DING DONG Jack is dead!

Jack Valenti, Hollywood's Lobbyist, Dies at Age 85

I don't take enjoyment in the death of another human, but this guy was quite the villain to hackers and coders everywhere. He suppressed the free speech of hacker magazine 2600, by filing a preliminary injunction under the DMCA.

DVD playing software is licensed out by the MPAA. When you buy a computer with DVD viewing software or buy a DVD player, a bit of money goes to the MPAA for use of a license to decrypt the CSS encoding and watch the DVD. Linux is a "free as in beer" so it costs nothing, there are many reasons for this, but suffice to say, Linux users didn't want to have to pay money for software to view a DVD that they'd already legally purchased. The MPAA was asked to provide a free Linux/Unix player to let people view the content of DVDs they'd paid money to watch. When the MPAA refused to deal with developers, and told them to use windows instead, the gauntlet was cast. One one side people who bought movies and just wanted to watch them on their computers at home, and on the other, a huge corporation unwilling to provide a simple program to allow viewers to watch the DVDs they'd already purchased. When DVD John, as he is now known all over the world, published the DeCSS to decrypt the CSS protection the MPAA tried to stop 2600 from printing it. Suddenly they began suing and shutting down hackers and strong-arming ISPs of people or sites which simply POSTED the information to the internet! By simply printing something, you could be charged. This is why my license plate frame says "Source code is free speech"

Jack is known for his quote,

If we have to file a thousand lawsuits a day,we'll do it.

Jack wanted to beat down people with the threat of lawsuit. People who wanted nothing more than to view a DVD they'd legally purchased. As time wore on, the lawsuits slowed because judges were less and less likely to uphold the idea of punishing someone for simply printing something.

I think I'll be wearing my "You don't know Jack" shirt tomorrow. (I'd find a pic, but its been discontinued) ... (as has he)