome of reverse engineering CSS, the Content Scrambling System. Using terminology correctly helps to make you look like you know what you're talking about.
Hong Kong.
Oh wait... scratch that.
This would have been funny a year ago.
Minty Toothbrush
.oo.
..
If an infinite number of monkeys typed at an infinte number of
If an infinite number of monkeys typed at an infinte number of
computer keyboards, they would all be
-=-=-=-=-
-=-=-=-=-
My mom's going to kick you in the face!
I'm all for patting oneself on the back, but still... :P
Open Source. Closed Minds. We are Slashdot.
So there are ALOT of people who have become filthy rich off of computer hardware software and so forth (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Paul Allen etc...) and, as rich people are want to do they tend to, or at least express an interest in philanthropy.
Well here is a way to help out! It's one thing to sue Joe Schmuck for DeCSS. Even with the EFF defending him it is easy to paint him as an evil hacker/pirate and an enemy of social order/capitalism.
On the other hand if one of these big rich men were to do the same thing (supported by their own high price lawyers no doubt) it would be much more difficult to so libel them. Clearly, given there large net worth, they aren't doing this just to steal a few bucks worth of DVD's.
If anyone knows a local billionaire who is feeling genorous give him a call.
Marriage is the "pseudo-ethics" that cloaks the messy truth of sexuality in the raiment of propriety -- it's "Don't Ask,
... if you read any closer, you'll see that the licensing agreement would threaten said licencee (such as RH) with fines in excess of US$10M for anything done to 'weaken' the 'security' or 'openness', i.e. open sourcing it.
Open Source. Closed Minds. We are Slashdot.
>I'm saying nothing at all with regard to the deCSS thang.
Good, 'cause your comment seem irrelevant too
it. They tried to prevent people "stealing"
something they didn't own (I.e. the ability
to decode DVDs), and they failed. They
wanted to hold on to it by mere force
of possession, and failed. That *is* their
own bloody fault.
As for any comment about things outside the
DVD realm, I'm not sure what you are talking
about.
I find it very interesting that some sort of serious legal authority is getting involved in this situation - I was under the impression that in the U.S. it was a civil suit. Is it a civil case in Norway also? Who are these people? Can someone fill that in?
This was a wake-up call for me. I was supportive of the EFF and everyone else involved in the suit in California, but I figured it would be one of those things where the case went to court, the judge laid the smack-down (so to speak) on the plaintiff, and we all went on our merry way. But the fact that an indictment was returned against this gentleman shows that not only is the DVD CCA intent on making a serious effort to put a stop to legal and legitimate reverse engineering but that there is a severe possibility that WE MIGHT LOSE.
I went and read the response by the DVD CCA- their argument is since the code has the master key in it, it MUST have been obtained illegally. This is a circular argument. But if they are able to convince a judge that this is true, this could signal an end to the idea of black-box reverse engineering.
How can we prevent this from happening? I'm starting by putting a copy of the DeCSS code up on my personal web server: http://128.122.106.158/decss.txt This is the only code I have - if someone wants to email me something more complete, I'll put that up. Email me at matthewzito@yahoo.com.
Everyone should put this code on their site. If enough people put this code on a website somewhere, the DVD CCA can't sue/arrest/harrass everyone. It's an old, hokey protest tactic, but it works.
Next, contact anyone and everyone in power. Call newspapers, politicians, and tell anyone and everyone who will listen. If they won't listen, tell them multiple times. Be polite, but be firm.
Write letters to the editor. Here, the idea is to make sure that everyone is aware of the issue, and more importantly, is aware of our side of the issue. Make sure that if someone reads an article that supports the DVD CCA, they have already read or heard something from someone sympathetic to our cause.
Donate money to the EFF, and any legal defense fund that is created for this gentleman. It doesn't have to be a lot, but anything you can give can help insure that we get a victory in the courts.
Anyone interested in putting together a little fund to run an ad in a major US newspaper like the NY times with the DeCSS code in it? That's more of a farfetched idea than most of the others in this post, but its a beautiful idea nonetheless.
Basically, the only things we can do are practice social disobedience (even in such a minor form as keeping our own public copies of the decss code), support those who are fighting the legal battles in the courts, and educate, educate, educate. Even if we lose some court battles, if the public in general is aware of the issues at stake, that gives us an advantage for future confrontations with companies trying to stop legitimate reverse engineering. Which there will certainly be.
Email me at matthewzito@yahoo.com
Matthew J Zito, CCNA
me@mzi.to
I've got my mirror up !
Anonymous ftp to thewalrus.gt.ed.net
Furthermore, I'm currently discussing with the LUG@GT (Linux Users Group at Georgia Tech), and I have an appointment to consult with legal counsel about our LUG organizing a legal defense fund. I have no idea what needs to be done on our part, only that SOMETHING has to be done, so if anybody can offer advice, it would be most appreciated.
