Slashdot Mirror
The DeCSS Haiku
xueexueg writes: "Dr. David Touretzky has posted a new piece of DeCSS art here, as well as his response to a threatening letter from the MPAA. Both are triumphantly good, one an epic haiku with the most intelligent and beautiful commentary I've heard in months, the other a response to the MPAA lawyers who evidently told Touretzky that his entire home page
is a 'circumvention device.'" Both are good reads. I realize that posting this sort of thing on Slashdot is simply preaching to the choir, but some part of me hopes that in the end we'll still have
a freedom of speech, a freedom to reverse engineer, and a freedom to
watch the media we purchase. Sure seems less likely these days.
Comment: 02/25 2:35 PM EST by J : My favorite source for CSSdescramble() is the DVDCCA's own DNS server.
Do dig ns dvdcca.org to verify that their DNS servers are (as of right now) mercury.hypersurf.com and west.mainstreet.net.
Then, to pull the gzip'd code straight off their servers, this will work on any vaguely sh-like shell:
for DVDs in Linux screw the MPAA and ; do dig $DVDs.z.zoy.org @mercury.hypersurf.com ; done | perl -ne 's/\.//g; print pack("H224",$1) if(/^x([^z]*)/)' | gunzip > myfile.c
This trick is number nine on zoy.org's 42 ways to get DeCSS. You're actually requesting data which resides on zoy.org's DNS server, but it's being delivered to you by the DVDCCA's DNS server.
The district court granted a permanent injunction against ... (2) linking any Internet web site, either directly or through a series of links, to any other Internet web site containing DeCSS.
And I guess anyone who links to Slashdot can now be shut down as well. AND anyone who links to anyone who links to Slashdot is done. And so on. That is a ridiculous ruling.
DVD CCA considers it protected by trade secret.
MPAA considers it illegal by DMCA.
They don't have to go to court to shut down Xerox. Xerox is in the process of shutting itself down. Seems that too many other companies copied their copiers.
Newer dvds are altered so this algorithm will have NO EFFECT.
Download DeCSSPlus source to get a version that brute forces the disc. That way, as long as you can authenticate to the drive, you can decrypt a dvd. No more of the MPAA's lock-out bullshit.
DeCSS rocks,
But his haiku is the best.
MPAA not pleased.
Alex Bischoff
---
Alex Bischoff
HTML/CSS coder for hire
Without our fighting this, we are aquiescing that a computer program is essentially a device in and of itself and needs to be regulated by the US Government. This is simply not true, and I would rather my government didn't think it was.
Your credit card example--while better than Judge Kaplan's assassination example--is flawed in that there are no legal uses for that information as presented. That already falls under anti-fraud laws.
While I would like to retain the right to protect my copyrights, I would like much more to retain the right to write the content which I wish to copyright. By the current rules, there is code I am not aloud to write. There might as well be recipies I'm not allowed to write; or plays; or books, and so forth.
Shameless Plug:
-the Pedro Picasso
--
--
(sourceCode == freeSpeech)
DMCA 1201(a)(1) is absolutely all it takes to legally keep you from writing a few lines of your own code on a napkin and passing it to a friend. This is the first bit of legislation that does this. It was lobbied by the MPAA, recommended by the Congressional sub-committees, and passed unanimously by legislators who likely thought they were acting in the interests of the American people. Would you vote against a bill with such a trendy name and so few powerful antagonists? What bills will follow this one in regulating computer programs? If this sort of thing continues, we could even end up with a Federal Source Code Review Agency. Sure it sounds stupid, but there's enough money involved to do it.
Protect your rights as programmers:
- Learn what you can about the case. Keep up with the news, and don't get bored with it. This isn't about DVDs, it's about whether or not we are allowed to write and copyright our own code.
- Support the fight in the courts by donating to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Support the fight in legislation by sending a hand written letter to your congressional representatives expressing your digust with the law and your request for one that dismisses it.
- Support those fighting on the front lines by reading 2600, the Hacker Quarterly. (They will ask you to donate to the EFF.)
You could also support me personally by buying one of my (sourceCode == freeSpeech) T-shirts. It won't help the actual issue. In case you thought otherwise, wearing T-shirts rarely ever helps an issue. But it will help me get through college. (/shamelessPlug>-the Pedro Picasso
--
--
(sourceCode == freeSpeech)
This, folks, is the best reason to actually go through that crazy academic process so many of gave up on for one reason or another. As a proper professor with all the societal respect that engenders, Dr. Touretzky can take a position against these creeps and have a chance in the courts and the media. All of us scruffy hacks that didn't have the patience for more college should tip our hats to this guy in thanks.
:-)
And I can't help but wonder if he's teaching the birds to sing the source.
The revolution will NOT be televised.
All your base are belong to me.
I ported DeCSS to Qbasic with the immense help of the "Plain English" version of DeCSS (I had no clue that >> shr or ^ meant XOR etc..)
Anyways, here it is:
http://mooseb0y.net/css.bas
Toodles,
MoOsEb0y
Brian Seppanen
Minister of Information and Propaganda
Brian Seppanen
Minister of Information and Propaganda
Area 54 The Secret Government Disco Labs Provo
How do you know it isn't the undercover cops who are the ones destroying the property in order to discredit the protestors?
Because that's the job of the so called "astronauts" when they aren't prancing around secret NASA soundstages pretending that they are in space. The black helicopters take them to riot areas when needed.
Why on earth do our protests have to be non-threatening to the average citizen!?
Um... maybe because it is actually helpful to *encourage* support for your cause if you want it to succeed? Terrorists and rioters only serve to harm their own causes.
They state under penalty of perjury "We have received information that ... ". If they've received misinformation, but genuinely believe it to be accurate, is that enough for them to not be committing perjury?
--
rant
Reading that page makes
my head hurt; haiku is more
than five seven five
A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous, got me?
Making fun of Scientologists doesn't exactly require a lot of effort (they more or less do it for you), but getting picketed when you're not even there is indeed a triumph :)
However, our protests have to be intelligent, well thought out, and above all, non-threatening to the average citizen, which is who we're supposedly trying to get on our side. Tattooed rioters smashing windows and attacking cops to 'send out a message against corporatism' is simply counterproductive. Kudos to Dr. Touretzky.
Why on earth do our protests have to be non-threatening to the average citizen!? I don't give a hairy rat's ass if the average citizen agrees with me. If we are doing something that is within our rights, even if it is unpopular, then it is still within our rights.
[off topic rant] My allegiance lies a lot closer to the tattooed rioters than the 'average citizen'. Having been involved in various 'riots' over the last fifteen years, I have yet to see a single instance where the protesters spontaneously started attacking cops or property. In each instance, the police instigated the issue with heavy handed tactics. [end off topic rant]
My main problem with the attitude you seem to have is that we all have to be moderate and well behaved to have an effect. Debates are always defined by the extremes. The radicals on the street are pulling the center of the debate towards their position, and that allows people like Touretzky to look like moderates. If the radicals weren't there being radical, then it would be a lot easier to silence people like him.
Walk softly and carry a big stick
~ a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
For the university's freshers' week, I designed some fliers for the Computer Society on my old Atari ST (running Papyrus and NVDI 4, incidentally...) The fliers looked perfectly innocuous, but the background consisted of a large number of faint, grey ones and zeros, grouped into 8-bit bytes. These of course made up the most important function of the DeCSS code - difficult to read, but it was all there.
:-)
:-)
Hundreds of copies of the fliers were made and handed out at the freshers' fair - I imagine most of them have been thrown out by now, but somewhere there'll be fliers nestling among other papers, forgotten but still holding the secrets of DeCSS...
You can see a version of one of the fliers here - some of the digits are hidden, but it would probably be possible to figure out what they are, helped by some of the other fliers based on the same background.
