FC: DVD lawyers make "trade secret" public

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

*********

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,33922,00.html

                       DVD Lawyers Make Secret Public
                       by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)

                       3:05 p.m. 26.Jan.2000 PST
                       Lawyers representing the DVD industry
                       got caught in an embarrassing gaffe when
                       they filed a lawsuit and accidentally
                       publicized the computer code they
                       wanted to keep secret.

                       The DVD Copy Control Association
                       included its "trade secret" source code in
                       court documents, but forgot to ask the
                       judge to seal them from public scrutiny.

                       Whoops.

                       In a hastily arranged hearing Wednesday
                       morning, DVD CCA lawyers asked Santa
                       Clara Superior Court Judge William J.
                       Elfving to correct their oversight, and he
                       agreed to keep the document
                       confidential.

                       It may be a little late. The document is
                       dated 13 January and is widely available
                       on the Web. The owner of one site that
                       placed the 140KB declaration online says
                       over 21,000 people have downloaded it
                       so far.

                       [...]


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