AACS Autographs has been busy this week…

http://auction.aacsautographs.com/AuctionHelp.taf?S=N&R=2&C=2&m=3&sort=1&ST=1&days=&category_id=10130&skipkw=1&status=&_start=1

 Type in Clint Eastwood and search…

AACS is offering 9 Clint Eastwood autographs in this week’s auction.

Does this seem more than a little odd?

Compare this to another auction company like RR Auction who might on occasions have up to 4 Eastwood’s in their monthly catalog but not 9 (in a week?)!!!

Look at another company like Autograph World where they might offer 3 Eastwood autographs in a month.

Another reputable dealer who deals in quality Eastwood autographs is Rolf Ramseier, Rolf has 3 Eastwood autographs in his catalog at present!!

If you follow what the highly regarded autograph company JG Autographs has sold you will know that they have only sold one Clint Eastwood autograph in 2009!!

Also take into consideration that authentic Eastwood autographs are not inexpensive, generally you will need to spend in the region of US$150 or more for an 8”x10”…

Something doesn’t add up over at AACS Autographs…

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Hosted by: Grant Brunner & Marty Keefe

Grant’s Topics

• Squeeze the trigger slowly: Yes ma’am, Terminator!

Marty’s Topics

• Halloween
• More media center updates (lifextender, webguide)

Podcast of the Week

• The 10th Wonder 

Wikipedia Article of the Week

• Adulthood
• AACS

Plugs

• GrantBrunner.com
• Macgasm
• They Said Server Closet
• MEK Photos

One of the first questions a career coach or counsellor often asks when initially meeting a client is the experience they have of career advice. The typical reaction from those who have received advice or guidance at whatever stage of their lives, is that the intervention was uncomfortable, of little use and sometimes even demoralising. With the recession acting as a catalyst to the inevitable changes in all aspects of work, a new government initiative for funded career advice in the shape of Adult Advancement and Careers Service (AACS) and the career profession seeking routes to raising its standards, it is good to report that the horizon is slowly beginning to take shape for career work.

It is important to note that using certain terms when discussing career advice and guidance can inflate expectations, create confusion, evoke ghosts of initiatives past and become lost in a jungle of metaphors. This has made it impossible for employers, educators, service users and practitioners alike to agree on definitions or get an overall picture on what is actually being provided, by whom and at which point. To minimise the issue of semantics a number of career professionals now describe their remit as ‘career work,’ a term that they feel encompasses the varied nature of their role, the rich content of activity within a single client case and promotes the notion of partnership-working that underpins success for the client and career-worker relationship.

The National Institute of Careers Education and Counselling (NICEC) hosted its first debate on 19th of October on the future of career work. The keynote speakers, Dr Bill Law and Dr Rachel Mulvey, agreed to agree that the future of traditional career guidance is bleak, but that the current focus on careers work by the government and the negative feedback received from various reports shows an opportunity, and more importantly, an appetite for quality career work. The evening debate was lively, well attended and the audience showed remarkable positivity about their future.

In a timely fashion, Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK), the sector skills council with the remit to review qualifications and standards for career work, is currently running consultation events with career professionals on shaping qualifications in support of the AACS. This activity aims to produce qualifications suitable for career practitioners within the AACS when it is launched, but be fit for use across the wide career family at professional and para-professional levels. The term ‘para-practioners’ in this context is used broadly to describe non-assessment or advice aspects of career work.

The first of these consultations took place on 20th of October 2009 and was well attended by current practitioners representing the richness of the field: Connexions, Prospects, local councils career services, higher education services, awarding bodies and private providers of career services such as Career Energy, among others. The remit of this event was not to delve into definitions of career work, although these are somewhat inevitable, nor too deeply into the qualifications themselves, as an online consultation provides the forum for this, or funding. The aim was to consult on the new Qualification Strategy drafted by LLUK and advise the next phase of work. As such, discussion focussed on the draft qualifications strategy, which was well presented and scoped-out, but within potentially too rigid a framework (although it is accepted that LLUK representatives took pains to express flexibility) and focussed on career practitioner roles within the AACS that currently do not exist and which lack definition.

