Digg losing control of their site (HD-DVD encryption keys were posted)

InfoWorld ^ | May 1, 2007 | Kevin Railsback

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

The folks at Digg.com have let the social news genie out of the bottle, and now they can't control it. Since the HD-DVD encryption code was discovered and published, readers at Digg have been repeatedly submitting stories with the 16 digit hex code in the titles and bodies. Just as quickly as these posts crawl up the Digg charts, admins seem to be deleting them.

Just search Google for 09 F9 and you'll find the key. Will AACS send a Cease and Desist to InfoWorld because I posted the text "09 F9"? If so, we might as well give up on this whole Internet thing right here and now.

Can a simple, short string of numbers and letters (the full key) really be copyrighted? And is Digg.com receiving a proper takedown notice for each case, or are they taking things into their own hands and deleting posts willy-nilly?

The same sort of thing happened when the DeCSS code came out - I even have a t-shirt with the code printed on it. This just goes to show how useless the DMCA is, and how information cannot be controlled, and that DRM will never truly work.

~ snip ~

[HAL9000]

In the tech wars, I can’t see any way around this than to decode it all from digital to analog in a trusted dongle, encased in some impervious material that would require the resources of a CIA to bust into without destroying the electronics.

Something like that is available. It's called HDCP.

[JerseyHighlander]

Blu-Ray has also been cracked by the same group of hobbiests.

Matter of fact, the original forum conversation that lead to the coding of the program that lead to the crack has also been posted on FR, DU, fark, littlegreenfootballs, boing boing, wizbang, etc. Easily ten’s of millions of eyeballs have seen the hex codes and the cracking software.

It is available on 100’s of Chinese language websites, just go to Baidu.com and plug in that hex code.

There are entirely too many lawyers in the US. That the concept of judicial control of a hex code has been even contemplated as being ethical or legal, and any court has given them standing, is utterly ridiculous.

Like the generation who lived through Prohibition, the generations coming of age now will live life never trusting the color of law, when the law is so askew of the human condition there is no way to not be a scofflaw. (Or a felon, since distributing these hex codes can be considered a federal felony under DMCA.)

[B-Chan]

Too expensive. Besides, no one's going to want analog media.

Hollywood (and Nashville) had better face up to the fact that there is no way to produce uncrackable digital media. They're just going to have to figure out some other way to make money. I think one good way would be for them to allow individuals to produce their own works based upon studio properties in exchange for a license fee. For example, instead of trying to make money selling Star Trek DVDs, Paramount could sell cheap licenses to private individuals who then make their own Star Trek movies.

[burzum]

In the tech wars, I can’t see any way around this than to decode it all from digital to analog in a trusted dongle, encased in some impervious material that would require the resources of a CIA to bust into without destroying the electronics. Most of the revenue would come from selling the dongles.

Actually, if I remember correctly from a non-linear dynamics and chaos class I took a little while back, you can use mathematical chaos in an analog system to link two dongles. One dongle uses mathematical chaos to encode and the identical is able to read it. It is sort of bizarre though there is a good diagram in this book. In this way you could make your dongle that could be dissembled without affecting the integrity of other dongles.

[HiTech RedNeck]

That is still pretty lame because it depends partly on software running on an unsealed box. Vista? Yawn.

[fella]

RIAA, AACS DeCSS, DMCA, DRM, MPAA, HEX code, RIAA,???????

Man, all this alphabet soup is just Geek to me.

[Star Traveler]

You said — “Like the generation who lived through Prohibition, the generations coming of age now will live life never trusting the color of law, when the law is so askew of the human condition there is no way to not be a scofflaw.”

—

Well, I came of age a long time ago, and this includes me...

[HiTech RedNeck]

At some point you do want an analog signal. It goes to the speakers and to the picture screen.

[fatboynic]

ping

[Star Traveler]

You said — “Man, all this alphabet soup is just Geek to me.”

—

Ummmm..., you’re kidding?? If not, then —

RIAA — Recording Industry Association of America

AACS — Advanced Access Content System

DeCSS — CSS - Content-Scrambling System [DeCSS = program to decrypt it, or a verb...]

