Saying yes to crack
Posted: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 9:31 AM by Will Femia
On Monday there was an item on Digg about a set of numbers that were the key to cracking the encryption on HD-DVDs and a note that the blogger had been sent a cease and desist letter to take down the numbers because they're top secret. I added this link to my notes but ended up leaving it out of yesterday's post because I only barely understand what the number is for and it seemed a bit too hacky for Clicked. (My impression is that the implication of the discovery of this number is that a lot of HD-DVD content is going to end up in a lot of file trading networks.) Well, wouldn't you know, the story blew up (see the comments on yesterday's entry). I mean noookular. As is often the case, it wasn't the crime so much as the cover up. The initial outrage was the idea that someone could be prevented from posting numbers on their own blog. It's just numbers after all. But the lawyer letters kept flying and Digg panicked a little and started deleting entries that contained the magic numbers. They might as well have burned a flag at a Veterans' Day parade.
Digg was flooded with entries containing the numbers, followed by t-shirts and coffee mugs and tattoos and people shaving it in their body hair. Well, OK, not quite that far, but still the world almost ended. The lesson seems to be that when hackers figure out your secret numbers, it's time to get new secret numbers. You'll never get that cat back in the bag. Here are the links I gathered late last night. Keep in mind that there's quite a bit of traffic flowing through this story so some of these will be slow to load or even temporarily crashed.
- Digg founder Kevin Rose tried to explain the situation but ultimately gave up. "[A]fter 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. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be."
- Digg surrenders to mob
- Was it worth it, Digg? (I reckon we have yet to see the answer to this question. If Digg is sued out of existence, it may not have been worth it.)
- At one point, in an effort to stem the tide of submission of the numbers that shall not be named, Digg turned off the story submission function.
- No Mercy - Digg out of control
- Google knows the numbers
- Digg users flee to Reddit
- On a shirt or mug
- I'm not sure, but I think this is what it looks like when the numbers are translated to color codes.
- It has its own URL now.
- The numbers hidden in a math riddle
- Added to the signature of message board posters
- The numbers as a screen saver
- Many folks are emboldened by Wired's publishing of the numbers. Also here. Surely they have lawyers who would have stopped them - or so goes the reasoning.
- Hard to read, but this is a shot of the Digg Technology channel flooded with entries related to the numbers.
- Part of the tough spot Digg administrators are in is that HD DVD is a sponsor of their regular video show.
- "Witness the modern equivalent of the 95 thesis' Martin Luther nailed to the door of Wittenburg church. We, digital citizens --commonly referred to by the vulgar term of 'consumers' -- have had enough of content lock-in. We've bought and re-bought entertainment media -- repackaged and regurgitated digital vomitus -- until we're blue in the face. We've been told time and time again that DRM is for our own protection, and we're finally and inconsolably fed up."
- BBC coverage of the story: DVD DRM row sparks user rebellion
Something I still need a little help understanding is how this new release is different from the Cory Doctorow/Doom9 crack. From this item posted back in January and freshly updated I gather these new numbers are much easier than what was previously out there?
I'm seeing the story covered everywhere now. I don't want to be redundant but I'll add new links here if I see something interesting develop.
ADDING: Rebecca mails the link to the coverage at Consumerist, which has much better screen captures of the Digg takeover. And also points out that this Wired link (also in the above list) is what started it all. The Wired piece is dated February 13, 2007, so to answer my question above, this appears to be the same as the Doom9 key. Now that I've read it more closely I recommend it as a good way of understanding what this is all about.
The new crack follows that from earlier this year, when a hacker by the name of muslix64 broke the AACS system as it applied to each movie. While the earlier hack led to 100 HD-DVD titles and a small number of Blu-Ray movies being decrypted one-by-one, the so-called "processing keys" covers everything so far made.
ONE MORE: This entry and the links it contains shows the early stages of the Diggquake.
AND: Singing the numbers
Are the takedown notices legal? The question seems to be at what point the numbers constitute code or some kind of instructional communication.
