Slashdot Mirror
Jon Johansen DVD Trial Date Set
mpawlo writes: "As reported by Greplaw, the Norweigan 'Byrett' (district court) will try the Jon Johansen DVD case on December 9, 2002. The trial was supposed to take place this summer, but the court decided to postpone the trial to find a technology savvy judge. The case will be tried
by one judge and a panel of two lay assessors. Jon Johansen is being prosecuted by the Norwegian Economic Crime Unit
(OKOKRIM) under Norwegian Criminal Code 145(2). Johansen created DeCSS
software that can enable DVD playback on Linux. It is argued that the DeCSS software is a piracy tool." Here is the Greplaw story with more links.
Good luck!
.. go get him boys ;-)
"If you keep an open mind people will throw a lot of garbage in it."
It is a piracy tool.
It's also a tool with legitimate usage.
The question is wether the law still counts when the tool has a reasonably legitimate use.
Congrats to the Norwegians for taking the time for a fair trial by a competant judge.
What qualifies this judge as a "technology savvy judge"? Hmm, I wonder..
"Norwegian Economic Crime Unit (OKOKRIM) "
OKOKRIM sounds more like it should be estblished in a prison, not a crime unit. Ick.
"Derp de derp."
EEF information on the Jon Johansen case.
Read the indictment. in Norwegian.
Linux World interview with Johansen.
Swedish coverage of the case.
EEF campaign to free Johansen.
Old slashdot article about original indictment.
Isn't that the crappy release? The good one is coming in November, right?
So, should the German programmers remain silent or come out and help his case out?
courtTV will be releasing the entire trial on DVD with 3 different camera angles, and a secondary audio track with commentary by the judge.
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
Taken from the Greplaw link, copy pasted and formatted. Originally by "Seth Finkelstein".
... and the encryption code wasn't in fact written by me, but written by the German member. There seems to be a bit of confusion about that part.
...
As Jon Johansen put it himself in an old interview:
Jon Johansen: I'm 16 now, I was 15 when it happened
LinuxWorld: The other two people that you had worked with to make the player are remaining anonymous -- is that right?
Jon Johansen: Yes, that is correct.
LinuxWorld: Do you know why they want to remain anonymous?
Jon Johansen: They are both a lot older than me, and they are employed. So I guess they just didn't want the publicity, and they were perhaps afraid of getting fired.
I was talking to a Norwegian Foreign Exchange student and threw out his name on the off chance he had heard of him. Oddly enough, he had and knew alot John.
Apparently John was a part a group that worked on breaking the CSS, when it was introduced, he got all the credit (intentional or not).
What I find extremely funny is that he is the one getting legally screwed and the others are free.
forget it.
karma karmeleon:
The Norweigan "Byrett" (district court) will try the Jon Johansen DVD case on December 9, 2002. The trial was supposed to take place this summer, but the court decided to postpone the trial to find a technology savvy judge. The case will be tried by one judge and a panel of two lay assessors.
Jon Johansen is being prosecuted by the Norwegian Economic Crime Unit (OKOKRIM) under Norwegian Criminal Code 145(2). Johansen created DeCSS software that can enable DVD playback on Linux. It is argued that the DeCSS software is a piracy tool.
EFF information on the Jon Johansen case.
Don't eat shrimp candy, just a heads up.
i think the biggest issue here is the fact that its an "open" tool. if somebody had made this has a closed source tool i dont think the MPAA would have pushed this hard for this issue......
..... not only that but i only run linux and personally dont give a good god damn if they think i should run windows or not. if i bought the DVD i am going to watch it ..... wherever i want on whatever platform i want
of course i think that doesnt matter. what does matter is the fact that the MPAA isnt trying to outlaw DVD burners, or any other things that allow "Copying"
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." --Albert Einstein
I don't always agree with everything I read on Slashdot but I know whats going to happen here. They will prosecute him to the extent of the law to place fear into the hearts of everyone else, the problem with tatics like this is that they often backfire and will cause more damage than they ever imagined.
Damn, that Greplaw is good stuff.
It seems to me that, according to law, he is guilty. The original trial is meaningless, since he can only be found guilty, if the system works the way it is supposed to. In an ordinary court it is only to determine whether a law has been broken. One [at least] _HAS_ been broken. It is not until the appeals proccess that it can be determined whether those laws are in question.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
What the FUCK is taking so GODDAMN LONG???
