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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> */
,y,s[2048];main( ,n=2048 ,s,n) )if(s /16%4 ==1 ){int /2^j&1
;}}
/* */
/* 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 */
#define m(i)(x[i]^s[i+84])<<
unsigned char x[5]
n){for( read(0,x,5 );read(0,s
); write(1
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y)
c
+=y=i^i/8^i>>4^i>>12,
i=i>>8^y<<17,a^=a>>14,y=a^a*8^a<<6,a=a
&nbs p; >>8^y<<9,k=s[j],k ="7Wo~'G_\216"[k
&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.
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
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
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!!!!
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
Actually, I suspect that the timing of this DVD-CCA decision is completely explained by the fact that Jon won in Norway. If Jon's actions were legal under the laws of his country then Bunner's actions in the US are not traceable to an act of misappropriation.
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.
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
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
The key isn't a problem. You don't need to know the key ahead of time. CSS encryption is so badly designed that you can brute force find a key within a few seconds. Any recent Linux DVD player doesn't contain a key, it just looks at the DVD and figures one out.
They're admitting CSS isn't a trade secret anymore. If you know CSS, then it only takes a few seconds to find a key. Based on that, how can you justify calling the key a trade secret?
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).
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
Trade secrets are basically anti-patents. (Which is why the term 'intellectual property' is stupid.)
With patents, inventers are screwed even if they reinvent it without knowing about the original.
With trade secrets, not only can invent it myself, but I can do everything in my power to learn it from you as long as I obey the law and don't break any signed NDAs.
If I am, to pick a mostly silly but widely used example trade secret, trying to steal the formula to Coke, I not only can subject the drink to chemical analysis, but I can take a tour of the plant with a hidden high-powered camera, I can rifle through their trash, I can get hired as a employee and attempt to learn it that way, I can get an employee drunk, etc. If I do, I win. (Note all companies make you sign an NDA before learning trade secrets, and in some places it's actually part of your employment contract, so you actually can't sign on with them to learn it.)
Also note that if I trick someone else into telling it, while they may be liable, I am not, and can use my knowledge in any way I want. (Which, BTW, is one of the few forms of legal blackmail...I can offer to sign an NDA if they will pay me X amount of money.)
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
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