EFF Media Advisory: DeCSS — NYC Hearing 11 May 2000, EFF call for participation

[ Thanks to Karsten M.
Self for this announcement: ]

Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 12:33:51 -0700
Subject: Media Advisory Tomoorw- Show up to voice your support!
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300
Sender: kathleen@eff.org
From: kathleen@eff.org
To: wendy@seltzer.com

EFF is encouraging its members in the New York area, public
citizens, and journalists concerned about the movie studios’ overly
broad interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s
anticircumvention provisions to attend the hearing.

EFF MEDIA ADVISORY
May 10, 2000

NY Court to Hear Arguments re: Sanctioning Movie Studios in
DVD
Case

WHO: EFF DVD Legal Defense Team and Defendant 2600
vs. Movie
Studios
WHAT: Hearing to compel MPAA’s Valenti and
Disney’s Eisner to
testify in court
WHERE: Courtroom 12d, Federal District Court,
Southern District
of New York, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY; see
http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/travlnyc.htm

WHEN: Thursday, May 11 at 9:30 a.m

On Thursday morning, a federal court will hear arguments over
media defendant 2600’s request to sanction the movie studios for
refusing to comply with the court’s discovery schedule. The
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is sponsoring the defense of
2600, an online news organization that posted the free software,
DeCSS, which plays DVDs on Linux computers.

Lawyers for the defense asked the court to compel MPAA President
Jack Valenti and Disney CEO Michael Eisner to submit to testimony
under oath about piracy related to DeCSS. Defense will also ask the
court to increase the financial bond the movie companies are
required to pay pending the outcome of the case because it involves
a prior restraint on 2600’s speech.

EFF is encouraging its members in the New York area, public
citizens, and journalists concerned about the movie studios’ overly
broad interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s
anticircumvention provisions to attend the hearing.

Contacts:
Katina Bishop, Communications Manager
Electronic Frontier Foundation
415) 436-9333 x101

Robin Gross, Staff Counsel
Electronic Frontier Foundation
(415) 863-5459

For more information on this case, and three others being sponsored
by EFF, see http://www.eff.org/IP/Video

The Electronic Frontier Foundation ( http://www.eff.org ) is the leading global
nonprofit organization linking technical architectures with legal
frameworks to support the rights of individuals in an open society.
Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry
and government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in
the information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
maintains one of the most-linked-to Web sites in the world.