There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.
--The Cluetrain Manifesto
The VCR is to the movie industry as the Boston Strangler is to a woman alone.
--Jack Valenti
Standing up to an evil system is exhilarating.
--Richard Stallman
Short Version
DeCSS was written for interoperability, so you can play DVDs in other operating systems. It also allows you to access fair use privilages over the content, which is a right we have thanks to the Bernstein vs. DOJ case. CSS prevents this, and thus must be stopped. They are maintaining a monopoly over DVD players by a tying arrangement, which, while illegal under antitrust laws, unfortunately does not apply to cartels such as the MPAA. They are also practicing Discriminatory Pricing through region codes, which is very bad for free trade, and enables them to not only price gouge us, but make it pretty much impossible to get ahold of an imported movie without buying a whole other DVD player.
Long Version
Check out my lengthy rant on the subject for more info here. This is a hacked up version of the one I sent to the Library of Congress.
The movie industry would like everyone to believe that these tools are only used for infringing copyright. You and I both know that they are more useful for legitemate purposes, so please don't prove them right ;)
| DeCSS | This is the original version written for Windows, back before Linux had UDF support. |
|---|---|
| css-auth | This is the tarball for the Linux version. If you have Linux version 2.4 or later, you're fine. Otherwise you'll need the DVD ioctls. |
| LiViD | This is the complete suite of programs you need to play dvds, including css-auth. You'll probably be better off dl'ing this instead of all the crap seperately. Updated 9/18/2000: Okay, screw it. LiViD's DVD player, OMS (Open Media System) is progressing at such a fast pace, I'm not going to even try keeping up. The link goes to their website, with instructions for downloading the newest release. Enjoy. |
| Ogle | Ogle is one of the first Linux DVD players to support the DVD menu system. Unfortunately, it doesn't yet have support for some pretty basic stuff, like pause, fast forward, and the ability to switch between different DVDs. These, of course, should be forthcoming--and if you really want to use the menus, be sure to check this out. |
| VideoLan | Vlc is perhaps the most mature DVD player yet made for Linux. It has fullscreen support; output to X11, SDL, GGI and framebuffer; Gtk and Qt interfaces; subtitle support; and runs on just about every OS under the sun (Linux, BeOS, FreeBSD, MacOS X, QNX, Solaris, and Windows). |
| Mplayer | Mplayer is another media player project for Linux that already supports mpeg1/2, Divx ;-), VCD, ASF and WMA files using win32 dlls and native codecs. Now that it has a GUI, it's the bestest little media player for Linux I've used :) |
| Xine | Xine is another full-blown media player project similar to Mplayer, but it supports playing audio-only formats like Ogg Vorbis and mp3 as well. And, of course, it plays DVDs beautifully. Unfortunately, due to legal reasons, Xine does not support DVD encryption out-of-the-box, but with a little tweaking an intermediate Linux user can have it playing their favorite movies in no time. I highly recommend you check this one out. |
| LSDVD | A project from the Rochester Institute of Technology that received funding for all of those licenses or all of those licenses involved in DVD decoding and whatnot. They had news updates from May after LinuxWorld, but I haven't seen anything after that. |
|---|---|
| InterVideo | The company that made WinDVD has also made LinDVD but will only sell to OEMs. Consumer versions have so far been complete vapor. |
| Cyberlink | A Taiwanese company that has ported their PowerDVD software to Linux--but will only sell to Internet Appliance developers. |
| Sigma Designs | Makers of the popular Hollywood+ (I have one) have written a Linux port of the software for their Netstream2000 card, but it is $300 and is primarily for decoding stuff to a network. Meant for video servers and stuff like that, not J. Random Hacker. |
| LinuxVideo.org | They are working on a DVD player for Linux based on DeCSS called LiViD, among other cool stuff. |
|---|---|
| OpenDVD.org | These people are great. They have all sorts of useful information about DVD and how to play them under Linux. Go check them out. |
| Slashdot.org | News for Nerds. Stuff That Matters. They are actively covering the DVD lawsuits, and a damn fine news page anyways. |
| The Electronic Frontier Foundation | These are the guys that are defending the Doe's in the lawsuit. I would recommend joining them to support the cause. |
