In another setback for free speech advocates, hacker magazine 2600 has lost its bid for an appeal of a ruling banning it from posting code that can be used to crack DVD copy protections.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals refused 2600's request to reconsider a ruling that prohibits the publication from posting or linking to code known as DeCSS.
The ruling, issued last week, is another blow to the efforts of some free speech proponents, journalists and researchers, who have argued that new copyright laws designed for the digital age are thwarting the free flow of information.
The major movie studios sued 2600 two years ago, alleging that the code contributed to copyright infringement and violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which bans the offering of programs that can be used to crack copyright protection schemes.
A federal judge agreed and sided with the Motion Picture Association of America. The Electronic Frontier Foundation appealed the case on 2600's behalf, but an appeals court panel upheld the ruling. 2600 then asked the full panel to reconsider that decision.
News source: Cnet
