James Delahunty
3 May 2007 14:52
The group responsible for the licensing of the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) copy protection present on Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD movies, AACS LA, has literally attempted to banish a string of letters and numbers from the Internet. The sequence of letters and numbers that is the headline can be allegedly used as a "processing key" to decrypt several HD DVD movie titles.
Recently this 32-hexadecimal digit code got a lot of attention, particularly on Digg.com, and it seems that AACS LA got angry about it and decided to test the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Attorneys for the group issued letters to multiple Web sites and services, including search engines, demanding the removal of the "key".
"It is our understanding that you are providing to the public the above-identified tools and services at the above referenced URL," reads one letter sent to Google, "and are thereby providing and offering to the public a technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof that is primarily designed, produced, or marketed for the purpose of circumventing the technological protection measures afforded by AACS (hereafter, the "circumvention offering"). Doing so constitutes a violation of the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act."
Some sources that had been featured and popular on Digg.com were initially removed. At the time, Digg CEO Jay Adelson wrote, "We've been notified by the owners of this intellectual property that they believe the posting of the encryption key infringes their intellectual property rights. In order to respect these rights and to comply with the law, we have removed postings of the key that have been brought to our attention.Our goal is always to maintain a purely democratic system for the submission and sharing of information," Adelson said.
He continued: "We want Digg to continue to be a great resource for finding the best content. However, in order for that to happen, we all need to work together to protect Digg from exposure to lawsuits that could very quickly shut us down." The accounts of the users who originally submitted it to Digg were also suspended. This led to an outcry from Digg users, which was loud enough for the company to change its mind.
"Today was a difficult day for us. We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease and desist declaration. We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code. But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear. You'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company," said Digg founder Kevin Rose in a blog post later, with the key in the title.
"If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying," he concluded. Many feel that this attempt from AACS LA was over the top, and judging by Google results while searching for the key now, it only served to make the key more widespread. Whether the key is even useful with newer or upcoming titles is irrelevant, it is not a decryption tool, it's a string of text.
Many of the users in our community feel frustrated by the limitations that systems such as AACS impose on legitimate customers. Right now, for example, some have a goal of getting their HD DVD discs playing on Linux, whether the AACS LA approves or not. The response to the misuse of the DMCA by the AACS LA attorneys should serve as a lesson to the group.
Sources:
Betanews
Inquirer
Spread This Number!
Google Search Results
Digg Blog