Re: [dvd-discuss] The power of a click

[Jeremy Simmons <jsimmons(at)langc.tohoku.ac.jp>]

> Richard Hartman writes:
> : Moreover, although a single click is enough to _launch_
> : DeCSS, I doubt that the operator interaction ends there.
> : (Admittedly, I have never run DeCSS ... but I assume there
> : are parameters to tweak & at least a field for an output
> : filename to be filled out, plus another click on a "go"
> : button ...)
>

 Peter Junger Commented
> Is it true that DeCSS can be launched with  a single click.
> Is there a DeCSS icon?  Was there a DeCSS icon for the
> program that 2600 published on its web site?
>
> The claim by the 2d Circuit that there is such an ability and
> such an icon is not consistent with the facts (including the
> facts as found by Judge Kaplan).  It also appears to be essential
> to the panel's holding.
>
> That seems to me to be a pretty good basis for seeking a rehearing.

I think that this discussion has changed from the focus of the judgement. The 
reason the click is dangerous is not because it starts up DeCSS but because 
it makes a immediate download of DeCSS possible. As I read the judgement the 
court seems to think that all the 2600 links create automatic downloads and 
that might put DeCSS within the reach of people who are not well intentioned 
hackers. This makes the posting of a link subject to an injunction.

My impression was of the court's argument was that it just assumed that an 
unauthorised decryption programme breached the CDMA and merely focussed on 
the validity of the injunction. That seems to me to have much more far 
reaching problems for far more computer users.

Simmons