Original 300dpi GIF produced entirely on an Atari ST, BTW - printing to image files is a really useful feature.
Ford Prefect
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
IANAL but I like the responce... it was funny. I've never seen such a gallery before. Amazing...
rkt
As someone who has read science fiction for much of my life, I must say it never ceases to amaze me how some of what reads as unrealistic turns out to have a profoundly prophetic view of the world a scant decade or two later.
... short of lobotomizing you, or directly and blatently abridging your right to speech in its purest form, there is nothing they can do. And should they chose such a direct abridgement, even the most blindly passive television enamoured sheep could not fail to see it as a violation of one of our most highly prized constitutional rights.
Faranheit 451, a story in which "firemen" burned books (books make people think critically, something the state can't allow) leads to people memorizing novels and great works of literature to preserve it for future generations in a world where every last book has been burned.
Ironic indeed, that our own cheap whores of a congress, a sleazy president, together with one of the more corrupt Copyright Cartels (the MPAA) have managed to conjure the beginnings of such a world in a remarkably short time.
Memorizing the DeCSS algorithm is one of the most sensible and effective methods of protest I've heard to date
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
The main problem in the DeCSS case is that EFF, 2600 are all daft. Obviously violating the law has never been a wise idea. Especially if there is a way around it. In detail: It is very easy for the RIAA and MPAAA to fight now. Reason is that was is actually published is the decryption device. Which is illegal according to the current laws. It would have been much harder for the MPAA to remove all articles that describe in exruciating detail the encryption scheme (not the decryption). And from there on any clueful indvidual can scribble the decryption in half a day using a standard RSA toolkit or something as daft as the java.security and java.encryption. And at the same time there is no law violated. There is no "circumvention" device described. So legally (IANAL) this should be a much harder target.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
What's Wrong with Copy Protection
It is the answer of John Gilmore to a question that Ron Rivest asked: "If the customer is willing to buy extra, or special, hardware to allow him to view protected content, what is wrong with that?"
Why on earth do our protests have to be non-threatening to the average citizen!? I don't give a hairy rat's ass if the average citizen agrees with me. If we are doing something that is within our rights, even if it is unpopular, then it is still within our rights.
Your rights are what your government tells you they are. One of the greatest dangers of democracy lies in that the rights of the few can be abridged at the will of the many.
We have only the same avenues to send our message as does the average citizen. Go beyond that, and you're breaking the law and undermining the movement. To mold public opinion to sympathize with our message, we have to present information in a manner easily digested. Dr. Touretzky understands this and does it well.
Um, except that fire occurs naturally in the real world. Crypto doesn't. Not that I think reverse engineering should be illegal, but your analogy doesn't make even an ounce of sense.
My plan is to pimp before they realize I'm a jackass. Hit 'em hard and fast.
that's not crypto...that's just patterns. Like language. Just because we don't understand it doesn't mean it's crypto.
My plan is to pimp before they realize I'm a jackass. Hit 'em hard and fast.
Hmm, I really have to bash them in some kind of semi-public way. This sounds like fun.
Vidi, Vici, Veni
and yet you posted AC
Vidi, Vici, Veni
Check out some of this guy's other stuff. He's got a section where he makes fun of scientologists (they've threatened him of course). They even came and picketed his office one day.
Vidi, Vici, Veni
Frankly, I'd rather that the courts avoided the First Amendment entirely in favor of determining what copyright actually applies and does not apply to. For example, ruling that the copyright on something doesn't cover discussions about or descriptions of that something that do not copy it, or ruling that you cannot use technical means to deny people rights to use the material that they would legally be entitled to under copyright law.
I don't know about triumphant. I think what he's doing is making them jump through the legal hoops they helped create. He's saying "The DMCA says you have to include this information in your notice, so provide the specified information for each and every single URL you want taken down, individually.". If they fail to comply and push it, you can then cite their own law back at them in court, claiming as a defense that they simply didn't notify you as specified in the very law they're trying to use against you. More importantly, it makes them spell out their reasons in writing, which makes them more vulnerable to having those reasons refuted since they can't keep rewriting their demands to suit the moment.
It also lets you make them respond in your terms, as he does by bringing up the scholarly research and journal aspect of things. A judge might be influenced by a group trying to force scholars not to publish research when they weren't under NDAs or other agreements not to discuss it, for instance.
The program of course was named DeCSS, and was meant to lure the MPAA into filing false suites.
For a while it looked like the MPAA was going to ignore this other DeCSS, but it looks like they've finally gone for the bait:
____________________________________
____________________________________
-- I beleve you'll like this -->
The power of the press is very great, but not so great as the power of suppress.
Lord Northcliffe
And for those who believe in mirroring -
One has to multiple thoughts to the point where there aren't enough policemen to control them.
Stanislaw Lec
The FBI must be paying their young undercover cops a lot to get pepper sprayed in the face.
Though without protesters, police would not be able to play with their expensive guns or, worse, some of them might lose their jobs. A peaceful world is NOT in police's interest; they would lose their jobs.
cpeterso
How many lawsuits would you attract and how
many charges would you get nailed with if
you wrote a Outlook virus that dropped a copy
of the DeCSS source on every machine it touched?
Just a thought.
Those who can do. Those who can't sue.
So the MPAA want to "close down" DeCSS because they believe is allows copying of copyright materials.
The RIAA to close down Napster because they think it promotes copying of copyright materials.
So why the hell don't they both gang up and close down Xerox - They've DEFINITELY allowed people to copy copyright material for YEARS!!!
:-)
--
Enjoy Y2K? Roll-on Year 2037!
of Derek Fawcus's version of CSS-descrambler as an appendix of the my Master Thesis. (The title of my thesis is "Legal Protection for Computer Software" so there's really a relevance). And of course I cited Dr. David Touretzky's Gallery of CSS Descramblers few times. The printed version will be soon in the library of the faculty of law of the University of Helsinki, unfortunately only in Finnish..
Anyway DeCSS should be fully legal in Europe as long as the new copyright directive isn't in force yet (Decompliation is "fair use" and can't be denied in the license).
Ville Oksanen
My DeCSS archive:
It's also nice to see a school with the same. Dr. Touretzky isn't fronting the major legal risk here, his employer is for letting him put it on the school Web site. This is not to discount Dr. Touretzky at all, but also note that an institution is standing up for what's right and not just shutting him down. This is even cooler.
--The basis of all love is respect
Are regionless and CSS-less DVDs possible with the current format?
Yep. I believe some anime DVDs are regionless, and 2600 plans to release Freedom Downtime on a regionless, probably CSS-less DVD.
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
Download, mirror, maybe even use to watch movies on Linux and BSD.
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
MPAA: Motion Picture Association of America, the organization up in arms over the fact that someone implemented the CSS decryption algorithm without their permission.
;-): MPEG-4-based movie codec, supposedly developed from a hacked Microsoft MPEG-4 implementation; the video equivalent to MP3.
RIAA: Recording Industry Association of America, the organization up in arms over Napster, some bootleg and live traders, and a few million cheapskates:)
Divx: A failed pay-per-view DVD format pushed by Circuit City and Thomson Electronics. Lasted just over a year before it was killed due to the overwhelming popularity of vanilla DVD.
DivX
Copyright law: body of law dealing with creators' control over works they've created, and how such works may be distributed.
Patent law: body of law dealing with exclusive rights to inventions.
Feel free to correct me on any of these if I've also blown it.
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
Just so I'm clear for future discussions on this subject...