25% Funny, 25% Insightful, 25% Informative, 25% Troll
Yet another reason why we need to boycott DVD technology and, probably, anything that one of the MPAA's associates puts out, until this lawsuit settles. Let's not give these jerks the ammunition they need to prosecute the case (our money.)
TOYWAR!!
Finding God in a Dog
You had a windows 2000 box seized ? Urk... assuming you're not a registered beta tester, there's yet another hokey charge they can pin on you.
25% Funny, 25% Insightful, 25% Informative, 25% Troll
Pirating unreleased software (no matter who makes it) is illegal. He does not garner any sympathy from me, nor make me want to contribute to his defense.
Um, the beta releases of MS Windows 2000 have been out since last August or so. Where do you get off claiming he pirated it from his statement that he runs it? Most likely, it is a perfectly legal beta copy. And who the hell moderated this up? Insightful??
A couple of people need a major reality check, here.
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
Who says it was pirated? Win2k has been in beta for a while now; many people have perfectly legitimate copies of it. I of course don't know the details of Jon's situation, but you can't just assume that it's been pirated just because it's not available to the general public yet.
Well, things are starting to get a bit out of hand. Before I mumble on about real issues I would like to ask a question. What is the best way to protect your personal possessions from theft, 1) Buy good locks for your doors and windows, or 2) Leave the door open and sue anyone who steals anything.
This is no longer about Jon Johansen, or the cracking of DeCSS, this is about Abuse of privilege. In any country the legal system is paid for by the people and is there to protect the people and other legal entities (including corporations). The legal system is not there to replace adequate safe guards, do we complain when prisoners start law suits at the publics expense because they got the wrong kind of peanut butter? Do we complain when able-bodied people call an ambulance to take them for a checkup? The answer to this is yes (I hope) because it's abuse of the system. In the same way we should protest that entities like the MPAA think they can throw their weight around at the public's expense due to little more then their own failings, yes I know they pay for their own lawyers but the courts etc. all come from the taxpayer.
The issues surrounding the right to access legal acquired information etc. have been covered in other posts, but I would like to bring to people's attention another abuse of the CSS system. The CSS system is there to protect against piracy and to enforce the region coding system. I am angered by the abuse of the region coding system, a DVD disk costs about twice as much in the UK as it does in the US, and quite often does not have as many added extras (interviews, clips etc..). The region coding system forces us to buy often inferior products at always exaggerated prices. Naturally a booming market in imported DVD's and 'chipped' players sprung up but the MPAA lobbied the British government into a large scale crackdown of the 'Grey imports'. Once again taxpayer money wasted in support of big business screwing over the overage joe.
For these reasons I will continue to host a mirror at http://www.exaflop.org and urge other mirror owners to email me and pass on their URLs to aid in the construction of a larger list of mirrors. The MPAA and it's members need to learn three lessons, 1) Attempting to control legal use of a legally purchased product is futile, 2) They cannot continue to abuse privilege, 3) There is no putting of the baby back into the womb once it has been born.
Voila! I have an exact copy of the original DVD
;-)
Wrong. You have a decrypted DVD copy. Sure, you could do that, but you just paid $52.95 for the DVD disc you wrote to. Lets see.. With rental it just cost you almost $60 to pirate a movie you could purchase legally for $20. I'm not even going to touch equipment depreciation on the $700 drive, which could drive it significantly higher. Congrats! You just saved yourself -$40!
Seriously and with all barbarism aside, while copying a disc like that is technically feasable, no one with more than a few brain cells would ever do it. Technical feasability != economic feasability. The only form of DVD piracy that is economically feasable is to buy a professional DVD copier from the boys at Pioneer and use it to turn out thousands of copies for sale. CSS isn't applicable in this case, because you don't need to decrypt the disc to copy it, only to play it. The DVD CCA just doesn't want to give up the huge 'licensing' fees it charges this early in the game.
.sig: Now legally binding!
I will not let my software decompile and erase while you discuss this indictment on slashdot!
...and these were on sale BEFORE DECSS EXISTED!
Someone really needs to make sure EFF and the other defense lawyers know about that - there's a giant REAL piracy operation going on and MPAA is paying no attention to it.
The software may not have been 'unreleased.' There are a lot of beta testers out there. I don't know for sure if this gentleman is one of them, but it's something to consider.
I'm sorry. What I meant to say was 'please excuse me.'
what came out of my mouth was 'Move or I'll kill you!'
Even if he ultimately wins, and after a few years of protracted struggle gets his computers back, he will have been inconvenienced massively by this action, and any compensation granted will be insignificant. The reasoning goes, such a spectacle will serve to deter others who might mock the authority of the copyright barons.
