[rohrpost] DVD-jon

["Inke Arns" <inke@snafu.de>]

[Das kam ueber die spectre Mailingliste ... Gruss, Inke]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From:           	Kristin Bergaust <kristin.bergaust@kit.ntnu.no>
Subject:        	[spectre] DVD-jon
Date sent:      	Wed, 8 Jan 2003 01:52:31 +0100

The so-called crime of this Norwegian kid was published worldwide a
couple of years ago. Now the verdict is here. I am confident that the
effort of people connected to Electronic Frontier Foundation has been
very important. Norwegian media have constantly consulted Gisle
Hannemyr at <http://folk.uio.no/gisle/indexno.html>  to give a
background, both at the outset of the criminal charge and now at the
conclusion of the lawsuit.He has done a great job of informing people, as
well as triggering interesting debates. The verdict is in Norwegian  so far,
but it seems to be very thorough and might have some impact on  future
international cases. I'll just post the message from eff.org.

Read and rejoice.
Or just lie back and enjoy it.
(If you think I am too positive about it, remember this is still the  festive
occation. Reflection comes later) greetings from
Kristin

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, January 7, 2003

Norwegian Teenager Jon Johansen Acquitted in DVD Case

Legal to Descramble His DVDs on Linux Computer in Norway

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

Oslo, Norway - A Norwegian criminal court today acquitted Jon
Johannsen, a Norwegian teenager who faced criminal charges for helping
to write and publish a DVD descrambling program. Johansen used the
program called DeCSS to watch his own DVDs on his Linux computer.

After a request from the Motion Picture Association of America
(MPAA), the Norwegian Economic Crime Unit (�KOKRIM) had
charged Jon Johansen for unscrambling DVDs using DeCSS in 1999
when he was 15 years old.

"The Norwegian court has recognized that Jon has the right to take the
steps necessary to view his own DVDs on his own computers," said
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Legal Director Cindy Cohn.
"Johansen's acquittal, along with that of Russian company Elcomsoft in
the U.S. last month, will hopefully convince Hollywood to stop filing
unfounded charges in cases where there is no copyright infringement."

EFF assisted Jon in locating Norwegian counsel and setting up a defense
fund.

"The court has made a very solid legal and factual ruling," noted Halvor
Manshaus of the Norwegian law firm Schj�dt, who represented Johansen
in the case. "It helped tremendously that the lead judge was  assisted by
two expert judges who are computer specialists."

Johansen was charged with violating the Norwegian Criminal Code
section 145(2), which outlaws breaking into another person's locked
property to  gain access to data that no one is 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 to prosecute only individuals
who violated someone else's secure system, like a bank or telephone
company system, in order to obtain another person's records.

The three-member Oslo City Court unanimously ruled to acquit Johansen.
The Norwegian prosecutors have said they will decide within two weeks
whether to appeal the verdict.

Johansen's indictment came more than two years after the MPAA initially
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 stored. The charges against
 Johansen's father were later dropped.

Links:

For this advisory:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_cas
e
/ 20030107_eff_pr.html

More on the Johansen case:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_cas
e
/

Free Jon email list:
https://owl.eff.org/mailman/listinfo/free-jon

Information on related 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 and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the
world at http://www.eff.org/

Contact:
Halvor Manshaus
Attorney
Advokatfirmaet Schj�dt AS
halvor.manshaus@schjodt.no
+47 22 018800

Cindy Cohn
Legal Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
cindy@eff.org
+1 415 436-9333 x108 (office)

�
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