Thread: might give Linux OS 2007 a go
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Old 03-03-2007, 01:15   #113
Tristan
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Re: might give Linux OS 2007 a go
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaccers View Post
The point is the players aren't legally capable of playing encrypted DVDs

Think of it like this, just because you can get in a car, turn it on and head down the street, if you don't have a license to do it, you can't do it legally.

Now if someone were to tell you how to circumvent the encryption so you can play encrypted DVD's without a license through this forum, technically that'd be encouraging and aiding others to breach copyright (we're not in Norway).
Or think of it like this.

Any device capable of reading from CDs requires a fee to be paid to Sony and Philips, the inventors of the format (although I think the 25-year patent time limit is up soon). That means your stereo, your computer CD-ROM drives, and your in-car CD player. Likewise, the DVD Consortium collects patent fees from anyone who makes a device for reading DVDs.

Once you've bought a CD (for which the producer has earned a fee), and a device for reading said CD (for which the inventor of the format has earned a fee), you can play it any time you like with any program you like in any operating system you like.

Once you've bought a DVD (producer earns money), and a device for reading said DVD (inventors earn money), why on earth should there be any extra restrictions on how and when I can play it?

Watching CSS-encoded DVDs on Linux is certainly not breach of copyright. All copyright covers is, well, copying, which isn't taking place. DVD videos aren't commercial software. There's no End User Licence Agreement that comes with a DVD stating certain conditions of use. At best, you could claim that the CSS-decoding software violates certain software patents. However, unlike the US, software patents aren't valid in the UK, so this isn't a worry. (And besides, the standard libdvdcss2 library doesn't actually do this: it just generates all the 110 or so possible CSS keys, and tries each one to see whether it works.)

No, this country isn't Norway, but happily we're not the US either. Software patents simply do not apply in this country, and so many things you read about that require a licence in the US (such as MP3 or WMV decoding) can be freely implemented in this country without fear of illegality.

And long may it remain so.
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