What does the DVD CCA claim protection for the CSS algorithm under? Is it copyrighted, patented, or considered a trade secret? Do they even claim any protection? They try to force player manufacturers to pay a license fee to use the algorithm in their hardware or software. I notice that the copyright infringement charges laid against Jon Johansen didn't stick, because he apparently didn't violate anyone's copyright. I don't recall anyone ever digging out a patent number for the algorithm. That leaves trade secret, and unless the algorithm was leaked by someone under NDA, the implementation MoRE and/or Derek Fawcus developed is nice and legal. As the story goes, some keys were found in the open in Xing's DVD software player, from which the entire algorithm was determined...so unless that's a complete fabrication, and someone under NDA did something they shouldn't have, I really don't see where the CCA is coming from.
Oh, that DMCA thingy, section 1201(a)(1)...yeah. "Circumvention of an access control." Not "copy control", because you can still copy DVDs even with CSS enabled. Interoperability apparently isn't a defense. I thought there was a provision for reverse-engineering something to let a piece of media be used on platforms the vendor doesn't support, but I recall Judge Kaplan throwing out that defense during the original case against 2600 and the others.
Hrm...I started with a question, I came up with half an answer...does anyone know the full answer? Is section 1201(a)(1) the only club the CCA can use against DeCSS holders and users?
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
Crypto doesn't.
tell that to those silly folks that did all that work on the human genome project.
use LaTeX? want an online reference manager that
-- john
grog full name rmsgrog. rmsgrog wants people to call file by its rite name: GNU/FIRE. rmsgrog made cave weed first so that there would be an alternative to that propri... other weed made by the small foreheaded folks. without cave weed and other cave products (cave meat, cave woman, cave stove, etc) gnu/fire would be useless. so rms grog would like for you all to refer to its as gnu/fire.
rmsgrog thank you.
RMSGROG THANK YOU... now rmsgrog must find the capslock key so that the lameness filter will not stop my message: gun/fire
use LaTeX? want an online reference manager that
-- john
well the folks at dictionary.com define cryptography as
1.The process or skill of communicating in or deciphering secret writings or ciphers.
i would argue that these are secret communications used to regulate the activiteis of the cell including protein production. the concepts of base pairs, and the aminio acid sequences that are required to form these base pairs is a key of sorts used to decode these messages. now that we understand the encryption we can encrypt our own messages in order to convience the cell to produce what we want.
a more relateable way of storing messages in dna can be found here
use LaTeX? want an online reference manager that
-- john
more to the point. math is the language of nature. our representation might seem complex but it pales in comparison to the complexity of nature. one might argue that by trying to understand nature we are trying to decrypt it's hidden secrets and thus curcumventing the copy protection imposed by god (if you believe in such a beast-i for one do not).
back to the origional posters comment. encryption is found in nature-scientific fields are deadicated to decrypting those secrets so that we might be able to manipulate nature. this can be seen in physics, chemistry, biology, etc.
use LaTeX? want an online reference manager that
-- john
While you can copy a DVD without DeCSS, it will be of no use to you. You can't bit-for-bit copy a CSS-protected DVD with a consumer DVD-RAM drive. There's some area on the DVD-RAM disc that's not writable by a DVD-RAM drive, and that is required for a CSS-protected DVD. To actually do a bit-for-bit copy, you need a professional DVD writer, which is not something that's widely available.
;-) format or other formats that are easily distributable across the net.
DeCSS does have legitimate uses, but it can be (and is) used to "rip" DVDs and convert them to DivX
In other words, DeCSS is a device/algorithm that allows for the comprimise of access control mechanisms in such a manner as to allow illegal copying of DVDs. Furthermore, this form of copyright infringement holds the potential to decrease the commercial value of works protected by CSS. As broadband access becomes commonplace, piracy of movies could start to happen in a "Napster-like" fashion. This would interfere with the ability of movie studios to sell their content on demand over the internet.
The MPAA isn't as stupid as we like to think. They know that they have to stop this now to avoid future trouble. They're already experimenting with selling content online. They've learned from the mistakes of the RIAA.
There are legitimate uses for DeCSS (such as making a Linux DVD player), and that's why it should be legal. We shouldn't lie and claim it can't be used for piracy.
Unless you either have a hacked player that does software decryption, or some other DeCSS-like program, you can't copy and play CSS-protected DVDs.
I'm guessing you're either decrypting them without realizing it (how are you copying the data to your hard drive?), you have a player that's been hacked to read data from anywhere, or you just have unencrypted DVDs.
Unless you either have a hacked player that does software decryption, or some other DeCSS-like program, you can't copy and play CSS-protected DVDs
If you are a pirate operating in any kind of commerical way then it's most likely that you have access to the relevent copying equiptment.
It's from an old NES game that was translated from Japanese to English...*badly*.
It looks like a "mechanical" translation. Even though it may have been done by a person with a phrasebook.
If the answer is yes, when will we be petitioning the courts for an amendment to the Consitution that protects our Freedom to Think?
--
>> told Touretzky that his entire home page is a 'circumvention device.
;-)
Wouldn't, then, someone who memorized the entire DeCSS source be a circumvention device in themselves? Touretzky has other non-DeCSS stuff on his site, much like anyone who memorizes the code has non-DeCSS stuff in their heads.
This scares me. MPAA lobotomies to get rid of the memorized code---oh wait, that's what Battlefield Earth was for. And who, of all people, would be interested in a crappy sci-fi movie? The same people who would memorize the DeCSS source! It's all making sense, now!
----
----
Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
thats where the 'supposedly' comes in.
Juln
But is the song available on Napster?
All of your movies
(In the DVD format)
Are belong to us.
(Sorry.)
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Which is exactly why the corporate media focus on thet very very tiny number of l4m3rs who smash windows, etc., and do not present the more reasoned and articulate voices of protest.
"See what a threat these activists are to your Cherished American Values? They are bad, bad people. But do not fear...your corporate masters will protect you.
"We need your help, though. We just need you to give us a few little things you weren't using anyway...unimportant things. You don't need that `freedom of speech' bit to talk with your buddies at the office about watching `Temptation Island'. You don't need to be able to reverse engineer to figure out how to work the remote control.
"So don't worry! Just sit back and watch our 12-hour Survivor marathon instead!
"The megacorps are your friends. Trust the corps."
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Is that a bet?
Think "Natural Camouflage"
By modifying reflected light though colored fur/scales/skin, predators are unable to separate the image of prey from background noise.
Certain flowers shine brightly in the UV spectrum, making them stand out from the background noise only to insects who can see in that spectrum.
People lie to each other to mislead, getting to the truth requires analysis. Last time I checked, no one has been making artificial people.
Later,
ErikZ
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
I agree... what Touretzky is doing is the better way to protest. However, we should be careful how we treat the window-smashers. They are not the enemy. In fact, I think they do us a valuable service by defining an endpoint. The window-smashers make us look quite tame and normal by comparison - whereas, if there were no window-smashers, WE would be the extreme radicals. I would argue that we need the window-smashers to push the outside of the envelope.
The flip side of the coin is that, for some people, the sides might become polarized, i.e. if you believe the same stuff those window-smashers believe, then you're practically a window-smasher yourself. I would argue that the people whose worldviews are that narrow are beyond reach anyway, and are just as well ignored. They are the same sort of people who thought Vietnam was a fine idea. Many of them will be slowly converted as the memes disseminate, but many of them won't - these holdouts won't matter.
The people we need to reach are the ones who will listen to a well-reasoned argument, especially one that dismisses the window-smashers. Hey, we don't like those bad, bad window-smashers, either... but listen to this...
That's my take on it, anyway. Dissenters?
Here is a letter that I sent to my congressman - Brad Sherman (D - Sherman Oaks). I doubt that anything will happen from it, but at least I said something...
-- cut here --
Dear Congressman Sherman,
I had the pleasure of meeting you on the evening of 2/23/01, at Temple Judea. I was the man with the two young daughters who was sitting behind you.
