U.S.: DVD decoder is terrorware

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Author: JT Smith

Here’s Wired.com’s take on Tuesday’s DeCSS hearing. “To the U.S. government, a DVD descrambling utility is akin to terrorware that could crash airplanes, disrupt
hospital equipment and imperil human lives.

On Tuesday, an assistant U.S. attorney told a federal appeals court hearing arguments in the Universal Studios v. Reimerdes
et al case that the DeCSS utility, which the Motion Picture Association of America has sued to take off a website, should be
banned. Attorney Daniel Alter likened DeCSS to ‘software programs that shut down navigational programs in
airplanes or smoke detectors in hotels.’ He warned: ‘That software creates a very real possibility of harm.
That is precisely what is at stake here.’ ”