The qualifications being considered by LLUK are drafted to fit the new Qualifications & Credit Framework and are based on identifiable roles within career work: Career Referral (Level 3 Certificate), Information Provider (Level 4 Certificate), Learning Adviser (Level 4 Diploma), and Career Coach. (Level 5 Diploma). The concerns discussed by the first consultation group were around the number of hours, flexibility and funding in relation to these qualifications and the level of competence acquired by the individuals receiving these awards. Some concern was also around the impact of these qualifications on the current offerings of the same or higher levels. The consultations also lacked the presence of one major stakeholder: the client, or user of the service, but the professional approach of all concerned and the tangible enthusiasm of Pat Pugh of LLUK and her project team, raise expectations. Overall results of the consultations and the online input are eagerly awaited.

I am frequently asked about autograph dealers to be wary of when purchasing autographs. Two dealers who instantly come to mind that I would be very cautious of are Todd Mueller Autographs  and AACS Autographs (UACC RD #208) 

Both of these dealers regularly offer secretarial autographs as well as forgeries. Don’t believe all of Todd’s spiel on his website about how great he is. I would also like to know who does the authenticating at AACS; some of what they offer is ridiculous.

This is a horrible forged Walt Disney autograph that was sold by AACS Autographs for over US$500

Clint Eastwood secretarial autograph sold by AACS Autographs

Brandon Lee forgery initially listed in an auction by AACS Autographs however later withdrawn from auction near the end of closing!!

* This autographed photo is from the film, “The Crow” which was not even completed when Brandon Lee died whilst filming it!!!

AACS also sold many Barack Obama autographs through its auction site.  These sold for well under what I would term fair market value for an authentic autograph!!

ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ

This is a horrible forged Clint Eastwood autograph that was recently sold by Todd Mueller Autographs

→ Consider that dealers who purchase, source and/or accept multiple consignments on modern celebrity autographs are obviously at a higher risk of selling forgeries than the autograph dealer who obtains all of their own autographs in person.

Caveat emptor

The AACS licensing authority has finalized specs that would let consumers make legit copies of Blu-ray content…but it’ll require all-new hardware.

The Advanced Access Content System License Authority—AACSLA—has posted finalized specifications for the digital rights management system to be used on Blu-ray discs…and the final spec allows for so-called “managed copies,” whereby consumers will be able to make a pre-determined number of copies of content on Blu-ray media for personal use—although the number of copies is determined by the studios, and the copy is still protected with AACS or Microsoft DRM.

How do you think about it? Will it work and used by everyone of us?

via AACS Finalizes Managed Copy for Blu-ray Discs – Home Video News – Digital Trends.

I just finished writing an article on cosmetic surgery tourism based on the lessons I have learned by undergoing my own cosmetic surgery in Peru. Read below what you should know before considering cosmetic surgery outside of your home country:

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Asia and Latin America are top destinations for cosmetic surgery tourism. It’s plastic surgery at a fraction of the U.S. price set in exotic locations.

The reality is you may not be saving money at the end of the day and the vacation you had in mind may not actually be a vacation at all.

A breast augmentation in the United States can cost anywhere from US$4,500 to US$7,000 whereas in Latin America the same procedure may cost US$2,000 to US$3,500.

A mini face lift in Bangkok, Thailand may cost as little as US$1,000 or a tummy tuck can be done for the minute sum of US$1,600.

According to a 2007 report by the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery 30% of Americans say that they would consider having the equivalent of a $10,000 cosmetic procedure performed abroad if it was half the price outside of The United States.

There is much preparation that needs to be considered before planning a cosmetic surgery vacation abroad. These include:

• Airline tickets

• Accommodation

• Transportation

• Consultations

• Surgery day

• Recovery time

• Auxiliary support

• Medications

• Follow up appointments

• Complications

• Malpractice

How much will an airline ticket cost you? US$400, US$700, US$1,000, US$2000? Your destination and travel season can determine the prices of your airfare.

Consultations will need to be scheduled and in most cases they are not free and will need to be paid in cash. Narrow down the surgeons you will be consulting with to save money.

What quality of accommodation will you be lodged in before and after your surgery? And what are the conditions of the roads, traffic and transit time between your lodging and the Clinic? Comfort and accessibility will be vital.

Public transportation may not be an option for someone who is freshly operated on. You will need a personal friend or family member to carefully drive you “home” or a very skilled private chauffeur to transport you. Operated patients are strongly discouraged or prohibited from driving themselves to their follow up appointments.

Surgery day is when you will need to have paid the balance up front and in full. Financing is generally not offered abroad. If you are using your US funds to pay for your procedure(s) you may need to call your bank and ask them to temporarily remove the limits so your payment can be processed. Otherwise you will have to get creative and that can cost you more time and money.

