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DeCSS Source Mass-Posted to Usenet
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Sun Sep 10, 2000 05:23 PM
from the cat-out-of-the-barrel dept.
from the cat-out-of-the-barrel dept.
Flitz writes "It looks like the inevitable is happening: someone is mass-posting copies of the DeCSS source code to Usenet. It showed up today in the comp.os.linux groups, with a little checking, it looks like it was posted to all of the comp* groups. Will MPAA be suing Deja now? Here is a link to the spam sighting report." I'm really amused by the various things that have been released with the DeCSS code embedded. Song lyrics in free MP3s, encoded into MIDI files, poetry, pictures of the statue of liberty. I just wish this whole lawsuit thing would get dropped so I could start playing DVDs on my laptop's DVD drive under Linux. I've bought tons of movies: its so unfair that I can't play them on the plane without rebooting. Having to keep a whole operating system around just to watch movies is pretty harsh.
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DeCSS Source Mass-Posted to Usenet
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You sure are law-abiding, Rob. :) (Score:5)
While I don't want to diminish the effect that laws like the DMCA will eventually have on our everyday lives, I'm a bit incredulous that Rob doesn't play DVDs on his laptop just because it's "illegal." Are you incredibly law-abiding, Rob, or is LiViD just not good enough yet?
---
Re:This is wrong. (Score:3)
You say that like it's a bad thing.
And I'm actually sticking to VHS for now, the tapes are only half as much, and I don't really need a "choose your own adventure" style porno.
--
ideas for spreading decss code (Score:3)
encode it in whale songs so they sing it for years to come
wallpaper your house with it
doodle it on napkins at restaurants
embed a watermark of it on every image you have on your pc
change your name to the code (this should also get you a guinness record for the longest name!)
#----------------------------
$mrp=~s/mrp/elite god/g;
More ideas (Score:5)
Agreed (Score:4)
The HOWTO at http://opendvd.org is a great help, but I can't seem to overcome a few little problems...
As far as posting the code to USENET in such a manner, doing so obviously isn't going to give the right impression on major corporations that is needed.
Doing so rates supporters of DeCSS as SPAMMERS and basically is going to create more and more negative attitudes and opinions in the eyes of major businesses.
Are there constructive ways to make the point that we want DVD support under Linux?
I think i've probably filled out a million petitions requesting companies to support such a product...Hell, didn't InterVideo promise us a software player by the end of summer 2001? At this point, Ihave enough trouble finding reference to that product on their web site....
MP3 song version too! (Score:4)
UR L [detonate.net]
Pretty weird
Re:Agreed (Score:3)
Noone has illegally opened the source to closed source DVD players (well, if they have, it's not what the current trials are about). What HAS been opened is the algorithm used to scramble the content, and it was reverse-engineered, not "illegally opened" (eg. by breaking into the offices of Xing and stealing some paper/disks).
To fix your analogy, consider the Photoshop FILE FORMAT, not Photoshop itself. The Gimp can read/write Photoshop format files, and it doesn't even matter if this is because Adobe published the file format or because the Gimp coders figured it out (I don't even know which is the case).
Your question should be "is it ok to open the Photoshop file format so that OTHER programs (notably, ones running on Linux or whatever) may read/write them?" The answer is a resounding "Fuck yes!"; if the format isn't published then it can legally be reverse-engineered. Federal courts have ruled that reverse-engineering for the purposes of interoperability (ie. read/write
Of course, the DMCA aims to remove that right, and the MPAA is rabid about getting it enforced, so that you lose your rights and they get more money. Ain't corporate life grand?
i hope you know... (Score:4)
-A.P.
--
"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad
Re:One way to "safely" distribute DeCSS (Score:3)
Why make up my own scrambler... can't I just scramble it with DeCSS? Then, could I legally distribute my DeCSS code to descramble the DeCSS code? Oooh... think of the possibilities... it's like... ummm... trying to create a black hole by sucking up a vacuum cleaner with itself.
--cr@ckwhwore
Great :) (Score:3)
Oh no.... (Score:3)
Great, now the MPAA will come 'a knocking (Score:3)
err, where to go? (Score:3)
Just who would loose if the whole thing bellied up anyway? I'd wager it will be the equipment makers.
Oh yeah, to entertain yourself on an airplane you can:
Read a book.
Sleep.
