This has been an intresting day not only for technology, but also for the power of the masses on the internet.
The processing key for all HD-DVDs and Blue Ray disks was cracked, and leaked onto the internet today. This relativly short hexidecmial code allows all copy protected HD-DVDs and Blue Ray disks to be unscrambled to a hard drive, and fruther manipulated.
The MPAA, and the AACS (the company who created the copy protection on HD-DVD's) were completly shocked...and not very happy to hear the news.
AACS started a rather unique defense strategy....
Everyone was waiting for lawyers to put on their battle gear and go hunting with cease and decist orders, and a thirst for blood....but they didn't just direct their attention at the hacker who descrambled the code.
They tried to remove the code from the internet, sending decease and decist orders to blogging websites, and anyone else who mentioned the code online ordering them to immediatly take it down.
The biggest site, Digg.com, known for their freedom and system of promoting or "burrying" an article removed all blog entries with the code, and banned the user who submitted it.
Intrestingly enough, the code has spread like wild fire...currently the top five pages at dig are all posts including the code...sometimes hidden in jokes, or audio files.
The MPAA is currently in panic mode, and is trying to track down the original cracker...like they did when the CSS code was cracked on regular DVDs.
(Danish police in riot gear raiding a house of a 19 year old computer programmer at the request of the MPAA; and he was sentenced to five years in jail)
The intresting difference between the cracking of regular DVDs and HD-DVDs is that only a number has been released. Undoubtablly this will cause some issues in court when it eventually gets there. Usually software to exploit something must be created in order to issue a cease and decist order...but a number is something completly different.
The original leaker must be mighty nervous right now, and probably is erasing his hard drive as I write this.
But in the end it is a pointless argument, freedom of speech on the internet vs. copy protection.
Congrats AACS, you did exactly opposite of what you wanted to do.
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