During your recovery time you may not be able to go on sight seeing trips. Your body is essentially recovering from traumatic injuries and significant bed rest will be required post-op. Any recovery time indicated to you by the doctor is only a general guideline and it may take more time for you to recover compared to other patients.

After your surgery who will be caring for you? Will you hire a private nurse? Will you have a friend or significant other attend to your personal needs and drive you to your post op appointments? Auxiliary support is an element that you cannot omit if you are going to have plastic surgery regardless of country.

Are the medications included in the cost of your surgery or will you need to purchase them yourself? Find out ahead of time what medications you will be taking and how much they cost.

Follow up appointments can be daily, weekly or even monthly after your surgery. Will you have to fly back to visit your surgeon? Will you have enough time allotted to complete your series of follow up appointments? The follow up appointments are just as important as your consultations and day of surgery.

No two patients are alike and everyone’s body reacts differently to surgery and prosthetic implants. Complications may arise requiring immediate additional surgery or revision surgery 6 months down the line. A good surgeon will not perform a revision surgery prior to 6 months after the original surgery due to the risks involved with anesthesia.

A revision surgery may require you to travel abroad once again and subject you anew to the recovery process. Will the clinic charge you an additional fee for the revision surgery? Do you have the budget to travel abroad again and will you have accessibility to a support system?

What happens if the foreign surgeon botches your procedure(s)? Can you file a malpractice suit? Filing a malpractice suit in a foreign country may cost you thousands of additional dollars and the judicial process can take up to several years.

You may not even have the right to pursue legal action if you signed a contract as a tourist and without a special government permission granting you such right. Know your legal options before you go under the knife!

Cosmetic surgery is like any other surgery and comes with its own set of risks. There are absolutely no guarantees and any preconception of a happy “Dr. 90210” ending should be tossed out the window!

Do not pick a surgeon based solely on price. Qualifications, specializations, assurances, reputation and experience come at a premium.

Sixty-three percent of Americans born outside of the U.S. comprise the majority of patients who have had plastic surgery abroad, most likely back in their native countries.

Plastic surgery abroad should only be considered if you are originally from the country where you will be having the plastic surgery or if you are an American already residing indefinitely in the country where you will be undergoing your cosmetic procedure(s).

Undergoing plastic surgery abroad may not be the vacation you dreamed of in the end and can ultimately cost you more time and money than it would have if you had undergone the same procedure back at home.

To learn more about plastic surgery or to find a plastic surgeon visit the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery website or the Be Wise About Beauty organization for more information.

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Previous & related posts:

• “I went to the boob doctor”
• “The Dr. 90210 Unreality”
• “Cosmetic Surgeons in Peru”

O DVDFab HD Decrypter copia um filme completo para o seu HD. Ele remove todas as proteções (CSS, RC, RCE, APS, UOPs e Sony ARccOS) durante o processo. Possui suporte completo para os novos formatos HD-DVD e Blu-Ray (Remove AACS).

O software faz cópias idênticas dos seus filmes favoritos, com menus, opções especiais e formatos de áudio. O DVDFab HD Decrypter é gratuito.

Aqui você encontra toda a documentação necessária.

Download

Somebody wrote following lines in a thread regarding BackupHDDVD by muslix64.

muslix64: i wrote an AACS decrypter.
me: *yawn*
muslix64: and i’ve extracted volume keys from my HD-DVD’s
me: wow that’s amazing, show me.
muslix64: no
me: *yawn*

Slysoft hat eine neue Version von AnyDVD veröffentlicht – AnyDVD HD knackt nun auch den BluRay-Kopierschutz AACS problemlos, für den `unknackbaren` Schutz der neuen Generation mit dem Namen `BD+` werde bereits an einer Lösung gearbeitet. Damit geht das Windmühlen-Turnier der Filmindustrie in die nächste Runde.

AACS wurde zwar schon seit längerem immer wieder geknackt, es mussten immer wieder einige kompromittierte Keys zurückgerufen werden. Auch die Geschichte, als die AACS LA Google zwingen wollte, Seiten, die den AACS Processing Key (09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0) enthalten, aus dem Index zu tilgen, ist mir noch gut in Erinnerung. Aber nun wird eine Attacke auch von einem `Mainstream-Programm` implementiert.