If you may recall, I took the opportunity to discuss the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and patent reform with you. I realize that time was short, and I was perhaps less than fully comprehensible, for which I apologize.
I am writing to express my dismay at the Department of Justice filing a brief in Universal City Studios, et al. vs. Eric Corley aka 2600 (See the link http://cryptome.org/mpaa-v-2600-usa.htm). This is a free speech matter wherein the government should be filing on behalf of the defendants, not the plaintiffs.
Essentially, Mr. Corley published a program called "DeCSS" on his website. The Motion Picture Association of America successfully sued under the DMCA to have it removed as a "Circumvention of Access Control". However, the MPAA often refers to the Content Scrambling System (CSS) on DVD movies as "copy protection", and an attempt to protect their copyright on movies.
I have no objection to copyright holders protecting their interests -- that's another debate for another time -- but in this situation, they are using a sledgehammer to swat a fly, and missing the mark (if you will excuse the confused metaphor).
Essentially, what CSS does is scramble the digital data on the DVD so that it cannot be read without descrambling it. The MPAA claims that this is to prevent copying. However, a DVD is nothing but a stream of ones and zeros, with the only meaning to those ones and zeroes that which we give it by interpretation.
Consider a book written in Swedish. I do not read Swedish, and cannot use the book without a Swedish-English dictionary. However, I can copy the book either mechanically or by hand without interpreting it. Similarly, I can copy a DVD without interpreting those ones and zeroes that make up the data on the disk.
DeCSS is a program that descrambles the CSS coded video stream on the disk. In the analogy given above, it functions as a Swedish-English dictionary. It allows me *FAIR USE* of the DVD which I have purchased, and under the doctrine of first sale, the MPAA has absolutely no rights to tell me what I may or may not do with said DVD.
Now back to the point. I am distressed and dismayed by the intervention of the DOJ in this case, as I believe that the lower court ruling was incorrect, and the attempted restraint on free speech is unconstitutional.
I ask you, as a voting constituent, to ask the Administration to remove itself from these proceedings.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Similarly we have the DeCSS program. Most of us here run Linux, and want to use DeCSS to watch movies on our operating system of choice. We are willing to legally buy a DVD-ROM drive, as well as legal copies of movies on DVD's, and the DeCSS program is a device that facilitates our watching these movies on computers that we have legally purchased. In the privacy of our own homes, we should be able to do whatever we want with things that we have legally obtained.
That argument understandably stops, however, the moment we begin making illegal copies of said material or upload it to the internet. But just having DeCSS on my computer does not necessarily imply that I am going to infringe on the copyrights of the things that I have purchased. Under our constitution, it is legal for me to do what I wish with things I own in the privacy of my home. This protection stops when I do illegal things with it.
In our land, people are innocent until proven guilty. The current ruling on the DeCSS case, however, implies the presumption of guilt, namely, that by having this software, you are automatically going to use it for illegal purposes. I just hope our judicial system at some point realizes that there are people like me, who wish to use DeCSS for legal purposes, and that the people who use it for illegal purposes are going to have to be brought to justice one at a time, just like murderers are caught one at a time.
The Constitution protects my right to privacy, and it presumes that I am innocent until I am proven guilty. The DeCSS ruling directly violates both of these constitutional tenets, and therefore cannot stand.
I fail to see how this guy's response email is "triumphant". He doesn't make any outstanding points. He just says "here, each of these urls are "bad". can you cut and paste your previous email with each of these urls instead of just one?" Hardly poignant.
I'm glad he's putting up a fight, but this is hardly a "triumphant" response.
--
python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
A) Nothing was stolen. Even if they copied the program from somewhere, where was the theft? Would i be arrested for theft if i somehow cloned your car?
B) Source code is a free speech issue. They are trying to stop something from being published. Stoping anything from being published is censorship.
Hey dumbass moderator..this isn't a troll, this is my definition of 'owning' something!
Ya i never said anything about the gpl have i? Its nice to know the broad and sweeping assumptions you make...
On the other hand, the poem had great use of European poetic forms - invoking the muse on occasion, analogies to Paradise Lost, and it was altogether good stuff.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
It's really hard to take seriously a letter coming from a PacBell dialup email address. MPAA23@pacbell.net ? Whatever. Give me a break. All that money and the MPAA doesn't have their own domain name for sending email. Can you say hoax?
Prevent email address forgery. Publish SPF records for y
I'm not sure I quite follow you (please mind your spelling ;)
.- -.. .. --- -....- .- -.- - .. ...- .. - .-.- - ...-.-
and grammar), but if base pair sequences in DNA should be
considered to be cryptography, then so should any other language that
you don't understand. I don't understand a single word or even letter
of Urdu, but Urdu is nothing that is used to intentionally keep
anything secret from us who don't know the language.
BTW, what "key" AA sequences required to form BP's are you talking
about? It's the other way round (well, of course the DNA-polymerase
complexes are built from AA sequences, but the polymerases are
naturally also made from DNA blueprints).
I don't think we really "cracked the genetic code" in 1961, we just
learned the unknown language of BP sequences when we compared it to the
already known language of AA sequences. If I write GAUGAA-UGUUCUUCC
and it is known that those letters are a BP sequence, then it's not
encrypted, and anybody who knows which BP-triplet code for a certain AA
can see that I've just written DE-CSS in English...
.-.
Help savingAmigaOS and a free PowerPC market
If we are doing something that is within our rights, even if it is unpopular, then it is still within our rights.
Sorry, but destroying other people's property isn't within your rights. Whether it's owned by a person or a commercial entity, be it a corporation, or a limited partnership, or an LLC, or a single proprietorship. Somebody worked hard to put that building/store/whatever there. Destroying it is not within your rights.
Now I'm not telling you we should all bend over for corporations. I just want honesty about what you ARE within your rights to do and what you AREN'T. Furthermore, the excuse about police provocation may be true sometimes, but that STILL doesn't excuse destroying somebody else's property or rioting. If a cop hits me, I'll fucking slam him over the head. But I won't burn some poor sod's car because a cop hit me over the head.
It just makes you into a mindless crowd follower if you get sucked into frenzied mob action. I find it utterly distasteful, and it polarizes me strongly again whatever bullshit thing a bunch of rioters are rioting over.
Hemanshu Nigam Director Worldwide Internet Enforcement ++++++++++++++++++MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC. 15503 VENTURA BOULEVARD ENCINO, CALIFORNIA 91436 UNITED STATES Anti-Piracy Operations PHONE: (818) 728 - 8127 Email: MPAA23@pacbell.net
bash-2.04$
bash-2.04$yes "Don't you hate dialup connections?"| write USERNAME
Crypto is simply mathematics. Mathematics forms the foundations of physics. Physics describes the real world. Mathematical principles are everywhere. Fibonacci series? Real numbers? Co-ordinate axis(ie. dimension)? That IS the real world.
-----
"People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them"
Higher Logics: where programming meets science.
-Legion
-Legion
There's also the possibility that the stresses of the job shape the person. And as for the 'homicidal' rant of this one officer, have you ever heard a sysadmin say he wants to throw the Sexchange server out the window or something?
A Catholic police officer once told me that he wished the Crusades would come back, and that he'd like to give his life fighting for Christianity. Now, this statement could raise a few eyebrows in today's culture, but I think what he was really expressing was a wish for a straightforward battle where the enemy is well defined. This would be quite a relief from the reality of police work.
However, you're missing an important point. Many people are willing to accept suppression of source code because they do not see it as speech. The average reporter is techno-illiterate and sees DeCSS as a bunch of greasy machine parts used by vandals. However, the average reporter would be outraged if the MPAA were silencing speech critical of itself.
