Hackers had previously broken a more cumbersome key in early January, but this new crack makes it easier to rip the content off the disc.
The hacker, who goes by Arnezami on Doom9.net, expanded the breach to unlock all Advanced-Access-Content System-protected content. AACS is an extra security layer, which prevents high-definition discs from illegal copying by restricting which devices can play them.
“AACS took years to develop and it has been broken in weeks,” BoingBoing.com reporter Cory Doctorow said. “The developers spent billions, the hackers spent pennies.”
Arnezami has posted cracks to movies such as “Constantine,” “Lady in the Water,” “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” “Mission Impossible 3” and “Miami Vice.”
Doctorow predicts a bleak future for copy protection. Once the cat is out of the bag and encrypted content can be hacked, extracted and posted on BitTorrent or other file sharing services, there are very limited means for plugging the holes the hackers created.
It typically takes electronics manufacturers longer to issue a security patch than it does for hackers to crack it.
“There is no future in which bits will get harder to copy,” Doctorow said. “Instead of spending billions on technologies that attack paying customers, the studios should be confronting that reality and figuring out how to make a living in a world where copying will get easier and easier. They’re like blacksmiths meeting to figure out how to protect the horseshoe racket by sabotaging railroads.”
