The Norwegian programmer who developed DeCSS code, then was arrested by Norwegian police after a complaint from the MPAA (!), has been acquitted in Norwegian court.
The DeCSS code can be used to unlock the copy protection on DVDs. Jon Lech Johansen says he wrote and distributed the code to allow folks to be able to view DVDs they own on Linux computers, just as folks on Windows and Mac computers can.
The Norwegian court found that Johansen was entitled to use the DVD he owned, and therefore could break the encryption legally. The DeCSS code, it noted, could be used for legal or illegal purposes, just as many other things could, and therefore was not per se illegal.
Of course, that’s Norway. Here in the US, the DMCA laws make such activities explicitly illegal, regardless of the purpose.
(via InstaPundit)
UPDATE: There’s a better article here. A few choice excerpts:
Head judge Irene Sogn, in reading the verdict, said no one could be convicted of breaking into their own property, and that there was no proof that Johansen or others had used the program to access illegal pirate copies of films.
“The court finds that someone who buys a DVD film that has been legally produced has legal access the film. Something else would apply if the film had been an illegal … pirate copy,” the ruling said.
It found that consumers have rights to legally obtained DVD films “even if the films are played in a different way than the makers had foreseen.”
How refreshingly common-sensical. No response as yet from the MPAA.