Norwegian Hacker Rebuts Music Piracy Criticism

OSLO (Reuters) - A Norwegian hacker famed for defeating Hollywood in a cyber piracy trial on Thursday rejected allegations he had illegally unlocked a code that enables unauthorized copying of music files from the Internet.

Jon Johansen, a 20-year-old computer programmer who was cleared of piracy charges in January, has developed a source code for copying music and posted it on the Internet less than a week before he is due to appear in an Oslo appeals court.

Johansen's code allows users of Apple Computer Inc.'s new iTunes online music store to break digital rights management (DRM) technology that prevents people copying files downloaded from the service.

On an Internet site named So Sue Me, Johansen said critics had failed to understand that by buying into DRM they have given the seller complete control over the product after it's been sold, calling them clueless about copyright law.

Johansen, whose DVD-copying made him a hero to hackers worldwide, said he had received a string of emails accusing him of violating copyright law linked to the iTunes codes.

Norwegian prosecutors will try next week for a second time to prove that Johansen, dubbed DVD-Jon, broke the law when he developed and distributed a program that copies DVD movies when he was 15.

He was acquitted by an Oslo court but prosecutors lodged an appeal, objecting to the application of the law and the presentation of evidence.

My client is convinced that he is right. He feels that he is defending his rights as a consumer, Johansen's lawyer, Halvor Manshaus, told Reuters of the appeal.

The Oslo district court ruled in January that prosecutors had failed to prove that Johansen's program -- called DeCSS -- had been used for illegal copying of DVDs and said he was entitled to copy legally purchased DVDs.

The Motion Picture Association of America, representing major Hollywood studios such as Walt Disney Co., Universal Studios and Warner Bros, filed the original complaint at Norway's Economic Crime Unit.

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Source: Reuters