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DVD CCA Drops Case; DeCSS Not a Trade Secret
jon787 writes "EFF is reporting that the DVD CCA is dismissing its case against Andrew Bunner. He was being prosecuted under California's trade secret laws for redistributing DeCSS. This means that the DVD CCA has finally conceded that CSS is no longer a secret, something the rest of us have known for a few years now."
SCO to go...
I had a sucky sig.
/* efdtt.c Author: Charles M. Hannum <root@ihack.net> */
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;}}
/* */
/* Thanks to Phil Carmody <fatphil@asdf.org> for additional tweaks. */
/* */
/* DVD-logo shaped version by Alex Bowley <alex@hyperspeed.org> */
/* */
/* Usage is: cat title-key scrambled.vob | efdtt >clear.vob */
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unsigned char x[5]
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+=y=i^i/8^i>>4^i>>12,
i=i>>8^y<<17,a^=a>>14,y=a^a*8^a<<6,a=a
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&7]+2^"cr3sfw6v;*k+>/n."[k>>4]*2^k*257/
  ; 8,s[j]=k^(k&k*2&34)*6^c+~y
Background: 28/M/Bi-Sexual; Owner of a Linux company; MBA Harvard 2003; B.S. Comp Sci MIT 2000
Full Press release is available here.
so does this mean the varios linux distro's will be able to include a dvd player by default? could be a boon to wider acceptance on the desktop, especially at home
- Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
...whether or not it is by the company that created it, it ceases to be a trade secret in the case of proprietary encryption schemes?
Does this mean that Xine and Mplayer can now be distributed with libdvdcss included.
I'd just like to take a minute to thank the EFF. You can help them by donating.
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
does that basically kill thier argument about anything that copies DVD because if it is public knowledge anyone can do what they want
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
Now if we can only get the Beatles to finally admit that Paul is dead, then that will mean the two most important but worst-kept secrets in the world will have been revealed on one day.
apt-get install deathstar && deathstar alderaan && echo "You're far too trusting"
haven't gotten the damned t-shirt yet. 8(
Ok, thinkgeek here I come!
Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
Let the mass pirating of DVDs begin!
...what?
I've so far avoided getting a dedicated DVD player just because they have region coding, preferring to use a software-based open source dvd player.
But it's sure not as convenient or as pleasant to watch DVDs on my laptop as it would be on my TV with a dedicated player. For one thing, my laptop doesn't have a remote control.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
Does this mean I can finally watch encrypted DVDs on Linux without having the fear of the FBI crashing through my windows?
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
So, if it's no longer a trade secret in the US, does that mean that the Jon Johansen can finally quit worrying about the Norwegian government's appealing the second aquittal? Or can they claim that he's still guilty, if they prove it was a trade secret at the time he "hacked" it?
en francais, aussi...
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
If any of you have some spare dollars or Euros lying around, maybe this article and the fact that you're in a relaxed Friday night mood might convince you to make a tax-deductible donation to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and help save civil liberties in cyberspace.
Andrew Bunner, the man featured on this Slashdot page, was being prosecuted under California's trade secret laws for redistributing DeCSS. If the EFF hadn't stepped in and stood up for his rights (at no cost to him), he very well might be in jail right now.
So please, consider joining or donating right now. It really does make a big difference.
One thing I promised myself back in college was that if I made any money off my computer knowledge gleaned from the Open-Source and computer-loving communities like Slashdot, Freshmeat, SourceForge, etc., I would donate 1% of my salary to various groups such as the EFF. I have kept my word, and I must tell you that it feels great.
I urge you all to think strongly consider it. Who's watching out for us if we don't all chip in?
Thanks for reading this, friends. It means a lot to me.
Background: 28/M/Bi-Sexual; Owner of a Linux company; MBA Harvard 2003; B.S. Comp Sci MIT 2000
It's not CSS that's the problem--the five-digit player key is a trade secret.
Anyway, let's celebrate!
Tired of free iPod sigs? Subscribe to my blacklist
DVD css was cracked through reverse engineering, which does not equate to stealing a trade secret. I do think that the outcome is important, but it won't really make that much of a difference IMHO (and of course, IANAL)
The Raven
Microsoft releases Office under the GPL Steve Ballmer wins Nobel Price in physics Former Enron executive Ken Lay goes to jail Duke Nukem Forever released
It means that you can now legally play your legally purchased DVD's on your legal Linux platform.
