Jon Johansen Indicted by Norwegian Authorities 331
phlawed writes: "This story (norwegian) states that the authorities responsible for investigating economic crime in Norway today (after 2 years of "investigation") charged JLJ for violating a law regarding computer "break-ins", commonly known as the "hacker paragraph". This is for distributing the DeCSS sourcecode. The analysis so far (by media) is that the authorities not necessarily thinks JLJ is guilty, but due to unclear wording in the relevant law they seem to think that the courts should have a look at it... It is worth noting that JLJ has *not* been charged for violating any law regarding IP, piracy or such." I've only found one story in English, which is quite vague. Hopefully the above poster is correct in summarizing the situation.
The English story is correctly translated. (Score:4, Informative)
The motivation is that Jan has broken the crypto. "When you buy the disc, you buy the rights to play the movie, not to copy it".
They just don't get it. You have to be able to decode the data to play it.
It has NOTHING to do with copying.
VG Nett has the same story (Score:2, Informative)
From norwegian newspaper Dagbladet (Score:5, Informative)
The 18 year only Jon Lech Johansen has been indicted for breaking the "computer trespasing" paragraph of the norwegian criminal code.
Thursday January 10, 2002 14:02, updated 14:53.
This is confirmed to NTB by attorney Inger Marie Sunde. Johansen has since January 2000 been charged by the norwegian financial crimes unit (Økokrim) after being reported by the american movie- and entertainment organization Movie Picture Association (MPA).
The background is that Johansen in 1999 participated in creating a program, DeCSS, that make it possible to play back DVD movie under the Linux operating system, and made it available on the internet. The program can also be used to decrypt the content of DVD-disks and makes it possible to copy the movie.
Johansen is indicted for participating in breaking the protection system Content Scrambling System (CSS), that protects the content of DVD-disks from copying.
Johansen is indicted based on the criminal code paragraph 145, parts two and tree Sunde informs the NTB.
From the inditement:
"- For by breaking a protection scheme, of by similar activities unjustly having gained access to data stored of transmitted by electronic or other technical means and by having caused damage by gaining or using such unjustly obtained knowledge."
The charged offense carries a maximum sentence of 6 months in prison.
Re:This is great (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The English story is correctly translated. (Score:5, Informative)
I was thinking that maybe I could pack up my "Got DeCSS" T-shirts for posterity just last week, but hell no. The world is still full of shite and nonsense, and _we_ are still a tiny minority.
THL.
Surely it's irrelevant now? (Score:5, Informative)
Also, according to this [shmoo.com], the DVD CCA claimed at least once that reverse engineering the CSS code was 'in principal lawful', and that the illegal part of it was from the fact that the reverse engineering was done from a piece of software which required you to click through a contract that said you agreed not to do so.
All of which makes me wonder why the Norwegians have decided to make a fuss about it now. Just when I thought we'd finally heard the last of CSS lawsuits.
Added to which, I have no idea about the Norwegian law but surely the kid was a minor at the time? He's only 18 now! Maybe it's different in Norway but most countries seem to relax laws somewhat for children...?
Re:Taste of our own medicine (tongue in cheek) (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The English story is correctly translated. (Score:5, Informative)
It has NOTHING to do with copying.
Originally, you are correct. DeCSS was built to decode discs without using one of the proprietary (and unavailable) players.
BUT, unfortunately, it has opened the door to DVD copyright infringement ("piracy"), like it or not.
You don't have to go far to find DeCSS being used in "shady" ways:
http://www.dvd-copy.com/ [dvd-copy.com]
http://www.dvdcopycentral.com/ [dvdcopycentral.com]
http://www.howtocopydvds.com/ [howtocopydvds.com]
http://www.dvdcopypro.com/ [dvdcopypro.com]
.. I could go on.
While it shouldn't be inherently illegal to decode and copy discs for legitimate purposes, that's not how DeCSS is being used, the majority of the time. It sucks, but it's true.
To many people, it has EVERYTHING to do with copying (or decoding and re-encoding to other media, distributing, etc).
