A huge setback for the recording industry's ongoing battle against 'illegal' ripping and copying of copyrighted media, Jon Johansen was found 'not guilty'. I loved the term "assassination of character" which was used to describe the prosecutor's tatics in trying to nail this guy.

Jon Lech Johansen, also known as DVD Jon, has been acquitted of charges over his development and distribution of DeCSS, a program that can be used to break the digital copy-protection mechanism of DVDs, his attorney said Tuesday.

The court found that Johansen was entitled to access information on a DVD that he had purchased, and was therefore entitled to use his program to break the code, attorney Halvor Manshaus said Tuesday.

Check out the full article at PCWorld.com.