IP: U.S. government says DeCSS is terrorware

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 11:00:05 -0400
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
> To: politech () politechbot com
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,43485,00.html
>
>    U.S.: DVD Decoder is Terrorware
>    By Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)
>    6:16 a.m. May 2, 2001 PDT
>
>    NEW YORK -- To the U.S. government, a DVD descrambling utility is akin
>    to terrorware that could crash airplanes, disrupt hospital equipment
>    and imperil human lives.
>
>    On Tuesday, an assistant U.S. attorney told a federal appeals court
>    hearing arguments in the Universal Studios v. Reimerdes et al case
>    that the DeCSS utility, which the Motion Picture Association of
>    America has sued to take off a website, should be banned.
>
>    Attorney Daniel Alter likened DeCSS to "software programs that shut
>    down navigational programs in airplanes or smoke detectors in hotels."
>    He warned: "That software creates a very real possibility of harm.
>    That is precisely what is at stake here."
>
>    Those dire warnings had hackers sitting in the back of the courtroom,
>    snickering. After all, DeCSS was developed by open-source devotees as
>    a simple way to play DVDs on a Linux computer.
>
>    [...]
>
>
>
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