Re:The English story is correctly translated. (Score:3, Informative)
Jon Johansen's own words on DeCSS code (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-2000-01/lw -01-dvd-interview.html
[linuxworld.com]
He's a wonderfully plain-spoken person. My other favorite Jon Johansen quote is from when he was responding to reporter Declan McCullagh, and Declan was arrogantly giving Jon a hard time for not immediate returning Declan's request for comment:
Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) [sethf.com]Re:Surely it's irrelevant now? (Score:3, Informative)
It all comes down to parts of the prosecution and government in Norway, trying to be soooo concious about their "international responsibility".
The Norwegian prosecutors have blindly followed the US without questioning if this is actually is even remotely illegal in Norway. Trying a case "just to see if it is illegal" is just BS.
Electronic "shrink wrap"-contracts isn't even VALID in Norway. Not in the least, so this argument cannot even be used.
The courts should just dismiss this case, and give a warning to the prosecutors that the next time they try a case without a clear notion that something illegal has happened, they would be in contempt (is that spelled correctly?) of the court.
Showing up in court... + MPAA influence (Score:2, Informative)
Should the norwegians able to do so show up (say, with large banners with the DeCSS source code and the proper buttons and slogans) when the case is tried? Would it be a wise thing to do? And anyone with me?
It also looks like (from NettAvisen) that the authorities are mostly after trying out the hacker paragraph and not necisarrily get him convicted...
Lastly, I don't think it's been mentioned yet that MPAA is responsible for this...they hired the lawyer that convinced the authorities into charging him (according to www.itavisen.no).
- Dag Sverre, Bø i Telemark
Re:The English story is correctly translated. (Score:3, Informative)
I see no reason why a DVD copy program couldn't just do a bit-copy from one disk to another without breaking the crypto.
Because consumer DVD writers will not burn them correctly. They will not burn the key sector of the DVD, which makes it unplayable in a DVD player. You have to decode the DVD and convert it to Divx to get something useable.
Don't know much Norwegian but... (Score:3, Informative)
Economic Police has decided to seek indictment against Jon Johansen for breaking the Computer/Data Crime Law. Johansen has been indicted for breaking the copy protection on DVD-discs. The indictment is no surprise, says Jon Bing.
For two years, the Economic Police has investigated the case gainst the young man[?]. Johansen is a member of a computer group which developed the computer program DeCSS. The program can be used to copy the contents of DVD-discs.
American picture associations cite that Johansen has been part of a breach of copyright law. Economic Police has sought indictment against the 18 year old man[?] for breach against the Crime Law's[?] paragraph 145.2. jfr3.ledd. [?]
Circumventing protection
- We have indicted Johansen for having circumvented the copy protection on DVD-discs. He has willfully cracked the protective measures. When you buy a DVD-disc, you buy the right to play it, not copy it, attorney Inger Marie Sunde said.
In January, two years ago, the police took action and searched the room of Johansen. Among other things they seized large portions of his computer equipment and the 18-year old's mobile telephone.
The computer community has displayed creat concern that the, then, 16-year old became the target of the Economic Police. This lead to lots of collections of funds for a possible litigation on behalf of the boy. Attorney Cato Schiotz became involved as Johansens defender, but the case was taken over by Terje Svendsen with Schiotz law firm.
- We would like to have gotten the investigation to end sooner, but it has taken lots of time now. There has been lots of data that needs analyzing and we have used that time with consideration to our resources, says Sunde.
Natural to try the DVD case
- It isn't a surprise that there is an indictment against Johansen under the Crime Law[?] paragraph 145. We thought we had a clear case with that law, but the High Court has created doubts. Thus it isn't strange that Economic Police wants to try the matter. It is not said that they want a conviction of Johansen, says a Law Professor, Jon Bing.
- So Johansen is used as a legal precedent?
- No, not like that. But it is an unclear situation and we want to be sure to get a resolution to it. The DVD case is a good case to try like that. It is not clear if what he has done is against the law, but I think it is proper to indict, says Bing to Nettavisen.
Economic Police has not sought indictment against John Johansen for breaching the Descructive[??] Law and it was expected from several parties, said Bing, unsurprisedly.
- No, I understand that well. If you open the door to a book store, you haven't distributed the books, said the law professor.