1. whether they will be able to point to any DVDs that have been pirated from the use of his code and his code only, not somebody else's; and how they will be able to prove that it was his code.
2. if they do find his code used for piracy why would they not find VCRs, analog cables, DVD drives, and computers to be piracy tools also.
2a. if they find pirated material created with his code, and are able to prove it, why wouldn't they go after the actual pirates rather than going after him. Because his code does have other non-pirate uses.
My big worry is that a tech savy judge means nothing... other than the fact that it will cost Sony, RIAA et. al. twice as much cash to make up his mind.
Look at every other case that needed, or had, a "tech savy" judge. Might as well start installing Palladium Beta over my Suse 8.0 drive, 'cause resistance is... well...
I hate these times. I want my 2600 modem and BBS and NO LAMERZ on the line. Things were small and elite and I liked it that way. Things really suck now. Yeah, I love my Castle Wolfenstein, but I miss not having assholes get in the way of what i do once I'm on the copper wire.
under linux why didn't the recording industry just create a legitimate DVD player for linux?
I still don't see how they have a case, he never profitted from his efforts (other than he might have gotten a job interview for creating DeCSS)
We wouldn't have this problem if mother teresa ran the record companies. The RIAA wants to eat your grandparents and prevent you from making legitimate backups of them.
How do you expect them to make a quality product if they can't earn a living selling it?
It's just like the idiots who want to outlaw balacavas. Sure, they're 'terrorist masks', but if you've ever been in the cold for long enough, they're simply a necessary fact of life.
For a good deal of fair-use DVD software, DeCSS was a necessary step.
Case in point: Circumventing region restrictions. No way, no how are region restrictions in any way protected under copyright law. Neither is not playing the disk on the OS of your choice.
Even if you want to complain that he wrote code for Windows rather than Linux, here's an example from my own situation, since I use windows for media tools: For a long time, (until a firmware patch came out) my mobo would not support DMA to my DVD drive under Windows 2000. This means fairly slow access speed and jerky, out-of-sync playback in any of the good software DVD players for win32. By ripping the DVD to my harddisk, however, I can watch it at normal quality settings. Without DeCSS and rippers based on it, I wouldn't be able to do that.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
It doesn't matter if he profitted from DeCSS or not. That is completely irrelevent in copyright law. The point is whether or not he violated any copyrights or otherwise violated the DMCA (which is a violation of our basic rights, but that's another argument). Making no money will not make him less guilty than making billions of dollars.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
What about guns, they're a killing tool, should gun makers be charged with murder?
it isn't just playback on linux... it is playback on linux from the harddrive... NOT the original DVD disc.
if mother teresa ran the record companies, all we would hear is shitty local bands that she gave all the airplay to cause they were 'nice boys'.
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
Something interesting I noticed about the timing for this case, that struck me as odd... When Jon was arrested two years ago, he was sixteen. He was, I believe, a minor under Norwegian law, and the charges were dropped. He is now eighteen, if my math is correct, and possibly older. Is this past the age of legal majority in Norway? And if so, could this be part of the motive for delaying the trial?
After all, they probably wouldn't be able to get much of a penalty against an underaged individual who wasn't even the primary coder and who has stated many times that he wishes his code to be used as part of a DVD player. However, now that he's older, they might be able to get stiffer penalties. Or at the very least, get a black mark on his permanent record and make it much harder for him to get into a good college/university or get a good job.
Remember, Johansen is being made an example of. The MPAA is trying to say "screw with our monopoly and we'll do this to you". They, of course, want this example to be as effective as possible.
At the very least, everyone reading this article (especially those of you in Norway!) should support Johansen however possible. Donate money, organize protests, publicize his case. Make it a hot-button emotional issue. Make it clear that we just want to play DVDs, make it clear to people that the MPAA doesn't want them to import movies from another country and watch them before the approved-from-on-high release date, or buy at a cheaper price from the next country over.
Good luck to you, Jon! I remember being shocked back in 2000, when you got arrested on nothing more than the say-so of the DVD CCA for releasing a simple program that did nothing more than read data. I'm shocked that the MPAA's still persecuting you. I hope you can prove your innocence and strike a blow for the right to use generic computing technologies.
