AACS encryption key controversy
A controversy surrounding the AACS cryptographic key arose in April 2007 when the Motion Picture Association of America and the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator, LLC (AACS LA) began issuing cease and desist letters[7] to websites publishing a 128-bit (16-byte) number, represented in hexadecimal as 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0[8][9] (commonly referred to as 09 F9),[10][11] a cryptographic key for HD DVDs and Blu-ray Discs.
The letters demanded the immediate removal of the key and any links to it, citing the anti-circumvention provisions of the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The controversy was further escalated in early May 2007, when aggregate news site Digg received a DMCA cease and desist notice and then removed numerous articles on the matter and banned users reposting the information.
[12] This sparked what some describe as a digital revolt[13] or "cyber-riot",[14] in which users posted and spread the key on Digg, and throughout the Internet en masse, thereby leading to a Streisand effect.
[15] Because the encryption key may be used as part of circumvention technology forbidden by the DMCA, its possession and distribution has been viewed as illegal by the AACS, as well as by some legal professionals.
[29] Doom9.org forum user arnezami found and published the "09 F9" AACS processing key on February 11: Nothing was hacked, cracked or even reverse-engineered btw: I only had to watch the "show" in my own memory.
[39] On May 1, 2007, in response to a DMCA demand letter, technology news site Digg began closing accounts and removing posts containing or alluding to the key.
"[42] Eventually the Digg administrators reversed their position, with founder Kevin Rose stating: But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear.
If you try to stick up for what you have a legal right to do, and you're somewhat worse off because of it, that's an interesting concept.The American Bar Association's eReport published a discussion of the controversy,[47] in which Eric Goldman at Santa Clara University's High Tech Law Institute noted that the illegality of putting the code up is questionable (that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act may protect the provider when the material itself is not copyrighted), although continuing to allow posting of the key may be "risky", and entertainment lawyer Carole Handler noted that even if the material is illegal, laws such as the DMCA may prove ineffective in a practical sense.
In a response to the events occurring on Digg and the call to "Spread this number", the key was rapidly posted to thousands of pages, blogs and wikis across the Internet.
"[47] Outside the Internet and the mass media, the key has appeared in or on T-shirts, poetry, songs and music videos, illustrations and other graphic artworks,[51] tattoos and body art,[52] and comic strips.
[53] The Linux kernel also incorporated a copy of the key for 17.5 years, originally added in 2007 by David Woodhouse as part of the red zone logic[54] and subsequently removed as a routine cleanup in 2024.
The statement continued, "AACS LA is encouraged by the cooperation it has received thus far from the numerous web sites that have chosen to address their legal obligations in a responsible manner.