In the Law text which laid ground for the idnictment it says "He who knows to break a protective device or by similar means knowingly obtains access to data or program equipment, stored or electronically transferred, or by other technical means. Causes damage by authoring[?] or use of similar knowledge, or breach by personal gains, can be imprisoned for up to 2 years. Accomplices are punished by similar means."
Long wait
Svendsen has previously said that the investigation has been a burden for the young man who was barely 16 years old when he became the suspect for the Economic Police.
District Attorney Inger marie Sunde has for the past two years spoken to the press that the matter will soon reach conclusion. But no sooner than Thursday, Jan 10, almost two years to the day after Johansen was arrested, the Economic Police made public that they will seek indictment against him.
The Criminal Law that Johansen is indicted under, has previously been tried twice in the Norwegian Justice System. That time it was about descrambling TV-channels from cable TV. The High Court concluded that time that the law could not be used to punish unlawful access to TV and radio signals.
Economic Police says that because of the fact that one can't tell different types of data apart and this is because the law can be used to convict Johansen.
- Data is data, Sunde said.
The District Attorney says to Nettavisen that the indictment now is ready to be submitted to the court. That means the case against Jon Johansen probably will be tried during this year.
Re:Surely it's irrelevant now? (Score:1, Informative)
Buy the right to copy? (Score:5, Informative)
"When you buy the disc, you buy the rights to play the movie, not to copy it"
Curious because its technically correct, I'm not paying them a dime for the right to copy it, its already a right that I have. Its called "Fair Use".
Another English News Story (Score:3, Informative)
jon
Re:Two Things (Score:2, Informative)
Re:MPAA's Logic of CSS (Score:4, Informative)
They're already getting that world. http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/golanvashcroft/ [harvard.edu] discusses a challenge to two copyright act amendments which effectively hose PD (namely, the Sonny Bono CTEA act and the URAA, which allows companies to retroactively reassign copyright to works already in the public domain). Predictably, the Crackdot editors were so busy hitting "reject" that they missed the submission. That or they didn't think it was important that PD works are being raped by media corporations.
You touched upon the apparent real reason the MPAA is pushing so hard for these types of laws: they don't care if the work is copied, they just want to have absolute control over its distribution. It would be nice if the courts started looking more closely at region encoding.
-Legion
Re:The whole case is pretty vague (Score:3, Informative)
here's the Norwegian law he broke:
145. 1)Den som uberettiget bryter brev eller annet lukket skrift eller på liknende måte skaffer seg adgang til innholdet, eller baner seg adgang til en annens låste gjemmer, straffes med bøter eller med fengsel inntil 6 måneder.
2)Det samme gjelder den som ved å bryte en beskyttelse eller på lignende måte uberettiget skaffer seg adgang til data eller programutrustning som er lagret eller som overføres ved elektroniske eller andre tekniske midler.
3)Voldes skade ved erverv eller bruk av slik uberettiget kunnskap, eller er forbrytelsen forøvet i hensikt å skaffe noen en uberettiget vinning, kan fengsel inntil 2 år anvendes.
4)Medvirkning straffes på samme måte.
Offentlig påtale finner bare sted når allmenne hensyn krever det.
What applies to this case is the second and fourth paragraph. The secon says that an attempt or breach of any security measure in a computer system or stored data is punishable. The fourth paragraph says that assisting to do this is equally punishable.
OK, let's see how Jon can get out of this mess. If he has a decent lawyer, the third paragraph would come in to play. It says that damage has to occur before the law can punish him (With up to two years in jail) or it has to be a profitable crime . What damage has he done, exactly? Making more people able to watch DVDs? Hardly.
Disclaimer: IAALS (I am a law student).
Where does it say what I can do!? (Score:2, Informative)
I am looking at the cover, and I can not see ANY mention of what I am allowed to do with the disc, or what I am not allowed to do with it, except notion that it can not be "reproduced, distributed or exibited".
What the hell are all these people talking about, when they say "you purchase right to view, blah, blah..."!? I don't see ANYWHERE mention of anything even remotely related to that.
btw: "Reproduction" would mean creating identical copy of a disc (medium). Why then decoding DVD content to hard disk is considered as 'reproduction'?