Stupid Racist idiot.... Besides, Coble isn't even Jewish. I don't think Redstone is either
I mean, a piracy tool that does not do anything doesn't make sense. I realize that the real issue is that the MPAA wants to control the format of distribution, but I'm interested in how the prosecution is arguing this case.
The only thing I can think of, is that you could better compress the decoded disk and then make it viable for download? Is this true? Does norweigan law specify exactly what a piracy tool is? Obviously a CD burner could be a piracy tool too, so how do they make the distinction in the law between a device that can be used for many things including piracy, and a piracy device? I hope it isn't exclusively prosecutorial discretion.
Scandinavian Slashdotters may be interested in a discussion on the case over at Swedish Gnuheter. Some are thinking about arranging a protest in connection with the trial, but Scandinavian courts are very rarely impressed by such activities. Still, a manifestation of the kind might have other results than affecting the courts. The public is probably not aware of what is going on in the copyright wars and they need to be addressed through the media accordingly.
Regards
Mikael
Pawlo.com
JUDGE: Would that you could render this extermination unnecessary by renouncing this method of illegal decryption!
JOHANSEN: No, Your Honor, it cannot be. I don't think much of our profession, but, contrasted with respectability, it is comparatively honest. No, Your Honor, I shall live and die a Pirate King.
(SONG -- PIRATE KING)
JOHANSEN: Oh, better far to live and die
Under the flightless bird I fly,
Than play a corporate raider's part
With a pirate head and a pirate heart.
Away to the cheating world go you,
Where pirates all are well-to-do;
But I'll be true to the song I sing,
And live and die a Pirate King.
For I am a Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!
For I am a Pirate King!
SLASHDOTTERS:You are!
Hurrah for the Pirate King!
JOHANSEN:And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King.
SLASHDOTTERS:It is!
Hurrah for the Pirate King!
(Inserted to avoid lameness filter.)
Hurrah for the Pirate King!
JOHANSEN:When I sally forth to seek my prey
I help myself in a royal way.
I rip a few more flicks, it's true,
Than a well-bred hacker ought to do;
But many a hack with a first-class clone,
If he wants to call his warez his own,
Must manage somehow to get through
More lines of code than e'er I do,
For I am a Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!
For I am a Pirate King!
SLASHDOTTERS:You are!
Hurrah for the Pirate King!
JOHANSEN:And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King.
SLASHDOTTERS:It is!
Hurrah for the Pirate King!
(the lameness filter, to avoid, inserted.)
Hurrah for the Pirate King!
(exeunt.)
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
So how do you play it off the DVD without decrypting it?
Honestly.
I mean, this is not just some minor licensing issues or whatever. People are actually trying to put other people in jail for writing software that enables people wo watch DVD:s they have payed for. That's exactly what's happening - why can't the people adovacting this crap see that?
*sigh*
/ Peter Schuller
--
peter.schuller@infidyne.com
http://www.scode.org
The original Slashdot story about Jon prompted me throw up a mirror on my own site, and link to it from a comment. (I'm a UK citizen resident in the UK, as is the server holding my little site.) A couple of months later I was clearing the christmas mail list backlog when I came across a legalistic document concerning deCSS. To my amazement it seemed I was a defendant ("John Doe #13") in the California case. (The 2600 case is in NYC.)
In the ensuing two and a half years I've become increasingly radicalised (in the geek sense: I had a flirtation with "IRL" politics for a few years in my late teens/early 20s and lost interest pretty thoroughly after that.) In retrospect, this event was the first time I made a small gesture of public support for the freedoms we all consider so important. The reaction to it, whilst amusing, has given me a different perspective on matters which previously seemed unconnected: the importance of the GPL, for instance, the reasons *why* the DMCA is just the tip of an iceberg...
The only moral to my anecdote is this: where's *your* mirror of deCSS? Mine's still there =)
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
Guess I was to upset to spell correctly...
/ Peter Schuller
--
peter.schuller@infidyne.com
http://www.scode.org
if he would be acquitted of crime, can he sue the prosecutors back for unlawful arrest?
DIVX..
it would be nothing without DeCSS
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
Best of luck in your trial. --grateful Linux user
He's a victim of this war.
He's already served his purpose. He took the rap. The mpaa was looking for a scapegoat anyways......
