09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0

May 2, 2007 at 10:56am in Asides, On the Web

If you checked Digg at all yesterday, you probably saw this number: 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0. Digg users revolted after Digg complied with a cease and desist order asking removal of the number.

Since the deletion of the story, literally thousands of stories popped up on Digg with the number, all receiving thousands of Diggs. The number spread to other sites such as Wikipedia, starting small rebellions as sites comply with fear of cease and desist orders. At last count, a Google search for the number turned up over 300,000 results.

I’m curious what your take on this is. The MPAA thinks a randomly generated number is intellectual property. Do you agree? It’s obvious since the Digg rebellion 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0 will be everywhere. How do you think the MPAA will react?

By the way, I recommend you take Colin’s advice:

3 Comments

1 Jonathan on May 2, 2007 at 12:24 pm (Quote):

Video no longer available. So what is Colin’s advice? I have to agree you can’t copyright a number. It is not intellectual property of anyone. Granted the key was there the entire time and was found by sniffing data, though it is what it is, a random hex number. I’m not a lawyer, but, is this really a violation of the DMCA? You aren’t circumventing the security. You are using their own private key to open the door. If you left a key under the mat of the door, and a burglar looked there to open the door and steal your stuff, I don’t think the insurance company would give you a cent.

This security stuff is all security by obfuscation. So hiding the key right there and the fact it was found is the MPAAs fault. They can not ever make a secure device. The fact is, the DVD player needs to unlock the disc to play it. It will always be a matter of time before the key is found. What people do with the key is another thing.
2 Ronald Heft on May 2, 2007 at 12:30 pm (Quote):

The video is up and working just fine for me. The video is currently being passed around the social sites, so perhaps Viddler isn’t scaling well. You can try viewing the video directly: http://www.viddler.com/explore/cdevroe/videos/152/

I agree with you completely Jonathan. Right now we have the key in hand, but we’re not using it to unlock the door. You can’t be charged for finding a key on the ground and holding onto it.
3 jason22 on May 2, 2007 at 11:36 pm (Quote):

tee ‘09 F9′ with the whole code on it!
http://moeschwag.com/hcrcot.html