If you knew you could end up losing your computers, all your files and possibly your freedom, would you publically release something like DeCSS? Probably not, unless you've a yen for martyrdom.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Wonder whether the next wave of web-site cracks will read "FREE JON"...
From the whois query on mmadb.no at http://www.norid.no/whois/?host=128.39.2.9&query=m madb.no
% Rights restricted by copyright. See http://www.ripe.net/db/dbcopyright.html
Domain Information
Domain Name................: mmadb.no
Organization Handle........: MMA14O-NORID
Registrar Handle...........: REG1-NORID
Legal-c Handle.............: PJ21P-NORID
Tech-c Handle..............: DNH1P-NORID
Zone-c Handle..............: DNH1P-NORID
Bill-c Handle..............:
Nameserver Handle..........: NS636H-NORID
Nameserver Handle..........: NS97H-NORID
NORID Handle...............: MMA14O-NORID
Organization Name..........: Micro Media ADB
Organization Number........: 0
Post Address...............: Postboks 13
Postal Code................: N-3283
Postal Area................: Steinsholt
Country....................: Norway
Phone Number...............: +47 33 12 91 22
Fax Number.................: +47 33 12 95 52
Email Address..............: mmadb@online.no
----
This sure doesn't seem like his dad to me. It also is a post office box address. Can someone in Norway confirm the authenticiy of this? Hell, I haven't even seen a post that the NAIPEEC is a real organization. And if this not fake, I apologize for being too skeptical.
Walt
Printing large quantities of counterfeit currency in order to destabilise a country's economy (as Iran and the USSR were said to have done) is considered "economic terrorism". From that, it would be possible for a lawyer to make a link to making counterfeit DVDs, and then to cracking protection.
If the MPAA wanted to prosecute Johansen, would it have a case for extraditing him to face trial in the US?
Read the source:
Not only doesn't their system use the fully-allowed number of bits worth of entropy, but their encryption algorithm was home-grown and (as time has shown) dumb. This defense might be valid if they had used a proper (well-known and well-tested) encryption system.
Anyway -- who says 40 bits is the export limit? Netscape allows 56, and it's much easier to send contraband via HTTPS than via DVDs.
- Tom 7
From their court filings: "Nobody has approached the Association for a licence for a Linux player, which would be granted if it were" (or that message anyway)
Open Source. Closed Minds. We are Slashdot.
Does anyone know how exactly how these events could have transpired, i.e. how law enforcement agents could have been wielded against Jon based on what he did? What did he do that was illegal, or what are the police claiming? Are they answering to a higher power, that is in turn answering to corporate interests, through the WTO or something similar? (I mean officially, we all know they do it under the table anyway....) What is the power/legal structure invoked here?
http://www.joeyskaggs.com/html/dog.html
A wonderful media spoofer who shows how the media, individuals, and even police departments can be fooled or pushed into doing things through outrage...
``In May of 1994, Kim Yung Soo (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs), President of Kea So Joo, Inc. sent 1,500 letters to dog shelters around America soliciting all their unwanted dogs for $.10 a pound.......''
You can guess what the reaction was. The rest of the story is there, along with other spoofs and hoaxes by him.. They're very good.
This is just another case of the same thing.. The police being coerced by lots of outraged people calls, in this case its from lawyers representing the MPAA CCA, in that case, by the ``concerned public''.
Okay, the translation here is difficult at best, but I believe it'll give you the gist of the article, and verify the validity of his claims.
_ _____________
[Økokrim]-raid at [hacker]
Hope this helps!
BTW, I used the translation page at Translation Experts Ltd
_______________________________________________
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driph
If this is for real, Jon probably has a good case before the European Court for Human Rights. For starters, it appears his incarceration would violate Article 10 of the ECHR, which provides for freedom of expression (even though its "exceptions" are wide enough to drive a train through).
My Blog. Sela Ward can sell me long distanc
You're right.. I was over-generalizing, based on the Windows program DeCSS, which is generating the stink. (I have yet to even see mention of the Linux CSS-auth in the legal docs,) The css-auth package does do it in two steps. DeCSS does not.
.sig: Now legally binding!
-jwb
As a celluar designer who knows some of the hooks the various governments put into cell phones, perhaps taking his away does him and his case a big favor.
BTW.. If I was saying or doing anything that might piss off somebody I sure as hell wouldn't want any kind of cell phone (or for that mater most electronics) around.
It is shocking how much our toys leak... Ever wonder how they count radio listeners in autos... Clue.. think IF and mixer.
Consider 2 way pagers... how much effort do you think it would be to add to your engine computer? all 3 year old cars identify your location and serial number starting ... now! I think some of the current engine computers could preform this function as an idle task in their software without requiring much if any extra hardware. All it would require today is immunity from laws suits if a transmit/receive caused the brakes to fail or the engine to stall.
