Jon Johansen indicted (EFF Mailing List Created)

Hack Hawk hh at hackhawk.net
Sun Jan 20 14:38:41 EST 2002


>From: Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org>
>Subject: [free-sklyarov-announce] Jon Johansen indicted ([wild at eff.org: 
>[E-S] EFF: Norwegians Indict Teen Who Published Code Liberating DVDs])
>Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 19:52:19 -0800
>
>Now that Dmitry Sklyarov is home in Moscow, another young man is the
>subject of criminal charges for writing decryption software.
>
>Jon Johansen, now 18, faces possible jail time for his involvement in
>the creation of DeCSS, software to decrypt DVDs.  The charges were
>filed this week in his home country of Norway.
>
>DeCSS is an open-source decryption application which provided the
>technical details which led directly to the first Linux DVD support
>and to a wide variety of open-source DVD players.
>
>The EFF press release says Jon could spend two years in jail, if
>convicted.  Other news reports claimed that the jail term would be six
>months.
>
>A mailing list called "free-jon" has been created at EFF:
>
>http://www.eff.org/mailman/listinfo/free-jon/
>
>----- Forwarded message from Will Doherty <wild at eff.org> -----
>
>To: presslist at eff.org
>From: Will Doherty <wild at eff.org>
>Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 13:04:07 -0800
>Subject: [E-S] EFF: Norwegians Indict Teen Who Published Code Liberating DVDs
>
>Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release
>
>For Immediate Release: January 10, 2002
>
>
>Contact:
>
>Robin Gross
>   Intellectual Property Attorney
>   Electronic Frontier Foundation
>   robin at eff.org
>   +1 415 436-9333 x112 (office), +1 415 637-5310 (cell)
>
>Cindy Cohn
>   Legal Director
>   Electronic Frontier Foundation
>   cindy at eff.org
>   +1 415 436-9333 x108
>
>
>Norwegians Indict Teen Who Published Code Liberating DVDs
>
>U.S. Entertainment Industry Pressured Norwegian Prosecutors
>
>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
>(?KOKRIM) 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 ?KOKRIM 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.
>
>?KOKRIM 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 ?KOKRIM 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.
>
>
>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 ?KOKRIM?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 websites in the world at
>http://www.eff.org/
>
>                            -end-
>
>----- End forwarded message -----
>
>--
>Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> | Reading is a right, not a feature!
>      http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/   |                 -- Kathryn Myronuk
>      http://vitanuova.loyalty.org/     |
>_______________________________________________
>free-sklyarov-announce mailing list
>free-sklyarov-announce at lists.xcf.berkeley.edu
>http://lists.xcf.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/free-sklyarov-announce




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