DeCSS

DeCSS

(DEcrypt CSS) Software that breaks the CSS copy protection system used on DVD movies and decrypts the encrypted data. It allows DVDs to be copied to a PC, which can then be viewed from the hard disk, uploaded to someone else or burned onto a DVD-R or DVD-RW.

Hacked By a 15-Year Old
The software was engineered through a hacker network known as MoRE (Masters of Reverse Engineering) that obtained some of the CSS code. It was completed by 15-year-old Jon Lech Johansen, a Norwegian student, ostensibly to play DVDs on his Linux machine. However, Johansen released the final version over the Internet in late 1999, causing considerable dismay to the DVD movie industry. Other "DVD ripping" programs, such as DVD Decrypter, were later created by different parties. See CSS.