Stickin’ it to the man: the illustrated report of an epic event
If there’s anything that can be said about the infamous HD-DVD Nacht and the past 48 hours, let’s say they’ve been hectic. I’ve documented the entire case from this magazine’s point of view — here’s an illustrated account of what happened here and around the Web.
Before I start, I would like to make only one request. If, after reading the story, you like it, please submit it to Digg/Reddit/Slashdot or your favorite site. Remember that I can’t (at least on Digg) because I’m persona non grata over there.
Now, let’s start.
How the story came to be
So there I was, minding my own business, catching up on my daily feed; then it happened, a new post on Reddit was publicizing the HD-DVD processing code. Yes, Reddit is actually where the leak was first made public.
The fact that the security of HD-DVD’s AACS had been compromised progressively was already known — make no mistake. Volume keys had already been retrieved and were shared samizdat in peer-to-peer networks, along with the software on Doom9.
But this was different. A cease-and-desist letter had been issued to Google, regarding search results that included the key. Not any key, mind you, but the processing key. In theory, with this key, one could decrypt all HD-DVD volumes sold so far, so it was a much bigger deal (and a much more publicized censorship attempt) than just volume keys. A blog (Spooky action at a distance) had been completely nuked because of this.
Many sites were already carrying the key; therefore, never in my wildest dreams I imagined what would happen later on. At that moment, I wrote the (now kind of famous) story named Spread this number, partly because I was angry at Big Media’s continuing attempt to screw with our lives, and partly because I knew that the story warranted more attention than just a cease-and-desist.
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:36
[...] site gives the whole story from kick-off to the present in this entry, entitled, Sticking It To The Man, (be ready for a long [...]
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:04
[...] lesen auch das hier und den … [...]
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:18
you are featured in the german newsmagazine SPIEGEL.
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/0,1518,480554,00.html
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:30
Now that’s a good read and even better stuff to witness! Holy awesomeness!
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:54
Well, I learned you have an interest in stock photo models.
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:20
[...] que merece la pena de ser leído en su totalidad (screenshots, videos y argumentos muy validos): Stickin’ it to the man: the illustrated report of an epic event. Definitiva e inevitablemente, este hito pasa a los anales de la historia de la era Web [...]
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:21
La esencia de Digg murió ayer por unas horas…
Todo empieza cuando Digg decide borrar una historia enviada por Rudd-O, quien decidió re-publicar un código que permite desbloquear la encriptación del contenido de los HD-DVD. Insultados por la decisión del sitio, medio planeta g…
May 2nd, 2007 at 13:17
[...] ONE MORE UPDATE: Digg has come around. Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, put out this announcement. Rock on, and yes, stick it to the man. And if you’re interested, read the details of how this all evolved over at Rudd-o. [...]
May 2nd, 2007 at 14:48
[...] raging on the Internet. Specifically, the fight over the HD-DVD key. Rudd-o posted this article covering the battle. He sat at ground [...]
May 2nd, 2007 at 18:26
Valeu cara !!!!! Nós comandamos o mundo !!! O.O
Tô sem palavras e rindo feito um idiota
In english: Thx a lot !!!! We rulte the world !!! O.O
I’m SPEACHLESS and smiling like it’s biggest day ever !!!
Mey espanhol eh um lixo … Malz
May 2nd, 2007 at 20:56
[...] lighting up on digg for temporarily removing all submissions about it was. Rudd-O posted a 17 page epic event documenting the strain his server took on “HD-DVD Night”. Topping it all off with being [...]
May 3rd, 2007 at 0:24
Uhm, this is what comes up when I try to submit this post to Digg:
URL blocked — This URL has been reported by users to host illegal or restricted content and cannot be submitted at this time.
May 3rd, 2007 at 2:58
Yeah, they still got my site banned. Maybe someone can tip the gentle and generous regents at Digg about this fact?
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:02
the number is “in different designs” featured on the german Netzpolitik.org: http://netzpolitik.org/2007/die-verbotene-zahl/
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:46
[...] Spread this number 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 [...]
May 4th, 2007 at 20:46
[...] http://rudd-o.com/archives/2007/05/02/stickin-it-to-the-man-the-illustrated-report-of-an-epic-event/ [...]
May 4th, 2007 at 22:33
[...] on HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs if you’re code-savvy enough, has been made much more widespread by the very act of suppressing it — thanks to the wonderful people at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and [...]
May 8th, 2007 at 7:18
[...] more information regarding Linux and this code, please stop by RuddOCom to learn [...]
May 11th, 2007 at 16:36
i have an offtopic question. whats the name of the firefox theme you use in the screenshot?
May 11th, 2007 at 22:11
It’s Flock, not Firefox. It’s the default Flock theme.
May 12th, 2007 at 8:21
Ground Zero. Cool. Strong-arm tactics by the MPAA is a poor way to deal with evolving technology.
Isn’t DRM an oxymoron?
June 17th, 2007 at 12:23
[...] People from all around the world keep digging similar stories with the code. And to quote Rudd-O:”You could literally blink, hit F5 to refresh, and see 30 more votes in the yellow [...]
June 27th, 2008 at 12:36
[...] chapter they review the newly created Internet landscape with an example from May 2007 involving a blog post with the encryption key for DVD’s (Hollywood’s version of the Holy Grail). As the blog post with the code became more and more [...]