Der Einsatz des Programms ist zwar nach deutschem Recht illegal, aber das wird den Heimkino-Fan, der sich Sicherheitskopien machen möchte, etwa gleichermassen von der Benutzung abhalten, wie mich der `Hackerparagraph` von der Benutzung von kismet, aircrack, wireshark oder metasploit abhält – gar nicht.

outro exemplo da incapacidade das empresas de estabelecer relações mais flexiveis com seus públicos-alvo. já virou camiseta, musica, e vai adentrar nossas casas em pouco tempo.

“Efforts that began in December 2006 and continued through February 2007 lead to the discovery of the Processing Key used to encrypt high-definition media with the Advanced Access Content System. The work of a small hacking community created essentially a silver bullet that was able to defeat the copy protection of all HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc media on the market at that time.

The Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administration (AACS LA) acknowledged the effectiveness of the hack and began to enact measures to restore the integrity of its technology. Beginning May 22, which is most notably the release date of the Matrix trilogy on HD DVD, all high-definition titles shipped with Media Key Block (MKB) v3 – a new encryption key version that would render the previously discovered Processing Key obsolete.

Interestingly enough, the AACS’ updated protection measures appeared to be defeated by SlySoft, makers of AnyDVD HD software, before the new MKB versions officially hit streets. The AACS has yet to officially issue a statement and is current investigating the latest attack on the system, according to comments made by Richard E. Doherty, director of technology strategy at Microsoft, who is also actively involved with the AACS.”

More

A few weeks ago, my always forward looking co-writer Jake waxed upon the relative advantages and disadvantages of web email vs. his trusty Apple Mail.app.  He hoped that Microsoft’s early moves into integrating the two would be followed by similar offerings from our favorite web giant–Google.

Not surprisingly, Google answered today with something it has no doubt been working on for some time: Google Gears.  Simply put, Google Gears offers third-party developers a way to create programs that allow the off-line use of websites.  It accomplishes this using a simple browser plugin (less than a megabyte) that offers developers’ three APIs with which to interact with the web.  It is open source, cross-browser, as well as cross platform.  For more technical details, check out the TechCrunch coverage as well as Scoble, who was at the press event.  See also the Gears website.

An example “Gear” is already up that enables off-line functionality in the beautiful Google Reader, which is many a power feed-follower’s client of choice.  It puts a little arrow in the top-right corner of the page.  When you click the icon, Reader begins to download the 2000 most recent messages for use off-line.  When connect again, everything syncs up–messages that have been marked read, tags, etc.  It works great, especially for such an early release.  Tomorrow, as I begin a road trip to New Orleans, I know that I’ll be happy to burn through the morning’s posts, which I’ll sync before I get in the car.

One can only imagine the possibilities.  The most obvious, following in Jake’s footsteps, is a Gear for Gmail.  This would fix my one remaining problem with the application.  If I could sync Gmail off-line, I would return to it with open arms and a big smile as my email client of choice.  The security this un-connected access would offer is just too big to ignore, especially as some businesses (and certainly business-people) embrace Google Apps as mission-critical software.

There is another environment that addresses this need called Dojo Offline Toolkit.  I would hope that Gears and Dojo would be integrated, as they seem to address the same space and there is no way Dojo can compete with the kind of muscle Google can put behind its offering.  As far as I can tell, Gears will work on any web-app developers to which developers decide to apply it, not just Google’s suite.

This is a big day for the future of a web that should be useful if one is connected to it or not.  Internet access will only spread, but users still have those times they are unable to access its services, most notably on planes.  Those unable to afford EVDO cards can add cars and trains, as well as your average coffee shop, to that list.  There is still something about web apps that I love, and I will be glad to be able to return to their world unfettered by the unease of disconnection that I used to fear. 

-Alex Rosen

“Beginning May 22, which is most notably the release date of the Matrix trilogy on HD DVD, all high-definition titles will shipping with Media Key Block (MKB) v3 – a new encryption key version that would render the previously discovered Processing Key obsolete.

“If a set of device keys is compromised in a way that threatens the integrity of the system, an updated MKB can be provided by the AACS LA that will cause a product with the compromised set of device keys to calculate a different key than is computed by the remaining compliant products,” as found written in AACS documentation. “In this way, the compromised device keys are ‘revoked’ by the new MKB.”

However, it appears that the AACS’ updated copy protection measures have already been circumvented even before the new software’s official release. SlySoft, developers of a software used to defeat the copy protections of DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, have revealed that its latest version of AnyDVD HD is able to sidestep the new MKB from the AACS.”

