---
title: Cracking DVDs
date: "2001-03-16T12:00:00Z"
categories:
  - links
wp_id: 1846
description: MIT students wrote a tiny seven-line program to unscramble protected DVDs, sparking a landmark legal debate over whether source code should be legally protected as a form of freedom of expression.
keywords: [dvd decryption, decss, free speech, source code, copyright law, mit]
---

Two MIT students have written a 7-line program that [unscrambles protected DVDs](http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2693768,00.html). It's [downloadable](http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Gallery/). The legal issue is whether source code deserves protection on par with freedom of expression.