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DVD-Jon Completely Clear
A reader writes: "The case against DVD-Jon was finally ended today. DVD-Jon won the first trial on the 6th of January 2003. The Norwegian Okokrim appealed but Jon also won the new trial the 22. December. It was expected that Okokrim would appeal this decission to the Supreme Court, but today Nettavisen is reporting that Okokrim have decided not to pursue the case further. No news in English yet, but they will probably be there soon. I guess the news will be on in English soon." Okokrim is the Norwegian equivalent to the RIAA here in the States - and yes, Virginia, this means DVD back-up is fully legal in Norway. Spelling updates - thanks, Disillusioned.
Okokrim is The Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime. More information here.
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
News in the mother tongue appears to be spreading!
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
What a great way to start a monday morning, two inspiring stories about the fight against DRM. First, the Big 5 record companies are being tried because of the DRM on CDs, and now DVD-Jon having all charges dropped. A big w00t to that.
Canadian Cynic, canadian politics is less boring than you
Please reschedule Norway and Belgium ahead of Syria and Iraq. Thanks.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
It was an appeal case. He was tried before a lower court first. Okokrim appealed before a higher court and lost again. They could have appealed once more but didn't.
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
It coulda been worse, though - if he had been found guilty, they would have sent him out to sea in a burning ship...
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
Lesson learned: always act preventativly or it will be all too late.
That's why I think that people should take this MS monopoly stuff more seriously.
Over 90 years and counting !
I just bought a DVD+Jon writer!
This Norway is sounding like a pretty good place to be. Too bad it's in, like, Norway.
They are backing down from the legal court battle because they will be paying off the bureaucrats (read: lobbying) to create new laws in norway to address this type of activity (i.e. DMCA).
Nope, Okokrim is a state-owned unit prosecuting economic, computer and environmental crimes. At least in theory, they are pursuing lawbreakers on behalf of the Norwegian state (i.e. the Norwegian people).
RIAA is a trade association, an interest group for lobbying lawmakers and protecting the interests of publishers of recorded music. They are purely interested in squeezing the most amount of money out of music artists and consumers.
--Martin
Now if we could only get around U.S. law. You are legally allowed to make an archival backup copy for your own use. However, the DVD manufacturers do not have to make it possible for you to do so, and circumventing their copy-protection is a crime. So they are infringing on your rights, and if you assert them, they have big brother on their side.
I hate sigs.
- that they will be going after VHS Lars next..
Nor are laws from the USA relevant in the least. There is nothing similar to your "Double Jeopardy" laws in Norway, if the prosecutor appeals (as in this case) your guilt in a single case can be tried twice. Still, the court leans heavily towards following the decision in the first instance unless there's heavy new arguments, or obvious procedural errors in the lower court.
Thus this was no big surprise.
By the way, nothing new happened today. All that happened is that the time-limit for appealing to the supreme court (3 weeks I think) came and went without any appeal being logded by Okokrim, thus the verdict is final.
Alright, I'm Swedish, so I might have made a mistake or two.. I'm not doing a complete translation, just translating the relevant bits. Content should be accurate though.
:)
Lawyer: DVD-Jon is on holiday in France, and I haven't spoken to him yet. However, we have discussed this as a possible outcome, and I therefore know that he will be very pleased to hear the news, as he can finally relax and stop thinking about this case.
It has been 4 years since the legal actions against DVD-Jon were taken, and he was only 15 at the time. It has been a heavy burden for him during these important years in his life. However, I think he has handled the situation well. He wrote DeCSS so that people can play DVD's on other OS'es than Windows. This case has been brought up by IT media all over the world, and many people have expressed support for DVD-Jon.
From the verdict in the "lagmannsretten" in december last year, the court said that it was clear that he had bought the DVD's himself, and therefore he has the right to play them however he wishes to.
"Lagmannsretten" also said that if you buy a DVD, there is a risk that it may become damaged, and therefore you have the right to make a copy of the DVD, if it's a movie you intend to preserve.
As I said, not an exact translation, but should be sufficient
I am not Norwegian and I am in a hurry so I will just translate bits and pieces that seem the most important (not the history of the case).
