Johansen was first prosecuted after prompting by Norway's
entertainment industry and the Motion Picture Association of
America. He was 15 when he allegedly co-authored and distributed
free of charge a program called DeCSS, which is used to compromise
the Content Scramble System (CSS), a copy-protection system found
on DVDs. CSS is designed to prevent unauthorised duplication of a
DVD's content.
Now 19, Johansen – known by some as "DVD Jon" – was accused of
violating a Norwegian data security law prohibiting the
unauthorised compromising of computer security systems. The maximum
penalty for the offence is two years' imprisonment and fines,
although prosecutors had asked for a 90-day suspended sentence.
Johansen claimed he was sent DVD security codes from abroad by
other hackers and that he only combined them to create a program
enabling him to watch DVDs on his Linux-based computer which,
unlike computers running Windows, lacked DVD-viewing software. The
teenager also said that he only used the program once, to view two
DVDs he bought legally.
The movie studios argued that that the DeCSS program can also be
used to copy DVDs and share the movie files on the internet, and
therefore violated copyright laws.
The three-member Oslo District Court, however, found no evidence
that Johansen used the decryption code with the intention to
contribute to illegal DVD-copying or to help other individuals
break the law.
The judges pointed out that Johansen used the code on DVDs he
bought legally. They rejected the prosecutors' claims, reasoning
that consumers cannot be convicted for "breaking into their own
property." The court also ruled that consumers have the right to
access and view legally-bought DVDs however they want, even in ways
different than the makers had foreseen.
According to Associated Press, Prosecutors this week convinced a
higher court that an appeal was necessary because the case was the
first of its kind in the country and "a key test in determining how
far existing laws protect copyright holders." The appeal is
scheduled to begin this summer.
