FC: California court ALSO grants DVD injunction, from cypherpunks

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

*********

> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 21:08:43 -0800
> From: Lucky Green <shamrock () cypherpunks to>
>
> The judge in the DeCSS trade secret case in California Superior Court
> granted a Preliminary Injunction against all named defendants. Coming on the
> heels of a similar injunction in the DeCSS DMCA copyright cases, today is a
> new low point for free speech rights in the US.
>
> Despite the fact that DeCSS and the CSS algorithm has been available on
> hundreds of websites worldwide for months, the judge ruled that CSS can
> still be considered a secret: "The Court is not persuaded that trade secret
> status should be deemed destroyed at this stage merely by the posting of the
> trade secret to the Internet.[...] To hold otherwise would do nothing less
> than encourage misappropriaters of trade secrets to post the fruits of their
> wrongdoing on the Internet."
>
> http://www.opendvd.org/cv786804-granted.html
>
> Facts appear to no longer matter in American jurisprudence. Never mind the
> defendant is not guilty, he must be convicted, lest we send the 'wrong
> message'. A bad day for justice, an abominable day for America.
>
> We need to win the next round. For this to happen, we need your support.
>
> --Lucky Green <shamrock () cypherpunks to>




> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 22:06:02 -0800
> From: Martin Minow <minow () pobox com>
>
> > http://www.opendvd.org/cv786804-granted.html
>
> Note, however, that the Court did not prevent links to links:
>
> "However, the Court refuses to issue an injunction against linking
> to other websites which  contain the protected materials as such an
> order is overbroad and extremely burdensome. Links to  other websites
> are the mainstay of the Internet and indispensable to its convenient
> access to the vast world of information. A website owner simply
> cannot be held responsible for all of the content of the sites to
> which it provides links. Further, an order prohibiting linking to
> websites with prohibited information is not necessary since the
> Court has enjoined the posting of the information in the first instance.
>
> "Nothing in this Order shall prohibit discussion, comment or criticism,
> so long as the  proprietary information identified above is not
> disclosed or distributed."
>
> ---
>
> One other point mentioned in the Court's order should be noted
> (and the EFF attorneys should discuss this further). The judge
> pointed out that the weak 40-bit encryption was "was limited in
> its strength by certain  international export regulations"
>
> However, it should be noted that, for the specific needs of
> the DMCA, a waiver of 40-bit strength should be easy to
> obtain (as the DMCA would have no reason not to disclose
> the 400 master keys to the export control administration).
>
> Martin Minow
> minow () pobox com


> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 22:22:22 -0800
> From: Lucky Green <shamrock () cypherpunks to>
> While I agree with Martin's points, from the text of the injunction, two
> issues have crystallized in my mind:
>
> o in issuing the injunction, the judge only considered economic harm, not
> harm to free-speech rights to those posting or wishing to post the CSS/DeCSS
> source code to a global audience of listeners. One conclusion that might be
> drawn from this ruling could be that the defense may want to consider
> emphasizing the significant free-speech aspects of this case in future
> proceedings.
>
> o the judge held that DeCSS being distributed from websites world-wide
> should not be considered an indication that CSS is no longer secret. While I
> find it challenging to comprehend this contention, I can't help but wonder
> if the judge would maintain this view had CSS/DeCSS been published in form
> of advertisements in major metropolitan newspapers worldwide.
>
> --Lucky Green <shamrock () cypherpunks to>




> From: Eric Cordian <emc () chao insync net>
> Subject: Re: Second DeCSS injunction granted
>
>
> > "The Court is not persuaded that trade secret status should be deemed
> > destroyed at this stage merely by the posting of the trade secret to the
> > Internet."
>
> Does anyone else find this unintentionally hilarious?
>
> I mean, a secret is still a secret, even after everyone knows it?
>
> Good one, Judge.  (Guffaw)
>
> What does a secret have to do to be destroyed these days?  Book an
> appearance on "Regis and Kathie Lee?"
>
> --


> From: Russell Nelson <nelson () crynwr com>
> Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 01:22:43 -0500 (EST)
>
> The DVD-CCA preliminary injunction has been granted in California.
> Some helpful person scanned the images and placed them as .gif images at
>     http://douglas.min.net/~drw/css-auth/legal-info/granted/
>
> Since the legality of .gif images is in doubt, and because .png images
> are usually smaller than .gif images, I have placed png-converted
> copies of these images at:
>
>     http://www.russnelson.com/decss-injunction/
>
> Please tell everyone you know to mirror a copy of these files.
> Everyone should have a copy of this significant decision.  You can
> mirror these files using:
>
>     rsync -rtzp russnelson.com::decss-injunction .
>     wget -m -np  http://russnelson.com/decss-injunction/
>
> --
> -russ nelson <sig () russnelson com>  http://russnelson.com
> Crynwr sells support for free software  | PGPok | "Ask not what your country
> 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | can force other people to
> Potsdam, NY 13676-3213  | +1 315 268 9201 FAX   | do for you..."  -Perry M.



> Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 11:19:01 -0500
> From: John Young <jya () pipeline com>
> Anonymous has provided the reply declaration and exhibits
> by John J. Hoy, President of DVD CCA (and former Toshiba
> employee). An exhibit is the confidential 35-page CSS Interim
> Agreement required of users of CSS by the scramber's
> developers, MEI and Toshiba.
>
>    http://cryptome.org.dvd-hoy-reply.htm
>
> Caution: It may be illegal for California and New York residents to
> download the file above. Read contents below and consult attorney
> beforehand. Or say fuck it and enjoy the forbidden fruit of
> intellectual censorship. Rest of world is free to grab it, for now.
>
> DVD CCA v. 521 - Reply Declaration of John J. Hoy
>
> Contents
>
> Declaration, 17 pp.
> Exhibit A - DeCSS, October 6, 1999, 3 pp.
> Exhibit B - CSSscramble.txt, October 25, 1999, 8 pp.
> Exhibit C - CSS Interim License Agreement, 35 pp.


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