BOSTON (08/17/2000) - A U.S. federal judge has issued a ruling that permanently bars Web sites from linking to other sites that contain De-Content Scrambling System (DeCSS) code for disabling DVD (digital video disc) encryption when the site offering the link aims to help facilitate dissemination of illegal code.
New York State District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued the ruling Thursday, supporting the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the plaintiffs in the case. Kaplan refused the claims of defendant Eric Corley, who also goes by the moniker Emmanuel Goldstein, a journalist for "2600: the hacker quarterly," that computer source code should be protected by the First Amendment. Kaplan expressly upheld the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which some argue endangers free speech and innovation on the Internet.
Details to follow.