Speaking in code: The quiet teen at the center of the DeCSS controversy

The Associated Press (via ABC News.com) profiles Jon Lech Johansen, who wrote the code that allows DVDs to be played on Linux and has prompted the Motion Picture Association of America to go after Web sites distributing the code. “At 57 kilobytes, the tiny program is no more than
the computer equivalent of a heartbeat. But what it
does is frightening to anyone with a financial stake
in the entertainment industry.

It enables you to copy movies off a DVD disc onto
your computer, obviating the need to buy a DVD
player. It also means you can send the movies
onto the Internet. As bandwidth increases it will
become easier and faster to download these
movies.”