DeCSS NO LONGER A SECRET

The Register reports that DVD CCA (Copy Control Association) has given up on its attempt prevent the desemination of the DVD decryption law through a trade secrecy action. It had previously obtained a preliminary injunction against Californian publisher, Andrew Bunner, who had disclosed the DeCSS code. However, because of the wide spread availability of the code it simply became impossible to argue that it was a secret anymore.

The IPKat has mixed feelings. On the one hand the fact that something becomes public doesn't mean that a person who disclosed it when it was still secret should be let off the hook. On the other hand though, why should a person who's been placed under a duty of confidence be forced to stick to that when the rest of the world is at liberty to disclose the information that he is in possession of?

Some better-kept secrets here, here, here and here