New York Linux Users to Demonstrate at DVD Trial

  WHO: New York Linux Users Group (NYLUG)
 WHAT: Demonstration in support of 2600 Magazine, defendants
WHERE: Federal Court Building, 500 Pearl Street, New York
 WHEN: Monday, July 17th, 2000 at 10:30am to 5:00pm
  WHY: To protect fair use rights and independent distribution from a
       Hollywood "land grab".

NEW YORK, N.Y., July 17, 2000 -- The New York Linux Users Group 
(www.nylug.org) is demonstrating outside the Federal Courthouse in 
Manhattan. Linux users, free software enthusiasts, and civil 
libertarians will unite in a show of support for technology journalist 
Emmanuel Goldstein, editor of 2600 Magazine (www.2600.com).

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), representing eight giant 
movie studios, has targeted Goldstein in a lawsuit alleging that he has
contributed to copyright infringement by offering a DVD-decrypting 
program on the 2600 Magazine website. 

The program, called DeCSS, 'unlocks' the DVD in a computer,
allowing the user to access the encrypted video data on a DVD disc.
The movie studios claim that the use of the DeCSS program violates a
controversial measure of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 
(DMCA) which forbids the 'circumvention of technological measures' to 
access a copyrighted work, regardless of whether the access is itself 
legal. For example, the DMCA would prohibit a computer user from using a 
legally acquired DVD disc on his own computer, unless the player program 
were authorized by the copyright holder of the disc.

Goldstein has received legal support from the Electronic Frontier 
Foundation (www.eff.org), the preeminent internet civil liberties group.
The protest is set for the opening day of the trial.
      
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NYLUG is New York's Linux Users Group supporting all things Linux and
Open Source in the greater New York area.  Please feel free to contact
NYLUG President Jim Gleason <jgleason@nylug.org> if you have any questions
about NYLUG. 


For questions about the protest, please contact
Billy Donahue <billy@dadadada.net> 718-855-0343