Z:gnu-www-ja-free-digital-society--f8700e-Well, the movie companies didn/en

Well, the movie companies didn't leave it there. They went to the US congress and bought a law making that software illegal. The United States invented censorship of software in 1998, with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). So the distribution of that free program was forbidden in the United States. Unfortunately it didn't stop with the United States. The European Union adopted a directive, in 2003 I believe, requiring such laws. The directive only says that commercial distribution has to be banned, but just about every country in the European Union has adopted a nastier law. In France, the mere possession of a copy of that program is an offense punished by imprisonment, thanks to Sarkozy. I believe that was done by the law DADVSI. I guess he hoped that with an unpronounceable name, people wouldn't be able to criticize it. [laughter]