Legal DVD Playback coming to Linux?

[ronnielsen1]

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/legal-dvd-playback-coming-linux


In a country where the legal system is based on precedents, a judge's recent decision just may make the use of Linux a whole lot easier.
From nearly the beginnings of entertainment DVDs, Linux users in certain countries either had to break the law to watch their legally obtained media on their computer, boot a Windows system, or not use them. Many chose to break the law and install decryption software. Perhaps those days are over.
Appeal Judge Garcia found (http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/07/23/29099.htm) that General Electric did not break the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by merely unlocking MGE UPS Systems' protection software in order to repair faulty power supplies. The judge wrote that the DMCA protects against infringement, not viewing or using. While these aren't DVDs with copyrighted movies or music, it still sets a precedent for legal fair use of DMCA protected products.

[gnomeuser]

Even if this means we can ship libdvdcss the codecs required to decode a DVD are still covered by patents which means we can't ship them.

For legal DVD playback under Linux:

http://www.fluendo.com/shop/product/fluendo-dvd-player/

It works really well and solves the issue with patents.

[Lucradia]

Even if this means we can ship libdvdcss the codecs required to decode a DVD are still covered by patents which means we can't ship them.

For legal DVD playback under Linux:

http://www.fluendo.com/shop/product/fluendo-dvd-player/

It works really well and solves the issue with patents.

^^ Yep, sorry, but it won't be that easy, OP.

[TheNerdAL]

Wait DVD playback is illegal? Why?!

[forrestcupp]

Even if this means we can ship libdvdcss the codecs required to decode a DVD are still covered by patents which means we can't ship them.

But if it's declared legal to view DVDs, why wouldn't it be possible for someone to reverse engineer the codecs and offer a free alternative? They did that with LAME, why couldn't it be done with DVD codecs?

[LowSky]

Wait DVD playback is illegal? Why?!

The same reason it cost money to use Microsoft Windows.

[TheNerdAL]

The same reason it cost money to use Microsoft Windows.

But what if we paid for the DVD? D:

[ronnielsen1]

Wait DVD playback is illegal? Why?!


In short, DVD playing under Linux is in a "grey area" where the MPAA is not even trying anymore; they have moved on to HD formats instead where they put the encryption in hardware.
> Playing you DVDs doesn't ripoff anything. Using unlicensed software which copies a licensed, proprietary codec does.
You misunderstand the whole issue. Ths is not a case of someone's hard work getting ripped off; not that reverse engineering is wrong anyway, but that's not even the point. The DVD-CCA came up with the non-codec CSS so that they could charge DVD player manufacturers a license fee; it's a shakedown, nothing more. The only plausible argument for "ripping off" has to do with copies of the DVD itself, and that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about watching DVDs you paid for, in the industry-standard MPEG-2 format, which have been scrambled by the DVD-CCA just so you have to pay extra for a key to descramble them. Imagine if you couldn't make a spare key to your own house because of the Spare Key Authority who got legislation passed so they controlled all spares.


http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/blog/2006/07/a_fully_licensed_dmca_complian.html

I'd be curious on how many copies are in the US

[forrestcupp]

But what if we paid for the DVD? D:

You also have to pay for the means to decrypt the DVD into viewable format.

[endotherm]

ok, the issue is patents. a licensing agency (DVDLA) holds the patents for CSS decoding, so in order to write a ecoder/decoder, you must license the rights to implement the patent from them. this means that anyone who what to write a dvd css coder will have to pay for the right to do so. that is why the fluendo option is legal. Our hero DVD John did not pay for such a license, so the library he wrote cannot ever be legal in the us, no matter whether the DMCA is struck down or if css circumvention becomes completely legal.

just like so many aspects of the DMCA, we have the right to take a particular action, but we are forbidden from performing one of the critical steps that would facilitate that action. schools are allowed to take clips from copyrighted material for educational purposes without notice or permission, but they are still prevented from using dvddecryptor or any other tool to make it possible for them to exercise that right, or rather, they were until the latest library of congress review.

[endotherm]

You also have to pay for the means to decrypt the DVD into viewable format.
well, you don't, but whoever wrote the css encoder/decoder has to license the patents from the dvdla. copyright infringement generally deals with the customer, whereas patent infringement deals with manufacturer.

[forrestcupp]

well, you don't, but whoever wrote the css encoder/decoder has to license the patents from the dvdla. copyright infringement generally deals with the customer, whereas patent infringement deals with manufacturer.

Well, as they say, poop rolls down hill. No one is going to pay the license fee and not unload it on the end user.