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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.
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?
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
...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 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