DMCA — Digital Millennium Copyright Act

DRM — Digital Rights Management

MPAA — Motion Picture Association of America

HEX code — Base 16 number system; convenient for use in Base 2 (computer language); 0,1,2,3,4,5,6.7.8.9,A,B,C,D,E,F [the “numbers” of Base 16]; you can quickly translate from Base 2 to Base 16 and back again.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

BAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gonzo]

Thanks, guys, but I was serious about the reel-to-reel tapes!

I know - I’m hopelessly stuck-in-the-60’s technology.

I don’t even know what a ‘Blue-Ray’ is. I thought it was one of those big beetle-like things that people stick in their ears.

Most of my albums (those 12” Diameter vinyl discs) have only been played once, to record on tape, and I can get them on CDs OK. The tapes are still a problem, though.

Thanks for listening ............... FRegards

[JerseyHighlander]

True enough, i misspoke, should have something like “those generations that endured through these times”.

I hadn’t looked at this since the first days the crack was made public,, back in January. Took me all of five minutes here to web search several dozen websites hosting the backup program. Servers located worldwide.

Google should be getting a cease and desist order any day now.

[peyton randolph]

Google should be getting a cease and desist order any day now.

---

Which is particularly funny b/c Google ignores legit IP claims...it will respond with a middle finger to MPAA, RIAA, et al. for a nastygram telling it to remove Hex code for infringement.

[HAL9000]

You can digitize those tapes, and use some audio processing software to clean them up. It’s amazing to see a giant pile of tape reels reduced to an iPod.

[HAL9000]

Google should be getting a cease and desist order any day now.

They already got one. It is published here.

[Star Traveler]

You originally said — “I need help converting my old 7” reel-to-reel tapes over to those plastic CD thingys.”

And then — “Thanks, guys, but I was serious about the reel-to-reel tapes!”

—

Well, you need an analog to digital converter, which may be your sound card in your computer. I don’t know if you need something additional, if the sound card is not sufficient or up to the task. I don’t use a PC, I use a Mac, but “in principal” it’s all the same.

You take the line out of your tape deck to line in to your Analog-to-Digital converter and run it through some sound program on your computer (you’ll have to hunt around for that; don’t know what you need).

I don’t know if you’ll need to run the line through some amp or not, to boost the signal. Can’t tell you. I know on my LP records, I’ve got to run it through a pre-amp or it just won’t work. Whether it’s a turntable or a tape deck, the principal is the same.

Continuing... the sound program may be able to do some other things to the sound that is coming in (either as it comes in or after it’s saved on the computer). It could clean up some noise if that’s on there). I would imagine that you want the highest quality of sound, but I don’t know exactly what that would be, as far as the highest quality from your tapes. You’re not going to want to keep the computer files in uncompressed form, I don’t imagine (they’ll take up way too much room, unless you’re really serious about not compressing the sound files). I know that the Mac can have “lossless compression” to about 1/4 of uncompressed (it’s either 1/4 or 1/2; can’t quite remember now...).

If these tapes were serious recording and of the highest quality, then perhaps I would keep the originals in lossless compression. And then I would have my everyday use of them with some higher compression like MP3 or AAC.

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/aac/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding

AAC is not proprietary to Apple, but iTunes uses AAC. So, it’s used on a lot of iPods. So, I think the AAC compression is a lot better than MP3 and AAC is getting more popular all the time. And what did I just hear about MP3? Did someone claim a patent on it??!! Or what?

You say that you can get your LPs to CD okay, but that you have a problem with the tapes. I’m not sure why... Everything else should be the same, except instead of a turntable, you’ve got a tape deck. Have you tried it and it didn’t work?

Okay, I just grabbed a couple of links that are related to either LP or tapes. They should contain enough information to help you hunt further...

http://www.cyberwalker.com/columns/feb02/150202.html

http://www.dak.com/reviews/Tutorial_LP.cfm

There are probably better links, but I didn’t spend a whole lot of time looking... :-)

Don’t know if that helps or not.

[Redcloak]

“09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0” would certainly make for an interesting tagline.

[restornu]

I lost the audio to my DVD

[Star Traveler]

You said — “I lost the audio to my DVD”

—

Well, don’t worry; you think you’ve got problems, digg.com just about lost their web site tonight.., over 16 numbers... [ 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 ]... :-)