digitalMASS: Hackers a no-show at protest over DVD decryption | Linux Today

digitalMASS: Hackers a no-show at protest over DVD decryption

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Feb 9, 2000

[ Thanks to Mike
Hicks
for this link. ]

“The angry hackers never showed up — not at their appointed
meeting place at the Prudential Center food court, nor out in front
of the Cheri Theater in downtown Boston, where I’d hoped to see
them handing out their protest leaflets….”

“The Motion Picture Association of America and a DVD industry
trade group ran screaming to court, and Norwegian cops hauled young
Mr. Johansen down to the precinct house for a scary interrogation.
The movie moguls demanded not only that dozens of individuals
remove DeCSS from their Web sites, but also that they remove Web
links to other pages where the software might be found.”

“This last demand should have all of us passing out leaflets on
street corners. The freedom to share information, regardless of its
source, is at the heart of the Internet. A court order forcing
a Web site to stop linking to a questionable source of information
would be like ordering a library to stop offering a controversial
book.

Complete
Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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