AACS Update Cracked Before It Even Hits The Market

from the banging-your-head-against-the-wall dept

Fri, May 18th 2007 1:31pm — Carlo Longino

The AACS copy-protection technology on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs was supposed to represent a brave new world of DRM that was not only difficult for people to circumvent, but pointless to circumvent as well, since it has features that allow for the revocation and replacement of cracked keys. So when AACS was cracked a few months ago, as pretty much every DRM technology is, it wasn't supposed to be a big deal. Of course, the fact that the group behind AACS absolutely freaked out when people started posting a key online seemed to undermine that contention. Now, the first discs featuring an AACS update that revokes the cracked keys are about to come out -- but the update has already been cracked too. This case of cat-and-mouse highlights the futility and wasted resources inherent to creating and supporting DRM and treating your customers like criminals, as opposed to channeling those resources into delivering them products they want through business models they like. Expect the group behind AACS to soon say that this isn't a big deal, and in three months, it will issue a new update revoking these keys -- and then that update will get broken, and so on and so on. The end result will be copy protection that doesn't work, and plenty of wasted time, energy and money.

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18 Comments

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DSM, 18 May 2007 @ 2:08pm

Criminals are so crafty.
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fuse5k, 18 May 2007 @ 2:10pm

pirate fame?
as long as there is DRM there will be those who strive to gain "fame" from cracking it, its been going on for years.
think axxo

i say fame, but i really mean imfamy? (sic?)

im wondering if im the only stoner who reads techdirt...

oh and first
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fuse5k, 18 May 2007 @ 2:11pm

dammit
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Keep Your Laws Off My DVD Player, 18 May 2007 @ 2:11pm

Poetic Justice Provided By Google
The ad I get at the bottom of this post is for a Blu-Ray Duplicator-Burner package.
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Squeaky, 18 May 2007 @ 2:12pm

Re:
And the guys behind DRM are so stupid
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2007 @ 2:22pm

Why bother with the hard movies..
If you own a newer mac use the link below, it will crack every non-hd or blue ray movie, got about a 1000 so far, all of the new releases. takes about 20 min on averrage. Some of the retards (Sony,Lionsgate) take longer, but who cares.

MacTheRipper 2.6.6 – Mac OS X – VersionTracker
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Your Name Here, 18 May 2007 @ 2:53pm

Thanks
All hail AXXO!
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Buzz, 18 May 2007 @ 3:05pm

Oh my...
I will go insane if I ever have a boss ask me to write new DRM algorithms.
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gedden, 18 May 2007 @ 3:10pm

Not the only...
Stoner here. This is a nice change of pace when I'm all /.'ed and dugg-up.
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Mary Wanna, 18 May 2007 @ 3:14pm

Re:
No, you're not. Don't Bogart that joint my friend...
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Charles Griswold, 18 May 2007 @ 6:52pm

Re: pirate fame?
i say fame, but i really mean imfamy? (sic?)
It's "infamy".

oh and first
Nope.
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Novernetsbandit, 18 May 2007 @ 11:12pm

better late than never
i think its like microsoft thinking the new security they put into effect for windows xp and vista for multiple pcs running the same key, there will always be someone out there that wants to or has to find a way around it and as long as there are dishonest ppl(people) in the world then it will have a reason to be done.

There is no fool proof way to get ride of cracks and hacks.

lets do a history lession Control Data made pcs and led boards for lotery and yet months after release there was hacks for those in 1981 why?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 May 2007 @ 7:03am

Re: Re: pirate fame?
Imfamy/Infamy

they've all got it in for me.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 May 2007 @ 12:00pm

sell me the movie in avi format that I can play on any pc in my house and I will buy it. Meanwhile, I buy the DVD then end up downloading the release by AXXO so I can store it on my media PC using mediaportal to play it whenever I want while bringing up the cover art. I dont care if its wrong, it is convenient, 400 movies on the pc hooked up to my plasma takes up a lot less room than the boxes of DVD's sitting in my attic. I dont know if owning the DVD will keep the MPAA from suing me for downloading it, but it is going to look ridiculous if they take me to court.
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fatty, 19 May 2007 @ 5:28pm

Re: Re: pirate fame?
dude. but he probably started typing first.
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DVD Pirate, 20 May 2007 @ 1:26am

I bought me a shirt the famous key on it. Does that mean I'll get a letter, or do I need to post it? :D
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Matt, 21 May 2007 @ 6:20am

Physical Media
I'm with the AC above using MediaPortal, physical discs take too much space and just too much of a PITA if you ask me. I have shelves full of dvds, boxes full of cd cases, at least 3 full books of discs (each with 150-200). It's just too much, when I want to watch a movie it's a lot easier to pick one from the list on screen than to get up, find the disc in this madness and put it in.

I've got nothing against paying for content (in general situations), but in realizty, I'm buying nothing. Half the time I don't even open up the package, I already have the content.
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alex, 1 Dec 2008 @ 4:42am

Re: Physical Media
I dont care if its wrong, it is convenient, 400 movies on the pc hooked up to my plasma takes up a lot less room than the boxes of DVD's sitting in laptop batteries my attic. I dont know if owning the DVD will keep the MPAA from suing me for downloading it, but it is going to look ridiculous if they take me to court.
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