[Free speech related] Petition in the DVD case
>From LinuxToday
Petition protests arrest of Norwegian DeCSS author Jon Johansen
Jan 27, 2000, 19:33 UTC
By Dwight Johnson
The Norwegian Linux Web site <a
href="http://linuxguiden.linpro.no/";>Linuxguiden</a> has launched a <a
href="http://linuxguiden.linpro.no/protesteng.php";>petition</a> protesting
the treatment received by 16-year-old Norwegian hacker Jon Johansen, who was
arrested on Monday, January 24, and charged with copyright and criminal
violations.
Over 6,000 have already signed the <a
href="http://linuxguiden.linpro.no/protesteng.php";>petition</a>, which is
prefaced by a letter of protest written by Linuxguiden Editor, Gaute
Lindkvist.
Johansen is a co-founder of MoRE (Masters of Reverse Engineering) and
participated in writing the controversial open-source application DeCSS,
which decrypts the DVD video format and makes it possible to play DVD
movies on the Linux platform. No other DVD player for Linux exists.
Johansen posted the code for DeCSS on his
father's Web site. Johansen's father was also charged in the police bust,
in which two PCs and related materials were confiscated.
The arrest is related to the federal lawsuits filed by the <a
href="www.mpaa.org">Motion Picture Association of America
</a> which seek to prevent dissemination of the DeCSS code over the
Internet.
Johansen and his father face up to three years in prison if convicted.
--
Christian Meder, email: meder@isr.uni-stuttgart.de
What's the railroad to me ?
I never go to see
Where it ends.
It fills a few hollows,
And makes banks for the swallows,
It sets the sand a-blowing,
And the blackberries a-growing.
(Henry David Thoreau)
Reply to: