Riad S. Wahby wrote:
I'm not agreeing with the DMCA, or with the judge's decision regarding DeCSS. Neither are palatable, to say the least. The original question was "can this be done legally." The answer is: if someone paid to develop a licensed implementation of the DVD standard, yes. I don't know of any commercial software that will read the data from the DVD and spit out the raw data, encrypted or not, for writing to a CD. The DVD CCA would never license such a piece of software---its use is too clearly geared towards backup or, as they see it, piracy.
The DVDCCA license requires that DVD equipment never allow access to the raw digital data. http://www.dvdcca.org/data/css/css_proc_spec11.pdf It is also quite evident that the MPAA was planning to use CSS as a 'hook' to force DVD player/software/equipment manufacturers to sign this license. Essentially creating a licensing regime protected by law. http://www.wipo.org/eng/meetings/1999/wct_wppt/pdf/imp99_3.pdf This ties in nicely with the content manufacturers' dream of a tamed digital environment where neither piracy nor fair use is possible, and everything is pay-per-view, controlled and metered. http://www.4centity.com/data/tech/cpsa/cpsa081.pdf -- LarsG http://eurorights.org