Australian Web sites will continue to link to and host instructions for descrambling DVD movies, despite a ruling by a United States court against hacker 'zine 2600 for publishing controversial DeCSS code on its Web site.
The DeCSS (Decrypted Content Scrambling System) allows users to view DVD movies on computers on the Linux Operating system. It also allows for the circumvention of anti-piracy measures employed by the entertainment industry.
"2600 Australia is a linking to the DeCSS code and Wiretapped.net is hosting it, both will continue to link and host respectively," organiser of the hacker advocate group 2600 Australia Grant Bayley said.
According to Bayley, 2600 Australia www.2600.org.au has no relationship to the United States 2600.com Web site -- the only association is the name.
Wiretapped.net is a group of Australian computer security enthusiasts, which maintains a software archive.
"There's a legitimate use for the code. It's for people to develop their own DVD players for Linux and UNIX-based systems, as opposed to using commercial-based systems," Nic Cubrilovic, spokesman for Wiretapped.net said. The group has no plans to remove the code from its site.
In an announcement made yesterday, the Australian Federal Government has introduced a reformed copyright legislation -- Copyright Digital Amendment (Digital Amendment) Bill 2000 -- which states that tough new enforcement measures will help copyright owners to combat online piracy here in Australia.
"Even reading the new law gives no clear answer in the case where a consumer uses a tool such as DeCSS in the course of viewing a DVD for private use only, let alone distribution of it for this purpose only," Bayley said.
However, a spokesperson for minister responsible for IT, Senator Richard Alston, told ZDNet Australia that "the new legislation would definitely mean that the [2600 Australia] Web site would be in breach of Australian copyright laws now."
"It has specific provisions in the legislation for anybody who promotes breach of copyright in. manufacturing and/or commercial dealings in decoding devices," the spokesperson said.
Posted on the 2600 Australia Web site is a letter sent to Bayley from Motion Pictures Association (MPAA) in the United States.
The letter states that the Web site is bound by an injunction by the United States District Court and that "maintaining the DeCSS utility on your system or network violates the above injunction and risks court sanctions for contempt."
Bayley challenges this assertion in a reply on the site, stating that, "2600 Australia is obviously Australian and any links from this site to the material. are clearly beyond their legal jurisdiction."
