Jennifer Netherby

Matrix HD DVD Hacked?
May 17, 2007

I can't confirm this in any way yet, but Engadget is reporting that the keys for the updated version of AACS, said to be used on next week's HD DVD release of Warner's Matrix Trilogy, have been exposed, allowing hackers to make copies of the movie. The site says the exposed keys have been shown to work on early shipped copies of the release and speculates that the hack will also work on Disney's Blu-ray release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man's Chest, also debuting next week. (though a source tells me this isn't true on the Pirates releases.)

Haven't heard back from any of the studios or AACS or other HD folks on this yet, but will update once there's more info...

Update Looking like the Matrix has been hacked, but still no confirmation that the release uses an updated version of AACS. A commenter on Digg posted a link to a 26 GB Matrix file posted by someone called "Banana Farmer" who says he works for Banana Republic. Who are these people that want to download 26 GB files? someone get them a life, quick.

Still no actual confirmation that Matrix used new AACS keys. Warner and the AACS folks aren't commenting. But I hear from studio sources that there isn't much concern about the new keys being revealed because of the way AACS works. New keys can constantly be added, so once a key is revealed, it is taken out of circulation and new keys are put in. One source told me that the goal is to make it easier to buy an HD DVD or Blu-ray disc than to constantly hack into new keys. Though no one thinks that hackers won't stop trying.

Posted by Jennifer Netherby on May 17, 2007 | Comments (0)