More

I think it’s time I weighed in on this whole AACS key debacle. The whole idiocy behind the issue is astounding. And I don’t just mean from the AACS/pro-DMCA camp either. While they are the easier target, being more in the wrong than the idiots moderating Digg or the people posting the key around, the other “sides” also share some of the blame.

Allow me to explain why I think this whole thing is retarded. The key that suddenly shot to levels of infamy that made the DeCSS code issue look trivial–a 128-bit number–is actually one step in the lengthy process of decoding a Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movie (yes, videos on both new formats use the same DRM vendor) from its encoded form into an actual standards-compliant video file. Without the decrypting process, the data on the discs would not result in a video. Unfortunately for everyone, this key–one of several–is unique to batches of discs. Or at least, that was how it should have been. For some stupid reason, every Blu-Ray and HD-DVD disc manufactured before April 23, 2007 used the same key. So in effect, at the time of its discovery, the key cracked both formats, and was advertised as such.

Here’s the problem: by the time the key became popular, it was already being deprecated. So in effect, people were circulating around a key whose use was limited to certain older releases. Which meant anyone considering buying a new player because they can now either watch the movies they downloaded online, or backup their legitmate discs, would more than likely not have that functionality anyway. Only those people who own the players and more importantly, the discs, are affected. And that’s a very small subset of people indeed.

So AACS LA and the MPAA were idiots for sending out take-down notices. After all, the logical thing would be for them to go into damage control, but since the effects are limited already, all they needed to do was cut their losses, wait for the thing to blow over, increase their security measures for their future discs (like using different processing keys in a novel manner), and that would’ve been the end of the story. Instead, they had to send out takedown notices, and get several million net denizens up in arms about the whole thing.

What Digg did was also retarded. Upon receiving the takedown notice, Digg moderators started removing any stories that linked to the key. But they went a step further. Actually, they went several steps further. Digg started quietly deleting the users whom had posted the suddenly heretical stories. As word of this got around, people began noticing a connection between this action, and a recent advertising deal. That was when Digg started deleting the comments and users who even mentioned the deletions. As things grew more and more clear about what was happening, that’s when the users started to revolt. As mentioned many times before by others, had Digg simply removed the relevant stories and posted a notice saying why, the users would have vented their anger on the DMCA backers. As it was, by not simply penalizing users without an explanation, but then penalizing the users who attempted to provide an explanation–by attempting to rewrite history–they hit a nerve, and a very sensitive one at that. The rest, as they say, is history.

The users remain clueless as usual. Most people have no idea what this key is, why it’s used, and why people were up in arms about it. Most people took a look at their neighbors (or news aggregators in this case), saw that posting the key was the “in” thing to do, and jumped on the bandwagon. Worse, the bandwagon was being driven by a bunch of anti-DMCA fanatics whom had jumped at the chance to bash the DMCA without even trying to understand what the revolt was about. Thus, most people saw the issue as if it had been a simple take-down notice. Even Digg’s retraction made it appear that way. Then most people started using the wrong parts of the DMCA to defend their actions. The more intelligent ones pointed to the DRM circumvention clauses instead of the copyright clauses. But that’s not too important, as my point still remains valid for them: the revolt came about because of censorship, not because of the DMCA, even as people railed against the DMCA.

Suddenly, we hear nothing about Digg’s attempt at censorship, at rewriting history, and everything about the evils of the DMCA. Don’t get me wrong; the DMCA is a crappy piece of legislation, its spirit against the freedoms upon which the United States were built, and worded overly broad to boot. But the revolt came about as a result of Digg trying to erase the existence of the key’s presence on the site, as well as silence anyone who knew of this. And that’s far more frightening than copyrights and circumventing protection measures. Next time, there might not be a DMCA to spearhead the rally. Next time, it might be an insignificant issue, like someone’s dog dying, or something more important like a new, cheap breast cancer medicine only because they were being sponsored by a major pharmeceutical whose primary source of revenue was from breast cancer drugs (no, unless it was an outright cure, other sites might not pick it up). Digg’s current attempt failed because internet users tend to be more technologically savvy, and aware of the evils of the DMCA, were easily able to sympathize or even empathize with the people revolting. The DMCA carried this revolt, not the true crime.

And that’s why the people revolting–the people putting the hex number on t-shirts and making a big deal out of it–that’s why they’re all idiots too.