Consider the new push for active marketing. As you move around your web browsing cell phone will report your postion to retail outlets close by. its lunch time and that burger joint offers you a private coupon not to walk on by
your boss traces you going to an interview over lunch by registering to follow your cell phone and fires you when you return
This feature is no more than 1 year away!
If you really want to get rid of all your MPAA stuff, find a local chapter of Geeks with Guns and a good outdoor range.
If you're in the Pacific Northwest, email me. I'd like to try a carbine out on some DVD equiptment...
TOYWAR!!
Finding God in a Dog
Ever since DeCSS was first posted about on /. and linked from the oodles of comments, many a /.er has used the oft-quoted mantra: "the cat's out of the bag" or "the horse has escaped the barn" or other such sentiment. They seem to think that just because the "secret"[1] is out, it's all irrelevant. Wrong.
/. mentality is that, once the "secret" is out, the issue becomes all the more relevant. Suddenly there are criminal indictments, lawsuits, and hefty fines being thrown around.
The whole DeCSS issue is an important one that will shape computer politics in the decades to come. The issues at hand, specifically the right of the consumer to reverse engineer products he owns, especially to further interoperability, is a very serious one.
The problem with the
The fact is, DeCSS can be used to make copies of DVDs. This is a serious concern with the movie industry, and they intend to do something about it. The very day that work on DeCSS was started, someone should have been considering the legal implications of the project.
Folks, this issue isn't going to go away until the final verdict is rendered. The MPAA and DVD CCA will try and go all the way to the Supreme Court if they have to; simply saying "cats ut of the bag!" and posting a link isn't doing anything to solve the problem. If nothing else, it is making it worse by possibly implicating yourself in the whole mess.
What can be done? Donate to the EFF to fund the defense. Raise awareness with intelligent conversation and advocacy. However, I believe the most important lesson that we can glean from all this concerns legal issues. The time has passed when we could code first, ask forgiveness later. There's big money and big prison time at stake. Perhaps it's time we sit back and think, if I'm going to hack away at a program/piece of hardware/whatever, 1) is this legal 2) is this ethical and 3) what can I do to ensure that the project STAYS legal and ethical?
This fiasco is a perfect example. The very moment the DVD CCA learned of DeCSS, their lawyers went to work. Can the same be said of ours? Playing catch-up and react is just what they want us to do. It's time we take the initiative.
[1] You'll note secret is in quotations. That is because the issue of CSS being a trade secret is still in debate.
I asked this before over in Katz' latest column, but didn't get much in responses.
I'm surprised that the idea of data haven isn't seriously being considered by open source and free speech advocates. The basic concept is straight out of Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, although the idea has been around longer then that.
Someone, in a free country with good laws and a good legal system (i.e. not the US), supported by hackers and privacy supporters all over the world, should set up some servers. These could host reverse engineered open-source programs, CVS repositories, cryptography software, text documents, and other free speech related stuff.
Programs like DeCSS could be hosted there, immune to search and seizure, and out of reach of lawsuits that are only started to bully and threaten.
We need something like this now! It will be essential if reverse-engineering does become illegal in more places, affecting software like Samba and hundreds of other useful programs.
Questions I would really like answered:
- Is there something stupid about this idea that I don't realize?
- Does something like this exist already?
- If so, can I support it?
- What would be a good country to do this in?
- What would it take to start one?
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
"HTML needs a rant tag" - Alan Cox
Translation:
Economic Criminal Departement (ECD) has razzia at hacker's home.
ECD has charged and confiscated (stuff) in the home of a 16 year old computer-hacker in Larvik, after he cracked and published the protection code of the american film industry.
On the background of a charge from the american film industry's branch organization MPA, ECD yesterday ransacked the home of the 16-year old in Larvik. The Attorney of State Inger Marie Sunde in Økokrim, confirms to Aftenposten that they yesterday got the court of interregation's court-order for doing this, in order to secure evidence in the case.
The background is a charge the ECD now has taken against the 16-year old. The charge is based on two possible deeds punishable by law. They have to do with that he autumn last year helped crack the protection the american film industry uses to stop piracy of films on so-called DVD-reckords. This is according to Sunde covered in the law of crimes, and can be punished by fines or inprisonment in up to two years.
(more coming up)
Nope. DVDs are easily manufacturable in Hong Kong and mainland China now. In fact, someone made Star Wars trilogies into DVDs from their LaserDisc counterpart (which is still much higher quality than VCDs)
..the people who can help. and in this case, that's everyone. This is at the bottom of the deck, but i'll make a go anyway...
