AACS Next-Gen Content Protection Cracked?
For months, we've heard how bullet-proof the new Advanced Access Content System (AACS) is. This is the system used in Blu-ray and HD DVD discs to protect content stored on disc from illegal duplication.
Well, one user has reportedly found a way to decrypt discs protected by the system--and is offering this program for download via the Internet. (I have not yet independently confirmed that this utility works as claimed; other sites, including Engadget, are reporting this story as well.)
Late yesterday, a user called Muslix64 posted a vague methodology description on a Doom9.org forum. That user also included a link to a YouTube video he'd created, and uploaded a version of his BackupHDDVD software--described as a Java-based command line utility--to RapidShare.com. His approach includes supplying both the volume key and title key in order to decrypt AACS-encoded disc titles.
One report I've seen says the program includes keys for Full Metal Jacket, Van Helsing, Tomb Raider, Apollo 13, The Last Saurai and The Fugitive.
Either this user will be gaining a whole lot of notoriety for claiming this feat; or, a whole lot of net fame (people still salute DVD Jon , the Norwegian who famously cracked CSS encryption on DVD discs).
If true, though, the breaking of AACS marks a dark day for providers of high-definition content on next-gen Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. And, it marks a dark day for consumers, too--fair use arguments aside, I imagine that if AACS has been hacked, in the future, we'll pay for this evolution through more draconian security measures than ever before.
I'll follow this story and report on developments as they happen.
PC World's Marketplace
PC World's Free Whitepapers
tech news tech blogs community & forums laptop prices software reviews downloads
There is no amount of protection they can ever add that will make this sort of thing impossible to do. They simply cannot prevent copying, and it's easy to explain why.
All DRM measures, work on the notion that "copying" and "viewing" are different things. They want to allow people to view the content, but not to copy it. This is clearly ludicrous. It's as if somebody gave you a book and said that you were not allowed to take a pencil and write your own copy of the book elsewhere. They can say it, but it's wholly unenforceable.
In order to display any content, your computer must read it. If it can read it, then it can write a copy somewhere. Period. This undeniable fact of reality makes all DRM pointless.
In this particular case, the author did not even do anything particularly special. He implemented the documented algorithm. That's it. He got the key for a movie from his computer's memory (where the legit player had it) and then used it to copy the movie. Simple. Effective.
Just about any DRM scheme has faced problems - in terms of both integrity and fairness. Who says AACS shold be different?
DRM is there to keep honest people honest, just like lock on your house. It never fails, the selfish and greedy will screw it up for those are honest and ethical
DRM is there for large media crime syndicates to continue to milk the general public out of loads of cash; more so then is even remotely reasonable, and all the while giving the general public the worst product imaginable.
Consequently, DRM is also an impossibility, and I'm glad. Thanks to all who continue to call the media cartels and their crap. You help people like me pick and choose what I pay for, so as to only give profits to those who truly deserve them (I love being able to see how good a "new" movie is before I waste 6 dollars on it at a theater). No more will Hollywood and the music industry package crap in a box and sell it to me before I realize what it is.