That’s the impression you’d get from news of a Norwegian teenager’s arrest (Reuters story) for allegedly cracking the ridiculously weak encryption used to keep people from reading unauthorized copies of DVDs.
There’s a war under way, folks. The entertainment industry says it’s about protecting intellectual property, and there’s some truth in that. But there’s something else going on, too — your right to read, view and listen to things in the Digital Age without having to pay each time, and ultimately your right not to have big companies know your reading, listening and viewing habits in more detail than your spouse knows. Stay tuned…