Lykke til Jon!
Good Luck Jon
--Joey
...thankx for the newz... uplifting... I do hope I stand corrected! I had no Idea the system was like that. WISH it was like that here in the United States of DRM.
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
Just give me an El Camino and a target rich environment of pedestrian lawyers and I'll prove it!
It doesn't matter, once a heimy, always a heimy.
I'm norwegian but not a lawyer, and this did not turn out as well as I had hoped. Original also appers to me to be written by somebody on drugs but this might be common legalese, I dunno.
Indictedment
STATE ATTOURNEYS
BY
OKOKRIM
Announcing:
JOHANSEN, Jon Lech, b BIRTHDATE
ADDRESS
Is indicted under Oslo city court for violation of:
Straffeloven (Norwegian criminal law) paragraph 145 other stuff ref. third and fourth part
For violation of a protection mechanism or similarily withot authorization gaining access to data stored or transmitted through electronical or other technical means, and for causing damage by obtaining or using such unauthorized information or by contributing to this.
Fondation is the following circumstances or contributing to these.
In the period between Sept 1999 and 17. Jan 2000, via the Internet, from his home in Lardal, Jon Lech Johansen contributed to the breaking of the technical protection system Content Scrambling System ("CSS"), licensed by the DVD Copy Control Assosciation Inc, for protection of DVD-movies against copying. A DVD-movie is a movie stored electronically on a DVD-disc. Based on knowledge of sected playing keys incorporated in CSS, Jon Lech Johansen created the Windows-program DeCSS, and he distributed DeCSS via the Internet both in October 1999 and on Jan 17. 2000. Under these circumstances, Jon Lech Johansen was violating the copy-protectrion on the DVD-movies and obtaining for himself and others access to the data on the DVD-discs in unprotected form. The access was unauthorized because the DVD-movies were sold under the premise that the user would use authorized playback equipment and respect the copy protection.Obtaining the movies in unprotected for has caused damage because the copyright holders no longer has protection against unauthorized distribution of the movies.
Common concerns (?) demand indictement.
---
This is the old indictement.
Indictement
STATE ATTOURNEYS
BY
OKOKRIM
Announcing:
JOHANSEN, Jon Lech, b (BIRTHDATE)
(ADRESS)
Is indiced under Oslo City Court for violation of
Straffeloven paragraph 145 other stuff ref third part
For violation of a protection mechanism or similarily without authorization gaining access to data stored or transmitted with electrionical or otherwise technical means, and for causing damage by obtaining or using such unauthorized information.
Foundation are the following circumstances or contributing to these
In the period between Sept 1999 and Jan 17. 2000, from his home in Lardal, Jon Lech Johansen participated in the breaking of the technical protection system Content Scramling System ("CSS"), licensed by the DVD Copy Control Association Inc for protection of DVD-movies produced by Movie Pictures Association against copying. Based on knowledge about secret playing keys incorporated in CSS, Jon Lech Johansen created the Windows-program DeCSS that breaks the copy protection on all DVD-movies produced by the offended party. He put DeCSS on the Internet both in October 1999 and on Jan 17. 2000, something that caused more than 5000 - five thousand - downloads of the program. Under the described circumstances Jon Lech Johansen lifted the copy protection on the DVD-movies and obtained for himelf and/or users of DeCSS access to the data on the DVD-discs in unprotected form. This access was not authorized by the copyright holders. This action has caused damage to the copyright holders as the unprotected movies are easily copied.
Piracy my ass. It allows me to run down to Blockbuster so I can watch something every weekend and watch movies in full quality. Else, I'd have to get half rate movies off the internet. Who are they kidding?
Some EU countries are about to make this the law, because of some silly EU directive. Norway is not an EU country, though. In fact I'll bet that only a tiny percentage of people here are familiar with Norwegian copyright law, so I'm assuming that comments are talking out of their asses until proven otherwise :)
Right now, I can only play ONE DVD on my Linux box. That's an unencrypted demo disk of anime from Bandai. I have been futzing and futzing with both of my Linux installations (Red Hat 7.3 and Lycoris Build 46) and have yet to have any DVD playing enjoyment.
WTF happened to LinDVD? I would be more than willing to BUY a piece of software to legally play my DVDs under Linux.