I feel that there are too many people who unfortunately dont know enough to give a damn. I don't have many resources..but i want to help. I've looked at many online resources to try to get a better grasp of what's issues are a stake for the present and the future. There are technical issues that the average joe(tm) doesn't want to understand. Give us MORE information on what we can do. We're pumped already! Post flyers. Talk about it at your LUG meetings . Inform the public.
Freedom of the press was intended to inform the people of the things that matter the most. Changes in their lives. If you are in ANY form of media, and you are reading this, ask yourself this. If you enjoy the thought of improving people lives by reporting the issues impartially and without prejudice, will you sit idly by as people who now control mainstream media outlets report the "news" that they think is important to hear for the best interests of business? Or do the people have a right to press and free speech that lets the public decide for itself what is the fact of the matter?
Mer|in: I wonder who owns "Court TV"?
Linux users groups are non-profit organizations. Public access television?
Alot of people still don't know what's going on. Make your voice heard. When people get curious, they'll start diggin and asking questions.
I'm ranting.....
This is very important. The media war is getting ugly.
Be proactive. Because like it or not....there are too many issues to list that are at stake that we will be fighting for in the years to come.
Suggestions? Comments?
you never lose in ure razorblade shoes......Beck-Hotwax
As I understand it, one of the key points in the DVD encryption scheme is a (more or less) unwritable, unreadable section of the disc which contains part of the information needed to decrypt the disc. The other part is contained within the DVD player itself. (Each DVD player manufacturer licenses a key to include in its firmware. This info + the special sector = the info you need to be able to decrypt)
This part of the copy-protection scheme is (as far as I can tell) similar to the way Sony (tries to) keep people from pirating Playstation games. Every PSX unit's firmware is programmed to only play games with the correct localization code and the correct format - and the localization code is written in a way that commercially available CD burners and the like can't duplicate. That doesn't mean that a person can't chip their playstation (bypass the security on the end-user unit), but it does make it very difficult for people without some -serious- equipment to pirate games to run on normal units.
If DeCSS is outlawed, only outlaws will have DeCSS.
---GEC
Bow-ties are cool.
Father also charged:
The 16-year-old has in addition published a computer program on the internet, that allows others to break the copy protection, and make copies of movies and other works of art, that are made and sold digitally.
The program is published on the homepage of his fathers company. Therefore he also is included in the part of the charge concerning assistance to illegal publishing. This is a deed that is covered by the law of artworks, with a possible punishment of up to three years of prison, according to Sunde. And she continues:
"We take seriously to this kind of lawbreaks. It's a big problem for those who produce works of art to protect their economic intrests when the works are distributed electronically. Therefore it is important to keep the demands of punishment made for works of art of the types movies and tv-programs."
On the same time it is important to strike at the hero-worshipping the persons who are behind such deeds are treated to by the hacker-community. And even if the center person in this case is only 16 years, it seems he is fully aware about what he's done, says Sunde.
The 16-year old have earlier gone out in the media, after he, together with two other hackers, cracked the protection code and put it on the internet in the shape of a link to the program DeCSS. This program contains the receipe for breaking the code.
The representative of the american film producers in Norway, lawyer Espen Tøndel, confirms to Aftenposten that he on behalf of his client has laid forth the charges of the 16-year old and his father.
"We will establish that even in a digital world it is punishable to break into another mans establishment. The most serious consequense in this is that the persons who did it is responsible for withdrawing large income. In Europe only, the audiovisual industry yearly lose 8 billion kroner. With the internet evolving into the biggest distribution system in the world, this is an even more serious problem," says Tøndel.
"We had not expected this to happen so long after the case was known and the program made available. But there are powerful forces behind," said the father of the charged to Aftenposten late last night. The man was then beeing interrogated by the norwegian department of economic crime.
"The police has taken my son away for interrogation at the local police station. They have taken two of his computers, but I don't know if they'll get anything out of them."
The Econcomic Crime Departement apprehended and charged computer genius.
16-year old beeing interrogated until midnight.
After a charge from american filmcompanies, ECD yesterday took action against the computer-celebrity Jon Johansen (16) from Steinsholt in Vestfold.
The youths home was ransacked, and the police confiscated two computers, and both the 16-year old and his father was interrogated until midnight.
Both he and his father is charged with breaking the "punish-law" (law of crimes, I guess) and the law of artworks, with two and three years imprisonment, respectively, as possible punishments. The reason for this charge is Jon Johansen's contribution in the development of DeCSS, a program allowing copying of DVD-films.
Father and Son charged.
- We have charged Jon and Per Johansen on behalf of MPA and DVD CCA, affirms lawyer Espen Tøndel at the lawyer firm Simonsen Musæus. MPA (Motion Picture Assosiation) consists of the gigants Walt Disney, Sony Pictures, MGM, Paramount Pictures, 20th Centry Fox, Universal Studio and Warner Bros. That is, the seven biggest movie companies in the USA. DVD CCA (Copyright Control Assosiation) controls and protects the copyright of DVD-products.
