Originally published April 12 2004
Appeals court hands free speech victory to poster of DVD cracking code
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
In a rare victory for Internet free speech, a California appeals court
reversed an order barring Andrew Bunner from posting DVD cracking code
on his web site. This is an important victory for free speech on the
web, because it helps affirm the right of individuals to freely post
information that threatens the commercial interests of other parties. In
reality, the DVD cracking code wasn't copyrighted at all, and the
"copyright" argument by the DVD Copy Control Association was groundless.
The real issue was the protection of profits. And the real question was,
"Do individuals have the right to post information on their websites
that may harm the financial interests of corporations?" In a free
society, the obvious answer to that question should be a resounding YES!
Free Speech should protect our right to post information that challenges
the motives and financial positions of any organization. The Internet is
the place where people can freely exchange ideas and opinions, and today
there's a dangerous trend towards outlawing certain links or certain
content.
Web sites that post information questioning the severity
and degree of the Holocaust, for example, are routinely labeled "hate
sites" regardless of their approach. Sites questioning the legitimacy of
the Bush Presidency have been called "information terrorism" sites. And,
of course, there's the inevitable "politically incorrect" label used to
disparage any site that uses language that's too direct, too blunt, or
too close to the truth to be comfortable to some readers.
The only
way to keep our society free is to encourage the free flow of ideas and
opinions: even ones we don't agree with. If we, as a nation, censor
online content, we only darken the minds of ourselves and future
generations. The Internet, in fact, is the last free medium left on the
planet. Keep the Internet free.
A California appeals court on Friday reversed a 4-year-old order
barring the publication of a DVD-cracking tool on the Internet, finding
the injunction violated the defendant's free speech rights.
The plaintiff, the DVD Copy Control Association, had argued that
Andrew Bunner violated its intellectual property rights by posting on
the Internet code known as DeCSS that can be used to bypass Hollywood's
encryption scheme for DVDs.
That decision came two years after a federal appeals court in New York
found that DeCSS violated U.S. copyright law and upheld a lower court
order prohibiting publisher 2600 from linking to the code from its Web
site.
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