:)
:)
Feel free to correct
Okokrim har valgt a ikke anke straffesaken mot Jon Lech Johansen. Dermed blir frifinnelsen av DVD-Jon staende.
The Economic Crime unit has chosen not to pursue further action against Jon Johansen. DVD Jon has been aquitted.
- Min klient er fortsatt pa ferie i Frankrike, og jeg har ikke fatt snakket med ham enna. Men vi diskuterte jo dette utfallet som en mulighet for han reiste avgarde. Derfor vet jeg at han vil bli veldig fornoyd med a slippe og tenke mer pa dette, sier DVD-Jons forsvarer, advokat Halvor Manshaus, til TV 2 Nettavisen.
My Client is on vacation in France and I have not spoken with him. But we held discussions before he left. Therefore I know that he vill be very satisfied with the charges being let go and think more about this (my note: the vacation, presumably) said Jon's lawyer and advocate Halvor Manshaus to TV 2
- Lagmannsretten legger til grunn at en DVD-plate er sa utsatt for a fa skader at kjoperen ma vaere berettiget til a ta en kopi, for eksempel av en film han er spesielt interessert i a bevare, het det i dommen.
The judge rulled the software was legal iff you bought the film. You are entitled to make a copy of that disc. For example, if there is a film you had a special interest in preserving.
Sorry for the rough translation but though something would be better than nothing right now
--Joey
Can anybody who speaks Swedish translate the article for us? ;)
Ok.. Although it's written in Norwegian. But it's close enough.
DVD-Jon very happy
Okokrim has chosen not to persue its case against John Lech Johansen. Thus the aquittal of DVD-Jon stands.
"My client is on vacation in France, and I haven't yet spoken to him. But we did discuss this posibility before he left. So I know he will be very happy not to have to think about this any more", said DVD-Jons defense attorney Halvor Manhaus to TV2 Nettavisen.
Time for consideration
The 22 of December last year, the Borgarting [higher court] decided to dismiss the charges by Okokrim against Jon Lech Johansen. Okokrim has since taken time for consideration, but has now chosen not to persue an appeal.
"Its been four yeras since this all started and Jon was then 15 years old. He has carried this heavy burden through important years of his life and it has weighed heavily on him. But I feel he's handled it very well." says attorney Halvor Manshaus.
It was the 6th of January last year the Oslo tingsrett [lower court] first aquitted DVD-Jon who thus won his first victory against Okokrim.
For years of waiting
Okokrim took action against Johansen four years ago, after he had distributed a program on the internet which enabled the breaking of the built-in copy protection CSS in DVDs.
As a 15 year-old, Johansen managed to break the security code. He was arrested in January 2000.
The now 20 year-old Johansen has claimed that the program DeCSS was developed to play DVD-films on other operating systems than Microsoft Windows. He has consistently claimed that his only motive was a desire to watch DVD-movies on PCs using the operating system Linux.
The case has caused a lot of attention in IT circles both in- and outside of Norway, and most have expressed support for DVD-Jon.
Allowed a copy
From the verdict in Lagmannsretten [higher court] last year, it was considered evident that DVD-Jon had legally purchased his DVDs, and thus had the right to make copies of them.
"The Lagmannsrett finds that a DVD is so vunerable to damage that the purchaser must be entitled to make a copy, for example of a movie he is particularily interested in preserving", part of the verdict read.
Or you could keep your DVD collection away from your son.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
And apparently, circumvention of encryption for that purpose is legal as well.
Under old law, that is. Norway, as an EFTA (European Free Trade Association) member is obliged to implement some EU legislation like the European Copyright Directive related to aspects of the Information Society.
This piece of law requires local governments to implement in national legislation that circumvention of copyright protection is illegal. And it was not implemented at the date of the alledged (but apparently not committed) crime.
So although this has been an interesting case, it seems rather irrelevant to me for the future of DeCSS.
In summary: No appeal. So what? We're right back at the start.
I'm always happy to help out a fellow slashdotter. Here is the article translated;
Levyer: DFD-Jun is oon huleedey in Frunce-a, und I hefee't spukee tu heem yet, Bork Bork Bork! Hooefer, ve-a hefe-a deescoossed thees es a pusseeble-a ooootcume-a, und I zeereffure-a knoo thet he-a veell be-a fery pleesed tu heer zee noos, es he-a cun feenelly relex und stup theenkeeng ebuoot thees cese-a. It hes beee 4 yeers seence-a zee legel ecshuns egeeenst DFD-Jun vere-a tekee, und he-a ves oonly 15 et zee teeme-a. It hes beee a heefy boordee fur heem dooreeng zeese-a impurtunt yeers in hees leeffe-a, Bork Bork Bork! Hooefer, I theenk he-a hes hundled zee seetooeteeun vell. He-a vrute-a DeCSS su thet peuple-a cun pley DFD's oon oozeer OoS'is thun Veendoos. Thees cese-a hes beee bruooght up by IT medeea ell oofer zee vurld, und muny peuple-a hefe-a ixpressed sooppurt fur DFD-Jun. Frum zee ferdeect in zee "legmunnsrettee" in december lest yeer, zee cuoort seeed thet it ves cleer thet he-a hed buooght zee DFD's heemselff, und zeereffure-a he-a hes zee reeght tu pley zeem hooefer he-a veeshes tu. "Legmunnsrettee" elsu seeed thet iff yuoo booy a DFD, zeere-a is a reesk thet it mey becume-a demeged, und zeereffure-a yuoo hefe-a zee reeght tu meke-a a cupy ooff zee DFD, iff it's a mufeee-a yuoo intend tu preserfe-a
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Seriously. That ranks up there with always referring to presidential assassins by their full name.
I'm pretty sure that that is done to reduce the stigma associated with having the same name as a presidential assassin.
Imagine: you just sent out your resume for your dream job, you're qualified, your application is filled out perfectly, and the news comes on that a guy with the same first and last name as yours just shot the president...aren't you glad that you included your middle initial and that they're using his full name, with a different middle name?
Heck, it gives you something to talk about at the interview instead of forcing you to legally change your name.
As for DVD-Jon, well, its his nickname. Feel free to call him DeCSS-Jon or "The Amazing Decrypto: Righter of Wrongs" if you like...
You can't take the sky from me...
From Infoworld:
An Oslo Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a lower court's ruling clearing Jon Lech Johansen of charges related to his development and distribution of DeCSS, a software tool that can be used to crack copy protection on DVDs.
Wrong! CSS does not prevent DVDs from behing copied, it prevents "movies" from being read (played) on machines of which the MPAA does not approve. If this is how the American tech press is going to pick up on it, I'd rather they'd stick to something they understand.
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
This is completely off-topic, but while reading the DVD-Jon story on Aftenposten (yes, I read the stories, there goes my karma), I browsed some of the other stories, and:
Did you know that Norway leads the world in both per-capita porn consumption *and* per-capita deodorant use?
Is there a connection between the two? I have no idea. I simply know that I must move to Oslo someday. It's calling my name.
HA! Not understanding an issue never stopped them from discussing it before. The mainstream "American Press" frequently "elaborates on issues" without a clue what they're talking about. Some typical myths the "American Press" insists on blindly perpetuating:
DeCSS is used to make copies of DVDs.
Patently false. As you've already pointed out, CSS is used to prevent a movie from playing on "unapproved" playback systems. DeCSS is used to play those unplayable movies. It never comes into play in the copying process which is why pirate DVDs have been available since DVDs were introduced to the market.
Kazaa is an illegal music sharing site.
Patently false. While many people use it to share illegal music files, KaZaa is a client for accessing a p2p network which can be used to share ANY files, legitimate or not (and it's not a "site"...).
The music industry has said that "xyz" is legal/illegal....
Terribly misleading. Who cares what the music industry says is legal? When I have to stand before Cary Sherman for judgement in a courtroom (god help us all), I'll give a crap what the music industry says is legal.
An "Internet Virus" has been loosed...
...in reference to a virus that only affects one platform (typically, Windows).
mp3s are illegally copied music files that Internet users share.
My god.. I don't even know where to start with this tripe.
To sum it all up, the American Press is just as technologically retarded as the typical American Citizen, so it works out pretty well in the end for selling newspapers and magazines.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!