Btw, IANAL.
This means that the DVD CCA has finally conceded that CSS is no longer a secret
No it doesn't, it means they decided not to pursue this particular case. I dont see where they conceded anything, or shut the door on any future legal action.
Just because the EFF sees it that way doesnt mean it's so, they're a special interest group with an agenda. Agreeing with the agenda doesn't make everything they say/do in pursuit of that agenda right.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
There's still a permanent injunction against them even linking to it. This should be interesting.
The latest Slashdot meme.
They're readying the next format now anyway. They know that DeCSS has made no dent at all in their revenues. But they won't make that mistake (letting the keys out) again.
BC
An article where the corporations AREN'T omnipotent. I agree with above posters: give a few spare clams to the EFF.
Hopefully this is the first event among many where we begin to turn the tide against corporate power. What the Internet gives us is too important to get shackled down by bureaucrats. I want to be able to get news and information from anyone anywhere and with no middlemen but the ones *I* designate. We'll win this war eventually.
Wikipedia says "Okokrim announced on January 5, 2004 that it would not appeal the case any further" (apparently Slashdot will not let me type the O with the slash through it, but it gives me the proper character in the editor area).
Digital Citizen
It sure needs to, like, oh, shrinkwrap laws.
Why all of the sudden this was dropped? Considering the recent RIAA actions, the second persuit Jon Johannson, the movements to crackdown on bootlegs, etc?
Why drop this? Makes me wonder what is up the sleeves.
copyleft are finally going to send me my goddamned t-shirts?
To know that you know what you know, and that you do not know what you do not know, that is true wisdom. --Scooby Doo
That's actually not a simple question which reading the article would fully resolve.
What it means is that the DVD CCA acknowledges that the keys and algorithm of CSS are no longer secret and thus have no protection under law as such.
In effect it means that said keys and algorithm can be published under certain circumstances without risk of action.
But that isn't exactly the same thing as saying that DeCSS is legal in the US.
KFG
...my tapes which I encoded with the C64 version of DeCSS again ?
Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
It's been on the first page of hits at google for the query content scrambling system for a couple of years now.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
I dunno about that, but you might find a serviceable 8-track player. Do those need decoding though?
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
according to sco, that'd be your legally purchased DVD's on your illegal linux platform.
i can't wait for the ibm lawyers to finish with darl and friends. they'll make goatse.cx look like a cakewalk
vodka, straight up, thank you!
from well, anywhere but the US? :)
I can buy one at the Japanese market down the street from me for $119. They do exist in the US, you just have to know where to look. Of course, a wide variety of web sites sell them too.
It's moot in terms of this discussion, though, because CSS has nothing to do with region coding. My player's region free but it's still CSS-protected - you can't make a digital copy of DVD's even if you could somehow connect a PC to it. My old Apex player would remove the CSS protection but as far as I know there was nothing you could really do with the resulting data (unless someone did eventually invent a cable and connector to do it... but then why not just use a DVD-ROM drive to begin with?).
My point? I have no point. Well, maybe just that we should clarify what CSS really does before talking about what the removal of it can do for us. Using DeCSS is not going to remove region coding on your DVD player (not like you could use it on a standalone player anyway), nor is it going to do it for you on a DVD-ROM drive (though other commonly-available firmware utilities will).
When they dropped the case, did they actually admit that it's no longer a trade secret? The second is much, much stronger than the former. If they admit it's not a trade secret, GNU/Linux DVD players are completely legally in the clear. If they simply stop prosecuting the case, it would certainly weaken the trade secret (since they are required to take active measures to keep it secret under trade secret laws), but they could potentially still prosecute others. It would still have to be struck down as a trade secret in a court of law, or openly admitted to not being one...
It hasn't been a legally enforcable trade secret for a while, but they could still throw enough legal $$$ to harass most people not to distribute it. If they admit it's not one, they won't be able to do that anymore (it'll get struct down in court in 5 minutes and 0 dollars, rather than months or years and hundreds of grand).
It'll also mean they're no longer bad guys, and I'll be able to stop undermining them in every way possible. Or at least with respect to DVDs... I'll have to investigate whether they are doing anything else evil first...
they'll make goatse.cx look like a cakewalk
Did you have to bring that up? I know it's a cultural phenomenon and all, but I'm having dinner. Insensitive clod.