Touretsky's various translations of DeCSS help bring source code into the realm of speech.
The US establishment (media/congress/judges) is very supportive of people's fundamental rights. When they fail to protect those rights, it's frequently because they don't understand the situation. If the MPAA manages to suppress all of Touretsky's expression, this will help make the case interesting to the establishment.
First of all, Nigam is probably a fictitious name invented by the MPAA's attorney's. If he's real, he's probably a hapless intern or paralegal whose name they stuck in their Perl script that auto-generates these letters. That way the 'under penalty of perjury' bits won't hurt a real lawyer. Did I say Perl? Visual Basic for these lamers.
Second, MPAA23@pacbell.net is obviously a throwaway account. The MPAA sees the people hosting DeCSS as dangerous, unscrupulous characters and wants to keep them at arm's length. If you want real emails, they're probably at mpaa.org and at proskauer.com. Now, if you were a real jerk, you'd exploit an open relay to start sending forged takedown letters from Mr. Nigam to lots of ISP's regarding lots of web sites. I don't recommend this.
Anyhow, if you really want to put sand in these people's gearboxes, start by realizing that they are not like you! They don't live on the internet. Email is not important to them. They live in the world of cell phones and fax machines. Now if everyone could fax them a bannerized version of DeCSS - oh never mind.
Our society was founded on the liberalism of the 17th and 18th centuries such as the writings of John Locke. Liberty without restraint isn't liberty under classical liberal world views. So that begs the question Jack [Valenti] and Hillary [Rossen], if you two want software developers to have some of their liberties restrained then which of your liberties should be restrained? How about a nice state or federal censorship board? Sounds like an even trade off to me if you won't allow projects like DeCSS, OpenNap and LiViD to exist.
Individuals who become "police officers" or others responsible for "enforcing the law" generally have some sort of personality defect. This is NOT a Troll. I've heard one say that he wants to kill someone, that "some officers go their entire career without having to shoot someone, I want to get it out of the way and shoot someone's fucking head off." From the same person who expressed sincere aproval for news of the Diallo murder trial not-guilty verdict (5 or so white NYC police officers filled an unarmed black man with at least 50 bullets), as if the whole notion of police officers being put on trial for their actions was a travesty of justice.
Maybe my friend's the only one who's a "bad apple"... I doubt that's the case. Many are police officers because they get to be violent without consequences.
---
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
(psst.. Wouldn't it be cool to write something illegal??)
Well sir, you have inspired me to mirror that on my own site. But I'm really lazy, so it'll be a while.
----------------------------------
But this page gives me the warm fuzzies.
Ah! Intelligence. Amazing what happens when it strikes against the brainless (MPAA).
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Place: England: Time: a few hours after Pearl Harbour. W. S. Churchill (British Prime Minister) to Japanese Ambassodor: "Mr Ambassodor, please convey to your government that a state of war exists between the United Kingdom and The Empire of Japan. I wish you a safe journey home." (Ambassodor exits, stage right). U.S. Ambassodor to The Court of St. James (sitting next to Churchill) to Brit PM: "Mr Prime Minister I don't understand, you have just issued a declaration of war to the Ambassodor in the politest terms and wished him a safe journey home? Churchill to U. S. Ambassador: "Mr Ambassodor, it does no harm to be polite to a man you are about to kill."
I am the blue screen. You must restart everything. No one hears your screams.
What if I wrote out the music in guitar tabulature format and included the lyrics?
After OLGA got sued, the standard disclaimer for inclusion with all guitar tabs became this:
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the # #song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
If I distributed my artistic interpretation of a song that contained parts of DeCSS, would that be fair use?
What if I wrote a critique of the abovementioned haiku, quoting parts of it in the process, as is needed for such intellectual/academic discourse?
-the wunderhorn
Karma: Bored. (Thinking about resurrecting the "Anyone else is an imposter" joke.)
Was it sent via email, fax, or snail mail?
Email is ignored, faxes are trashed, snail mail is opened, read, and discussed. Please tell me you used the latter.
--
Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057
[o]_O
The poster was making an analogy between MP3 and MP4, with regards to its use by the internet community. Trading music became really popular with the popularity of MP3, and trading movies has become very popular with the advent of MP4 aka DivX.
Thats another thing. Why don't people refer to DivX as MP4? It would make for less confusion.
Seriously get a life. Multiple off site computers? Whats the big deal about spewing decss everywhere? Its gotten old really fast, just as fast as ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.
A similar violation to the first ammendment is standing on a corner and shouting out peoples names and their associated credit card numbers. When someone makes them stop is that a violation of freedom of speech? I would just like to know where you draw the line. After all, information wants to be free.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
It suprises me that some freaks haven't gotten a tattoo of decss yet.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
However Many Email programs such as those made by M$ and SUN convert plain text URL's into links. So are these programs illegal? Are they aiding and abetting circumvention devices?
Better yet: a translator/compression algorithm which turns that message (*) they put on all their
movies into the code. Then every movie would be an illegal circumvention device.
(*)"Any resemblance between this movie and persons
real or fictional is purely coincidenal" or something like that...
MPAA sucks,
MPAA really sucks,
I repeat, they suck.
What they should do is release it encoded with CSS, then GIVE PERMISSION to everyone to bypass the copy controls. That would give DeCSS a legitimate use; therefore DVDCCA would collapse in on itself and disppear with a giant sucking sound!
You're right, I was thinking of free speech, but lack of coffee scrambled my brain. Erk.
But still not bulletproof: A proper haiku must incorporate some kind of seasonal reference.
(Of course it would be ludicrous for Valenti to try and have fair use protection thrown out for this reason. But no more ludicrous than calling DeCSS a piracy tool in the first place.)
I realize that posting this sort of thing on Slashdot is simply preaching to the choir
Every post on slashdot is preaching to the choir.
--
All of your base are belong to us - make your time for great justice, zig.
Dear Sir,
I read the e-mail you sent to Dr. David Touretzky:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Gallery/mpaa-thre at-feb2001.txt
with regard to his "DeCSS Gallery" page:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Gallery/
As Mr. Touretzky pointed out, his page is an academic work. I am a journalist working for various German newspapers and magazines, and I would like to know whether the American Movie Industry is now trying to censor academic works? Will there be a public apology for the threats against Mr. Touretzky?
Best regards,
Erik Moeller
--
I know, I know, sometimes I do it to-- just read the summary and comments. But seriously, READ THE LINKS from that story. All of 'em. They're funny as hell. The response is particularly hilarious, but his own home page with bits about scientology and amway sprinkled amongst course descriptions is truly something to be seen.
Schools shut down student pages with scarcely a second thought. It's gotta be a lot harder to shut down a professor.
Why would it be considered illegal to link from a website to DeCSS but writing an email containing the URL legal? Maybe we all should have a sig in our mails?
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS
I think you're right. I was just trying to correct the poster who said that it was a decryption algorihtm and that the mpaa was mad because someone figured out how to "implement" (rather tan undo) it. How correcting the mistake in someone's post who asked to be corrected if he was wrong is "redundant" I'll never know.
Care about freedom?
I'd rather be lucky than good.
I was checking out Dr Touretzky's testimony and in one section, he refers to the "new compiler":
;)
Section 1088...
8 So, when you feed the C source code to a C compiler,
9 let's say GCC, the new C compiler, it's a very commonly-used C
10 compiler.
Anyone know where I can get that?
...or maybe not.
