Hi, I am not sure of how many people are aware of the recent controversy regarding the posting of a 16-digit number that allows one to copy content on high-definition DVDs. The AACS licensing authority responded by issuing legal notices to sites that had posted the keys, threatening to sue them under the DMCA. Note that what is at issue here is the illegality of the 16-digit number itself, and not whether one has legal access to the content on the DVD.
What is sad is that the DMCA, which is US law, apparently does make the number illegal, and any site posting it liable to a lawsuit. However, the legal notices from the AACS have had exactly the opposite effect, in that it sparked a user revolt on Digg (a site that depends on user input, and participation), and made it a pastime for Internet users to find more and more innovative ways to post the number. Here are some links: 1. Boing Boing (http://www.boingboing.net/) has interesting ongoing coverage of this. In particular, a link to, the story on the revolt at Digg and the subsequent back-down by the site management: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/02/digg_users_revolt_ov.html and a link to the original story: http://boingboing.net/2007/02/13/bluray_and_hddvd_bro.html 2. Google links to over 300, 000 sites with the number: <http://www.google.co.in/search?q=09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0> 3. Hamsters, and cats, are apparently getting into the act: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xeni/481544025/ http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/05/01/09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b/ 4. A new genre of poetry (steganorhythms?): http://scriptorium.monastic.org/ 5. Apparently, people have also put the numbers to music, but I do not have a link. Regards, Gora P.S. I have been working on scientific programs for some time now, to an extent that I have been dreaming about them. A recurring part of the dreams involve a sequence of cryptic codes which might form some hidden message. I am posting them in the hopes that someone can cast light on them, before I go crazy: 09f91102 9d74e35b d84156c5 635688-0 _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/