Slashdot Mirror
Own Your Own 128-Bit Integer
Byte Swapper writes "After all the fuss over the AACS trying to censor a certain 128-bit number that now has something over two million hits on Google, the folks at Freedom to Tinker would like to point out that you too can own your own integer. They've set up a script that will generate a random number, encrypt a copyrighted haiku with it, and then deed the number back to you. You won't get a copyright on the number or the haiku, but your number has become an illegal circumvention device under the DMCA, such that anyone subject to US law caught distributing it can be punished under the DMCA's anti-trafficking section, for which the DMCA's Safe Harbor provisions do not apply. So F9090211749D5BE341D8C5565663C088 is truly mine now, and you can pry it out of my cold, dead fingers!"
Why not create a system where ANY 128bit number can decrypt the haiku. Then you can go after anyone distributing any 128bit number. Say, like using IPv6.
Being a criminal means infringing on someone's rights. Rights are defined as to determine how scarce resources are to be controlled. Information is not a scarce resource, by copying music from someone, I am not invading anyone's property, or if you prefer infringing on anyone's right.
\u262D = \u5350
Making fun of the RIAA and the DMCA to justify pirating music. You are all criminals.
First off, we're talking about DVD's and movies, not music.
Secondly then if you want to live in a world where a corporation has the power to determine IF you are allowed to watch a movie you purchased, how many times, and on what equipment - then so be it. Most of us resent the very thought, much less this feeble and poorly thought out attempt at implementation.
Thirdly, copyright infringement has only recently been made a "crime", in the US. In many other countries it's a civil matter. You know, I have never driven under the speed limit - mostly I have driven 15 to 20% over. Should I go to jail for that, too?
I go to movies. I pay to go to the movies. Why do I have to sit through a 5 minute sermon on how evil piracy is when I paid to get there? Then again, when I buy a DVD, why the hell should I be FORCED to watch trailers and nowadays even ads? So I rip it, and get my right of choice back.
While this code can be used to rip things and publish them on the internet, it's useful to me mostly to be able to see the movies I bought in the format I want. Call me a criminal if you will. I will call you a mindless consumer. Take what you're given and shut up. Leave those of us who want to DO something about the situation alone - when the REAL information revolution happens you'll have us to thank.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Why wouldn't you just use the text of the DMCA itself as the key? Then the government can't publish it!
Pasting the text of this page into a word processor, I learn that it is 177,926 characters long, with spaces. That's a 1,423,408-bit key.
Better get started.
For security, the MD5 hash of this message and sig is 09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0.
You can turn your own, personal 128 bits into an image here: http://robots.org.uk/itii/
Actually, let's say it's not rot13, but rather, rot128 -- that is, every byte xor'd against 0x80. (I think, I'm a little fuzzy on binary and hex now.) That should make it nice and universal, symmetric, and something easy enough for everyone to know.
.rot13 extension -- so you're not really revealing your key, but everyone knows what you mean -- and distribute it via P2P.
For safety's sake, the following should be done on an encrypted partition, and you should still shred the files afterwards.
Go take your favorite movie (DVD is easy, but high def if you can), rip it -- doesn't matter much how, raw bits would be especially insulting, but re-encode if you like. Take your shiny new DVD rip, add a note saying "Enjoy! And if anyone from the MPAA is reading, HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR DMCA NOW, YOU CUNTS? IT'S ILLEGAL TO READ THIS, I'LL SEE YOU IN COURT!!"
Zip/rar it all up, so it's one file, to make it simple, and run that one file through rot0x80. Save the shiny new crypted file on your hard drive somewhere, maybe give it a
Now, if everyone takes equal care when playing the movie -- and I imagine we could add rot0x80 support to mplayer/vlc, if you only did it on the media file itself -- then while I am not a laywer, I don't see how they could legally get any kind of conviction against you. Simply don't put the "key" in the players, and require the person to input it every time they play -- then, you can claim you didn't know (since the file was legal to redistribute, just not legal to open), and if they accuse you of piracy, you can immediately turn it around and accuse them of DMCA violations.
Not really an original idea, mind you. I can't point to the person who first used it to encrypt The Number, thus making it illegal for the MPAA to stop its spread. But the point here is, legally, I don't see a way out of this unless they subpeona (which is why all the disk encryption), and you can get around that easily enough -- simply use a temporary partition/filesystem, and throw away the key when you're done with that particular disc. In fact, leave the machine on and generate a random number, so you can truthfully say that you never did know the key, meaning they have absolutely no evidence you did something wrong, except the glaringly obvious bit that they're not allowed to use.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!