In other words, there are powerful forces now attacking the norwegian 16-year old. But Tøndel denies that Jon is made scapegoat to make an example.
- No, it is important to make the point that it is illegal to intrude into these systems and films, says Tøndel.
In almost 8 hours has Jon Johansen been in interrogation. He had to leave his mobile phone, all passwords on his computer, and a number of CD-reckords. But he isn't frightened by the serious charges.
_Not Copyprotected_
- The charge is wrong. The codes on DVD-discs are not copy-protected, but a protection against playing them. We have made it possible to play DVD-films on our computers, he claimed to VG tonight.
- The film companies will try to control who can play what movies on DVD-players they have approved, with their codes and zones. That wish, we do not respect. This is about freedom of speech, says young Johansen.
So far, they are the only ones charged, after MPA last week won a demand in american court, that all links on the Internet refering to DeCSS had to be removed. But he does not regret standing forth with full name after the news about DeCSS got out.
- Somebody has got to fight this battle, he laughs, and prepares for a long night. A full rapport of ECD's actions will be written and put out on the net site www.slashdot.com. From there it will be spread around the world during the night and early morning hours.
_Raised Eyebrows_
Jon Johansen became a computer celebrity in november last year when it became known that he together with two friends in the group MoRE cracked the codes that were to protect the new DVD-movies against copying. The news made big waves in the international computer community - and in the american film industry.
Jon, then 15 years old, was contacted by the lawyer-firm Simonsen Musæus, who told him that Internett-links to DeCSS had to be removed. Simultaneously, the MPA mobilized in the american court system. Their demands of removal of links was first denied. But last week their demands were met in both California and New York.
(C) Copyright VG
To everyone who has posted the source, you have done a great thing. If you haven't in one way or another done so, do it now. Put it on deja.com, on a page cache on google. Message boards whenever you can (tastefully). Gopher sites! (sic) Buy that really cool t-shirt from copyleft.net!
sporty
back once again I'm the renegade masta'
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ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
Sure, DVDs without encryption are perfectly valid. But where are you going to get the unencrypted stream? Licensed DVD players (HW/SW) go to great lengths to prevent you from saving the unencrypted data. DeCSS, of course, doesn't. Hence the concern.
MSK
I know it's often trivial to remove the region coding from a DVD player, but the key-reading-block is a whole other ballgame. (Remember that the region code is designed to be changeable, so hardware makers don't have to use different ROMs for different regions.)
I've never seen any hardware or software that allows you to read the keys off of a DVD, and I suspect it doesn't exist. If anyone has any evidence to the contrary, I'd (sincerely) like to hear it.
MSK
That nice fast box you have? The one with a PII (or what ever)? Do you think IBM would have invented a box to compete with their mainframe lines if they had any choice?
We have these nice fast boxes because Phonix and others reverse-engineered the box. IBM would NOT HAVE produced computers as powerful as today's, because they compete with thier smaller midrange computers. This is just one instance where you have more because someone r/e'd some technology.
How about Microchannel? Ever see a technolog drop off so fast? One of the preconditions for licensing M/C was that you had to pay for all the ISA cards you made without a license. Thus shows that restrictive licensing, like virture, is it's own punishment.
BOYCOTT . It's the only way to make big companies listen to us. BOYCOTT
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
CSS is there to prevent digital copying of a DVD. Nothing can stop you from copying the encrypted data, of course, but you can't copy the keys, and without the keys, the disc is unreadable. A DVD drive will only let you into the protected area if you provide it with a valid player key, which (in theory) would only be found in licensed, MPAA-approved DVD players.
DeCSS provides access to unencrypted movie data without enforcing the copy protection, which is why the MPAA is pissed off. I really wish that Slashdot readers would understand that DeCSS does in fact make it possible to copy DVDs, so we could stop arguing about it, and instead focus on the valid reasons why the MPAA and company are wrong.
MSK
Region coding has nothing to do with CSS. The "region code" is just a single byte on the disc, it's entirely up to the players to enforce it.
Sure it does. Look at your own words: it's up to the player to enforce regionalization. Therefore, if you want all consumer players to enforce regionalization, you need to control who can create a DVD player. You do that by keeping the CSS access-control system a closely held secret, and requiring implementation of region control - and any other access-control measure you want - as a precondition of receiving the CSS spec. Any player manufacturer who doesn't play along can't create a player capable of reading CSS-encoded DVDs, which means their player can't play most commercial movies, which means it's not going to be very useful to most people. which means all the player manufacturers have to play along.
