[NTLUG:Discuss] Ubuntu Developer Summit for version 10.04

[Chris Cox]

On Thu, 2009-10-29 at 15:35 -0500, Hank Ivy wrote:
...
> The encryption/copyright rules for digital DVD player software is a long 
> story.  I am still playing around at getting DVDs to play on my system.  The 
> libdvdcss is all I need.  The EULA is not that bad.
> 
> Wiki said the following about the library, libdvdcss, that decrypts movie 
> DVDs.
> 
> "Many Linux distributions do not contain libdvdcss (for example Debian, 
> Fedora, SUSE Linux, and Ubuntu) due to fears of running afoul of DMCA-style 
> laws, however they may provide the tools to let the user install it 
> themselves. In other cases some distributions refrain from preloading 
> libdvdcss onto their install discs but it is available in their software 
> repositories.  Distributions which come pre-installed with libdvdcss include 
> BackTrack 2, CrunchBang 9.04.01, LinuxMCE 710, Linux Mint 7, PCLinuxOS 2009, 
> Puppy Linux 4.2.1, Recovery Is Possible, Slax 6.1.1, Super OS 9.04."
> 

Just realize that even by USING libdvdcss you are opening yourself up
to possible issues since its use is a federal crime in the good ole USA.

It's more than just "fears".... the DMCA is real and has been used
to stifle innovation and put innovators behind bars or at least slap
them hard.

Many of the distros that include it do not directly distribute
in the USA (though people may mirror them here at their own risk).

The DMCA is broad.  Alan Cox (a prominent Linux kernel developer) no
longer travels/speaks in the USA because in his mind exists the
ability to reverse engineer things (that is... figure out how things
work).

When Dmitry Sklyarov came from Russia to the Def Con conference
in the states to show how weak Adobe PDF password protection was (that
is how rot13 shouldn't be used as a "secure" protection mechanism),
the FBI WAITED for him to present before taking him down in a very
PUBLIC fashion and arresting him.

Welcome to 1984.