Teenager Prosecuted for Watching His DVDs on Linux Computer
Oslo, Norway - The criminal trial against Jon Johansen, a Norwegian
teenager who watched his DVDs on his Linux computer using a DVD
descrambling program called DeCSS, will start in Norway this Monday,
December 9. The trial is scheduled to last until Friday, December 13.

After a request from the Motion Picture Association of America
(MPAA), the Norwegian Economic Crime Unit (OKOKRIM) charged Jon
Johansen for unscrambling DVDs using DeCSS in 1999 when he was 15
years old.

Johansen is charged with violating the Norwegian Criminal Code
section 145(2), which outlaws breaking into another person's locked
property to gain access to data that one is not entitled to access.

Johansen's prosecution marks the first time the Norwegian government
has attempted to punish individuals for accessing their own property.
Previously, the government used this law only to prosecute those who
violated someone else's secure system, like a bank or telephone
company system, in order to obtain another person's records.

"Jon owned the DVDs and he's never been accused of copyright
infringement or assisting in copyright infringement," noted EFF Legal
Director Cindy Cohn. "Instead, he's facing criminal charges for
taking the necessary steps to view his own DVDs on his own
computers."

EFF assisted Jon in locating Norwegian counsel and setting up a
defense fund.

Johansen's indictment came more than two years after the MPAA
initially contacted OKOKRIM prosecutors to request a criminal
investigation of the Norwegian teen and his father, Per Johansen, who
owned the equipment on which the DeCSS software was stored. The
charges against Johansen's father were later dropped.

Representing Jon Johansen in this case is Halvor Manshaus from the
lawfirm Schjodt in Norway.

Links:
For this advisory:
_http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_case/20021206_eff_pr.html

More on the Johansen case:
_http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_case/

Free Jon email list:
_https://owl.eff.org/mailman/listinfo/free-jon

Information on related DVD CCA cases:
_http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DVDCCA_case/