A few months ago we ran a poll about the most important non-free Linux apps. We had over 8,000 votes in that poll and we consider the results pretty interesting. Interesting enough to push Linux's market share if a distro capitalized on them?
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Member since:2005-11-11
//So basically, if you live in the USA, and probably in other countries too, it is illegal to use libdvdcss. Chances are nobody would ever prosecute for it, but it's still illegal. //
No. This is wrong.
Even in the US, the purpotedly illegal bit (according to the American DMCA) is to "provide ways around copy protection systems"
"CSS is not a copy protection system"
Therefore, even in the good old freedom-suppressing USA, it is NOT illegal to use libdvdcss.
BTW, the DVD-CCA & MPA went after Jon Lech Johansen (aka DVD Jon), who wrote DeCSS (which is not libdvdcss, BTW) and failed to get a conviction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeCSS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Lech_Johansen
Nobody has even tried to legally curtail libdvdcss:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libdvdcss
"libdvdcss is not to be confused with DeCSS. While DeCSS uses a cracked DVD player key to perform authentication, libdvdcss uses a generated list of possible player keys. Unlike DeCSS, libdvdcss has never been fought over in a courtroom."
libdvdcss works in an entirely different way to DeCSS. So if one of them somehow violates a patent, then the other one doesn't. Neither has been found to violate the DMCA, despite a concerted effort to do so in the case of DeCSS. Neither violates copyright. Only Xing could be in any sort of "IP" trouble for letting out a trade secret (one of the keys).
It pays to get some facts first, before you sprout.
Edited 2006-10-25 14:03
Member since:
2006-05-11
From https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats :
The movie players provided in Ubuntu can play back unencrypted DVDs. However, many commercial DVDs are encrypted with a weak algorithm called CSS (the [WikiPedia]Content Scrambling System). You can enable playback of encrypted DVDs with MPlayer, xine and Totem-xine by installing libdvdcss2.
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From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libdvdcss :
In many countries it is forbidden to sell or document programs that provide ways around copy protection systems. CSS is not a copy protection system, but thwarts attempts to play the DVD without proper software. Despite this fact, many Linux distributions do not contain libdvdcss (for example Debian, SUSE Linux, and Ubuntu) for reasons concerning patents.
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So basically, if you live in the USA, and probably in other countries too, it is illegal to use libdvdcss. Chances are nobody would ever prosecute for it, but it's still illegal. If an IT Admin of a reputable company were to roll out software with legal implications like those of libdvdcss, he'd probably lose his job.
Edited 2006-10-25 13:39