| 2600 Magazine | They are always on the lookout for cases of huge companies and governments stepping on hackers' rights, and have been threatened by the MPAA with "immidiate incarceration" for their mirror of the source. |
| Copyleft.net | These guys made a nifty anti-dvd cca shirt with the source code to css_descramble.c on the back. And four dollars from every sale goes to EFF! |
| DVD Playing HOWTO | A guide for playing DVDs in Linux. |
| FreeBSD DVD | nist and a patch for css-auth so FreeBSD users can enjoy DVDs too. |
| Check out this cool T-shirt at 2600 | Nice caricature of Valenti, don't you think? |
| Freedom Fighters of the Digital World | A really cool article in the LA Times about the EFF, talking about what they do and details some of their history. |
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| DeCSS injunction reversed in CA case | The California court of appeals just overturned the injunction imposed by the lower court. Quote: "In the case of a prior restraint on pure speech, the hurdle is substantially higher [than for an ordinary preliminary injunction]: publication must threaten an interest more fundamental than the First Amendment itself. Indeed, the Supreme Court has never upheld a prior restraint, even faced with the competing interest of national security or the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial." |
| Anticircumvention rules: threat to science | This is a really good paper by Pamela Samuelson that details why anticircumvention laws such as the ones in the DMCA are a threat to scientific research, |
| Transcript of 2600 appeal hearing | Cryptome has a full transcript of the 2600 appeal hearing. |
| Rep. Boucher gets it | Rep. Rich Boucher from Virginia delivered this surprisingly enlightened speech about how the DMCA has gone too far, and that how the DMCA has gone too far, and that Congress needs to reaffirm fair use doctrine. This is a great read, especially since I had almost lost hope. |
| The Encryption Wars | The complete transcript of an interview with Eben Moglen, general counsel of the Free Software Foundation. This is a seriously cool interview, covering everything from encryption to DeCSS to intellectual property to CSS to intellectual property to Linux and Free Software and more. One of the best of its kind I've read in a long time. |
| DVD Zoning Enforced In Law | A recent bill from the French government has legitamized DVD region codes by stating that if a movie will be released in France, any importation of Region 1 versions of that movie are illegal. The article is in French, so you might want to use the fish. |
| Hollywood Dealt Setback in California DeCSS Case | In a brief moment of sanity, the California Supreme Court has overruled the lower court and asked them to show why defendant Matthew Pavlovich should remain in the case, because he is not a resident of California. If taken to it's logical conclusion, this ruling may cause quite a few of the defendants to be dropped from the case. In fact, 18 of the 21 defendants don't live in California! |
| Hollywood vs. the Hacker | A good profile of Emmanuel Goldstein of 2600. |
| Why the World Needs Reverse Engineers | A really good article on ZDNet about how the industry is trying to blackbox everything, and why that is wrong. |
| Cease and DeCSS? | An insightful article in Scientific American. It's always good to see people come to the obvious conclusion. |
| Um... you're a thief. Yeah, that's it | In respose to Matthew Pavlovich of LiViD, the DVD-CCA (well on their way to becoming "Big Brother") has claimed that anyone involved in Open Source is a crook. So far I've been compared to a thief, an assassin (seriously), and a pirate by these morons because I *gasp* want to watch DVDs I payed for! You guys can go screw yourselves. |
| Time/Warner Hypocrasy? Nooooo.... | The Scoop has a story about CNN, a subsidiary of Time/Warner, has linked to the source to DeCSS--exactly what T/W is suing 2600 for! Oops. They removed it quickly, of course, but they can't block the screenshots! |
| More on Kaplan's Ruling | My favorite quote: "Kaplan doesn't know his head from his ass..." :) My sentiments exactly. I encourage you to head on over to this site and order yourself one of 2600's anti-MPAA t-shirts. It has an awesome charicature of Valenti on the back. |
| The suit is over | and as was expected, Kaplan ruled in the MPAA's favor. Not just in their favor, though, he was completely biased against 2600 and Garbus, and this finding of law proves it better that anything. <sigh>, Supreme Court here we come. |
| NY DeCSS case: Final Briefs Online | Openlaw has coverage on the Final Briefs in the New York DeCSS case. The defendant's brief is here and the plaintiff's brief is here. Try not to get too pissed off reading the second one ;) |
