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[FYI] (Fwd) DVD cracks




------- Forwarded message follows -------
To:             	cryptography@c2.net
Subject:        	DVD cracks
Copies to:      	proff@iq.org
Copies to:      	aucrypto@suburbia.net
From:           	Julian Assange <proff@iq.org>
Date sent:      	01 Nov 1999 18:14:46 +1100


[from ntk]
         Just when you thought you'd wait forever for a free DVD
         player, along come two cracks at once. The first was the
         leaking onto the Linux LIVID player mailing list of the DVD
         Content Scrambling System code used by the Jon Johansen's
         cracker for Windows, DeCSS. Bits of the code was already
         written and GPL'd by Derek Fawcus - which means that the rest
         of the code could end up under GPL - hence the leak. More
         importantly, though, it also meant that the CSS decryption
         algorithm was now open to public scrutiny. It only took a few
         hours to confirm what everyone's been suspecting for a while.
         The CSS decryption system sucks. It works by storing a whole
         bunch of keys on each DVD. Industry overseers, the DVD Forum,
         hand out one matching decryption key to each manufacturer: if
         any of these company's equipment got cracked, future DVD
         disc's were to be pressed without this key, making the crack
         (and that company's hardware) unusable with new movies. Quite
         whether the Forum would ever dare to carry out this threat
         against its own licensees is unclear. It's a bit moot now,
         though, since open cryptanalysis of the CSS algorithm showed
         that it was possible to brute force *all* of the current keys
         in a few days. In order to preserve the system, the DVD Forum
         would have to disable all keys, turning every hardware player
         sold so far into a pile of scrap iron. Boy, these Hollywood
         guys are *smart*, aren't they?
http://livid.on.openprojects.net/pipermail/livid-dev/1999-October/0005
48.html
                                   - the story in a nutshell
http://livid.on.openprojects.net/pipermail/livid-dev/1999-October/0004
30.html
                            - next round: let me see you wobble those
                            tracks

------- End of forwarded message -------