From eric_sandeen.NO@jump.net Fri, 05 Nov 1999 19:21:09 -0600
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 19:21:09 -0600
From: Eric Sandeen eric_sandeen.NO@jump.net
Subject: [Livid-dev] CSS chain of events?
I've seen various versions of how the CSS hack came to be - between
dodsrip, DeCSS, and css-auth, I don't know where this all started.
I've only been following the list for a few weeks, shortly before the
css hack gained so much exposure...
can someone recap the events that led up to Derek's problems? Where'd
the original code come from? Who reverse-engineered what? How are they
related?
I thought that Derek's work stemmed from some existing code, so I'm not
sure why the lawyers are after him, and Jon seems to be a free man? :)
-Eric
From laredo@gnu.org Fri, 5 Nov 1999 20:46:22 -0500 (EST)
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 20:46:22 -0500 (EST)
From: laredo@gnu.org laredo@gnu.org
Subject: [Livid-dev] CSS chain of events?
> I've seen various versions of how the CSS hack came to be - between
> dodsrip, DeCSS, and css-auth, I don't know where this all started.
>
I found this included in the DeCSS zip file:
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> - The Truth about DVD CSS cracking by MoRE and [dEZZY/DoD] -
MoRE+DoD> ------------------------------------------------------------
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> Date: 4th of November 1999.
MoRE+DoD> By: [dEZZY/DoD], [MultiAGP & German dood of MoRE]
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> This document is written cooperatively by the two groups
MoRE+DoD> that independently and simultaneously cracked the DVD Content
MoRE+DoD> Scrambling System, in order to straighten out mass media
MoRE+DoD> confusion.
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> DoD -> Drink or Die: "warez bearz from Russia and Beyond"
MoRE+DoD> MoRE -> Masters of Reverse Engineering
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> [dEZZY/DoD] alone is the author of DoD DVD Speed Ripper.
MoRE+DoD> MoRE is a new group and they are the authors of DeCSS.
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> Lately, Jon Johansen of MoRE has been pretty much all over
MoRE+DoD> the news in Norway, though he had NOTHING to do with the actual
MoRE+DoD> cracking of the DVD CSS protection. Yes, it was MoRE who did
MoRE+DoD> DeCSS, but the actual crack was not a team effort, MoRE didn't
MoRE+DoD> even exist back when the anonymous German (who is now a MoRE
MoRE+DoD> member) cracked it...
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> Most of the papers chose a headline very similar to this:
MoRE+DoD> "15-year old Norwegian cracked the DVD-code".
MoRE+DoD> They probably did this because they wanted to make a big
MoRE+DoD> Norwegian "Wooohoooo" out of it. This was also pretty much
MoRE+DoD> the contents of the TV show "Vestfold-sendingen" where they
MoRE+DoD> brought up matters from Vestfold, Norway where Jon Johansen
MoRE+DoD> lives.
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> In most newspapers they vagely included the name MoRE, and
MoRE+DoD> that DeCSS was a team effort, but neither MoRE nor DoD liked
MoRE+DoD> the headlines. Jon's comment on this matter is:
MoRE+DoD> "I never told the media that I had cracked the dvd encryption.
MoRE+DoD> What I told them, was that we (MoRE) had made an app called
MoRE+DoD> DeCSS which would decrypt dvd movies and let them be played
MoRE+DoD> off your hd, or off dvdrs if you have a dvd burner. I always
MoRE+DoD> used _we_ and _MoRE_ when talking to them. I never said anything
MoRE+DoD> about me or my position in the group.