As long as this absurd situation exists, there will be people breaking this absurd law to play the DVDs they bought with their own money. Millione di grazie, Don Valenti. I _won't_ kiss your fsckn ring.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
When you take your one copy and move it, that does not constitute distribution.
The single disc is not being spread out or dispensed, it is simply being used.
Copyright denies me permission to make copys of that work (with certain exceptions) It does not preclude me from reading, burning, watching in reverse, fast forward, or feeding to a large chicken.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Actually, the court which Jon Johansen is to be tried in, consists of three judges. One that works professionally as a judge, and two jurors. The case is postponed because they have difficulties finding two technically competent jurors.
And: the law he is being tried under, actually concerns gaining access to data, or other equipment, without prior consent. The law views participation in this activity as an equal act, to be punished the same way.
The maximum punishment for this crime, is 6 months in jail, or two years, if damage (economic or otherwise) is found to have come as a part of the crime.
Also: I saw another comment on what is treated as a minority, and not, in the Norwegian criminal system. From the age of 15, you are responsible for your actions, and can be charged with a crime.
http://virtuelvis.com/
and I'll try to answer some of your questions.
Jon Johansen is tried (translation:) "for having broken a protection or in a similar fashion gotten access to data that are stored or are transferred by electronical or other technical means and for having caused damage by appropriation or use of such knowledge, or complicity to this." (Yes, this translation sucks. I'm tired.)
The case is in two parts: he breaks a protection, which gives him access to a work that he has bought the right to access. I think the judges will understand this, but Økokrim seems to think otherwise: "The access is unauthorised because the DVDs were sold under the condition that the users should use authorised playback equipment and respect the copy protection." Personally, I know of no such condition.
The other part is whether he caused any damage by spreading information on CSS and the DeCSS program itself. (This part has been added in the new incitement.) Obviously, DeCSS has made DVD piracy a lot easier, but, as you say, so has CD-recorders. If Jon Johansen in considered to be an "accomplice to piracy", so should Plextor and all good ISPs.
Oh well. I need some sleep now.
This had better get into a fortune module.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Up the revolution brother!
Watching Cowboy Bebop in my jammies, eating a bowl of Shreddies.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
And in what way is that worse than the Artists the Record industry has to pay millions of dollars to get them not to relase any more records?
Why do you people even bother anymore?
Im sorry but you are just wasting your time. CmdrTaco has publicly stated many times that he sees no problems with the moderation system at all. And whether you agree with him or not its still his website to fuckup as he sees fit. You will save yourself a lot of stress if you give up now.
Rather than punish those who cause harm, the "prohibitionist" tries to make the ability to do harm illegal.
The problem is that the most dangerous tool is the human mind and imagination. The prohibitionist cannot prohibit someone from having thoughts, so all that is left is to prohibit objects.
"Drugs" are a perfect example. The tighter the prohibitions, the greater the violence and reclessness of those who violate the prohibitions. As relatively peaceful people who inadvertantly violate the prohibition are "removed", those who remain are the ones who are not peaceful.
This is the same for all prohibitions, which is why they don't work.
By making it impossible to peacefully and easily view DVD's one has legally bought, it becomes more attractive to purchase illegal "cracked" copies which will be viewable. This will enrich the less ethical criminals at the cost of the legal producers, and do vastly greater damager to "society" than the relatively innocent peaceful "sharing" that would have happened otherwise.
Bob-
The Ludwig von Mises Institute. The reasoning individuals economics
I gave up on DVDs under Linux. I'll come back in 6 months or so, and try again. I eventually got to the point where the only thing holding me back was actually getting the DeCSS plugin to work properly. Which I wasn't able to do. I'm not a guru or anything, but I'm definitely not a n00b.
jred
I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage...
And it's a right that is completely forgotten by all but the rarest of jurors and something that judges never mention. At a recent family function, one family member was telling us about a jury trial he was recently on. The defendant was convicted of a vicimless crime. I told him that if I'd been on the jury, I would have found him innocent regardless of what the evidence said. Another family member, who is in the law department at a large company, was adamant that I would NOT be allowed to do such a thing. The ignorance on this issue of the American public is amazing.