When I saw the strong condescention in this post I thought to myself "Wow - I must not know what I'm talking about like this guy does", then I said to myself "Hey, cool, this is my chance to get free warez, d00dz", so I downloaded the content in question and typed run DeCSS.c from my command prompt in Windows. Imagine my surprise when I didn't have a Windows utility at my disposal after all
Of course, I'm sure it's Windows that doesn't know what it is talking about, because someone speaking from such a powerfull position of condescention is sure to know so much more than I do
Then I said to myself, gee, maybe he's correct on item B too, and it occured to me that following the same line of reasoning computers "permit" copying of DVD contents in the same way DeCSS does! That's when I realized it - computers run on electricity, so electricity must be banned because it "permits" copying of DVDs! Of course, in context, permit might have been construed as "allows one to one copying of content in a manner conducive to piracy", but it couldn't mean that, because then I would be right and the information would not be accurate, so you must me right - electricity permits the copying of DVDs, and is therefore subject to the same restrictions imposed by the court.
I feel I must thank this Coward, because he pointed out that I should "check my facts" - And I thought by reading the court transcripts and such I had done so, but clearly not as good as this guy !!!
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
There is an English language. Neither you, nor the courts made it. But that, like your attacking statement that I am parrying, is beside the point
If I copy the stream of 1s and 0s I also copy the content as defined by the court
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
A) That has been done already. A fact you would posses if you did the research that would qualify you to be condescending toward me.
B) Since you have no idea who I am, or what I may or may not see, this is of course a ludicrous statement for you to make
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Of course this is not a faux pas, but rather a systematic misinformation injection. While that would have been impossible to prove before, the fact that they haven't corrected it by now probably could be construed as such. Still, I rather doubt the courts would do anything about it, because they don't understand the issue at all. That much is clear.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
decss is the name of the compiled windows executable that turns encrypted vobs into normal ones. css-auth is the name of the original C code that was released to the net. i don't know if the actual algorithm is named yet.
If one accepts this, the information is still innacurate, and the perjury admission still holds.
decss assists copying of dvds in that a decrypted dvd can be recompressed and redistributed. they never said you needed decss to copy movies, only that decss allows you to do so. they aren't lying.
As I pointed out in a previous post, if this is what they mean by the term "permits", then they should be going after computer manufacturers and producers of electricity. These things "permit" the copying of DVDs, and in the case of electricity it is even necessary, whereas with DeCSS it is not only unecessary, it affords no benifit to the would be pirate. They clearly imply a 1:1 copying for piracy. They have made it extremely clear that the reason they say the code must be banned is the the DeCSS code affords an otherwise unavailable opportunity for piracy. It is likewise clear that their real complaint is that they won't get licensing fees from Linux, and other Open Source implementations.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
In the email sent to CMU the MPAA writes:
DeCSS is a software utility that decrypts or unscrambles the contents of DVDs (consisting of copyrighted motion pictures) or otherwise circumvents the protection afforded by the Contents Scramble System (CSS) and permits the copying of the DVD contents and/or any portion thereof.
Then the MPAA goes on to say:
Also pursuant to DMCA, we hereby state, under penalty of perjury under the law of California and under the laws of the United States, that the information in this notification is accurate and that we are authorized to act on behalf of the owners of the exclusive rights being infringed as set forth in this notification.
Since the first identified paragraph is inaccurate, they openly admit to perjury!!
A) DeCSS is NOT a software utility, it is an algorithm
B) DVD copying does NOT require the unscrambling of the data
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
I think the bacteria from this story might disagree with you.
--
Soma: because a gramme is better than a damn.
The encryption/decryption algorithm/implementation is named CSS (Content Scrambling System), so DeCSS would be the name of the alternate decryption algorithm.
--
Soma: because a gramme is better than a damn.
You're not a citizen, you're a consumer.
Remember that.
--
Soma: because a gramme is better than a damn.
Broadcast message from aed (pts/2) Sun Feb 25 22:38:48 2001...
The internet is going down for system halt NOW !!
Yes, yes indeed it is. (or was last summer)
Songs are far easier to replace if their value is diluted. They are less valuable for the same reason that movie stars are more valued than music ones. They're harder to make.
Also, the real problem isn't the government trying to shut stuff down. What congress and the DoJ are doing is giving companies unprecedented control over its customers and the ability to have our law enforcement agencies to do their bidding. These companies don't have our best interests at heart, which is fine, that's the way it's always been, but they are quickly aquiring the power to make our lives miserable.
And the correct Spock quote is, "If I were human, I believe my response would be ..."
--
Dyolf Knip
OOG ANGRY PEOPLE NOT CREDIT OOG WITH DISCOVERY OF FIRE!!! OOG SPEND LOT OF TIME WORKING ON WAY TO START FIRE SO OOG COULD SMOKE FAT BAG OF CAVE WEED!!! OOG PISSED THAT STUPID GROG STEAL OOG IDEA AND TAKE CREDIT FOR OOG GENIUS!!! OOG STILL HOLD PATENT ON FIRE THOUGH, SO OOG NOT WANT SOMEONE REVERSE ENGINEERING OOG FIRE DISCOVERY!!!
OOG THE OPEN SOURCE CAVEMAN!!! OOG BREAK HEAD WITH OPEN SOURCE CD!!!
Maybe you can't copy a DVD onto a DVD RAM, but you can certainly copy it onto a hard drive with no problem. Unless I've been copying unencrypted DVDs. Of course, for the current price/meg cost of hard disk storage, you'd be better off buying the DVD, but the point is, if you wanted to have a copy to watch on your laptop, DeCSS isn't necessary.
Vidi Vici Veni
Thanks for the sig
I just read Dr. Touretzky's testimony during the trial. He has some really good arguments about free speech and code.
But what was the end result of the trial?
Where can I get transcripts of the rest of the case?
that the MPAA say that it is illegal to host a web site that links to any other web site.
they claim, "...linking (to)any Internet web site, either directly
or through a series of links, to any other Internet web site
containing DeCSS." is illegal. Is it just me or does that include THE ENTIRE INTERNET!!! This is just one more example of the government making innocent ordinary people into criminlas.
"if I had emotions I believe my response would be 'go to hell'" - Spock
What I find particularly elegant about the work is how well informed it is by classical models. It's not just that it's 5-7-5 "verses", but that the whole thing is built around the Greek epic poem model. It's written to evoke Homer and Hesiod, complete with initial invocation of a muse and subsequent references to that muse. It includes traditional asides, stops frequently to praise its heroes, and closes with a prayer (of sorts).
It's also similar in more than just form. Works like Hesiod's Theogony are not just spoken poetic entertainment: they delineate the world view of their culture. In the same way, the DeCSS epic instructs the "listener" in the world view and cultural values of those opposing DeCSS.
It's a lovely thing to wake up to this morning.
CSS as music? Wow... this is very cool. However, according to Toretzky's very strict interpritation of the ruling, wouldn't a gzipped version of the source be freely distributable?
What's great about this version is that all the English grammar imperfections are translated right into Latin - witness "Scitis quid vos agens." It should be "Scitis quod ages," but just like the English is screwed up (You know what you doing?), so is the Latin. My hat is off to you, Anonymous Classicist! I have moderator points, but now I can't help you out with them because I just posted. Damn.
If it ain't broke, you need more software.
http://www.patentburner.com is my little cache of tools. (And yes, I actually use them to view DVDs I've purchased.)
:)
It was mildly uplifting to see DST's mention of the Scheme version I hacked together
-John
Because there are at least 3 competing Mpeg-4 "standards"
Information wants to be free like speech wants to be free, not like we want beer to be free.
In order to save
the Slashdot community,
all lame ass haikus...
...go under this thread.
Please!
- Ando
Has CmdrTaco actually ever bought a medium?!
:-)
I know I haven't, and I can't think of that many people who have. You could argue that Rupert Murdoch has bought a few in his time, but still...
arnald
anyone feel like spamming the agent of the mpaa? MPAA23@pacbell.net :)
knee-jerk? check. post? check. okay, time to read the article.
