Can you do an update about this tv links thing? a lot of things have changed since you created this post and it would be interesting to see the changes and also your thoughts on what happened.

Yeah, I think you are right about libdvdcss2. Thanks for the clarification!

All kindsa mixed up here dogg.

DeCSS and libdvdcss2 are different and in my opinion under statute should be treated differently. DeCSS was purely a circumvention tool and contained no other functionality, and distribution that 2600 did was clearly illegal according to the (admittedly kinda whack) DMCA statutes. On the other hand, libdvdcss2 has a few hurdles to jump (notably 1201(a)(2)(B)) but overall could pass muster in 1201(a)(2). The current Wikipedia article on libdvdcss2 posits the interoperability exception.

Linking to copyrighted works however isn’t about the DMCA or circumvention. It’s about infringement and liability. Fair use applies, if that was your motivation, but linking to a page whose primary purpose is infringement or a direct link to infringement is clearly contributory to that infringement. Trying to play technical games and saying the page isn’t taking the user there, the user is taking himself etc, doesn’t pass muster in any reasonable system.

P.S. IANAL.

[quote post=”2037″]In Finland it is against the law to talk about breaking copyright protections. One person is waiting for the decision of high-court for using libdvdcss2.[/quote]

Well, it’s technically illegal here in US too. Libdvdcss2 is illegal under US DMCA. It’s legal to talk about it – it’s just not legal for me to tell you where to find it, post source code, or tell you in detail how to re-create it.

In Finland it is against the law to talk about breaking copyright protections. One person is waiting for the decision of high-court for using libdvdcss2.
It is also basically illegal to own a mp3 player in here since you cant make copies for even personal use.

It is getting even more retarded than the US system.

Another cool spot that popped up: http://www.vidictive.com

Lol, yeh so now you know why we call it that! Makes the whole country look wickedly macho… when the truth is he probably sat in a nice comfy room for 1/2 an hr eating donuts and drinking crap coffee :D

Oh, hmm… Good to know. We are people divided by a common language I guess. ;) When I read arrested I think handcuffed, taken down town and held in a jail cell for few hours till someone posts bail.

BTW ‘arrested’ in the UK simply means charged – otherwise they can’t take him to court, if that makes sense. Probability is he will just get a fine (I’m pretty sure that the criminal sentence for copyright infringement of this sort is a maximum fine).

Oh and also BTW the law is the same in the US as well :) so the same would have happened to him there :P

See were not totally screwy (uh then again…)

It has shown though that the TV companies over here are not meeting the demand of your average internet user. TV links had 0.4% share of the entire internet “audience”. BBC, ITV etc seriously need to justify my licence fee and all that advertising and introduce some proper on demand services.

To arrest some one for linking to videos has set a dangerous precedent though, even if he was released without charge.