[ Thanks to Bryan
Taylor for this link. ]
“Jon Johansen, the Norwegian teen-ager who created DeCSS,
the software at the heart of this case, took the witness stand
Thursday morning to testify for the defense. Johansen
explained that he was attempting to build a DVD player for Linux
when he and two other members of the group MoRE developed the code.
He also explained that DeCSS was written as a Windows executable
file because the project had to be tested first on Windows since
Linux could not read a DVDs UDF files. This testimony blew a
huge hole in both the movie studios’ and the judge’s reasoning who
assumed that because the code was written for Windows it had
nothing to do with developing a Linux DVD player, as EFF’s defense
team has claimed for months.”
“The courageous teen also revealed that the MPAA filed charges
against Jon and his father Per, instigating the Norwegian Economic
Crime Unit to ask Jon to answer questions at the police station in
January 2000. His testimony revealed a flaw in the judge’s
thinking, who has previously stated in several opinions that the
teen was arrested and has inferred guilt therefrom. Not only was
Johansen never arrested for developing the software, the Norwegian
government awarded Jon a prestigious award for his excellent grades
in high school and his contribution to society for creating DeCSS.
Although it did not come out in court today, the Norwegian
parliament has also issued the young teen a formal apology for the
treatment he has undergone as a result of publishing the code.”
“In stark contrast to the veracity and integrity Johansen
displayed on the witness stand in the face of a powerful industry
trying to crush him, the head of the MPAA’s world-wide anti-piracy
effort Mikhail Reider testified next. The MPAA investigator who was
previously an intelligence officer for the DEA and FBI gave
testimony replete with “I can’t recall”, “I don’t know”, and “I
can’t remember” to the most basic questions involving the MPAA’s
investigative efforts in this case, reminiscent of the Jack Valenti
deposition. The credibility and truthfulness of this witness was
called into further doubt when shown and asked about internal MPAA
reports sent to her that contradicted her testimony and were
obtained by EFF’s defense team through discovery battles. At the
conclusion of Reider’s testimony, the Plaintiff’s rested their
case.