[IMC-bristol] Fwd: [C-Fit_Community] Jon Johansen Acquitted

[Always Shariff]

Hi,
I thought this might be an interesting piece of info.
Always
============================================================================
--- Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org> wrote:
> Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 18:57:23 -0500
> From: Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org>
> To: C-FIT_Community@RealMeasures.dyndns.org,
>  	C-FIT_Release_Community@RealMeasures.dyndns.org,
>  	fairuse-discuss@nyfairuse.org
> Subject: [C-Fit_Community] Jon Johansen Acquitted
> 
> 
> Forwarded from Free Dmitry Sklyarov list.  There's actually
> a lot in this as far as establishing principles for the
> information freedom fight:
> 
> "Head judge Irene Sogn, in reading the verdict, said no one
> could be convicted of breaking into their own property"
> 
> and:
> 
> "The court [. . .] found that consumers have rights to
> legally obtained DVD films 'even if the films are played in
> a different way than the makers had foreseen.'"
> 
> -- Seth
> 
> 
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 10:22:08 -0500
> From: Richard M. Smith <rms@computerbytesman.com>
> To: free-sklyarov@zork.net, 'Richard M. Smith'
> <rms@computerbytesman.com>
> Subject: [free-sklyarov] Norway's 'DVD-Jon' Is Acquitted In
> Closely Watched Cracking Case
> 
> Federal Courts Reject Challenges to Digital Copyright
> Regulations
> 11/29/02
> 
> Norwegian Computer Geek Is Villain in Hollywood and a Hero
> to Hackers
> 02/26/01
> 
> RELATED INDUSTRIES
> 
> >
>
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1041950244566107864,00.html?mod=technology_main_whats_news
> 
> Norway's 'DVD-Jon' Is Acquitted In Closely Watched Cracking
> Case
> Associated Press
> 
> OSLO, Norway -- A Norwegian teenager was acquitted in a key
> test case Tuesday of violating computer break-in laws with
> his program that circumvents security codes on Hollywood's
> DVD films.
> 
> Jon Lech Johansen was 15 years old when he developed and
> posted his program, called DeCSS, on the Internet in late
> 1999, enraging the film industry because it feared the
> software would allow illegal copying of its films.
> 
> In its unanimous 25-page ruling, the three-member Oslo City
> Court found Mr. Johansen, now 19 years old and a household
> name as "DVD-Jon" in Norway, innocent on all counts in the
> latest setback for the film industry's drive to prevent film
> copying.
> 
> "I'm very satisfied. We won support on all points. I had
> figured that we could win, but it can go either way," said
> Mr. Johansen after the verdict was read out.
> 
> The prosecution said it would decide in the next two weeks
> whether to appeal, while Mr. Johansen said he expects
> another round because this is the first such case in Norway.
> "But clearly, winning the first round means a lot," said Mr.
> Johansen, who, in a dark sweater, sat placidly in the small
> courtroom when the verdict was read for him and about 50
> spectators, including his family, the media, and young
> computer enthusiasts.
> 
> Prosecutors had called for a 90-day suspended jail sentence,
> confiscation of computer equipment and that he pay court
> costs, all of which were rejected in the ruling.
> 
> Mr. Johansen became a folk hero to hackers, especially in
> the United States where a battle is raging over a 1998
> copyright law that bans software like DeCSS.
> 
> The film industry developed the Content Scrambling System to
> encrypt and prevent illegal copying of DVD films. However
> the system, usually called CSS, also prevents DVD films from
> being played on unauthorized equipment.
> 
> Mr. Johansen's program, which pieces together security codes
> and other programs sent to him by fellow hackers, breaks the
> CSS barrier, allowing films to be played and copied on
> computers.
> 
> The short program is one of many easily available programs
> that can break DVD security codes.
> 
> In January 2000, the U.S. Motion Picture Association and the
> DVD Copy Control Association filed a complaint with the
> Norwegian economic crime police against Mr. Johansen.
> Prosecutors later charged Mr. Johansen under Norway's data
> break-in laws and for being an accessory to others making
> illegal copies of films by posting his program on the
> Internet.
> 
> Mr. Johansen had claimed he posted the program for others to
> test it. Head judge Irene Sogn, in reading the verdict, said
> no one could be convicted of breaking into their own
> property, and that there was no proof that Mr. Johansen or
> others had used the program to access illegal pirate copies
> of films.
> 
> "The court finds that someone who buys a DVD film that has
> been legally produced has legal access the film.
> 
> Something else would apply if the film had been an illegal
> ... pirate copy," the ruling said.
> 
> It found that consumers have rights to legally obtained DVD
> films "even if the films are played in a different way than
> the makers had foreseen."
> 
> Mr. Johansen said that was the key part of the ruling. "As
> long as you have purchased a DVD legally then you are
> allowed to decode it with any equipment, and can't be forced
> to buy any specific equipment," he said.
> 
> Copyright (c) 2002 Associated Press
> 
> Updated January 7, 2003 9:46 a.m. EST
> 
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