Norwegian Hacker Indicted for Breaking Hollywood DVD Code

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: Bronc Buster <bronc () attrition org>

How sick is this..


http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAM2Y25BWC.html

OSLO, Norway (AP) - Prosecutors filed criminal charges Thursday
against a Norwegian teen-ager who drew Hollywood's anger by writing
and distributing a program that unlocks copy-protected DVDs.

After a two-year investigation, authorities indicted Jon Lech Johansen
in an important test of Norway's new computer crime laws.

Johansen's defenders call the prosecution a wrongheaded attack on
intellectual freedom. Creating software that breaks copy-protection
schemes, they argue, is not the same as using such programs to steal
copyright material.

Johansen, who was 15 when he authored the software, has said he did so
because only wanted to be able to play movies on his computer.

"Software that Jon wrote is something that is necessary for people to
be able to exercise their...rights with a DVD," said Robin Gross of
the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has provided Johansen's
legal defense.

Johansen, now 18 and a household name as DVD-Jon in Norway, became a
celebrity among computer hackers, who even marched to support him in
New York, where a related civil trial was held.

-- snip --



-
ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org

To unsubscribe email majordomo () attrition org with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY
of the mail.