> "In the United States, whether one can use libdvdcss to decrypt DVDs is
> governed by Title I of the [WWW]Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
> ([WWW]17 U.S.C. Sec. 1201 et seq.) Although the law is technical, it
> need not frighten anyone. Decrypting DVDs is legal if the decryption is
> done to achieve interoperability of computer programs, such as the
> Linux/Ubuntu operating system. (See [WWW]17 U.S.C. Sec. 1201(f)) So, for
> instance, if you own a legally-purchased DVD and are trying to play it
> on your own computer with Ubuntu, using libdvdcss is legal because you
> are merely exercising the license that you acquired when you obtained
> the DVD. However, if you use libdvdcss for the purpose of circumventing
> copyright protection, such as for file sharing or redistributing the
> content, libdvdcss would be classed as an illegal 'circumvention
> device'. (For a more detailed description of the DMCA, see the
> [WWW]Wikipedia article). Because Canonical cannot know in advance what
> you intend to do with libdvdcss, it has decided not to include it in the
> regular Ubuntu repositories."

> that came from this URL:

> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FreeFormats

> So ... IF (and it's a big IF) Canonical is right, then possibly
> ByteWORKS could protect itself by including some kind of clause in the
> sales contract, to the effect that purchaser agrees to use libdvdcss
> only for legal purposes.  Would that be enough?  Probably, but what
> level of certainty is required here?