“It’s been more than three months since a 15-year-old boy in
Norway sat down at his computer, posted the code that breaks the
encryption to DVDs to his Web site, and set off a chain of events
he never could have predicted.“
“Today the outcome of the war that has since erupted between
hackers and the motion picture industry in the form of three major
lawsuits is far from certain. But both sides agree that something
pretty big is at stake; they’re just not sure what.”
“The defendants have hoisted the flag of freedom of speech,
which these open source advocates and hackers say includes the
right to perform reverse engineering. But the plaintiffs,
representing the motion picture and DVD industry, say the fight is
about intellectual property rights and the future economic
viability of DVDs.”