Illegal Numbers DeCSS to AACS
The first illegal number was DeCSS that when the MPAA decided to go after the DVD decryption scheme because there were no drivers for Linux at the time set in motion that a number could be illegal to own or possess in the world. While it eventually ended badly for the MPAA, the second round of illegal numbers via the AACS hack sets in motion something that should concern all user driven web sites. What if the users do not care about what a big company wants?
The illegal number in question was the 16 byte hexadecimal encryption key that protects content on high definition DVDs. Although the key had been cracked several months ago - indeed, the speed with which it had been cracked had already made headlines in the tech press - it wasn’t until the Advanced Access Content System License Authority (AACSLA), together with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), started issuing cease and desist notices to anyone publishing the key that the story went mainstream. Almost instantaneously, T-shirts bearing the key went up for sale, and a song was composed. And in a contemporary web 2.0 twist, the new illegal number got its own group on the social networking site Facebook, obtaining over 4,000 members in under 24 hours. Source: Open Democracy
Big companies have been dealing with the PR ramifications of web sites that allow people to state what they think about a particular company. So the idea of having user driven comments or suggestions is not new. One of the more successful user driven processes has been the Dell Idea Storm web site. How that translates into people spending money still remains to be seen in the longer run, but it does show that people get passionate about ideas and issues.
Ow that the new Illegal Number for AACS is beyond simple take down notices, the sheer number that would have to be generated, let alone that people will repost that number the minute it starts to disappear from the web. Now that other sites besides Digg are involved, and the millions of free standing pages, other blogs, forums and other sites that have the number now embedded into them, it really is time to see if there was a better way to handle this.
Media and Law should be taking a long hard look at the situation and trying to figure out a way to in the future figure out a way to manage information like this without the unintended side effects that web 2.0 brings to the table, and how users tend to feel when they believe that it is the little guy against a big corporation.
[…] contrast to the Digg Uprising over posting of the AACS key, the eBay boycott seems remarkably low key. Not that it is not visible, but that the head to head […]