“Given the current climate over the pirating of DVDs —
especially in Asia, where distribution channels are most well
established — it’s hard to understand why the MPAA is so
energetically and enthusiastically pursuing a group of people who,
to all accounts, simply want the ability to play their legally
acquired DVDs on their home computers. A great deal more people
than those in the Linux and computing communities are affected, of
course. However, the free software communities, with their habitual
push for freedom, have been a large part of the push to fight the
DVDCCA on territory that they can’t hope to touch….”
“As many people see it — including Eric Raymond, a prominent
free software advocate — there is only one relatively simple
inference that can be reached. The DVD cartel is not attempting
to stop piracy, nor protect its trade secrets. It is trying to
maintain its hold on how, where, and which legal DVDs can be
played!…“
“This overt, money-grubbing corporate greed is exactly what is
going to ensure the discrediting of the MPAA and the wide
dissemination of the technology behind DeCSS, and the eventual de
facto commoditisation of DVD technology. In five years, can anyone
imagine paying 30 dollars for approved blank DVDs? In five years,
will DVD writers still cost a few thousand dollars? No, and no! Yet
the DVD movie industry will thrive, not in spite of this
commoditisation, but because of it. It’s happened with cassettes,
video tapes, and most recently CD’s, and it will happen with DVDs
as well….”