California Courts Flip to Bar Posting of DVD-Copying Software
A California court, like its electorate, has a right to change its mind, and apparently has done so. According to CNET News, the California Supreme Court overturned its earlier decision and disallowed the online posting of software that would enable the decryption and copying of DVDs. As the Court put it, "We do not see how any speech addressing a matter of public concern is inextricably intertwined with and somehow necessitates disclosure of DVD CCA's trade secrets." In other words, intellectual property rights are real when they violate clear boundaries of commercial ownership. This will certainly help to frame the digital rights management debate more firmly in favor of protecting ownership rights against code crackers, but still leaves open the broader issues surrounding how people may reuse commercial content legitimately without resorting to hacking.