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DeCSS To Be Broadcast Over Oz TV
EngrBohn writes: "Just when you thought the DeCSS saga couldn't get more interesting. 2600 Australia plans to broadcast the DeCSS code at 12 frames per second for 15 seconds on Australian television sometime in the next few weeks in part of a commercial by MindShare. Too bad this'll be too late for the Obfuscated DeCSS Contest. "
Pretty clever, really.
-- Erich
Slashdot reader since 1997
Actually the correct version is:
dig @138.195.138.195 goret.org. axfr |
grep '^c..\..*A' |
sort |
cut -b5-36 |
perl -e 'while(<>){ print pack("H32",$_); }' |
gzip -d > deCSS.c
(/. just stripped your angle brackets. thanks for the pointer!)
----------------------------
I'd assume that this was all gotten on the up and up, and there is one way to do that. Problem is, it's only one.
In Hoy's original complaint, he included the DeCSS source. This became a public court document, it and everything in it are in the public domain (the source itself is still GPL'd, but it is notable that DVD-CCA itself released the source). Furthermore, this record has not, to my knowledge, been sealed (DVD-CCA tried to get it sealed but failed).
So, any American citizen can get this document (others too? I'm not certain, though you probably have to be a citizen to get the docs straight from the court), and use it as they please since it's public domain. This includes giving it to others. Unless I'm mistaken cryptome.org has this document, actually; this cuts out the necessity to go to the court itself. So as long as the copies that people are using can be traced back to this document, you should be in the clear. Note, of course, that IANAL. But this seems to check; anyone here know why it wouldn't?
This isn't a matter of practical use. This is more of a protest move. They don't honestly think people will transcribe the code from the TV set. This is just something to grab attention, and send a big "Fu*k you" to the Powers-that-be which tried to censor the code.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
The primary value of this stunt is in pointing out inconsistencies in the Oz copyright laws. Unfortunately, those inconsistencies are likely to be resolved in a restrictive direction.
Once we've been "programmed" with code all we'll need is "LaserVision" to read the DVDs and we can just decode it ourselves! :)
mmmmm..... Shiny flashy thing....
Didn't you learn your lesson from Max Headroom? Remember the BlipVerts????
Everyone knows that 12 frames per second is wayyyyy too much information for our tiny little brains. Watching all that data stream by in such a short amount of time will make you blow up!
My God, this will be much worse then that Pokemon episode which made all those Japanese children go into seizures and convlulsions.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
I mean, I'm in favor of people getting source code out every possible way, but I just don't understand this particular method of distribution.
It seems a bit of overkill for a Cascading Style Sheet stripper, after all.
-Denor
You seem to have missed the fact that 2600 Australia isn't legally associated with 2600 Magazine in New York or personally with Emmanuel Goldstein (aka Eric Corley). There is no law in Australia against use, distribution, manufacturing of DeCSS. The MPAA flew a lawyer down to Canberra two weeks ago to the Federal Attorney General about getting some changes made to copyright laws but even assuming the proposed Digital Agenda Bill soon to go through parliament goes through unchanged, Australians will be able to use DeCSS - it's just that no .au companies will be able to distribute it (until the MPAA sends some flunkies down here to start seeking injunctions). And anyway, if we run into broadcast issues on the station we have permission from, we'll take it elsewhere and kick up a 2600-sized stink about it. -Anonymous 2600 Australia Flunky
I'm sure DVD CCA has accomplices all over the world. One of the problems of television (centralized broadcast model) is that it's too easy to lean on one or two people whose first duty is to the bottom line -- not to "journalistic or editorial integrity" -- and arrange to get Undesireable Material to never air. CBS caved to Big Tobacco, so I see no reason why an Australian TV station should be more willing to stand up to the entertainment conglomerate.
If I have been in their shoes, I would have kept it a secret until the ad was already in rotation.
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
Everyone seems to complain that this isn't an effective way of getting the point across. It is! Every 'innocent' that sees it is going to see the 2600 URL splashed across the last few seconds of the spot, say to him/herself 'What the hell was that? Must be some computer thingie.' and promptly ask the well-informed geek down the street. He/she'll be able to get the message across far more effectivly than the fifteen seconds of airtime they could afford could ever hope..
Mad props to the Aussie hacks! Stealing the mindshare of Mom and Pop Glassteat!!
.sig: Now legally binding!
One of the points in their 1999 injunctions was that since they acted within 2 months of deCSS it warranted the court's upholding of their injunctions. Today we see nothing in the news about the MPAA banning deCSS nor do we see any more states filing injunctions. It's as if the public has lost interest in it. On the other hand, computer DVD drives are twice as expensive as they were before deCSS and most manufacturers appear to have suspended DVD-ROM production. Perhaps the MPAA has taken action in more subtle ways. It's much cheaper to get an appliance for playback only than a DVD-ROM which can copy them on a computer where 6 months ago the DVD-ROM was a steal.
From what I've heard from the Australian 2600 mailing list, the broadcast will be about 15 seconds long, and spaced such that each frame is easily captured on a standard video cassette, and can be re-viewed page by page using frame-by-frame advance.
;)
The guy who's setting it up has actually put a fair amount of thought into it, and the DeCSS won't be the only thing that is broadcast. From what I remember, he intends to broadcast a number of other 'supressed' images or texts in the 15 second slot.
Also from memory, he's organising a local mob to do a little music to run over it, and he'll be flashing the 2600 web address at the end.
For all of those who are already asking 'but isn't this pointless, everyone already has DeCSS?', the point is not to distribute DeCSS, but to demonstrate that censorship of items such as DeCSS leads only to more and more widespread distribution, even to the point of datacasting it across Australian television at 3am.
Oh, and he got the slot for free
B.