The DeCSS case is still not over, but we now know that the state is asking for 90 days on probation.
The DA insists that Johansen did not release DeCSS to create a Linux DVD player but to rival with other competing groups (possibly DoD though I didn’t see that name mentioned). Also, for the first time the press seems have catched up on the notion that Jon didn’t actually crack the CSS encryption, just put the pieces together to make a fully working ripping program.
More info can be found here.
On a personal note don’t you think it’s funny how much fuss can be made over a program that has not had any significance for almost 2 years now? In February 2000 the first DVDs which excluded the compromised CSS keys have been released which effectively rendered DeCSS useless:
“Johansen, widely known as “DVD-Jon,” has been in court for the past week. The teen-age computer whiz has been defending his right to view a DVD that he’d bought on his computer instead of on a DVD player.
In order to do so, he cracked the DVD’s accessibility code, and that sent the powerful entertainment industry into a tailspin. They filed a police complaint, charging Johansen with illegal code cracking, and the Norwegian taxpayers have been financing efforts to sort out the conflict.
The trial was supposed to end last Friday, but went into overtime. Prosecutors made their closing arguments Monday, maintaining that Johansen acted illegally when he shared his code-cracking with other DVD users on the Internet.
Prosecutors claim the decryption program also can enable pirate copying of DVDs. Johansen has claimed that wasn’t his intention.”