Now if I can only get my soundcard to work in either 2.4.22 or 2.6.0.
0xB315AA8D852DCD3F3DCA578FD2E0BF88
You know why they are conceding, that's because the new HD DVD standard will have a different kind of protection, and this time they will get it "right" by patenting some part of it (hopefully not).
Either it's a Trade Secret and they vigorously pursue the violator- or they completely lose the ability to pursue anyone with regards to the secret in question (as it's no longer one...).
For the DVD CCA to decide to no longer pursue the case means nobody will be harassed by them in this regard- if they do, they can and will face harassment or misuse of procedure countersuits that they'll lose.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
for the Americans reading - NZ (and Oz) were both included in a primarily spanish speaking region (South America - go figure) - there's lots of english language stuff that just isn't released for them
The deal goes like this: In order to produce a DVD player that's worth buying, a manufacturer must license CSS (until now, anyway). However, a license stipulation imposed by the CCA for licensing CSS is that the players that use it also impose region encoding. Outside of the US, region encoding almost certainly violates basic competition laws, which is why manufacturers routinely flout the license there; however within the US, there are fewer competition laws to allow these kinds of get-outs.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
now my copyleft t-shirt isn't cool anymore :(
WTPOUAWYHTTOTWPA
What's the point of using acronyms when you have to type out the whole phrase anyways?
You just needed to buy one DVD player per region you wanted to watch.
I don't think any DVD players are incapable of playing DVDs from other regions. They just lock you into a region after certain criteria are met.
So really, this whole exercise didn't prevent anything it was intended to prevent and just lined the pockets of DVD player manufacturers.
With players comming down to $50 or less, there's less and less incentive to not purchase an additional player for other regions.
And there already are DVD players out there that can be hacked to be region free. You just have to hunt for them.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
In essence, it all comes down to the EULA that accompanied the software that Jon Johansen reverse engineered in the first place.
The DVD CCA was succesful in the Supreme Court of California in establishing that the provisions of the EULA that prohibited reverse engineering were enforceable and constituted discovery by "improper means".
There are other serious precedents, namely that no one may reverse engineer a software product for the purpose of interoptability where the EULA strictly forbids it, that the EULA of any software product is enforcable and most distressing of of all, that trade secret law trumps the First Amendment (under very narrow circumstances, granted).
Even with the case dismissed, these precedents stand in the State of California, do they not?
Mpeg1 and 2 (including layer 3 a la MP3) are covered by patents for encoding.
If the decoding process IS patented, it does not carry a royalty. That is how mp3 became popular, because it was free to download the players. mpeg1 and 2 are the same way when it comes to video.
Two infinite things: your stupidity and mine. But I'm not sure about the latter. If my sig offends you, I'm sorry.
It's covered for decoding too.
MP3 decoding didn't carry a royalty and thus became popular, but after that happened they became greedy and now want to charge from it.
Most of the people don't care about that, but technically it's still patented.
Not a "tax", no. Taxes are levied by governments. And I have no idea what you mean by "imports to its country" unless you're making some very peculiar pun on the meaning of the word "tariff". But yes, Fraunhoffer does have the legal right to set a tariff for users of its patented technologies, and it does.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
So I'm the "Bunner" in DVD CCA vs Bunner. If you could look in my out-box today, here's what you'd see:
Friends and family,
My fifteen minutes of fame are over. The DVD CCA is dropping their case against me. For those that don't remember, I was sued in late 1999 for posting the source code to a software DVD player on my web site. The plaintifs included Sony, MGM, Panasonic, Microsoft, Warner-Brothers, and most other corporations in either media or electronics.
Today, they gave up. They've withdrawn the case
without prejudice.
Reading between the lines that means that they finally realized they were going to lose and that even if they won, the "secrets" of playing a DVD have been pretty well documented for the public.
To celebrate the occassion, I've asked my lawyers to file a counter-suit alleging emotional anguish and seeking damages of one hundred billion trillion dollars.
-- Andrew
I'd still like to know why they thought California state law had jurisdiction over the UK though.
As luck would have it we have a delayed departmental Xmas do tonight (we were all working too hard before xmas to have it then) - look out London, I'm really ready to party now :))
Everything I needed to know about life, I learnt from Blake's Seven