Update: Looks like I had to edit my picture because it was temporarily gone.
I’m an avid Digg user and I go there daily for my news. Today, May 1st, has been the weirdest day on Digg. Everyone is posting this secret HD-DVD code that allows you to strip off the DRM and watch them on your Linux box. It’s comes up for submissions and also randomly throughout every story as a comment. When a submission containing the”secret code” gets to the front page, it is immediately taken down.
Yes I know what the code is but I’m way to lazy to rip a HD-DVD just to watch it on a Linux box that I don’t have. I have nothing against pirates but I rather buy my movies from Best Buy because I like to have a physical media in my hands to collect. Music? Well that’s an entirely different story for a different time. I’m sure that if you really wanted the code, you would be able to find it. When will the industry learn that you can’t stop a committed community when it comes to DRM. Only time will tell.
May 1, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Funny, I just blogged about this too. To top it off, the number is even less useful than you think. There’s no current way to actually watch the HD-DVD on a Linux box. The software hasn’t been written yet.
However, there are reasons you’d want to strip the DRM that do not involve piracy. For example, those CDs you purchase at Best Buy? I bet you expect to be able to copy them to your iPod? Right? (if you own one)
Well iPods do video now. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to buy an HD-DVD and copy it to my iPod. DRM impedes fair use.
That being said, the industry will never care. They want to be able to force the majority of consumers (the “lazy” ones like you) to buy the same album or movie every 5 years. It’s in their best interest not to care.
So the end result is legal troubles for several websites and the movie industry thinking up DRM that’s even tougher to crack. I agree with you, I don’t see the advantage.