more on The MYTH OF "DVD Jon" profiled on front page of Wall Street Journal

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Seth Finkelstein <sethf () sethf com>
Date: October 16, 2005 10:13:02 AM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>, Ip Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] "DVD Jon" profiled on front page of Wall Street  
Journal


[For IP]

> At the age of 15, Mr. Johansen wrote a computer program that allowed
> users to copy DVDs. ...
> "made a laughing stock of Hollywood... by showing that a 15-year-old
> kid could break through their super security system."

    Meaning no disrespect, but the above is myth. The decryption
code was actually written by an anonymous German programmer, from
reverse-engineering. From my blog post "Jon Johansen and DeCSS":

URL: http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/archives/000106.html

   For people interested in background on DeCSS, the best account of
   the origin of DeCSS is his trial testimony:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/MPAA_DVD_cases/ 
20000720_ny_trial_transcript.html

   (I feel for that anonymous German programmer)

   Q. Who wrote DeCSS?
   A. I and two other people wrote DeCSS.
   ...
   Q. Mr. Johansen, what did you do next towards making DeCSS?
   A.  We  agreed  that the person who I met would reverse engineer  
a DVD
   player in order to obtain the CSS algorithm and keys.
   Q. Who was this person that you met on the Internet?
   A. A person from Germany. I don't know his identity.
   Q. Okay. What happened next?
   A. About three days later when I was on line again, he messaged  
me and
   told  me  that  he  had  found  the  CSS  algorithm.  He also  
sent the
   algorithm  to  me with the CSS authentication source which are  
written
   by  Eric  [ed:  this is a mishearing of Derek] Fawcus earlier. He  
also
   sent  me  information  on  where  inside  the  player he had  
found the
   algorithm, and he also sent me a single player key.
   Q.  Thank  you  very  much. Now, you testified on direct that a  
German
   person,  I  think, had reverse-engineered the Xing DVD player, is  
that
   correct?
   A. Yes, that is correct.
   Q. And that person goes by the nick Ham?
   A. Yes, that's correct.
   Q.  And  it's  Ham  who  wrote  the  source  code  that   
performed the
   authentication function in DeCSS, is that correct?
   A.  No, that is not correct. He did not write the authentication  
code.
   He wrote the decryption code.
   Q. He wrote the encryption code?
   A. Decryption code.
   Q. Decryption.
   A. Yes.
   Q. Ham is a member of Masters of Reverse Engineering or MORE?
   A. That's correct.
   Q. And are you also a member of MORE?
   A. Yes.
   Q. There are other members in Germany and Holland, is that correct?
   A. Well, the third member is in the Netherlands.
   Q.  And  it  was Ham's reverse engineering of the Xing DVD player  
that
   revealed the CSS encryption algorithm, am I right?
   A. Yes, that's correct.
   Q. Reverse engineering by Ham took place in or about September 1999?
   A. Yes, I believe it was late in September of 1999.
   Q. And you testified that it was this revelation of the CSS  
encryption
   algorithm  and not any weakness in the CSS cipher that allowed  
MORE to
   create DeCSS, is that correct?
   A. Yes, that's correct.
   Q.  You obtained the decryption portions of the DeCSS source code  
from
   Ham, correct?
   A. Yes, that's correct.
   Q. You then compiled the source code and created the executable?
   A. Well, in the form I received it, it was not compatible.

    See also:
http://www.lemuria.org/DeCSS/decss.html

http://www.lemuria.org/DeCSS/dvdtruth.txt

--
Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  http://sethf.com
Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
Interview: http://sethf.com/essays/major/greplaw-interview.php


-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/