California court allows posting of DVD decrypt code

November 2, 2001

DeCSS, the code used to descramble DVDs, cannot be barred from publication, a California appeals court ruled Thursday. The code, whose initials stand for De-Contents Scramble System, the name of the encryption mechanism used to keep the contents of DVDs from being copied, had been barred from publication as part of a case brought by the DVD Copy Control Association (DVDCCA).