Oh, and just for fun, I wrote this, then attempted to find the “key” in what I wrote. The bolded letters represent the key. The translation I leave to the reader. Anyone trying to figure out what the bolded letters translate into however, would be considered employing circumvention measures, and hence would be commiting a crime under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

I suppose, this being Cambridge, I should come to expect that people will try to steal any bike they can. Unfortunately this seems to happen to Ana a lot. Her last bike was stolen just before an exam last year, which sucks for two reasons:

1. We were nearly late for the exam
2. It was a really nice bike

Anyways, she got a new one over the summer, and has been happily peddling around on it since. Until last week, when someone must have had the great idea of stealing it. Luckily in this case, the combination lock had jammed while someone was trying to crack it, the the wannabe bike thief must have moved on.

But this meant we had to rescue the bike. And the only implement we could get to do it with was some wire cutters. It took me 20 minutes to snip through each of the many bundles of wires in the cable of the lock. 20 minutes! At least we know the lock is reasonably secure…

The worst bit was the reactions of the rest of the population. Two PCSOs walked straight past. A couple of traffic wardens strolled on by. The only person who stopped came to tell us an easier to steal the thing!

Anyway, the bike is now free, and I’ve got Ana a nice new blue lock for it. Though she insists on going with combination locks…

In other news, there’s this whole fuss going down over the AACS key, I thought I’d get my own illegal 128-bit integer:

BE 7D 81 14 E6 A2 B7 FE E8 01 D6 7F 65 27 39 F2

And lastly, the shirt reappeared. Smelling of dope and with some odd stains, but at least it was in my possession again. And with a good wash, seemed all right.

The recent incident on Digg, when the staff preemptively took down some posts that gave and linked to the HD DVD cracking code, is well known by now. For quick background, check out Wired’s early coverage, the EFF’s excellent legal primer, and of course the now infamous Kevin Rose post on Digg’s blog informing the community that Digg would not continue to take down posts containing ‘the number.’Details are still a little vague on whether Digg actually got official take down notices, or whether they were just following advice from their legal team, though the latter seems more likely. Although it angers them, the geek community around circumventing DRM schemes and intellectual property rights online seems to have accepted that websites need to comply with the law, even when they don’t agree with it. The state, simply put, is still Weberian and controls the means of physical force. It still has the power. Or does it?

Digg’s decision to keep the numbers up heralds a decisive recognition of user power over what amounts to real force online–patronage. We have been hearing about the power of the group and the wonderful nature of socially generated media for years now, but this look like the first time that it has been put to this kind of test against the power of the government (or is it the company?). (I am probably wrong about this and there are many earlier examples to choose from, but I’m new at this and this particularly case has been getting a lot of media attention.) Digg’s decision (Kevin Rose even posted the numbers himself) has the subtext that a Digg user revolt (as we saw) is a more powerful threat than legal threats.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Digg in the long run on this. The MPAA and AACS realize that there is no way they can prevent the spread of this number. It is everywhere: blog posts, photos on flickr (that evil search engine bots can’t read), and music videos on YouTube (ditto). But Digg was the most high profile offender, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the industry chose them as a their target. It would certainly be high profile, as Digg started the social news revolution, and is populated by a fiercely loyal community (though not one that would sit back and watch as the site did something they didn’t like).

But all in all, the threat from its users was more immediate. Lawsuits take ages to play out and Digg can probably reach some sort of deal, so they will at least be able to stay up while this all plays out. In contrast, if it had done what it had been doing (taking down posts and banning users) they were going to be shut down with days (or hours).

The users have the power in this one, at least for now. But if history is any guide, the industry will retaliate. Everyone is certainly worried about this eventuality, including Wikipedia admins. But if a state can’t protect its citizens’ intellectual property, is it still the same kind of state? Are we moving further into the era of citizen and private corporation mediated laws?

-Alex Rosen

The recent incident on Digg, when the staff preemptively took down some posts that gave and linked to the HD DVD cracking code, is well known by now. For quick background, check out Wired’s early coverage, the EFF’s excellent legal primer, and of course the now infamous Kevin Rose post on Digg’s blog informing the community that Digg would not continue to take down posts containing ‘the number.’Details are still a little vague on whether Digg actually got official take down notices, or whether they were just following advice from their legal team, though the latter seems more likely. Although it angers them, the geek community around circumventing DRM schemes and intellectual property rights online seems to have accepted that websites need to comply with the law, even when they don’t agree with it. The state, simply put, is still Weberian and controls the means of physical force. It still has the power. Or does it?