| "If you can put it on a t-shirt, it's speech" | The MPAA have named Copyleft.net as defendants in the DVD trials for "distributing" DeCSS on a t-shirt. Makes me glad I bought one--head on over and get one too if you want to support them. |
| The MPAA vs. 2600 | Trial has ended. Kaplan made some comments about possibly declaring DeCSS as a form of expressive content, in which case it would fall under the First Amendment. However, this remains to be seen. Either way, I'm sure this will make it to the Supreme Court before this is over with. |
| EFF DVD Update | Look's like Kaplan presiding over the DeCSS trials may be a conflict of interest--he advised Time Warner on DVD issues in the past, and has also had problems with Martin Garbus. The EFF is moving to disqualify him on these grounds. You can also get se grounds. You can also get more information at the NYLUG website. |
| Firing Blanks | There's an interesting article over at the Village Voice about the fact that--surprise--Valenti doesn't know anything about what he's trying to destroy. |
| Jack Valenti's deposition |
For those that want to know, he said "I don't know" 62 times, "I don't recall" 29 times, and "I'm not aware" 16 times. For
someone making a lot of outrageous claims, he sure doesn't seem to know very much :) There's an article over at Wired for those with a strong allergy to legal documents. |
| DeCSS Deposition | Cryptome has a copy of a deposition from the DeCSS trials, with Martin Garbus. Interesting read, but a little hard to follow. You've been warned. |
| RE: Martin Garbus | Feedmag has an interview with Martin Garbus, the well-known First Amendment lawyer who will being defending 2600 in the DeCSS case. |
| Red Hat helps fund the EFF | Red Hat's RedHat Center has announced they are helping fund the EFF. |
| How do you feel about the DMCA? | A good article about the DMCA and how Time Warner finally admits they're using an anti-copying law to prevent personal use. |
| Down by Law | An uplifting story about how Martin Garbus, a famous lawyer who's known for being on the right side at the right time, is joining the defense of DeCSS against the movie industry. The bastards make you log in, unfortunately. |
| MPAAfiles another injunction against 2600 | Hmm, a whole new level of stupidity. They're filing another injunction because 2600 has linked to sites with DeCSS -- despite the fact that the judge already ruled that deep linking is legal. Boy, they really must be a bunch of morons. |
| 6th Circuit Court: Code is Speech | Woohoo! The 6th Circuit Court has ruled that source code is expression, and covered under the First Amendment. This will give us major ammo against the DMCA :) |
| Riding the DMCA Bullet | Apparently, Stephen King is in violation of the DMCA for reading his own eBook! Check it out. |
| Protesting DMCA | Timothy from Slashdot joined in on the DMCA protest in DC, here's the story. They have pictures! :) |
| Feedback: Who Owns Ideas | Another awesome article by Jon Katz about the DMCA and how Intellectual Property badly needs to be rethought online. |
| The DVD Cracked T-shirts | Another T-shirt with the DeCSS code on the back, Tux on the front. $2 from every sale goes to the EFF. |
| DeCSS Source Code Distribution Contest | Ironically, the DVDCCA is the winner, for "Filing a motion for a temporary retaining order against 500+ individuals for distributing or linking to DeCSS source code. Include in the complaint the URL's where the accused have published the software, or links to it." :) |
| Eric S. Raymond's respone |
A message from ESR explaining the situation. |
| Son of DIVX: DVD Copy Control | A really funny and to-the-point article about what's been going on. |
| Analysis: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act | Part Two |
| Analysis: The Digital Millenium Copyright Act | An article on Slashdot by Jon Katz, detailing what exactly is wrong with the DMCA and how big corporations can use it against you. Part one of two. |
| Criminal Code? | An insightful article about free speech and the movie industry's attempt to stamp it out. |
| Stop the MPAA | A flyer created by 2600. Print it out and post it somewhere! |
| Linux and DeCSS: What the MPAA is really after | Another article from Linux Journal, this time taking on the MPAA and the reasons behind the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. |
| Linux Journal | Article about Jon Johansen and the MoRE group who reverse engineered CSS. |
If you know of a good article online, by all means send me a link.
Questions? Comments? Subpeonas? Send me an email at hayai2@home.com
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