MoRE+DoD> Now that the storm is over, I see that all they were after,
MoRE+DoD> was to get a big story. They even included some of "my" quotes,
MoRE+DoD> which I never said. When media starts making up stuff, it's really
MoRE+DoD> sad. I know that this has been done before in Norwegian media,
MoRE+DoD> regarding the cooperation between a computer group at my school
MoRE+DoD> and the school people in charge of the network. All I can say is
MoRE+DoD> that I'm very sorry that the media twisted my words, and even lied,
MoRE+DoD> to make it appear as I had done the cracking myself. I'm pretty
MoRE+DoD> sure that I will do everything to avoid the media in the future,
MoRE+DoD> but if I'm forced to talk with them, I'll have to get them to
MoRE+DoD> sign an agreement. Again, I apologize on the behalf of Norwegian
MoRE+DoD> press, and I hope that this document will make everything clear.
MoRE+DoD> The truth shall set you free."
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> DoD DVD Speed Ripper was developed by [dEZZY/DoD] at the
MoRE+DoD> same time as DeCSS. The first release of DoD's app (which
MoRE+DoD> came out a couple of weeks before the first release of DeCSS)
MoRE+DoD> did not work with all (WB) titles, like The Matrix. This was
MoRE+DoD> known by [dEZZY/DoD] at the time of his release. MoRE decided
MoRE+DoD> to wait until they could fix this. In short time, [dEZZY/DoD]
MoRE+DoD> solved the problem and MoRE's top coder/disassembler from
MoRE+DoD> Germany used that information to get DeCSS working with every
MoRE+DoD> movie before they released it, along with a GUI. DeCSS was then
MoRE+DoD> the first application which decrypted ALL dvd titles, since DoD
MoRE+DoD> had not released a new version to the public. How MoRE got
MoRE+DoD> their hands on the information by [dEZZY/DoD], seems to have
MoRE+DoD> something to do with the Linux community...
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> Why Drink or Die didn't want to release a new version so soon,
MoRE+DoD> was because warez sites nuke programs that are too close in
MoRE+DoD> release (minimum 2-3 weeks). Meanwhile when DeCSS came out, it
MoRE+DoD> caused DoD to delay any Windows release until a GUI version of
MoRE+DoD> their Speed Ripper was done. However, they released a Linux
MoRE+DoD> version of their ripper late October 1999. As for the new Windows
MoRE+DoD> version of the Speed Ripper, [dEZZY/DoD] has been very busy with
MoRE+DoD> his education and hence the ripper is extremely delayed.
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> [dEZZY/DoD] already got the idea of reverse engineering a DVD
MoRE+DoD> player for the CSS code back in late summer 1998. He was not able
MoRE+DoD> to do it at the time since he did not have access to a DVDROM. In
MoRE+DoD> the beginning of 1999, MoRE's German member also got the idea.
MoRE+DoD> [dEZZY/DoD] and MoRE's German member got CSS decryption code
MoRE+DoD> working at the same time (middle of September 1999), without
MoRE+DoD> having shared info (although they knew about each other). After
MoRE+DoD> [dEZZY/DoD] solved "the problem", MoRE's German member, as stated
MoRE+DoD> above, implemented these changes and added them to DeCSS for
MoRE+DoD> release.
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> Before DeCSS was developed and released, MoRE had already sent
MoRE+DoD> the source for the decryption to their contact in the Linux DVD
MoRE+DoD> community, Derek Fawcus . This is the reason
MoRE+DoD> why one of Wired's news reporters was put on the case.
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> [dEZZY/DoD] also had relations in the Linux DVD community (who
MoRE+DoD> does not want to be mentioned), but decided not to release the
MoRE+DoD> source code publicly (at least not for the moment).
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> Enjoy the software!
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD>
MoRE+DoD> - Jon Johansen [MoRE]
MoRE+DoD> - anonymous German cracker [MoRE]
MoRE+DoD> - [dEZZY/DoD]
From root@ihack.net 06 Nov 1999 10:41:43 -0500
Date: 06 Nov 1999 10:41:43 -0500
From: Charles M. Hannum root@ihack.net
Subject: [Livid-dev] CSS chain of events?
I don't see why people are always surprised by the media mangling what
they said or just plain lying. It's happened to me *every single
time* I've interacted with media -- books, newspapers, ...