29 April 2013

Why Watching DVDs on Linux is Illegal in the USA

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) makes unlocking cell phones, ripping DVDs, removing eBook DRM, and jailbreaking tablets illegal in the USA. However, there’s another surprise: simply watching a DVD on Linux is also illegal.


Tux, the Linux penguin 

This is why Ubuntu and other Linux distributions don’t include out-of-the-box DVD support, forcing you to run a command that downloads and installs libdvdcss from elsewhere – not the Linux distribution’s software repositories, or they would get in trouble.

If you are an American who’s watched a DVD on Linux, there’s a good chance the DMCA makes you a criminal.
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