Today much of the h2k crowd had gone back to Oklahoma, San Francisco, and other scattered points around the globe, so the audience at the trial was smaller. Nonetheless, by the end of the morning, we filled up most of the seats.
A lot of time today was spent on the development of DeCSS: was it intended for Linux? For Windows? For piracy? For the development of open source drivers?
Frank A. Stevenson, who wrote the first cryptanalysis of CSS, talked some about the weaknesses of CSS and about his contributions to the livid mailing list. But on cross-examination, the plaintiffs' lead attorney wanted to show that his knowledge wasn't as useful or as in depth as we might like, by asking about the degree of his involvement in the development of DeCSS and the Linux sources.
Which brings us to today's trial highlight...
Attorney for the plaintiffs: Leon Gold
Witness for the Defense: Frank Stevenson
Gold: So you only posted those three things to the [livid] mailing list.
Stevenson: Yes, only those three.
Gold: And you didn't write DeCSS yourself.
Stevenson: No, I didn't.
Gold: And do you have any knowledge of who did write DeCSS?
Stevenson: {pause] Yes, I do.
Gold: [apparently perplexed] And what is that?
Stevenson: I know someone who claims to have written it.
Gold: And who is that individual?
Stevenson: [longer pause] Actually he is present in the courtroom today.
Gold: Please point out the individual.
Stevenson: Jon Johansen.
And sure enough, there he was, sitting quietly on the bench next to his dad. I think we all had visions of the bailiff being ordered to 'seize that man!' Fortunately, the only thing they did was boot him out of the courtroom on the grounds that he might be a witness later on.
And at 11:00 I toddled off to work, head full of legal jargon with only about 2 brain cells left for the PKI work I'm actually paid to do.