Subject: Preparing the DeCSS for JavaScript 0.4 distribution

From: Shlomi Fish <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 04:52:48 +0300 (EEST)

Well, I decided to call the current incarnation of DeCSS for JavaScript:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Gallery/decss_js.html

as DeCSS for JavaScript 0.2. The code is stable and working, and AFAIK
produce identical results to the original C code. I'm not planning to
change it for 0.2 (unless I find bugs), but I'd like to add some more HTML
pages which could be of interest to DeCSSors.

But first a note: I am going to distribute them with a fake backend that
will perform a cyclical shift by three (= ROT3) encryption. Furthermore,
each page will contain a header that will state that this is the case
and the HTML title will also specify that. In order to convert the site
to a true DeCSS for JS one, one will have to download the archive,
modify some config file and replace the JS code of the backend with the
one from the DeCSS gallery. And then, to re-render it into HTML.

I am taking this precaution to avoid legal implications. The DMCA and
similar provisions cannot ban people from voicing their opinion against
the DeCSS witch hunt, or against the DMCA in general. I'm not saying
a computer program is any less free speech proper, but that's not how the
laws of the various countries seem to perceive it.

Back to the main topic: here's what I'd like the Hackers-IL's DeCSS for
JavaScript 0.4 to contain:

1. A nice navigation bar on the side and no broken links.

2. A section devoted to the opinions of Hackers-IL members about the
DVD/DeCSS fiasco:

In here I'd like every member to write a short description of what he
thinks about it. I'd rather not see the standard "I think that the MPAA
guys are just a bunch of greedy, self-centered Capitalistic pigs", but
rather why the entire things violate ethics and is a potent threat to
individual rights and a dangerous precendant. The issue here is ethics and
objective law. I'm not saying you should not criticize the MPAA or the
DVD-CCA or whatever, just stay to the point.

You can send me your pieces and I'll collect them and compile them. I may
edit them for some typos, grammar, etc. and send you the results for
verification. HTML formatting is OK, but don't write FrontPage-like line
noise, text that is to large or blinking, etc. Remember that the distro is
going to be preformatted.

3. The whole thing will be written using WML
(http://www.engelschall.com/sw/wml/) which is short for Website Meta
Language and has nothing to do with WAP or cell-phones. It is an HTML
generator which I'd like to try out, because I want to see if it is going
to be suitable for rendering the GIMP's homepage. (I'm a member of the
GIMP's web-site mailing list).

And this HTML hack is small enough to eventually revert to something else,
in case I find that WML sucks.

Like I said, there is going to be a configuration file, which the user
will be able to edit to change some of the site's behaviour.

4. I'd like to write a page with some DVD and DeCSS facts. Some facts are:

a. A DVD copier can copy a DVD even if it is encrypted.

b. DeCSS can be used for legitimately viewing a legally bought DVD.

c. A "legitimate" DVD player will play pirated DVDs without a problem.

d. DeCSS can be used to help decode a DVD movie, and convert it into an
MPEG stream of lesser quality and file size. However, this maybe used
legitimately to store a DVD on the hard-disk, in a similar manner that is
now done with mp3 files.

e. Internet bandwidth is growing. It is possible that very soon entire DVD
images will be able to be broadcasted on the Internet without being
decoded first. (I'll mention 40 Gbit/s per frequency Optical Fibers, and
10 Gbit/s electronic cables as well as 100 MBit/s ADSL).

f. Hard-disk capacity is growing.

g. Writing a "legitimate" DVD player is open to some restrictions:

http://www.visi.com/~tneu/mpaafaq.html#csslicenseterms

h. Unless the science of Cryptology is wrong, it has been proven that it
is impossible to create a failsafe copyright protection scheme.

I can't thing of anything else right now, but I'm open to suggestions.

5. A page dedicated to the possible implications of censoring program
source code and binaries and hyperlinks, as brought by Judge Kaplan's
decision.

6. Some general information about Hackers-IL.

7. Some other web-pages of interest, like history, links, etc.

I can't think of anything else right now, so I'll leave it at that. If
anybody wishes to receive snapshots of the site, please let me know, and
I'll form a small list of E-mails.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish        [email-masked]
Home Page:         http://t2.technion.ac.il/~shlomif/
Home E-mail:       [email-masked]

A more experienced programmer does not make less bugs. He just realizes
what went wrong more quickly.

---

From: Shlomi Fish <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 05:39:46 +0300 (EEST)

I now recall a lot of ideas I had for pages to add to the distro:

1. Distributed DeCSS for JavaScript - someone writes a server that will
multiplex the decoding of a DVD into a large number of browsers.
Naturally, the overhead of sending and receiving a packet from the network
is usually greater than the run-time of the C program, but it could prove
the point that DeCSS is more accessible now.

Note, that sending DVD packets of a copyrighted DVD is illegal. But if
someone is the legitimate owner of a DVD and has encrypted it with CSS, he
could basically do that.

2. Auto-DeCSS

That way the browser will download or generate a binary sequence without
asking the user and decrypts it for him. (possibly repeating itself). That
way, the question is: who violates the DMCA? The one who browses into the
site or the one who owns the site with the malicious code?

3. Assorted DeCSS for JavaScript web-boxes. They don't occupy too much of
the screen but they are enough to run it.

4. Assorted link images. GIMPers - anyone?

Some ideas:

* DeCSS Now! (literally)

* Have you violated the DMCA today?

Any other suggestions?

5. I'd like it to have a the possibility of specifiying an external URL as
the backend source. This has another intersting legal implication - if one
site contains the javascript code, and the other the HTML form that uses
it, who can be blamed for it?

Well, so long for now,

	Shlomi Fish

There is no IGLU Cabal! Its members distributed confidential information
by encrypting it with CSS, and some clever hacker managed to bypass it.