Jon Lech Johansen, the 21 year-old programmer who became known as DVD Jon following his release of DeCSS to bypass the copyright protection on DVD movies, has left his Norwegian homeland to join MP3.com and Linspire founder Michael Robertson's latest venture called MP3Tunes.

In a posting to his Web log Tuesday, Robertson said, "I've known Jon for a few years as an email acquaintance. I have always admired his work and his strength to stand up for what he believes is right. He doesn't advocate piracy, but does advocate consumers' rights to manage their own purchased content."

Robertson says Johansen contacted him about possible job opportunities in the United States working on consumer-oriented software. MP3Tunes is working on a new effort dubbed "Oboe" to bring music into the 21st century, Robertson explained, and thought Johansen was a perfect fit.

"Oboe is the code name for a significant new project we have underway that will launch before the end of the year. It's as momentous as anything I've ever done in my technical career, but I won't say more since I despise vaporware," Robertson hinted. "I know this project will be even better with Jon on board."

Johansen admits he doesn't specifically know what work he will be doing for MP3Tunes and Robertson, but says it will revolve around reverse engineering. Johansen made headlines earlier this year for bypassing the restrictions Apple built into the iTunes Music Store, and later for cracking the encoding used in Microsoft NSC streaming video format.

Despite his renegade work history, Johansen is still highly sought after. When news of his move to the United States hit the press, Johansen received countless job offers from the biggest names in the technology industry.

"I talked to him over lunch today and asked if he wanted to work at those other companies," Robertson wrote. "'Not really,' he replied in a typical minimalist Scandinavian-style reply, forcing me to ask why not. 'I want to work on open systems, which is why I came to you.'"