Dunno, I would have thought the video equivalent to MP3 would be the MPEG (-1) video layers.
: D
Obviously, you've mastered part A... but if you ever want to be taken seriously, as more than just a braindead rabble bent on breaking stuff, then you need to appeal to the majority of the population. Lasting changes don't happen if there's no support. Read about the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe... there, a vocal minority actually TOPPLED the government, but within weeks, the old regimes were back, because a) the revolutionaries had no good plans for dealing with national issues and b) had no popular support.
Oh yeah... and it's ALLLWAYS those nasty evil cops who just wanna beat down the hippies who're responsible for riots. Give the police some credit, and give me a freakin' break, dude.
"Cut word lines. Cut music lines. Smash the control images. Smash the control machine." - William S. Burroughs
For once someone else besides me stands up to the politicized rabble...A 'protest' is only effective if you're spreading your ideas to *OTHER* people. The vast amount of 'protests' I see tend to be focused inwards... Yelling slogans to people who already beleive what you do is pointless.
"Cut word lines. Cut music lines. Smash the control images. Smash the control machine." - William S. Burroughs
Now... I live in Eugene, OR, which is one of the hotbeds of 'anti-corporatist anarchism' and such... and though I'd venture to say that a very, very large percentage of the people involved with such groups are just there to wreak havoc, the small portion that does actually beleive in their goals are, in my opinion, going about it the wrong way. Dr. David Touretzky is going about it the right way. Instead of rioting and breaking windows and throwing bricks at cops to make his point, he's going about it in a fashion that not only makes him look clever, but makes the MPA look absolutely stupid. We have to stand up for our rights, or else, eventually, someone is going to ride roughshod over us all, and then it's all over (read Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago for a more detailed description of what happens when people don't voice a word of protest when they're being opressed). However, our protests have to be intelligent, well thought out, and above all, non-threatening to the average citizen, which is who we're supposedly trying to get on our side. Tattooed rioters smashing windows and attacking cops to 'send out a message against corporatism' is simply counterproductive. Kudos to Dr. Touretzky.
"Cut word lines. Cut music lines. Smash the control images. Smash the control machine." - William S. Burroughs
Dear Hemanshu Nigam (MPAA23@pacbell.net),
In an e-mail you sent to the author of several web pages providing excellent educational and scholar material on how to study the
encryption schemes utilized in futilely trying to protect content on a DVD-Video support, you valiantly brandish something called:
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Title 17 United States Code Section 1201(a)(2)(3)
This is all fine and nice, but I was wondering how it would apply, should I, French citizen, but resident in Switzerland, desire to publish my
findings on CSS...
- Should I elect to publish in on a web site in Switzerland?
- Should I elect to publish it on a web site in Russia?
- Should I elect to publish it on a web site in China?
As far as I know, DMCA does not apply in these countries (as well as most other American laws). In countries like Switzerland, where
individual privacy is even more enforced than in the USA, should someone decide to publish such material in an anonymous manner, it
could prove impossible to track the person and try to bully her into ceasing that expression of her free speech. In countries such as China
or Russia, it might simply prove impossible to discuss this with any form of authority.
Of couse, here I am not even mentionning countries that have a national interest in acting against the USA... countries like Cuba (for some
reason some of you Americans even consider that state a terrorist state!) or Irak, Libya...
I, as a security specialist, recognize the commonly accepted truth that "security by obscurity is no security" and in light of this, think that
publishing scholar work on the CCS can only help the industry not repeat it's mistakes. Thinking that one can be better than the
world-wide community of cryptographers in inventing a private cryptosystem to protect digital content was at best a childish attitude... at
worse could be considered voluntarily embedding a backdoor in the DVD-CCS. Has anyone ever decided to sue the inventor of CCS as
having deliberately inserted a security hole in that mechanism? (the ridiculously feeble protection is definitely a hole).
I think that in a free world of communication, you are advocating a doomed fight.
Would you care to attempt proving me wrong?
Regards,
Gilles.
Ah yes. Because today the rich are in charge, as opposed to all of the previous great eras when all of the people of the world controlled everyth-- Hey! Wait a minute! [The rest of this sarcasm is left as an exercise to the trol^H^H^H^H reader.]
Where would we be now if Mr Grog Caveman said 'It's against the law to reverse engineer my heat generating device (fire(tm))?
Just to play Devil's Advocate, I've got to point out that our dear freind grog didn't have to sell fire to survive. He needed to get fire out there so that other people would be able to survive, and help him survive. So, of course, grog would want to spread it around for free. But now, we're past the point of survival. By a long shot. (At least in America, et al) And so now we're into the grey area of "nobody needs my stuff, although it may be beneficial to them". Since they don't need it, there's a question raised as to whether or not I should have to give it to them, or we can arrange a trade where it's mutually beneficial. (I want money, you want my shizit.)
I don't think America (or any other nation) has hit on the right answer, yet, but it's important to remember that things are different, right now, from both Mr. Grok Caveman's day and Utopia.
-Andrew
Are regionless and CSS-less DVDs possible with the current format?
...the arguments are bogus.
Propegating certain types of information is illegal and/or immoral, plain and simple. Eg: Holocaust denials dressed up as legitimate historical theories; other people's credit-card numbers; slander.
You can do what this guy has done with all of the above. Format it as a haiku, stick it in the low-order bits of an image, record a guy yodelling it, translate it into Klingon, print it on a tshirt. If you like, encode it into DNA, breed it into bacteria, eat it and go sneeze at MPAA lawyers.
All this has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with your right to distribute the information - it's a gimmick, a red-herring. It's great merry-pranksterism, but the guy challenging the lawyers to find grounds to protest each version in turn is bogus. Either he has the right to propegate the info or he doesn't.
/. just linked to decss...dammit, now it's gonna get shut down
You know its bad when the people with all the money are the ones making and influencing the rules.
...All I can say is that my life is pretty strange...
Here's a better idea... Create a VB Script virus that, upon opening, copies the DeCSS code to the user's hard drive. Or, if they're running a web server, make the DeCSS code replace their current homepage.
"Q. What is the DVD Content Scramble System (CSS) and how does it work?
CSS is the copy protection system adopted by the motion picture industry and consumer electronics manufacturers to provide security to copyrighted content of DVDs and to prevent unauthorized copying of that content. CSS is akin to the lock on your house."
honestly, i wish little faux pas had a legal recourse. do we have anyone in the house who is a lawyer...?
My .02,
My .02,
zencode
iactivist.org/jason
Okay, so DeCSS is considered a copyright circumvention tool. However, my understanding is that it was primarily designed to allow Linux users to play DVDs (which they already paid for) on their systems. But incidentally, the program will also allow a DVD owner to make a copy of the DVD, without permission. The latter is what has the MPAA so concerned.
How is this different from a CD burner? Sure, one could argue that it's primary use is for archiving one's own material, but the hardware and it's bundled software can also quite easily be used to pirate audio or data CDs. Why hasn't the RIAA gone after every manufacturer of CD burners, CDRs, CDRWs and burner software? I mean, come on, pirating a 4 minute song and distrubuting it over the net is a heck of a lot easier than pirating a DVD! Seems to me that pirated CDs (and MP3s that you can make with the bundled software) represent more of a threat to copyright than DeCSS does.
First of all, programs like EasyCD Creator make copying a CD child's play. Nearly any idiot can do this as the software gives you explicit instructions and does all the work for you. But to pirate a DVD using DeCSS is a much more complicated process and it's unlikely that Dick and Jane Jones are going to go to all that trouble or will even know how to do it. Second of all, audio and data CDs are far more common in the average consumer household than DVDs are. You can play audio disks nearly anywhere, and MP3s are not far behind. But a DVD can really only be used in a PC or your home theatre, not in your car, not in your discman, not on your cellphone, etc.