Why the hell don't they teach these things in school anymore? It is a point that should be drilled into kids heads as they're growing up and learning about the American justice system. They have a duty to participate and the RIGHT to make it better.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
The case will be tried by one judge and a panel of two lay assessors
The two assessors have been picked already. The first is a representative from Sony and the second a representative from RIAA.
The two assessors are responsible for the final selection of the technology savvy judge.
This brings a whole new meaning to the words - lay assessors.
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make
The way corporate law works these days, if Mother Teresa ran the record companies, she'd be fired for failing in her fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value, and someone more like Hilary Rosen or Jack Valenti would be brought in to replace her. In other words, we'd quickly be back where we are now.
Does CSS add information to the bitstream? It's a reversable transform (given a key - they're not asymetric keys, are they?)?
If not, Shannon says you can compress an encoded and a decoded file equally. If so, well, then maybe DeCSS should be counted as "Stage 1" of a two-stage lossy compressor (the second stage being a DivX/MPEG4 re-encoding).
--Knots;
Anarchy$ dd if=/dev/random of=~/.signature bs=120 count=1
Not the same thing; the gun makers are being sued in CIVIL court, which is not the same as criminal court. When the government takes someone to court, it's criminal; jail, etc. When a citizen or group takes a company or citizen to court, it's civil, and is usually accompanied by damages.
The problem is that the encyption in a DVD is not ment to protect the content. It's sole purpose in life is to insure that DVD player manufactures pay the license tax. In theory, every one who produces a DVD player, be it hardware or software, has to pay the people who came up with it. That's why we don't have a "legal" player for linux. No body can/will pay the tax to buy a license.
.. troubleshooting body chemistry with medicinal alcohol(I have a note from my doctor; Honest!).
Since they (DeCSS) did violate the license/patent by producing a player/decoder without paying tax they are clearly in violation of the law
The real questions are: (1) did they enable piracy (no CSS does not protect the content; direct copy possible without decoding the disk's content) and is it a just law (no; can't "leagaly watch DVD on my linux box).
Please forgive spelling/grammer or lack of
Just picked up Fellowship of the Ring on dvd
platform is Suse 8 or 7.3
Attempting:
xine
ogle
Supposedly these will work. Along with the decrypt
code. Just figuring which computer I want to use.
-
17 bucks at target for something that a windows schmuck
can watch with NO effort and we are forced to bargain
with our souls to enjoy a movie that we paid good
money for.
fuck you valenti dmca fritz hollings.
That's wrong. It was around the same time that MAYORs of Chicago (and I think NYC?) were preparing these lawsuits. And the government most certainly CAN take you to civil court.
I thank you, from my heart, for your wonderful rendition. Oh! pity me, for such is my sense of duty that I shall feel myself bound to devote myself heart and soul to your extermination. My lot is not a happy one...
Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.
If you weren't a retard and copyright nazi apologist, it would be painfully clear that first sale doctrine applies. Sure, the copyright owners can distribute as they please, but once sold, the person can resell it or use it anywhere in the world that they like.
When I buy a paperback book in europe, and fly home with it, customs doesn't wrestle me to the ground for distribution infringment. Of course, not until the publishing industry gets it in its head that it could somehow impose region restrictions.
Region encoding is neither protected in law (at least until the DMCA was bought and paid for) nor morally. For anyone to claim that I can read their book, or watch MY movie, once I have legally purchased it, only where they wish me to, is beyond absurd.
Eat shit and die.
How do you expect them to make a quality product if they can't earn a living selling it?
You are so right. DVD piracy is out of control, and Hollywood producers are out in the streets starving. I saw Steven Spielberg just the other day sitting on a corner wearing a $4000 suit with a sign that said "Will Direct for Food." And I saw Michael Eisner eating oysters at McCormick and Schmick's and he only ordered a $50 bottle of wine! Can you imagine? I swear I saw him wince with agony when he took the first sip. These poor poor men, and it's all the fault of you Linux zealots with your theftware on T-shirts!!
I'm not pleased that the record companies get to decide which bands get airplay, and I'm not at all convinced Mother Teresa would want to keep it that way.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
There is no DMCA here yet. That means we, countrary to the US, still retain some fair use rights. What they're gonna try to convince that jury of is that he did this to earn money. Or (although legally it's not a problem) that his deeds cost the MPAA a trillion billion solarsystems worth of cash (which, of course, is utter bs). Thus trying to get a conviction for breaking the law, or for doing something that's a bit nasty, even if it wasn't really against the law. I even seem to remember there's a law *protecting* our right to reverse engineer if we need to do so in order to make the product fit our needs.
