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DVD CCA's boss testifies in Johansen's case

12 December 2002 15:21 by Petteri "dRD" Pyyny | 2 comments

DVD CCA's (DVD Copy Control Association) president and COO, John Hoy, testified today in mockery of lawsuit that we know today as the case of Norway (government sponsored by MPAA) vs Jon Johansen. His testimony took the farce even further, since he was allowed to testify over the phone from the U.S. (mental note: if AfterDawn.com ever gets sued, I will make all my court appearances via email). He is one of the prosecutions main witnesses.

The case, which has history dating back from 1999, relates to a weak copy-protection mechanism found on DVD-Video discs called CSS and a program called DeCSS which allows users to crack this copy-protection. The prosecution claims that Jon Johansen has created this tool and has sued him for breaking into a third party data system, when he in fact has merely broken into a DVD-Video disc that he owns.

And as the DeCSS history tells us, Jon Johansen hasn't even cracked the code, he has merely bundled the original code into some other functional parts and created the package -- but he hasn't programmed the CSS cracking algorithms. And as the history tells us as well, the CSS was never actually cracked, but merely opened with codes

Anyway, court didn't reach Mr. Hoy when they first called and they had to leave a message to his answering machine to call back once his team of Hollywood lawyers had arrived into his office to manipulate his testimony to match the needs of the Hollywood. When he eventually called back to the court and swore to tell the truth by holding his hand on top of the December's issue of Playboy, he was asked several questions related to the DVD CCA's licensing policy.

"If someone wants to make a player for Linux, there's nothing in the license stopping that", Hoy replied when questioned about unavailability of suitable Linux players for DVD viewing. True enough, although the fact remains that if freeware advocates that build the core of the Linux users wish to create a DVD CCA licensed player, they would have to cough up several thousands of dollars for the license.

"We handed out licenses from the latter part of September 1999, and became the sole entity or publisher of CSS licenses from mid December 1999", Hoy said when questioned about the timing and availability of the DVD CCA license. The fact remains that DeCSS was publicly available by mid-September, 1999.

Earlier on this week, the prosecution has grilled Johansen over the events in 1999 and the postings he has made about the DeCSS, allegedly claiming that it is a tool for copying DVDs.

Due the delays caused by Hoy today, the case will continue until at least next week's Monday.

More information:

vg.no
Opera.com
DeCSS Truth
AfterDawn.com's DVD ripper section

Permalink to this article

DVD-Jon not guilty -- yet again (22 December 2003)

DeCSS trial ends in Norway (11 December 2003)

Johansen vs Norway/MPAA round 2 in December (1 April 2003)

DeCSS Johansen goes back to court (2 March 2003)

Johansen will have to face the appeals court (20 January 2003)

Norwegian court: Johansen not quilty (7 January 2003)

Closing arguments of Norway's DeCSS case (16 December 2002)

Prosecution changes charges in DeCSS case -- in middle of the case (14 December 2002)

Johansen denies charges (9 December 2002)

"DeCSS" Johansen goes to court (6 December 2002)

Norwegian DeCSS case delayed (13 August 2002)

Is DeCSS legal in your country? (13 August 2002)

2600 withdraws DeCSS appeal (4 July 2002)

EFF filed its briefs to Californian Supreme Court (23 May 2002)

Appeals court rejected 2600's request (17 May 2002)

CCIA wants DeCSS ruling overturned (27 April 2002)

Californian DeCSS case goes to Supreme Court (21 February 2002)

DeCSS history lesson for Norwegian authorities (11 January 2002)

DeCSS author might face 2 years in prison (10 January 2002)

Appeals court rules in favor of studios in DeCSS case (29 November 2001)

FIRST VICTORY!: California Judge decides that posting DeCSS is legal (2 November 2001)

DeCSS trial continues on Tuesday (30 April 2001)

2600 gets strong addition to its legal team in DeCSS case (4 April 2001)

Verio refuses to remove DeCSS (25 January 2001)

DeCSS at MP3.com (14 September 2000)

DeCSS T-shirts sued (2 August 2000)

DVD CCA Panic (26 January 2000)

DeCSS Author Arrested? (25 January 2000)

DeCSS distribution sites in court (14 January 2000)

DVD CCA Applies for Restraining Order (28 December 1999)

DeCSS causes a huge fuss (4 November 1999)

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Discuss this article!
Dela (Staff Member) 12 December 2002 16:13
What is this case gonna do anyway???? I wont change anything, only punish a man who has commited no crime! It won't have any effect on me for one anyway whatever the outcome!! Afterdawn is run by great people who have ran this site perfectly for 3 years helping literally millions of people. The price of running this web site is very high so please visit some sponsors or consider a donation! [ + quote]
A_Klingon (Moderator) 13 December 2002 10:14
If Hoy is holding one hand over the Playboy issue while taking the oath, what do you suppose he is using the other hand for? <ggg> (They say you go blind if you do it too much). :-) -- Klingy -- [ + quote]