A company called Copyleft has a problem: It’s the subject of a huge lawsuit by the entertainment industry because of a T-shirt it created. Copyleft is in the same predicament as a 15-year-old from Norway who’s being threatened with lawsuits and jail time for figuring out a way to watch DVDs on his Linux system. 2600, the renowned hacker site, is under attack for posting the code to unencrypt DVDs.

The group taking these actions, the Motion Picture Association of America, is also suing magazines, Web sites and Internet users in an effort to prevent any form of speech that might disclose the process by which digital media can be copied. The MPAA, leaning on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, takes the position that any disclosure that would reveal information about how digital media is encrypted or otherwise protected is something the copyright holder can prohibit. In other words, if you figure out a way to make a backup copy of software on a CD, you could be sued or prosecuted.

The MPAA is trying to force into case law a principle that copyright holders not only can prohibit copying, but also any discussion, communication or research into the means of making copies, or of using material in a way copyright holders don’t approve in advance.