I'll be very surprised, and disappointed, if he gets convicted. But I'm sure either way it'll end up in supreme court before we've heard the last of it.
My suggestions for arguments:
You don't need to decode DVD to copy it, only to play it.
1. To play back the DVD the player decodes it internally.
If he is guilty because he wrote DeCSS, then since every player also has a decoder built in then every DVD player company is guilty too.
2. The decoding makes it easier to PLAY not to COPY. It is no more difficult or easy to copy the data encoded or unencoded.
Why the hell should I want to backup my grandparents?
Karma
[ or ] but once sold, the person can resell it or use it anywhere in the world that they like. When I buy a paperback book in europe, and fly home with it, customs doesn't wrestle me to the ground for distribution infringment
Er - no, incorrect. USA First Sale rights only apply in the USA, unfortunately.
Levi recently took the major UK supermarket to court in the UK to prevent them buying jeans legitimately in the USA and importing them, on copyright grounds. Levi won.
The reason individuals are not prosecuted, let alone wrestled to the ground, is simply that it is uneconomic. Sad but true.
This case may well end up illuminating Norwegian law only. The access was illegal because the DVD-movies were sold with the resctrictment that the user used only autorised playback equipment. The terms visible to a consumer at the time of purchase on my region 2 copy of Lord of the Rings does not contain such a clause, even in the bit you need a magnifying glass to read.
At least the publicity should move along the process of getting Hollywood back in their pram.
"Congress - the best democracy money can buy"
Except that the original 'proof of concept' code was written for Windows, where there are plenty of DVD players. Oops...
In fact, this spring I was sailing peacefully in my boat at the North Sea, when I was approached by a wooden ship sailing under a skull and bones flag. When it reached my, my boat was boarded by a wild looking one eyed man with a large beard and a hook instead of one hand. Before I could react, he demanded all my possesions, and threatened to play a Spice World DVD for me on a portable computer running Linux unless I complied immediately. When I pointed out that the DVD was encoded and wouldn't be playable on his computer, he just laughed and showed me the DeCSS source. At that point, I had no other options than to comply.
So DeCSS is obviously a piracy tool.
Some claim it can be used for unauthorized copying as well.
Until today, I used to scoot down to Video Ezy and rent a "block-bluster" movie now and then. I'd fire up my Linux DVD player, kick back, and watch the movie.
I've never copied a pirated a movie in my life, but thanks to Jon and his buddies, I've rented A LOT of DVDs - including out of zone discs, until the bastards came down hard on the local rental companies (eg, you rent out those movies and we won't give you any of ours - legal, just unethical).
Now, I'll be downloading 'em, sharing 'em around, and ONLY paying for movies made by indies. So Fuck You MPAA. I think you just got the war you've been looking for. See how you like the way the "community" backs up it's boyz when you go a picking on them.
Oops. Gotta roll... I think I feel a DDOS and multiple random web defacings coming on... Oh, and maybe a firewall piercing + database corruption.
Look up MPlayer or Xine.
AFAIK, they both play DVD's and come with/you can get CSS plugins' for them.
There are a bunch of DVD players for linux as well.
My email addy? should be easy enough.
Given the world's view on other usefull tools (i.e. firearms), I think this guy is in real trouble.
The mindset in most of the world is that if a tool can in any way cause harm then it should be outlawed. Obviously DeCSS can be used to harm the DVD people. If they actually consider the benefits I'll be shocked.
Ok, so how do commercial DVD decoders decrypt DVDs? Do they have to pay for the decryption key? Why did Jon need to reverse engineer the encryption? Why couldn't he have done what commercial DVD players do?
WeRelate.org - wiki-based genealogy
Levi recently took the major UK supermarket to court in the UK to prevent them buying jeans legitimately in the USA and importing them, on copyright grounds. Levi won.
Levi claimed trademark infringement, not copyright infringement.
See EU Court of Justice, case C-414/99
The "Levi's" and "501" trademarks in the UK are held by Levi Ltd, a UK company.
The court held that, by importing Levi jeans from the US, Tesco and Costco infringed on the trademarks held by Levi Ltd.
