Teen DVD Hacking Trial Over

[JackSpratts]

Judge to issue ruling soon.

OSLO, Norway--The landmark trial of a Norwegian teenager over Hollywood charges of DVD piracy ended Monday with prosecutors urging a suspended 90-day jail term.

Jon Johansen, known in Norway as "DVD Jon," is charged with having unlocked a copyright-protection code and distributed a computer program enabling unauthorized copying of DVD movies, angering U.S. movie studios who fear mass piracy and loss of revenue.

The defense focused on Johansen's copying of DVDs he already owned. "The thief who breaks into his own flat is not committing any crime," Johansen's lawyer, Halvor Manshaus, told the Oslo court in his closing argument of the case--seen as a battle between cyber Davids and corporate Goliaths.

Johansen, 19, has become an icon for those who say making software like his is an act of intellectual freedom rather than theft. Johansen wrote the DeCSS program, which unwraps the copy protection found on DVDs, when he was 15.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-978009.html

- js.