When the RIAA says it's trying to protect the artists, don't believe them. If a CD sells, the artist might get 3 or 4% in royalties. The record company will get over 80%, and the rest is retail markup. No artist makes as much on a record as the company that produced the record. That's simply not how the industry works. Record companies are a lot like venture capitalists - they'll front you the money to get going, but in return they want that capital back and they'll strive for controlling interest in your assets. So they're really protecting their own interests, not those of the artists. They're after Napster because it is a distribution system far superior to their own in many ways. But they've done nothing against the distrubution methods like CD burners and MP3 encoders. I don't understand why. Why hasn't Warner Brothers sued Panasonic and Acer for making burners that can be used to circumvent copyright and royalties on their releases? Why haven't they sued Maxell and others for producing the media that allows illegal copying of their CDs? Nobody has sued Adaptec for making software that allows any Joe to copy an audio or data CD.
If DeCSS is a copyright circumvention method, so too is a CD burner. If this is true, then why has the MPAA come out with their guns blazing at nearly everyone and the RIAA has gone after Napster alone?
..Belong To Us!.
I'd like to see the DeCSS code scrolling on one of those stock tickers =). Or perhaps written into hillsides by placing stones or something (DeCSS visible from the ISS =) ?)
--
Jon - TheSpork
Re: various ways to distribute the code.
How about a "compression algorithm" who's output when "decompressing" the MPAA's threat letter is DeCSS code? That way perhaps the MPAA would have to threaten themselves.
-... ---
It's amazing how much the good doctor's page appealed to me on a truly visceral level. This fight has all the elements of a great story...
An underdog (helps that he's funny, well-educated, articulate...)
An evil Villan (TM) (that would be the MPAA, in case you weren't paying attention)
A worthy cause (how about getting what you paid for? You bought the damned DVD.. you outta be able to play it!)
Oppressive, predatory, and loutish behavior on the part of the Villan (mental picture of a wolf-pack of lawyers in spiked collars, chasing hapless Linux users and geeks)
All we need now is a Damsel in Distress... now where to find a model who can act, and speak geek convincingly (nah, you're right... what was I thinking??)
Ideally, the underdog would triumph, but that's far from likely at this point. All this because some of us want to watch our DVDs under "nonstandard" operating systems... I find it hard to believe that any jury of "Joe citizen" types would have a problem with that.
Guess we wait and see. In the meantime, kudos to the good doctor... He's got a set of brass you-know-whats.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Thx Looking forward to watch it - hoping it will have the right region code...
Can I order the source on DVD?
I'd love to see someone project DeCSS right on top of the letters of the Hollywood sign. No way they could miss that message. Unfortunately, I'm halfway across the country from there, without even a dinky laser pointer, so I couldn't help much even if there is someone crazy enough to try that. :)
(Do not sign anything.) -- Fell, Planescape: Torment
Thanks for the correction. But they're both suing people for stupid reasons; what's the difference? :)
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suwain_2
I have no interest in getting DeCSS to work, at least not right now. (One major reason is that I don't have a DVD drive...) But the fact that the RIAA is trying to keep me from seeing it -- a violation of the first amendment, IMHO -- inspired - no, forced - me to download it.
BTW, if you're the RIAA... I'm just kidding. I'd never do anything that didn't please you.
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suwain_2
- MPAA - Just plain evil
- RIAA - See MPAA
- Divx - See RIAA
- DivX - Doesn't belong in this list
- Copyright law - See Divx
- Patent law - See Copyright law
Now, what's the difference again?It's from an old NES game that was translated from Japanese to English...*badly*. "All your base are belong to us!" is a line one of the characters had. Anyway, on some game newsboard, one guy started posting images he'd adapted with that line in there (stuff like roadside billboards with that line on it)...maybe he had a thing for the line, maybe he's a nutcase, who knows...anyway...the phrase strikes people as funny and next thing you know it gets posted to another board...and another and another and...you get the idea.
...although frankly anyone with a couple hours and Adobe Photoshop could pretty much do the same.
Hell, somebody with *macpaint* could do the same on some of the images :o).
check out the images
- It is simple to make something complex, and complex to make it simple
If they decide that reverse engenering is illegal,
t art Sig: (sp?)
that means that IBM can sew everybody who makes computers except Apple, Sun, SGI, and the couple of others who use diferent processors, right?
--------------------------------------
S
--------------------------------------
Start Sig: (sp?)
End Sig.
It all boils down to money and control. Simply put people know that there is a type of power that can be gotten through preventing others from being able to duplicate your feat. If something is reverse enginneered, then someone may be able to not only figure out how your device works - but actually improve it. That would put you out of business.
Therefor, the MPAA wants to have complete control of its technology - it limits compition to a set amount of players and gets around anti-trust law effectively.
However - reverse enginneering (or taking something apart to see how it works) is one of the reasons why Open Source software is so successful, it enables people to improve on others work and make better things. However... the money factor is considerably less - compare the Linux industry's profits with those of the Movie industry. Companies - especially ones that where founded a fair while ago, and do expensive stuff (make movies - Blair Witch exception) are obviously going to want to be able to make the most money.
I don't think that the MPAA would care that much about pirates (if they got a cut of the sales - just a governments today may ignore smugglers in return for favors and like), what they are worried about is someone will take their secret and make a better way (DivX-), Project Mayo) and put them Out of Business... so of course they go to extremes, because in the business world... you can't be overly cautious.
There is always a frontier where there is an open and willing mind
use http://www.spammimic.com/ and make SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM,
:)
SPAM, SPAM and SPAM out of the deCSS source code, then put it on your homepage.
Every slashdotreader in the world would understand what it's about, and just imagine the trial!
If you've forgotten what SPAMMIMIC looks like, here's a little remainder:
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-- Cure for Cancer instead of SETI! (only w32 yet - mail and beg)
"I don't know much about art, but I know what I like."
Rip my DVD
Compress it down to CD
I call it fair use
Decrypt M-I:2
Watch Woo and Cruise in DivX
Still a crappy film
DMCA now
Watch as we stop buying films
DMCA dead
You buy their products
You use their products at home
They sue your ass off
You give them money
They give you entertainment
Cease and desist.
What makes actions that we as people do any less "naturally occurring" than chemical reactions like the combustion of a log? Are we not natural? Are we not made of chemical reactions ourselves? Are our ideas and actions not the "natural" result of those chemical reactions?
Despite what EULAs say, most software is sold, not licensed.
Actually it ends somewhat further away then where your nose begins. Swinging your fist in the general direction of someone else is still assault, even if you don't hit them.
Its moderated down because the MPAA reads slashdot too, and if they see it, they could try to get it shut down, or they could try to shut down Slashdot.
I just realised what is wrong with the IT industry. We have a new technology and people seem to think that this creates new 'laws'. New fangled keywords such as 'reverse engineering' which (as far as i see) translates to 'let's see how this works' suddenly become issues. Where would we be now if Mr Grog Caveman said 'It's against the law to reverse engineer my heat generating device (fire(tm))?
We had a primary school competition for some japanese airline many years ago.. this is one a classmate came up with that I am fond of. Flying fox flying High electrical wiring Flying fox dying Back on topic, that decss Haiku was only technically so.. a formatting script does not maketh the Haiku.
Please mirror. There is a tar.gz archive on the bottom of the page.
Please read the email send to "Dear dst@cs.cmu.edu" at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Gallery/mpaa-thre at-feb2001.txt
by Hemanshu Nigam using the email account
MPAA23@pacbell.net
Mr. Nigam claims that his letter was submitted "respectfully", byt he is unwilling to address
Dr. Touretzky by name. I suggest that all of us
repectfully send our opinions directly to Mr. Nigam.