Jon Lech Johansen
See also: Johansen
Jon Lech Johansen (born the November 18th 1983), known also under the nickname of DVD Jon , is a Norwegian which was implied in the diffusion of the software DeCSS. In 2002, it was accused for this reason in Norway; but was cleared of unspecified illegal behavior. A second lawsuit in 2003 had as an exit a second payment.
The DeCSS lawsuit
The legal proceeding was led by Økokrim, a unit of Norwegian investigation, after the complaint of DVD CCA (US DVD Copy Control Association) and of the MPAA (Motion Picture Association). Johansen denied to have written the code of DeCSS, affirming that this part of the project was originating somebody located in Germany. Its defense was ensured by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The lawsuit opened with the court of the district of Oslo the December 9th 2002 with Johansen pleading not-culprit of the counts of indictment who made him incur two years of prison a maximum sorrow or heavy fines. Defense argued that no illegal access had been obtained to information of whoever of other, since Johansen had DVD itself. Moreover, they pointed out that it was legal, under the Norwegian law, to make copies of such data for personal use. The verdict was announced the January 7th 2003, discharging Johansen of any charge.This being the verdict of the local court, two additional levels of call were still available for the charge. Økokrim recorded a call the January 20th 2003 and it was brought back the February 28th that the Court of Appeal agreed to hear the case. The March 5th 2003, the Court of Appeal affirmed that the arguments recorded by the additional cinema industry and evidence deserved another lawsuit.
The second lawsuit DeCSS de Johansen began in Oslo the December 2nd 2003, and led to its payment the December 22nd 2003. Økokrim announced the January 5th 2004 which it would not make any more call of the verdict.
Other projects
2001
In 2001, Johansen diffused OpenJaz, a whole of pilot retro-conceived for Linux, BeOS and Windows 2000 which make it possible to make function reader MP3 JazPiper without its pilots owners.
2003
In November 2003, Johansen diffused QTFairUse, a program Open Source which makes it possible to extract the raw data of a flow AAC QuickTime towards a file, which makes it possible to exceed the software of Gestion of the digital rights (DRM: DIGITAL Rigths Management in English or MTP: Average Techniques of Protection in French) used for the coding of the contents of the music resulting for example from ITunes Music Store, the online shop of Apple. Although rough files AAC resulting were illegible by the majority of the multimedia players at the time of the diffusion, they represented the first attempt at skirting of the method of coding of Apple.
2004
Johansen became a developer of VideoLAN, it retro-conceived FairPlay and wrote the support of FairPlay by VLC. It was in CVS of VideoLAN since January 2004, but the first public version supporting it is VLC 0.7.1 (diffused the March 2nd 2004).The April 25th 2004, Johansen diffused another program: DeDRMS. Written in C#, this program of 230 lines removes a protection against the copy.
The July 7th 2004, it diffused FairKeys, a program which can be used to recover the keys required by DeDRMS starting from the waiters even of iTunes Music Store.
The August 12th 2004, Johansen announced on its site that it broke the coding of AirPort Express of Apple making it possible to the users to diffuse a flow of files Apple Lossless with their AirPort Express.
The November 25th 2004, it diffused a program of Preuve of concept making it possible to the users of Linux (via VLC) to play of the vidéos encodées with codec owner WMV9 of Microsoft. Protections of Microsoft being broken, the users of Linux are from now on able to look at contents of high-quality WMV9, which was impossible before. It was a large projection knowing that Microsoft made pressure so that this codec is used in the next standard DVD.
2005
The March 18th 2005, Travis Watkins and Cody Brocious, with Johansen, wrote PyMusique, a program in Python making it possible to download songs bought on ITunes Music Store without coding DRM. That was made possible because the software ITunes of Apple adds protection DRM to the music files after their remote loading. The March 22nd, Apple diffused a Patch or corrrectif for ITunes Music Store blocking the use of PyMusique. The same day, an update of PyMusique was diffused, circumventing the modification.The June 26th 2005, Johansen less created a modification of the video player of Google (based on free video player VLC) than 24 hours after its setting on line, to make it possible to the users to play of the vidéos not lodged on the waiters of Google. The range of this modification was exaggerated by the media.
The September 2nd 2005, The Register published a news reporting that DVD Jon had broken the method of coding of Windows Media Player of Microsoft by retro-design, an algorithm owner openly used to protect the files Media Player NSC from the hackers sniffant the source of the files; Johansen also created and diffused a decoder.
2006
The October 25th 2006, true revolution in the field, Johansen broke the code of FairPlay, the technology of management of the digital rights of the American group Apple. This technology locked the musics and the vidéos downloaded on the site ITunes of Apple, preventing their use by other walkmen that the IPod. This technology of locking is disputed in France and in the Scandinavian countries, the latter being on the point of obliging by the law, Apple to make compatible its site to the other materials. An american company of San Francisco, Doubletwist, specialized in the software for numerical media, envisages to sell the program of Johansen under license.
2007
The July 4th 2007, hardly one week after the exit of the IPhone of Apple in the United States, Johansen achieves a new exploit while succeeding in activating this one without passing by Itunes (the network having exclusiveness iPhone in the United States), to be able to use a iPhone for the functions iPod (reading music and video) like for connection to Internet via Wi-Fi, but not for the telephone, it thus opens the way with others Hackers such as George Hotz which will find the means of freeing the jewel of Apple of its single operator (under franchise agreement) ATT.
External bond
- Blog de Jon Johansen
Zh-min-nan: Jon Lech Johansen