Now It's Drug Companies' Turn To Flip Out Over Legal Parallel Imports

AACS Crack Leaked In Cryptic Message On Blog... As AACS Is Sued For Patent Infringement

from the how-it-all-works-these-days dept

Fri, Jun 1st 2007 10:05am — Mike Masnick

Since AACS made the huge mistake of trying to prevent any mention of a previous key for cracking DVDs, every time a new key is cracked it gets plenty of attention. Of course, with the group acting litigious, it appears that the hackers who keep retrieving the key are becoming a little less open about how they're repeatedly cracking the new keys. The latest case is amusing for a variety of reasons. Ed Felten had put up a page that got a lot of attention setting up a system to auto-generate random key integers for people to claim copyright over, to point out how silly it was for AACS to claim that any integer couldn't be written down. Lots of people in the comments posted their randomly generated keys -- but one of the comments apparently wasn't randomly generated at all, but included the actual key -- and a message for the hacker who discovered the now famous 09 F9. It took a few days, but the hacker was alerted and he tested the key to discover that it worked. So, at this point, no one has any idea who it is that actually leaked the key (though, you have to wonder if AACS, in their legal zeal, will subpoena Felten for log info on the commenter) -- but he (or she) clearly has a sense of humor.

While we're on the topic of AACS, perhaps their lawyers have more important things to do than chase down the thousands of sites that now post any new key as soon as it's published. It appears that Certicom is claiming the AACS copy protection system violates its patents. Yes, this should be viewed as ironic.

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16 Comments

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Shun, 1 Jun 2007 @ 10:37am

Tracking down AACS cracker #2
You know, it would be nice (but stupid) if everyone who ever commented on this or any other blog used their real names, always logged in from the same location, and were open and honest in all their dealings.

I don't expect that from everyone, and the AACS should not expect that, especially from someone who posts a key in the comments of a tech blog.
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GoblinJuice, 1 Jun 2007 @ 11:10am

Yeah, okay....
My real name is Goblin Juice. :-P

Oh, you can't imagine the hell I was put thru in school! The ladies, however, liked to call me "Mr. Juice".

So, eh, it worked out. ;-)
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The infamous Joe, 1 Jun 2007 @ 11:34am

+1up.
I hate to inform you, GoblinJuice, but OJ Simpson still has you beat, as he was called "The Juice".

In an odd bit of trivia, Starburst changed their slogan around the OJ murder trial from "The Juice is Loose." so as to remove any connection with Mr. Simpson. :P

How many comments do you suppose it will take before that key is posted? 5 is my guess.

PS- I use my real full name.
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Salteris, 1 Jun 2007 @ 11:52am

There were alot of comments before BtCB's:
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Salteris, 1 Jun 2007 @ 12:44pm

>.
A second 'are you sure/submit' page would be nice.

Its kinda funny that his code was published the 23rd, to a blog comment on the 7th, and now a week later we have the news all over it.

Anyone trying to limit the use of 1's and 0's needs to get a life. It's like Google trying to patent counting.

We need more people like BtCB, share the hacks ppl, but plz with save us from the Ads.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2007 @ 2:57pm

"use your real name" ever hear of identity theft? In the information age I won't even put any info on my resume other than email. If the company is interested enough the contact me. When I had a phone # i had to have it changed cause the amount of calls from recruiters was insane. Oh back to the topic unless the algorithm for AACS is what is patented i don't see this going anywhere.
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Jon Sullivan, 1 Jun 2007 @ 3:42pm

If they copyright the key, don't they have to write it down somewhere and say "this number right here is copyrighted"?

Otherwise how are we to know not to infringe by writing it?
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Anonymous Poster (profile), 1 Jun 2007 @ 4:20pm

And THIS is why DRM is patently, utterly useless.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2007 @ 6:51pm

I patent and copyright the number "0" and "1". Any device or application, whether it can be visually seen or not, that makes use of these digits must pay a license to me. This includes thinking these numbers in you mind.

Thank you.
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Charles Griswold, 1 Jun 2007 @ 7:27pm

Re: Tracking down AACS cracker #2
You know, it would be nice (but stupid) if everyone who ever commented on this or any other blog used their real names, always logged in from the same location, and were open and honest in all their dealings.

I don't expect that from everyone, and the AACS should not expect that, especially from someone who posts a key in the comments of a tech blog.
5D 4A F0 D9 58 04 3B 06 C8 B2 59 85 A1 5D 6A 88
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Very Funny, 1 Jun 2007 @ 7:27pm

I patent the ability to push buttons
ha ha ha ha ha

I patent the ability to push buttons
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Steve R. (profile), 1 Jun 2007 @ 8:25pm

I have long advocated that the introduction of High Definition (HD) was delayed by the companies squabbling over how to implement AACS.

From the article Mike references :"In a move whose repercussions could seriously impact the future development of the AACS content protection system, and even endanger the production plans of high-definition disc console manufacturers worldwide, cryptography software provider Certicom this morning filed suit in Marshall, Texas, against Sony Corporation." (emphasis added)

I guess the the content providers would rather fight and sue each other over how to implement faulty DRM rather than make real money by actually selling open source content. Here I thought capitalism was about selling products that the consumer wants.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2007 @ 4:29am

Re:
Here I thought capitalism was about selling products that the consumer wants.
Capitalism is about making money any way you can get away with.
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Nick Burns, 2 Jun 2007 @ 10:45am

I'm going to copyright my phone number. Now when telemarketers call, I will charge them $150 for printing my phone number on a call list.
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Steve R. (profile), 2 Jun 2007 @ 3:52pm

Re: Re:
Theory versus Reality. To bad that the reality is about making money any way you can get away with.
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Buzz, 2 Jun 2007 @ 7:38pm

LOL
I like that idea, Nick. I'm going to copyright/trademark/patent everything about myself. Can I sue someone for looking at me? Their brain made a memory based off my face. I never granted them permission to retain that information. I would be RICH... but severely disgusted by everyone.
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