Don't Violate Distribution Keys.

I've decided that my new favorite number is 13,256,278,887,989,457,651,018,865,901,401,704,640. I'm not exactly sure how to say that, but (being a computer guy) I'm sure it'd be easier to manage in octal or something.

In unrelated news, a buddy of mine was going on and on about the data flood over at Digg the other day, and said he wanted to get a rather specific number tattooed on his forearm. I'm not exactly sure what that'd prove, but it's just geeky enough that I think it's a great idea. I mean, who doesn't want base-16 digits branded on their arm? Very cyber-punk.

A can of worms won't open itself.

I've been thinking of the goings-on that happened over at Digg this week, and recent posts around the web have reminded me of it. I find the whole thing really funny in ways, really encouraging in others, with just a slight undertone of fear.

So, what happened? Someone broke DRM, again. Apparently back in February there was a post on Wired about a 16-digit hex number which was supposed to be a crack to AASC, the DRM used to 'protect' Blu-ray and HD-DVD. ( That's what started the whole thing, at least. )

It strikes a particular chord with me, something very cyberpunk, very much "the RIAA's little sister", very us-versus-the-Corporations. And it's all really ridiculous, if you ask me. I mean, let's consider: I read Slashdot and Wired fairly regularly, and I wasn't aware of this crack. (I don't read Digg, but I think I might start now; some of their content could prove interesting.) I don't read *everything*, I don't troll for cracks, but that's kind of my point. As an average user, I didn't know this was even out there. And, frankly, I wouldn't care, either. I still don't care about the crack itself so much as what it now represents. I'm not the sort to use it, I currently have no gripes against DVDs, either in price of DRM. The fact that it was a silent issue for nearly three months adds to this.

But what happened? Feeling threatened by some Digg article, the AASC guys sent Digg a cease and desist. Digg, like many, probably can't afford any kind of legal battle and so they decided to try and handle the issue quietly; after all, Digg stories come and go regularly. I think they mis-stepped when they started getting 'noisy' about it, banning users and being blatant about their 'missing' content. They drew attention to it and that, my friends, is the point.

After the shot was fired, I couldn't help but hear about it. It was everywhere. There are t-shirts for crying out loud! At worst, if this had been left quiet, the key would have leaked to the people who would have found and used it regardless, it could have been quietly revoked or whatever AASC might hope to do to fix it, and most of us would forget about it. Instead it became an open revolt, the masses against The Man, and the offending key got more exposure, more distribution faster than it ever would have unaided. And never mind the negative publicity -- like I said, these AASC guys are right up there with the RIAA now, and that's not good company to keep these days.

Stop pressing us. Stop attacking and alienating your consumers. Most of us are perfectly happy playing by the rules, especially if those rules start moving away from draconian. But when stuff like this happens, you're just fanning to flame the coals already smoldering from DRM and absurd copyright.

(Apparently, you can read the whole thing Here.)
(And Here is someone else saying it much more briefly than I could.)