regions and legalities

[Jonathan Locke]

i'm not sure if this is the right list for this question, but if it's not
maybe someone knows what list i should post to.  i'm an open source author
(jakarta regexp, wicket) and i'm starting up a small company and we want to
use videolan in our project to play dvds (in an applet in a web browser,
which means i'm interested in finding a way to help the java bindings for
videolan along somehow).  but we want to respect the current interpretation
of the law as much as we can.  frankly, i don't understand exactly what
we're being asked to do by the MPAA and friends, but it appears that if we
use videolan to create a product that doesn't restrict playing to a given
region, we might be in violation of US law (DMCA?).  is there a source where
i can get a definitive answer to that question?  what are other companies
doing in terms of integrating videolan into their public-facing projects?
did google switch from videolan to macromedia because of decss issues?
finally, is it easy or even possible to tie videolan to a single region so
it works like a regular dvd player?  that seems like the right solution in
the current environment because it seems like it couldn't possibly be
problematic for us legally.  of course, with the MPAA who knows what will be
illegal tomorrow... thanks!

    jon
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