09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0 is a magic number!

The number above is the secret number needed to decrypt an HD-DVD, meant only for devices approved by the AACS licensing authority. Unfortunately, this authority has a vested interest in controlling how people watch the media they purchase. They're just doing their job, i.e. to keep the MPAA and Hollywood production companies happy, and to permeate the idea of combating piracy (though even the MPAA admits it has little to with piracy and everything about control and stifling competiition).

But the downside is they prevent new and better devices from existing. They prevent people who bought HD-DVDs from using them on "unauthorized" devices like a PC or a cool new piece of software for playing it back. Having corporate agencies like this is a Soviet Union-esque style of marketplace where only "approved" devices can exist instead of letting the market decide.

I'm taking a small risk of getting a take down notice from the AACS, but it's already spread to 60,000 800,000 websites out there. 99.9% of people won't know how to use this number even if they owned an HD-DVD, which itself is highly unlikely. The idea that a 16-digit number is somehow "illegal" seems ludicrous to me. It's not secret any longer.

The Global Game of Keep-Away has already started. To read more about the bad law known as the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and this secret key issue, click here.