Norway Indicts Teen Who Published Code Liberating DVDs

[R. A. Hettinga]

http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_case/20020110_eff_pr.html


Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

Norway Indicts Teen Who Published Code Liberating DVDs

U.S. Entertainment Industry Pressured Norwegian Prosecutors

For Immediate Release: Thursday, January 10, 2002

Oslo, Norway - Acting years after pressure from the U.S. entertainment
industry, the Norwegian government yesterday indicted teenager Jon Johansen
for his role in creating software that permits DVD owners to view DVDs on
players that are not approved by the entertainment industry.

On January 9, 2002, the Norwegian Economic Crime Unit (ØKOKRIM) charged Jon
Johansen for creating software called DeCSS in 1999 when he was 15 years
old.

"Johansen shouldn't be prosecuted for breaking into his own property," said
Robin Gross, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
"Jon simply wanted to view his own DVDs on his Linux machine."

"Although prosecutors in Norway failed to defend the rights of their
citizens against Hollywood's unprecedented demands, we are confident that
neither the Norwegian people nor their justice system will allow this
charge to stand," added EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "The movie studios
have used intellectual property rights to silence scientists, and censor
journalists. Now, they are declaring war on their customers."

Johansen's indictment comes more than two years after the Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA) initally contacted ØKOKRIM prosecutors to
request a criminal investigation of the Norwegian teen and his father, Per
Johansen, who owned the equipment on which the DeCSS software was posted.

Johansen originally published DeCSS as part of the open source development
project LiVid (Linux Video) in building a DVD player for the Linux
operating system. The MPAA CSS licensing entity, named DVD-CCA, refuses to
license CSS to projects such as LiVid, which is an open source project
collaborating on the Web to build interoperable software tools. LiVid's
independently created DVD player software would compete with the movie
studio monopoly on DVD players while offering more consumer friendly
features.

DeCSS also enables people to exercise their fair use rights with DVD
movies, like fast-forwarding through commercials or copying for educational
purposes.

In January 2000, Johansen won the prestigious "Karoline Prize" for his
DeCSS software innovation. This national prize is awarded yearly to a
Norwegian high school student with excellent grades who makes a significant
contribution to society outside of school.

ØKOKRIM Chief Prosecutor Inger Marie Sunde indicted Johansen, who recently
turned 18, for violating Norwegian Criminal Code section 145(2), which
outlaws breaking into another person's locked property to gain access to
data that one is not entitled to access.

Johansen's prosecution marks the first time the Norwegian government has
attempted to punish individuals for accessing their own property.
Previously, the government used this law only to prosecute those who
violated someone else's secure system, like a bank or telephone company
system, in order to obtain another person's records.

Norwegian prosecutors did not indict Per Johansen, but his son Jon Johansen
could face two years in prison if convicted.

MPAA also requested ØKOKRIM charge Johansen with contributory copyright
infringement; however prosecutors declined. Johansen's trial could start
before summer 2002.

On November 1, 2001, the California Court of Appeal for the 6th District
unanimously overturned a lower court's injunction that banned the
publication of DeCSS on trade secret grounds, citing the First Amendment
rights of individuals to independently obtain or derive information claimed
to be a trade secret by DVD-CCA.

In another legal case to outlaw DeCSS, brought under U.S. federal law, the
2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York recently upheld a lower court's
ruling that ordered 2600 Magazine to remove DeCSS from its online
publication, including hyperlinks. Jon Johansen provided testimony in the
2600 Magazine case.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will continue to handle both of
these U.S. DeCSS cases and is determining its role in the Johansen case.


Links:



Additional information on Johansen case:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_case/

Jon Johansen's testimony at the 2600 Magazine trial in New York under the
DMCA (July 20, 2000):
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/MPAA_DVD_cases/20000720_ny_trial_transcript.html

Declaration of Jon Bing, Norwegian legal expert on lack of legal precedent
in Norway to support ØKOKRIM's indictment (filed in California DeCSS trade
secrets case):
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DVDCCA_case/20000118_bing_norway_law_decl.html

Additional information on DVD CCA cases:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DVDCCA_case/

About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in
1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to
support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information society.
EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most
linked-to Web sites in the world:
  http://www.eff.org/

Contact:

Robin Gross, EFF Intellectual Property Attorney
  robin at eff.org
  +1 415-436-9333 x112

Cindy Cohn, EFF Legal Director
  cindy at eff.org
  +1 415-436-9333 x108

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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'



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