At least, that's the way it works as long as you have to go to DVD-CCA in order to learn how to decode CSS-scrambled data. CSS has everything to do with regionalization - though the link is economic, not technical.
Untouchable countries are hard to find. My plan: distributed data havens. Master servers that don't have content, just databases of mirrors. The client has controls for what sort of banned software you want, crypto, trade secret/rev eng, etc. It wouldnt be that hard, and (soon, really, RSN) I was going to write it. Perl and SQL should be fine. Of course, you need some sort of centralized server to do the database stuff, but thats not hard. Anyway, thats my plan. If enough people are interested, I will start a sourceforge project for it. The overall design is mostly done, I just need to start coding. Drop me a line if you are interested.
--Nick
Observation on "Our Side vs The World":
- No. of provisional wins: ~ 2 (M$/DoJ, CDA)
- No. of effective wins: 0
- No. of heavyweight cases against: 10000000000
- Big money supports which side: against
- Politics supports which side: against
Conclusion: There is absolutely no cause for celebration, no precedent for success, and numerous reasons for pessimism.
Why then do so many posters here seem to think that appealing to the law and/or government is going to deliver to us the world we want? This looks like extraordinary wishful thinking to me.
Fighting a planetful of power politics, business greed, visionary blindness and establishment inertia is about as likely to succeed as ploughing your way through an iceberg a thousand times your size.
Don't bother. Route around the problem. There are more ways than one, and some good ones are bound to emerge if we put our thinking caps on.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
No you can't. Not unless you have a tool that does half the job of DeCSS (and contrary to popular Slashdot delusion DeCSS is not a program written to allow you to view DVDs on Linux, it's a windows program to rip VOB files to your hard drive). There's not a consumer level drive available that will read the VOB files without running through the authorization process.
You don't just "burn" DVDs. They are manufactered in pieces. A typical home DVD player will "look" right through burnable media.
Twisting the facts with misinformation does nothing to help the cause. FUD by any other name is still FUD.
Never heard such tosh. As an electronic engineer building engine controllers, I can safely say it's not going to happen any time soon. Engine controllers are built to the absolute minimum spec to get them to work, cos when you're building millions of them, a dollar difference in price makes a big, big difference. If you've got spare capacity on your processor, chances are you're going to use it to control the engine better. Either that, or you use a smaller, cheaper processor and save some more money.
And how exactly does being able to find where your car is offend you? Sorry, I just can't see that myself. The engine stalling isn't a huge problem - even on a fast road you should be able to recover from that fairly safely, although I personally can't see how your proposed gadget could stall the engine, given a reasonable standard of programming in the software - you make sure things like that don't happen. And it is currently illegal to have drive-by-wire on steering and brakes since they're safety-critical elements, and I can't see that changing any time soon. As for saying that any government would institute immunity from prosecution if its tracking kit screwed up your car, that's plain ridiculous - you're heading into paranoia territory there.
But there are location-finding add-ons available now. They're used for UPS, Securicor and FedEx trucks, and you can get them for your car - basically so if it's nicked the police can track it. I don't think tracking the thief who steals my car is a high price to pay, do you?
Jack Valenti might have to get himself a real job.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
No, I don't speak Norwegian. But I can make out just enough from what little German I know to see that there are several stories about a programmer name Jon Johansen involving DVDs.
Try this story or these search results. Hmmm... anyone know a Norwegian Bablefish?
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?
That's an intriguing idea, in terms of hitting them where it hurts. But you have to think about what it would mean.
This very thread is evidence enough that not every geek is on our side. Yet, an effective strike requires that everybody is out and stays out. So that means picket lines, and probably confrontation. Thatcher destroyed the right of Unions to picket in the UK back in the early 1980'S, when she sent the police in against the National Union of Miners.
I think it's safe to say that Trade Union rights are hardly better protected in the US.
So, go ahead, but you'd better have the belly for a real fight!
Seriously, I just don't believe this is going to happen, or anything like it. Only a couple of people are really hurting; the vast majority of us are much too comfortable, selfish, stupid and lazy to put our money, our jobs and our lives where our collective mouth is.
Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
Thought exists only as an abstraction
He used some else's computer, you stupid twat.
Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
Thought exists only as an abstraction
I'm wondering whether the DVD-CA isn't holding its own members behind the light on this point as well as us. Most Movie exececutives are not likely to be technical, and believed the DVD consortsium's lie that CCS would help against copying (NOTHING helps against bit by bit copying).
Now DeCSS comes along, which doesn't change the situation on making pirate copies of DVDs, but does make it possible for anybody to build a player without the need for the DVD-CA. Should DeCSS become excepted, the DVD-CA would be out of a job. This is also the reason why they are attacking it legally. They know that whatever the do to poor Jon is not going to keep DeCSS out of the hands of pirates, but it will keep the css-auth code and keys underground, so anybody wanting to make a legal player will have to continue going to the DVD-CA.