Insult a US Army General who commands an 850 million dollar budget. Out of uniform, he and his wife wanted to keep their aisle seats, so me and my wife got to sit on either side of them. The wife decided to write letters to me, and we filled them with many cruel and unusual comments about the General and his wife, her pulp novel, his "top secret" stamped high level management language BS. She spied his name and his organization, wich will not be mentioned here except to note that you should view this face [aec-able.com] saying "We'll keep the aisle seats, thank you". My wife asked me, "If he does not want to sit by his wife, why would anyone else?" Oh well. After looking at his bio [164.214.2.59] I almost felt bad about it, and we decided not to sign him up for porn mail and that kind of thing. Then again, such a petty air heaid in charge of $850 million dollars? Wheh! My wife pegged him for middle management at Applebee's.
REST OF COMMENT CENSORED BY 164.214.2.59
Re:Well, who do you think should go to jail? (Score:3)
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DeCSS is a lame duck anyways (Score:5)
DeCSS is based on the Xing key, we all know that. What many people don't know is that the key has been pulled from all new DVD's, therefore if you're trying to watch T2U with yer "all-knowing" DeCSS it won't work.
DeCSS no longer works with new movies! If you really want power, and avoid DeCSS completely, I suggest you use vobdec or some equivalent (CladDVD) that uses a brute-force method of cracking the CSS.
http://doom9.excelland.com/software.htm
Includes binarys and source. Yes, I do copy dvd's, but just to see if I can. It's rather fun.
DVD rippers (such as myself) haven't used decss in a long time, which leads me to believe that most of you haven't used it in awhile, if at all.
Y'know that poster on ThinkGeek...? (Score:4)
Re:Great, now the MPAA will come 'a knocking (Score:3)
That's talking about trashing the very principles slashdot was built on. The reason we're here... to get uncensored, unbiased, undeletable news and comments.
Re:Great, now the MPAA will come 'a knocking (Score:4)
thinking about in his recently published remarks,
and I would not dismiss it as an idle threat to
liberties as some seem to have.
With this consideration in mind, would not a
physical "censor" be considered a "technically
feasable" means of "protecting against copyright
infringement" in the case of an environment such as slashdot and hence legally required under the DCMA?
DVD Image Encoded With DeCSS (Score:3)
Mirror it now, because I will be deleting it within 24 hours.
(Note: You may want to edit the source and remove tripods popup banner code
Made proudly with my MosASCII, made sadly in Windows
#----------------------------
$mrp=~s/mrp/elite god/g;
Porting to Other Languages (Score:4)
Some people have been converting the DeCSS source to other languages. Search for "ExCSS", for instance.
This seems like a good hour-or-two project for hackers who are interested in this sort of thing; port DeCSS to your favorite language and anonymously post it to a few usenet groups. This could potentially make an even bigger nightmare for the RIAA folks.
Check out Dave Touretzky's Archive [cmu.edu] for starters.
It's not that simple (Score:4)
We won't die if we're unable to play DVDs. It's just an itch. But itches are made to be scratched. The entire Free software movement is about developing software-- and about exchanging source code. If comapnies are allowed to put arbitary limits on the nature and kind of code we are able to exchange, free software will no longer be so.
There are those who believe that artistic endevours only provide "content" -- content that can be metered, censored, and restricted. There are people who would copyright "facts", believing that short term profits are more important than long term advances in knowlege. I'm not one of them.
One way to "safely" distribute DeCSS (Score:5)
1) The only evidence they have is your claim to be distributing DeCSS (because they didn't descramble your scrambling) or
2) You can countersue them for circumventing your "access control". Quote extensively from the MPAA briefs and Judge Kaplan's opinion to establish your access control rights.
DISCLAIMER: IANAL so this is probably not airtight, and I wouldn't even dream of doing this unless you have plenty of money to cover your legal bills.
Re:Even More ideas (Score:4)
We're happy for you Rob (Score:3)
Sure is nice that you have a dvd laptop that you can use on the plane while us common-folk sit on our porches pickin' shots at the possums for dinner.
Do you got anymore gadgets you wanna enter in the /. pissing contest?
You just don't get it yet, do you? (Score:4)
Go back a few days and read the suck.com piece on lawyers and the internet.
The internet provides computer oriented people with a wealth of freedom never found before. Suddenly some rules start getting imposed by the external world and we cry to each other that because they don't understand they can't possibly succeed in tying us down. Guess what? Bad news is they can. In the real world you have the freedom to do anything you like. There is nothing physically preventing you from going next door and burning down your neighbour's house if you feel like it. Nothing stops you from creating a nuclear weapon if you have the materials to do it. You have all these freedoms. Of course, nothing stops you from selling an index to where you can pick up goods, of which most are stolen (pretty much what napster does), or photocopying your own books for the hell of it (what DeCSS does). Laws prevent you from doing some of these things in the real world, and pretty soon now laws are going to prevent us from doing that on the net.
