FC: DeCSS, DVD paper: "The Trouble with Prime Numbers" from RISKS

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

A. Guadamuz
Trouble with Prime Numbers: DeCSS, DVD and the Protection of
  Proprietary Encryption Tools
*The Journal of Information, Law and Technology* (JILT), 2002 (3)

Andrés Guadamuz González
Law Lecturer
University of Edinburgh
a.guadamuz () ed ac uk

Abstract

The DVD video format has become one of the most important developments in
the home entertainment market since the popularisation of the magnetic video
recording. The film industry delivered this format with a built in security
system which was supposed to avoid illegal copying of the discs, much as
what is taking place with the music CD and the almost indiscriminate copying
of music into MP3 format over the Internet. This was achieved by means of
encryption technology.

This essay deals with the cracking of DVD encryption and its further
diffusion as a computer programme named DeCSS, which has been made available
over the Internet in various formats, including t-shirts and a numerical
representation of the code. There are three court cases based on the online
posting of this programme, two in the United States and one in Norway. The
article starts by describing the technology involved, as it is felt by the
author that some of these technical issues are of importance to the legal
implications of the case and should be understood properly. The article then
deals with the developments in all of the three cases up to this date. The
essay then finishes with a look at the legal issues involved, including
hyper-linking, trade secrets, freedom of speech and the translation of DeCSS
into numerical format.

This is a Refereed article published on 6 December 2002.

http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/02-3/guadamuz.html




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