[MPlayer-users] DeCSS legal status

[D Richard Felker III]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2003 at 11:18:42AM +0100, Luis.F.Correia wrote:
> [Automatic answer: RTFM (read DOCS, FAQ), also read DOCS/bugreports.html]
> 
> >I don't think so. Just explicitly disable -dump*, -vo mpegpes, etc. on the
> mplayer 
> >binary on the cd and it's clear that you've made something that can't be
> used for copying.
> 
> As correct as this statment is, it is also true that DeCSS is in fact used
> to watch the DVD.
> Since DeCSS is circumventing CSS, it is a conflict with the DMCA...
> 
> AFAIK, everytime we watch a legaly bought DVD with DeCSS, we are breaking
> the law :)
> 
> But, this is pure legalese sh*t, it can be used almost everywhere except for
> the US.

There has never been such a ruling, and probably not even such a
claim. The reason the lawyers go after decss itself (the source) is
probably because it can be used in making something to copy dvds.
That's quite different from a binary that only plays them.

Rich