The question of how are they going to find out is stupid. 20 years ago they couldn't trace DNA evidence at a crime scene. They can now. In 20 years time do you really think they won't have the ability to enforce the laws which are being made now describing how the internet can legally work? If we don't stop bitching to ourselves when outside influences start controlling our sphere of influence then the outside world just isn't going to care about us any more. Once laws are in place we become irrelevant. We can bitch and moan all we like to each other but the police and judicial system are going to keep locking us up, fining us and laughing at how stupid we are. Don't bitch to each other. Protest to the people who count - the people that make the laws. If you care about this sort of thing and haven't sent money to the EFF then you are a hypocrite. If you care about these laws and haven't written a nice and non-abusive letter to your congressman or senator then you are a hypocrite.
Stop blowing off steam and do something if you care. Spamming to Usenet is going to be seen as the equivalent of something like "Well, if we kill enough niggers then they'll stop making it illegal". Didn't work back then (thankfully, I might add) and sure as hell won't work now.
John Wiltshire
Re:Agreed (Score:4)
I understand and appreciate your point, but this is far more than DVD support under Linux.
CSS is control access, not copy protection like the official MPAA site claims [mpaa.org]. CSS does NOTHING to stop copying. If I have an encoded message on a piece of paper, I don't need to decrypt it to xerox it.
What the DMCA provides is a method to prosecute access violations. For example, if I want to make a DVD that is only viewable by white people, I can. And viewing by a black person is illegal and prosecutable under the DMCA. Think I'm joking? An author of a protected work can set whatever limitations they want and the DMCA makes circumvention of that protection illegal.
So again, while I appreciate your point, I think mass-posting DeCSS is a great form of protest. Almost any type of protest is going to disturb bystanders - think of this week's oil blocade in France or the Seattle protests last year. The relevant question is, "does this do more good than harm, does this advance the cause?" I think it succeeds in spades.
.02
My
Quux26
Re:SLashdot, please don't encourage the criminals. (Score:5)
In fact, almost by definition, it is okay to break a law which does not agree with your worldview. If you do not believe such an action is wrong then in fact it is not wrong even if 300 million people believe that it is wrong and are willing to throw you in jail for it. Now of course some actions may be wrong for secondary reasons (for example you may believe it to be morally justifiable to shoot someone who is a very negative influence on society but you realize that others may duplicate your actions on otherw who aren't so deserving) but DeCSS doesn't seem like such an issue.
There are many instances of righteous law breaking. For instance the civil rights movement in the south purposefully violated many racist laws in order to get them appealed. Every revolution throughout history, especially against the most tyranical regimes, has been breaking the law and yet many of these revolutions are now venerated and seen as cornerstones of our society (be it the signing of the magna carta or the american revolution).
Yes I do in fact think there would be as much terroism around the world if CNN turned a blind eye. The majority of terrorists do not want the United states attention or any other of these far flung countries attention. They are motivated by a sense of vengence and a desire to right what is an inherintly local wrong. Unless the government placed gag orders on every citizen those close to the affected (the people the terrorists are trying to scare) would here about the activities.
Moreover we only hate terrorists because we feel their causes are wrong. In fact we still celebrate the "terrorist" bomb attempt to kill hitler (which would no doubt have been a good thing if it succeded).
In fact in reference to CNN it seems bringing the world attention to the problem often alleves it. It attracts the notice of non-partisans whose only goal is to end the violence. For instance many of the US recent overseas milatary missions have been motivated by the moral outrage of viewers at home (think somalia). The peace process in northern ireland and in isreal has also no doubt been helped by US involvement which is a direct result of US citizens caring about peace in the region which is a result of being informed via CNN.
"just to watch movies" (Score:4)
Last time it was "just to play Diablo II".
-jfedor
Re:I still think this is the best: (Score:5)
Shoot, the <> thingies got messed up. Here's the right code:
dig @138.195.138.195 goret.org. axfr | grep '^c..\..*A' | sort |\
cut -b5-36 | perl -e 'while(<>){print pack("H32",$_)}' | gzip -d
Sorry about the f*ck up.
Irony (Score:5)
b&
OT: Quit buying DVD's already! (Score:5)
Don't buy DVD's!! Ever! Maybe I'm being a bit of a zealot, but it just seems that every DVD that people like CmdrTaco buy creates more revenue that can be used to fund these bonged-out lawsuits. If you're sick of the MPAA, quit funding them -- I have, and I won't buy a DVD until either all this bullshit gets resolved in the consumers' favor or until someone convinces me that I'm full of shit.
I know that nothing I do as an individual will make anything better, but I like to think that, by doing what I can, I've at least somehow earned the right to bitch about it.
Take care,
Steve
========
Stephen C. VanDahm