The movie companies, stupid and scared shitless of piracy as they are, are falling for that this is actually in their interest, when it helps them very little. In many ways they are the most decieved of all...
-
We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.
Looking over the MPAA website I found the following:
The MPAA contact / reward program for turning in pirates
To make a long story short the 800 number is: 1-800-662-6797 why don't some enterprising Slashdotters call up the MPAA on their dime and let them know what you think of this whole "piracy" fiasco.
Do you really think this member of MoRE, an admitted cracker, PAID for a CPP copy of W2K?
So it's guilty until proven innocent now, is it? Well, I don't know how it works where you're from, but here in the USA, we like to have a little evidence of wrongdoing before accusing someone of it.
His other machines are linux and freebsd - no $ here.
Gee, I run Linux and Windows too, so I must be a cracker running tons of illegal pirated software, eh?
BTW, what makes you say he didn't spend money for his copies of Linux and FreeBSD? Maybe he paid hard cash for Red Hat Linux Professional and a full distribution of FreeBSD?
There were no localized versions for his country...
And he obviously can't use an English version, right?
I think it's MORE than safe to say it's a pirated copy.
All I can say is, thank goodness our legal system isn't based on your methods of accusation without even the faintest shred of evidence.
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
Doesn't it have to be semiautomatic in order to qualify as an assault rifle in California?
TOYWAR!!
Finding God in a Dog
A lot of people on the 'DeCSS is theft, not fair use' side seem to be missing an understanding of what 'Fair Use' is. 'Fair Use' applies to personal copies, not to distribution. Of course it would be illegal to start a movie theatre with your home videos and a big projector.
.avi, .mpg, .asf, .mov, or what-have-you on a hard-drive or CD, as long as (and this is the tricky part) you don't redistribute.
It is, however, perfectly legal to transfer your videos from (say) NTSC to PAL format, or (by extension) a big-ass
DeCSS has the legal status of a VCR: it can be used to copy, but is mostly used to view. And the copying is absolutely legal, as long as the copies aren't redistributed. DeCSS wasn't developed by breaking trade secrets -- it was developed by clean reverse engineering.
Anyone copying movies and selling or otherwise distributing them without the copyright holder's blessing is a fair target for a suit, but that principle applies equally to VCRs and DeCSS.
Neither the people who invented the VCR, nor the person who developed DeCSS, are or should be liable for the criminal actions of others -- it's like holding a murder trial for Henry Ford on account of everyone who's been run over.
gomi
Remember all those great RSA-in-perl decryption gimmics that were (and may still be) floating around? Someone needs to condense DeCSS to few enough lines to print on trinkets. I want my dirty underwear to violate the MPAA's intellectual property "rights", dammit!
"Whatever happened to fair use?"
-- Duff-Man
Why should a doctor use surgical tools rather than a swiss army knife for heart surgery? Because a swiss army knife is an inadequate tool for heart surgery. By contrast, a computer with a DVD drive is an adequate tool for watching movies on DVD. For evidence, I offer the thousands of computers already used for that purpose, with Windows DVD software.
Now I repeat what others have said: I bought the DVD disc in the store. By doing so, I did not buy all rights to the content (the film), which remains the intellectual property of the publisher, movie studio, what have you. What I paid my $20 for was the right to watch this movie whenever I want on my own equipment, without rebroadcasting it or making it available for "public viewing" (as per the FBI warning that is standard on all VHS videocassettes). It should not matter what equipment I use: if I want to use a 5-inch TV rather than a 40-inch TV, that's my right. If I want to use a Sony DVD player rather than a Panasonic DVD player, that's my right. If I want to use my Windows computer instead of a Panasonic DVD player, that's my right. (This has been amply demonstrated by the fact that the MPAA has not gone after the thousands of consumers who bought Windows DVD software). And if I want to use my Linux computer to play DVD movies instead of my Windows computer, that should be my right also . That is why everyone is so "up in arms" about this: DeCSS is (currently) the only thing that makes it possible to watch DVD's under Linux, and we're upset because the MPAA's attempted crackdown against DeCSS is going to take that right away from us.
-----
The real meaning of the GNU GPL:
The real meaning of the GNU GPL:
"The Source will be with you... Always."
Isn't that reference back to front? The ratio of natives to British in India was collosal, so it is the British empire that needs to be seen as a small force attempting to make an incursion into an immovably immense continent. Not surprisingly, even such a great "success" turned out to be ephemeral.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
Didn't extradition come up in the Analyser case (i.e., that of that Israeli cracker from a few years ago)? If so, it could be precedent.