Digg’s decision to keep the numbers up heralds a decisive recognition of user power over what amounts to real force online–patronage. We have been hearing about the power of the group and the wonderful nature of socially generated media for years now, but this look like the first time that it has been put to this kind of test against the power of the government (or is it the company?). (I am probably wrong about this and there are many earlier examples to choose from, but I’m new at this and this particularly case has been getting a lot of media attention.) Digg’s decision (Kevin Rose even posted the numbers himself) has the subtext that a Digg user revolt (as we saw) is a more powerful threat than legal threats.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Digg in the long run on this. The MPAA and AACS realize that there is no way they can prevent the spread of this number. It is everywhere: blog posts, photos on flickr (that evil search engine bots can’t read), and music videos on YouTube (ditto). But Digg was the most high profile offender, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the industry chose them as a their target. It would certainly be high profile, as Digg started the social news revolution, and is populated by a fiercely loyal community (though not one that would sit back and watch as the site did something they didn’t like).

But all in all, the threat from its users was more immediate. Lawsuits take ages to play out and Digg can probably reach some sort of deal, so they will at least be able to stay up while this all plays out. In contrast, if it had done what it had been doing (taking down posts and banning users) they were going to be shut down with days (or hours).

The users have the power in this one, at least for now. But if history is any guide, the industry will retaliate. Everyone is certainly worried about this eventuality, including Wikipedia admins. But if a state can’t protect its citizens’ intellectual property, is it still the same kind of state? Are we moving further into the era of citizen and private corporation mediated laws?

-Alex Rosen

The recent incident on Digg, when the staff preemptively took down some posts that gave and linked to the HD DVD cracking code, is well known by now. For quick background, check out Wired’s early coverage, the EFF’s excellent legal primer, and of course the now infamous Kevin Rose post on Digg’s blog informing the community that Digg would not continue to take down posts containing ‘the number.’

Details are still a little vague on whether Digg actually got official take down notices, or whether they were just following advice from their legal team, though the latter seems more likely. Although it angers them, the geek community around circumventing DRM schemes and intellectual property rights online seems to have accepted that websites need to comply with the law, even when they don’t agree with it. The state, simply put, is still Weberian and controls the means of physical force. It still has the power. Or does it?

Digg’s decision to keep the numbers up heralds a decisive recognition of user power over what amounts to real force online–patronage. We have been hearing about the power of the group and the wonderful nature of socially generated media for years now, but this look like the first time that it has been put to this kind of test against the power of the government (or is it the company?). (I am probably wrong about this and there are many earlier examples to choose from, but I’m new at this and this particularly case has been getting a lot of media attention.) Digg’s decision (Kevin Rose even posted the numbers himself) has the subtext that a Digg user revolt (as we saw) is a more powerful threat than legal threats.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Digg in the long run on this. The MPAA and AACS realize that there is no way they can prevent the spread of this number. It is everywhere: blog posts, photos on flickr (that evil search engine bots can’t read), and music videos on YouTube (ditto). But Digg was the most high profile offender, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the industry chose them as a their target. It would certainly be high profile, as Digg started the social news revolution, and is populated by a fiercely loyal community (though not one that would sit back and watch as the site did something they didn’t like).

But all in all, the threat from its users was more immediate. Lawsuits take ages to play out and Digg can probably reach some sort of deal, so they will at least be able to stay up while this all plays out. In contrast, if it had done what it had been doing (taking down posts and banning users) they were going to be shut down with days (or hours).

The users have the power in this one, at least for now. But if history is any guide, the industry will retaliate. Everyone is certainly worried about this eventuality, including Wikipedia admins. But if a state can’t protect its citizens’ intellectual property, is it still the same kind of state? Are we moving further into the era of citizen and private corporation mediated laws?

-Alex Rosen

Today may be the day that tech-geeks, computer nerds, and the electronically gifted among us will remember with infamy. The user – moderated website Digg.com may be forced to shut down due to their noncompliance with a cease and desist order.

Backstory:
It’s been no secret that HD DVD (high-def DVD’s) and Blu Ray have been battling it out to gain the competitive edge in the next-gen, high definition DVD market. The competition was pretty even until AACS, the people tasked with managing the data stored on HD DVD’s were hacked by an unknown hacker. What was compromised is a 16 ‘letter’ hex code that, unless you really know your stuff, would seem like a bunch of jibberish.

