DeCSS was devised by persons unknown and released anonymously on the Internet mailing list LiViD in October 1999. Allegedly, one of the authors was Norwegian teenager Jon Lech Johansen, whose home was raided in 2000 by Norwegian police. He was put on...
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DeCSS was devised by persons unknown and released anonymously on the Internet mailing list LiViD in October 1999. Allegedly, one of the authors was Norwegian teenager Jon Lech Johansen, whose home was raided in 2000 by Norwegian police. He was put on trial in a Norwegian court and faced a possible jail sentence of two years and large fines, but was acquitted of all charges in early 2003. However, on March 5, 2003, a Norwegian appeals court ruled that Johansen would have to be retried on charges that he violated Norwegian Criminal Code section 145 (the hacker law). The court said that arguments filed by the prosecutor and additional evidence merited another trial. On December 22, 2003, the appeals court agreed with the acquittal, and on January 5, 2004 Norway's Økokrim decided not to pursue the case further. The program was first released on October 6, 1999 when Johansen posted an announcement of DeCSS 1.1b on the livid-dev mailing list. Initially, the source code was not available, but... See less