If J.K.R wrote Windows: Puteulanus fenestra mortalis!
DeCSS
So, I decided that if I couldn't distribute DeCSS, I would distribute DeCSS. Like, I could distribute another piece of software called DeCSS, that is perfectly legal in every way, and would be difficult for even the DVD-CCA's lawyers to find fault with.
So that's what I'm doing. I wrote a small utility called "DeCSS" that strips Cascading Style Sheet tags from an HTML document. Yes, agreed, that's pretty much USELESS, but what the fuck. Maybe somebody wants to do that. AND it makes the name of the software much more plausible.
dd if=/dev/dvdrom of=file.dvd
Outlaw dd.
(and it's only piracy if you run through the clerk at a floating BlockBuster as you're getting the source dvd)
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Ok, yeah, you need it for playback under Linux. But is it really necessary to pirate a DVD? Aren't the contents of a DVD just bits? Can't we copy bits onto more physical media without decrypting it? Wouldn't such a copy play just fine on another player? In other words, aren't manufacturers of DVD writable drives and media JUST AS GUILTY of piracy as DeCSS folks?
go to target
electronics section
daewoo dvg 4000s
79 bucks
quit whining
Hell, DVD playing is what drove me full time to Linux from my Windows/Linux dual boot. After re-imaging, I couldn't reinstall the DVD player because it didn't think it was going on the computer I bought. Ain't copy protection lovely?
Oops. Thanks, that EU link was very illuminating. I'd relied on a newspaper report, which didn't cite the actual infringement. Should have used a more generic phrase like IP - luckily the error doesn't change the territorial bugbear it illustrated.
/. on the Disney Hostile dvd thread - This isn't new - in about '94/'95 my boss at the time ordered laserdiscs from the US. They were stopped at the border because the discs hadn't come through the official release channels and weren't officially available in NZ. (They were just regular Hollywood movies).
/. ref] ?
Have since come across another closer example in
Your eurorights.org looks interesting. As you are clearly knowledgeable on EEA legals from your other postings, can you tell us if the EU 'fair terms for consumers' directive applies in Norway [sorry, lost that
If the case against Jon Johansen initially stems from the resctrictment that the user used only autorised playback equipmen is it "reasonable" to claim a consumer is prohibited playing a legally purchased dvd on a linux box ? Especially in Scandanavia, origin of linux, of all places.
None of my dvd packaging includes any warnings about what it can be played on.
What would be your advice to his legal team ?
"Congress - the best democracy money can buy"
luckily the error doesn't change the territorial bugbear it illustrated.
:)
The bugbear is the same. That is, how the (non)exhaustion of rights at first sale and commercial import interact.
I am not fond of community exhaustion, as set forth in the EUCD. It sounds too much like creating a 'Festung Europa' for copyrighted works.
in about '94/'95 my boss at the time ordered laserdiscs from the US. They were stopped at the border because the discs hadn't come through the official release channels and weren't officially available in NZ.
That sounds like an example of parallel import laws.
can you tell us if the EU 'fair terms for consumers' directive applies in Norway?
The directive is 93/13/EEC
According to the EFTA Surveillance Authority database, this directive is implemented in Norway.
If the case against Jon Johansen initially stems from the resctrictment that the user used only autorised playback equipmen is it "reasonable" to claim a consumer is prohibited playing a legally purchased dvd on a linux box ?
_I_ would say that it is unreasonable.
Please note that the Økokrim indictment does not claim that a customer is contractually bound to only play DVDs on 'authorised' players. It claims that the DVDs were sold with the expectation that they would only be played on 'authorised' players.
I don't know what Økokrim is thinking, and to me it seems like they have an extremely weak case. After all - there is no contract. Once you buy a DVD record you should only be bound by copyright law regarding what you can or can't do with the content of that DVD.
A judge might not agree, though, and that scares me.
What would be your advice to his legal team?
Focus on two questions:
- The question of legitimate/illegitmate access. If you own a DVD, why would you not have legitimate access to the content?
- Ask the MPAA to show why some DVD players are more equal than others. That is - why are only DVDCCA-licensed players authorised to access DVDs? Why and how is it possible that the 'right to access' is attached to the DVD player and not to the DVD record?
If J.K.R wrote Windows: Puteulanus fenestra mortalis!