[NOTE: This is the original text of the article I wrote for Pigdog
Journal on 2000-2-16. Some people asked that I include it in the
package, so viola, here it is. Verbatim copies may be made, as long as
all copyright notices are preserved intact. -Mr. Bad]

Pigdog Journal DeCSS Distribution Center
2000-2-16 16:17:23

By Mr. Bad

Hey, so, I've been really mad about the recent spate of horrible witch
hunts by the MPAA against people who use, distribute, or even LINK TO
sites that distribute DeCSS, a piece of software used for playing DVDs
on Linux. The MPAA has got a bee in their bonnet about this
DeCSS. They think it's good for COPYING DVDs, which, in fact, it's
totally useless for. But they're suing everybody ANYWAYS, the
bastardos! Go look at OpenDVD.org to find out lots more about this
really despicable travesty.

Anyways, I feel like I need to do something. I've been talking about
the the whole travesty here on Pigdog Journal, of course, and helped
with the big flier campaign here in SF and everything, but I feel like
I should do something more, like help redistribute the DeCSS software.

There are a lot of problems with this, obviously. First and foremost,
Pigdog Journal is a collaborative effort, and I don't want to bring
down the legal shitstorm on the rest of the Pigdoggers just because
I'm a Free Software fanatic. Also, I'm a total chicken, and don't want
to go to court.

So, I decided that if I couldn't distribute DeCSS, I would distribute
DeCSS. Like, I could distribute another piece of software called
DeCSS, that is perfectly legal in every way, and would be difficult
for even the DVD-CCA's lawyers to find fault with.

So that's what I'm doing. I wrote a small utility called "DeCSS" that
strips Cascading Style Sheet tags from an HTML document. Yes, agreed,
that's pretty much USELESS, but what the fuck. Maybe somebody wants to
do that. AND it makes the name of the software much more plausible.

Let me make this absolutely clear: THE LINKS BELOW DO NOT GO TO THE
DeCSS SOFTWARE FOR DVDS. You cannot find that software on this
site. This is a completely DIFFERENT DeCSS.  Same name, different
software. Go ahead and download the software and check it out. A
cursory review will show that it's not the same software at all.

I encourage you to distribute DeCSS on your Web site, if you have
one. I think of this as kind of an "I am Spartacus" type thing. If
lots of people distribute DeCSS on their Web sites, on Usenet
newsgroups, by email, or whatever, it'll provide a convenient layer of
fog over the OTHER DeCSS.  I figure if we waste just FIVE MINUTES of
some DVD-CCA Web flunkey's time looking for DeCSS, we've done some
small service for The Cause.

[And a brief note for said Web flunkey: d00d, what are you DOING? How
can you possibly be doing this job of searching around the Web and
pointing fingers at people for trying to distribute free software?
What is the matter with you? Have you no respect for the many hackers
that have come before you, who built up this Web that is making you a
living? How can you participate in this ugly, ugly action? If you feel
you need to do it to keep your job, think again. Send me email, and
I'll personally help you to find a better job, with better pay, and
WAY better karma. You need to walk away from this crappy gig while you
still have some scrap of dignity. Hell, if you walk away, you can be a
HERO! Think about that for a second, man!]

Anyways, so, DeCSS. The first version is version 0.05, and is
available at one of the links below.  You'll need perl 5.x, of course,
but you probably knew that already. There's installation instructions
in the README file in the packages.

[...]

The software is (C) 2000, Mr. Bad of Pigdog Journal,
(http://www.pigdog.org/). It's distributed under the Artistic License,
the same license that perl is distributed under. PLEASE mirror this
software on your Web site! Send it where you want! Use a skywriting
plane to print out the code in smoke!

If you don't feel like copying the DeCSS code to your machine, just
link to this page, "http://www.pigdog.org/decss/". That's something
you could get in big trouble for for the other DeCSS software, what
with the hysterical attitude of the MPAA and all.

[...]

Start spreadin' the love, eh? And FUCK the MPAA.

---
Copyright (C) 1998-2000, Pigdog Journal, http://www.pigdog.org/
