DeCSS, a program that decrypts the protections on digital video, is going to court again. The code was posted on the Internet in October 1999 by a student. With the use of DeCSS a DVD movie can be ported to DivX format very easy. We all use it nowadays.
The Second Circuit US Court of Appeals in Manhattan will hear arguments for and against publishing and linking to a utility called DeCSS which defeats the CSS (Content Scrambling System) of DVDs on Tuesday, 1 May. |
Eric Corely aka Emmanuel Goldstein, publisher of hacker zine 2600, was enjoined from posting, then linking to, the DeCSS utility last summer in a decision by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who ruled that distributing DeCSS, even by linking to other Web sites where it might be found, was illegal -- just as heavyweight lobbying outfit the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) desired.
Kaplan's controversial ruling will get a much-needed test this week before the appellate bench, when Stanford University Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan argues on behalf of 2600.com.
In addition to counter-arguments from movie industry shysters, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) will be allowed to stick its nose in the affair as well, to argue the virtues of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which Kaplan said had been violated by posting and linking to DeCSS.
Well I think it sucks if big corporations like the movie industry try to stop technology and computer science like this. The sure must have a huge lobby going on. Let's wait what the court now says...
btw: a new piece of code has been online since march. Reported here.
To view more postings on DeCSS click here...
Source: The Register
