Hollywood Gets Norway to Try Jon Johansen Three Years Later

Electronic Frontier Foundation ^ | 12/6/2002 | EFF Staff

[Swordmaker]

Teenager Prosecuted for Watching His DVDs on Linux Computer

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory

Oslo, Norway - The criminal trial against Jon Johansen, a Norwegian teenager who watched his DVDs on his Linux computer using a DVD descrambling program called DeCSS, will start in Norway this Monday, December 9. The trial is scheduled to last until Friday, December 13.

After a request from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Norwegian Economic Crime Unit (ØKOKRIM) charged Jon Johansen for unscrambling DVDs using DeCSS in 1999 when he was 15 years old.

Johansen is charged with violating the Norwegian Criminal Code section 145(2), which outlaws breaking into another person's locked property to gain access to data that one is not entitled to access.

Johansen's prosecution marks the first time the Norwegian government has attempted to punish individuals for accessing their own property. Previously, the government used this law only to prosecute those who violated someone else's secure system, like a bank or telephone company system, in order to obtain another person's records.

"Jon owned the DVDs and he's never been accused of copyright infringement or assisting in copyright infringement," noted EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "Instead, he's facing criminal charges for taking the necessary steps to view his own DVDs on his own computers."

EFF assisted Jon in locating Norwegian counsel and setting up a defense fund.

Johansen's indictment came more than two years after the MPAA initially contacted ØKOKRIM prosecutors to request a criminal investigation of the Norwegian teen and his father, Per Johansen, who owned the equipment on which the DeCSS software was stored. The charges against Johansen's father were later dropped.

Representing Jon Johansen in this case is Halvor Manshaus from the lawfirm Schjødt in Norway.

[Swordmaker]

This young man is being prosecuted for watching DVDs he OWNED on his computer instead of watching them on an approved DVD player.

Chilling thought.

The following is a link to the FR posting about Johansen's indictment back in January...

Indictment

[per loin]

And their asncesters were vikings. How far they've fallen.

[Jeff Chandler]

Must not be much crime in Norway. Prosecutors there seem to have a lot of spare time on their hands

[weegee]

This young man is being prosecuted for watching DVDs he OWNED on his computer instead of watching them on an approved DVD player.

Sounds like the industry could try to turn watching movies from different region codes (and circumventing RCEE blocking of Region hacked DVD players) into a criminal offense.

The movie is on a disc. Someone owns a player and owns the disc. Watch the content on the disc, put it to tape (fair use/home taping) and make a backup, use the disc as a coaster if you want.

Next we'll probably see the industry try to "license" DVDs like software rather than sell them. You buy a physical disc but are prohibited from selling it used (just try to sell any sealed or opened Microsoft software on eBay without clearance from Microsoft).

[Bush2000]

Oh, puh-lease. The kid wrote code to crack DVD encryption -- then distributed it. He fostered piracy.

[Bush2000]

The movie is on a disc. Someone owns a player and owns the disc. Watch the content on the disc, put it to tape (fair use/home taping) and make a backup, use the disc as a coaster if you want.

The article is misleading. He's not charged with watching DVDs. He's charged specifically with cracking encryption, which is illegal under Norwegian law. The facts aren't in dispute here. And the issue of the law isn't an issue, either. If you don't like the law, work to change it. But don't whine about how "unfair" it is. That's the tool of liberals.

[Bush2000]

I don't want to argue hypotheticals with you. The law is quite clear in this case: He wasn't permitted to attack the encryption of the DVD format. His motivations are secondary. Either you believe in law and order -- or you don't.

[Bush2000]

Your point? If he can't distribute DeCSS then the movie studios should face criminal charges for distributing movies that don't allow fair use copying. I know, I know. "You're a communist!" "You make great company for Stalin and Mao!"

That's silly. Companies aren't required to provide their services in a format that makes it easy for you to repurpose. Perfect example: Cable TV. Nobody is arguing that cable scrambling is illegal. By the same token, the DVD cartel has a right to protect its content. It's their property. They get to decide how it's distributed, not you. If you don't like it, change the law. But insisting that what Johansen and others did was legal is just rubbish.

[js1138]

Oh, puh-lease. The kid wrote code to crack DVD encryption -- then distributed it. He fostered piracy.

That may be his crime, but according to the article, that's not what he's accused of.

[Bush2000]

I'm afraid that the article is scrubbed, mass-market pablum that doesn't tell the real story. Here's a better (albeit short) link. It's the Register, so hold your nose.

[Bush2000]

If the law has any purpose other than to provide the greatest percentage of society with protection for their lives, liberty and property then no, I don't support the law at all.

There needs to be a balance between the rights of society and the rights of content owners. It can't be completely one-sided (as both sides would prefer). I believe that the public has certain fair use rights but the sad fact is that people have misinterpreted fair use as a right to plunder. That's wrong. My opinion: Until we can figure out the balance, these laws should remain in place.

[Bush2000]

Content owners are consumers. Content creators do not have rights under the US Constitution. The IP clause is explicitly utilitarian and gives Congress the power to grant and take away rights without any need to justify itself if it is doing so to advance the sciences and the arts.

Nonsense. The Constitution created the patent office, which exists solely to grant monopoly ownership of intellectual property.

DMCA is almost completely unconstitutional ...

Not until the Supreme Court declares it as such. It hasn't.

... because it advances corporate interests over scientific and artistic interests.

Since when is computer encryption technology mutually exclusive with "scientific interests"?

[mattdono]

Hey Razor...I think that you need to think about what you are saying and get your story straight.

You have an attachment to the word "fascist" and that much is obvious, but you should at least use it properly. You said, "the copyright fascists". I assume that you mean the artists that produce the music, movies, etc. and the companies that provide the means for said artist to be paid for said activities via the distribution of the music, movies, etc.

So these fascists include the artists too? Ok, that's a new one, but that isn't the real point.

At most, you could call this company executives and employees capitalist (OH! That's probably a yucky word for you too).

You see a capitalist can't be a fascist because fascists fall on the left side of the political spectrum along with socialists and communists. You aren't a communist, but YOU are the fascist socialist. You believe that private propety should be distributed or divined as distributable by government. You are a fascist because you are trying to support your argument with the full power and might of the U.S. government. Using this type of force is usually associated with fascist intentions.

So, anyway, we have concluded that:

1. You are a fascist socialist;
2. A fascist socialists sympathizer;
3. Someone who believes in the mob rule;
4. Someone who has NO respect for private or intellectual property; and,
5. A newbie on this forum who probably needs to do more reading about a whole lot of topics, because you are WAY outgunned (in both literal and figurative terms)!

[Britton J Wingfield]

I have a t-shirt with the DeCSS code on the back. I guess I'd better stay out of Norway.