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DRM lobby tries to get HD DVD genie back into the bottle
IT Week ^ | May 1, 2007 | Tom Sanders

Posted on 05/01/2007 6:29:52 PM PDT by kenn5

A DRM licensing authority is strong-arming search engines, bloggers and open source advocates in a desperate attempt to stop the spread of a software key that discables copyright protections on Blu-ray and HD-DVD disks.

Copyright reform activist Cory Doctorow on Monday decided to remove the information from a group blog to which he contributes after he received a cease and desist letter from the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (AACS-LA).

The consortium is backed by technology vendors including IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Sony and the Walt Disney Company. It oversees the AACS digital rights management technology that is used on high definition DVDs.

The so-called processing keys that the blog published lets users disable the DRM technology that prevents users from copying the disks or from playing it on unlicensed equipment or software.

Doctorow isn't the first blogger to receive a legal order from the DRM technology group. Several other blogs have been ordered to remove references to the key and links to a forum where it was first disclosed. Google also has received legal threats from the company.

The crack first surfaced mid February a Doom 9 forum.

In an act of defiance, numerous bloggers have posted the key on their websites or linked to the website detailing the original crack. They also submitted such web pages to social news services such as Digg in an effort to spread the information to a wide audience.

Ultimately the AACS' campaign succeed in achieving the direct opposite of what it attempted. Instead of stopping it from spreading, it notified more people of the crack and methods explaining how to exploit it.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Pure geek news. However, it is an interesting discussion about censorship.
1 posted on 05/01/2007 6:29:54 PM PDT by kenn5
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To: kenn5

Interesting. And, in fact, the genie will NEVER AGAIN fit back into the bottle.


2 posted on 05/01/2007 6:56:39 PM PDT by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: kenn5
Are you saying copy write protection is censorship?
3 posted on 05/01/2007 7:01:39 PM PDT by JoeSixPack1
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To: dcwusmc
Yep, those codes have now circumnavigated the globe several times over.

DRM screwed the pooch. The more millions they spend, the more they lose. They just haven't figured it out yet. Sell it cheap, and let people rip it to home server (regardless of OS platform) and people will BUY the damn discs.

I don't have a problem buying media, I just have a problem with high cost (due to poorly thought out schemes such as DRM), and restrictions on equipment and software that can run it and what I can do with it.

4 posted on 05/01/2007 7:04:01 PM PDT by AFreeBird (Will NOT vote for Rudy. <--- notice the period)
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To: JoeSixPack1

Nope, not censorship (only government can censor), but a truly ill-conceived and moronic idea.


5 posted on 05/01/2007 7:06:51 PM PDT by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: AFreeBird

Absolutely. When you buy something, it is YOURS to do with as you will. Period.


6 posted on 05/01/2007 7:08:03 PM PDT by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: JoeSixPack1

Good question! Making a copy of a DVD is a copyright infrigement. However, is copying an encryption code illegal? We will have let the copyright lawyers figure that out.


7 posted on 05/01/2007 7:14:58 PM PDT by kenn5
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To: kenn5

Unless it’s been changed, the law permits you to make an archival copy of digital material. What this scheme does is prevent you from exercising that authority. Which is wrong on the face of it.


8 posted on 05/01/2007 7:29:24 PM PDT by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: kenn5

This is like trying to crush a handful of Jello. The tighter they squeeze, the further it squirts.


9 posted on 05/01/2007 7:31:20 PM PDT by Petronski (Fred.)
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To: kenn5

You said — “Pure geek news.”

Well, except for the fact that the older DVDs could be easily and regularly cracked, and it was thought that the newer ones were going to close that hole. But now, we see that the newer ones are going to be cracked, too...


10 posted on 05/01/2007 7:32:39 PM PDT by Star Traveler
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To: kenn5
I'm not a geek, but following this is funny, funny funny... Mash here

Note to Mod...the "Number" appears nowhere on the linked page, relax and laugh...

11 posted on 05/01/2007 7:33:58 PM PDT by TommyUdo (The De-Looks Shore Dinner)
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To: AFreeBird
They just haven't figured it out yet. Sell it cheap, and let people rip it to home server (regardless of OS platform) and people will BUY the damn discs.

I buy the 5.50 DVD's that Walmart has like candy bars .... good price , not worth stealing .... they can make a profit but it's in VOLUME sales.

12 posted on 05/01/2007 7:41:38 PM PDT by Centurion2000 (Killing all of your enemies without mercy is the only sure way of sleeping soundly at night.)
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To: kenn5

The format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is not even settled, but the encryption scheme is already busted.


13 posted on 05/01/2007 7:58:01 PM PDT by 6SJ7
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To: kenn5

There’s an article on Slashdot about how pages with the processing key are mysteriously disappearing. Some of the creative responses to the article are quite amusing.

As a side note, has anyone else found Slashdot almost unreadable anymore? It’s supposed to be “News for Nerds”, but it seems like you can’t have an article of any kind without foaming-at-the-mouth leftists turning it into a forum for pushing a Socialist agenda. Is anyone else as sick of the childishness as I am?


14 posted on 05/01/2007 8:03:48 PM PDT by Windcatcher (Earth to libs: MARXISM DOESN'T SELL HERE. Try somewhere else.)
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To: Windcatcher

I like www.digg.com for my geek news. This story has taken over this website and many other geek news sites. A geek internet revolution is escalating over this issue.


15 posted on 05/01/2007 8:26:50 PM PDT by kenn5
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To: Windcatcher

I have also seen this issue being referred to as “The Digital Boston Tea Party”.


16 posted on 05/01/2007 8:35:20 PM PDT by kenn5
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To: Petronski
The tighter they squeeze, the further it squirts.

...Gets my vote for Out-Of-Context Line Of The Day (OOCLOTD).

17 posted on 05/02/2007 7:16:58 AM PDT by Erasmus (This tagline on paid leave, pending investigation of its insider transactions.)
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To: All

BUMP


18 posted on 05/02/2007 7:51:37 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: kenn5

People like to make a copy of their DVDs. DVDs are defective on arrival. Many skip without even a smudge, and the smallest scratch ruins them. The DVD makers have taken away our ability to make a backup of their defective product, so the market provided one.


19 posted on 05/02/2007 8:01:34 AM PDT by mysterio
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