Exhibit Description

Anonymous

C source code





Hoy filing This is the source code for the CSS descrambling algorithm that was posted anonymously to the LiViD mailing list in October 1999. The C code was supposedly written by someone who disassembled a software DVD player to uncover the descrambling algorithm. It was this posting that led Frank Stevenson to conduct his analysis of the CSS encryption scheme. The code was subsequently included in an unsealed (whoops!) legal filing by John Hoy, president of the DVD-CCA, in the California trade secret lawsuit against Andrew McLaughlin and 92 other defendants. Guess it's not a trade secret anymore. More about that here.

css_descramble.c or shortest-anonymous.c or Videolan's dvd_css.c or vobdec.cpp These are different C implementations of the descrambling algorithm. css_descramble.c, by Derek Fawcus, is part of the css-auth package, which is a component of LiViD, a Linux DVD player. It is interesting to compare this implementation with the anonymous C source code to see how they differ in strategy. Fawcus' version uses fewer tables, and unrolls one of the loops. Such a comparison is only possible by examining the source code. Yet another implemenation, with only a single table, was produced by Frank Stevenson, and is less than 2,000 characters long. A group of computer scientists from the École Centrale Paris have produced an open source DVD player called Videolan; its decryption module is here.

Anonymous

SML code This is a translation of the Anonymous C source code into Standard ML, a functional programming language popular among theoretically-oriented computer scientists. Since the code is purely functional, the author of this translation, a Carnegie Mellon undergraduate, says: Coupled with the ML definition, it's no stretch to think of it as a mathematical formula rather than a "device". Are mathematical formulas still protected speech? The student is taking no chances; he's asked to remain anonymous.

Mathematical

description and Mathematical

proof Another mathematical description of the decryption algorithm, by Charles M. Hannum, who writes: "The mathematical description ... is very similar to how things like FFT algorithms are presented in journals. These are clearly scholarly works, and are vital to progress -- e.g. in the area of signal processing. And yet, even an average programmer can easily translate such a description directly into code." Hannum's description inspired Ralph Loader to use the LEGO proof development system to generate a proof that any CSS-encrypted text can be decrypted. According to Loader: "a deep mathematical result called the Curry-Howard isomorphism ... relates mathematical proofs and computer programs. Applied to the theorem I proved, Curry-Howard states that any proof of that theorem is in fact a program implementing CSS. The theorem proving tool I used (LEGO) can actually run this program - albeit very inefficiently." Maybe theorem provers should be illegal too.

Merlin and Robby

explain Hannum's

decryption formula:

Javascript or

VBScript These Javascript and VBScript routines use animated Microsoft Agents Merlin and Robby to explain Charles Hannum's CSS decryption formula to you. You must access these pages using Internet Explorer after having downloaded the agent software and character definitions from here. Maximize the browser window for best effect. Animation courtesy of anonymous contributor anniepoo. If you don't run Windows, just view the source files to see the dialog.

page1.gif

page2.gif

page3.gif Screen dump of the CSS descrambling code. This is not the source code; it's a picture of the source code. These GIF files are not directly readable by a C compiler. However, a human looking at these images could certainly type the C code into a text file. Or the files could perhaps be converted automatically, by an OCR program. Are these page images considered an illegal "circumvention device" under the DMCA? Or, since they're not executable, are they protected speech?

new-language.txt Here is an implementation of the descrambling algorithm in a new programming language for which no compiler currently exists. This language, similar to C, was invented by Dave Touretzky. Since the code in this form is not executable, it is presumably protected speech. But if someone writes a compiler for this language, would Dave Touretzky then become liable for trafficking in a circumvention device under section 1201 of the DMCA?

plain-english.html A description of the descrambling algorithm in plain English, written by Dave Touretzky. This description is not machine readable, but it can easily be translated into C code by a knowledgeable C programmer. It could not be translated by a non-programmer, or a machine. Is it therefore protected speech? If natural language processing technology advances to the point that a machine could translate this English text into executable code, could the text then be suppressed under the DMCA?

english-and-c.html Another version of the descrambling algorithm in plain English, but this time each line is annotated with the equivalent statement written in the C language. This description is not directly machine readable because the C code is interspersed with English text and HTML formatting instructions. But the C code can easily be extracted from the document, and this requires less skill than translating the English into C. Can this text document therefore be suppressed under the DMCA?



DeCSS T-shirt

or

qrpff t-shirt

from CopyLeft





qrpff tie

from

The Digital Group The source code for css_descramble.c was available on the back of this t-shirt from CopyLeft. (Don't try ordering from them now.) Copyleft was sued for their trouble. Also offered: "I am a circumvention device" t-shirt with the qrpff Perl code on the front. The Digital Goroup was offering this qrpff tie, with the Perl decryption code. Click here for a close-up view. Are sales of these clothing items banned under the DMCA? Would merely wearing one of these in public constitute "trafficking in a circumvention device" as defined in section 1201 of the DMCA?

css-auth

inspired

audio CD A CD called Circumvention Device offers "an MP3 compilation of sound artists and musicians from around the world using the css_descramble.c source code as an artistic element in their work," courtesy of Chicago-based art and technology center Deadtech. Tracks may also be downloaded directly from the web site.

DVD logo

in css-auth source This DVD logo formed out of the characters in the css-auth source was generated by someone using the MosASCII tool created by Robert DeFusco. The intensity changes are accomplished by changing the font color every few characters. To view the entire source, click on "Select All" from your browser's Edit menu.

Yahoo greeting card Someone sent me a Yahoo electronic greeting card with the source code for css_descramble.c as the message (plus a two-for-one coupon for a Slurpee). Yahoo greeting cards expire after 60 days, so this file would have been good through the end of October, 2000, but Yahoo pulled it on September 13 after the Salon article referenced it.

2001 Onteora

High School

yearbook Erik Michaels-Ober included a piece of the css-auth source in his 2001 Onteora High School yearbook entry, along with a quote from Thomas Jefferson: "The people are the only sure reliance for preservation of our liberty." What's remarkable is that Erik didn't sneak the code into the yearbook; he explained his motivations and received official permission from the school to publish it.

The New York Times linked to 2600 magazine's list of DeCSS mirrors in a CyberLaw Journal column published on April 28, 2000. Such a link may be illegal according to Judge Kaplan's ruling, although this affidavit by Richard J. Meislin, editor in chief of New York Times Digital, says it is "sound and appropriate journalism".