[The Jackal]

Xaccers FYI :

DVD Decoding over the Years

DVD has an encryption mechanism called CSS (Content
Scrambling System.) They also wouldn’ t make Linux versions.

Though many had quietly cracked CSS, in 1999 a Norwegian
teenager Jon Johansen was the first to publicly reveal how
trivial CSS was with his "deCSS" decoder.

On Jan 3, 2000, SVLUG helped EFF pack a courtroom in San
Jose and defeat a Temporary Restraining Order against 500
web sites with deCSS source - first shot in the DVD CSS war.

On May 29, 2003, EFF won in the California Supreme Court.

The DVD Copy Control Association abandoned CSS as a trade
secret. So now no one questions the legality of playing a DVD
that you legitimately own on Linux, BSD or other Unix systems.

This wouldn’ t have started if they had allowed a Linux player.