But there are people around who really know their stuff. This key, as chance would have it, just happens to unlock the only known way to “rip” or copy HD DVD information from the disk. In laymen terms, the information that AACS was tasked to keep secret and locked away is now out in the wide open and readily accessible to anyone who seeks to use it.

This also means that whatever competitive advantage AACS and HD DVD’s had over Blu Ray are now null, shot to death, and utterly useless. Honestly, what movie company is going to contract out with AACS to produce DVD’s when they know for a fact that people will rip it, burn it, produce illegal copies of it, and generally cut into their oh-so-precious bottom line? The short answer is “None in their right mind”.

And Now, This News:
As is the case with most noteworthy tech news, the story of the AACS hack and the actual key (which I may or may not have a hard copy of) made its way to the Digg.com forums and ultimately became one of the more popular Digg stories. In an apparent rush run damage control, the people at AACS issued cease and desist letters to Digg.com and Google.com to try and stop the spread of this leaked information across the internet.

As you’re probably aware, however, trying to keep something this juicy off the internet is like trying to stop a California wildfire by spitting on it. You may put out some sparks here and there, but ultimately, you’re done for. And such is the case with AACS. Issuing a cease and desist letter to Digg.com might stop their users from accessing the key through Digg’s servers, but issuing a cease and desist letter to Google is really a shot in the dark. There are literally 1000’s of websites hosted on hundreds of servers that have posted the key for anyone who wishes to take a gander. There is no containing this thing. It’s out, and it’s out for good.

Back to the Digg.com story, initially, the creators and moderators of Digg.com chose to comply with the cease and desist order by erasing or censoring out all mentions of the key on their website. This, of course, set off a firestorm of criticism from Digg users who didn’t like the idea of their stories being moderated without their input. After considering the plethora of comments and feedback generated over the issue, the Digg-masters posted this letter on their blog:

Today was an insane day. And as the founder of Digg, I just wanted to post my thoughts…

In building and shaping the site I’ve always tried to stay as hands on as possible. We’ve always given site moderation (digging/burying) power to the community. Occasionally we step in to remove stories that violate our terms of use (eg. linking to pornography, illegal downloads, racial hate sites, etc.). So today was a difficult day for us. We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease and desist declaration. We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code.

But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.

Digg on,

Kevin

Mixed Feelings:
Many people have mixed feelings on the subject. Some digg users are happy to comply with the cease and desist if it means continued operation of their beloved sight. Most, however, view the bowing to a larger (and obviously technically inferior) company with disdain, and are willing to stand up and fight for what they believe in. I actually agree with both sides of this large coin, and let me tell you why. Firstly, I’m a digg-lover. It’s the first place I go to for my daily tech-news fix. It’s also a great example of a community-driven website where the users, not some faceless entity, controls the content (much like youtube.com for techies). I’d love to see it continue through this. On the other hand, this is the classic case of a huge company trying to bully those who expose their flaws, or otherwise intrude on what said company thinks is their territory (remember Mike Roe and the Microsoft thing?). As of right now, Digg is still up, and no one is really sure how this will play out.

If you follow the link to their blog that I’ve posted above, you’ll notice a certain 16 digit key in the title. Now, I’m not saying that’s the actual AACS key. To me, it looks like someone’s cat walked across the keyboard. If you’re really just dying to get your hands on the key, a quick google search for the string “AACS Hack” may or may not point you in the right direction.

Happy Ending?
No one really knows how this will affect the proud members of the Diggnation. We may soon find ourselves without a country to call home, and all because some careless company can’t keep up with their keys. At press time, Digg is still up and chugging away, pumping out more and more tech-news each minute. A few people on digg seem to have actually thought this through and may have found a way out for Kevin and the other Digg-masters. Even if the AACS hack produced some rather proprietary hex digits, their leakage passed them from the “proprietary” realm into the “juicy gossip, newsworthy” realm. In short, now that it’s out, it’s out and it’s legal, especially to news-gathering sites. Now Digg isn’t really your stereotypical news-gathering sites, but 98% of the content on Digg is generated by news sites or news blogs. Digg merely collects the links and categorizes them by topic. This could be their way out, it could not be. But one thing is for certain. AACS is out of the HD DVD game, at least for now.

a:\>09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

What hell? Damn cat