DVD Hacker Asks Compensation in Acquittal

[papau]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Norway-DVD-Kid.html

January 27, 2004
DVD Hacker Asks Compensation in Acquittal
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 11:37 a.m. ET

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- A Norwegian man who became a hacker hero for cracking security codes on Hollywood DVDs wants police to compensate him now that he's been acquitted twice of computer piracy, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Jon Lech Johansen, 20, also known as DVD Jon, was 15 when he developed a program to watch movies on a Linux-based computer without DVD-viewing software. He posted the codes on the Internet in 1999 and became a folk hero among computer hackers.

Norway's economic crime police charged him under data break-in laws, demanding a suspended jail sentence, confiscation of equipment and fines.

However, Norwegian courts twice ruled that Johansen could not be convicted of breaking into DVDs he bought legally, nor could he be punished for providing a tool -- such as a computer program -- that others might use for illegal acts.

The Oslo District Court acquitted Johansen just more than a year ago. Police appealed to the Borgarting appeals court in Oslo, and last month lost that case as well.

Johansen's lawyer, Halvor Manshaus, said his client will seek about $21,800 from the economic crime police because the case had been such a burden over the past four years.
<snip>

Johansen's program, called DeCSS, is one of many that can break the CSS.

[Democrats unite]

1. Good for him

And I hope he does get compensated.