[Reader-list] When numbers are outlawed, only outlaws will be numerate

[Gora Mohanty]

Hi,
  I am not sure of how many people are aware of the recent controversy
regarding the posting of a 16-digit number that allows one to copy
content on high-definition DVDs. The AACS licensing authority responded
by issuing legal notices to sites that had posted the keys, threatening
to sue them under the DMCA. Note that what is at issue here is the
illegality of the 16-digit number itself, and not whether one has legal
access to the content on the DVD.

  What is sad is that the DMCA, which is US law, apparently does make
the number illegal, and any site posting it liable to a lawsuit.
However, the legal notices from the AACS have had exactly the opposite
effect, in that it sparked a user revolt on Digg (a site that depends
on user input, and participation), and made it a pastime for Internet
users to find more and more innovative ways to post the number. Here
are some links:
1. Boing Boing (http://www.boingboing.net/) has interesting ongoing
   coverage of this. In particular, a link to, the story on the revolt
   at Digg and the subsequent back-down by the site management:
   http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/02/digg_users_revolt_ov.html
   and a link to the original story:
   http://boingboing.net/2007/02/13/bluray_and_hddvd_bro.html
2. Google links to over 300, 000 sites with the number:
<http://www.google.co.in/search?q=09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0>
3. Hamsters, and cats, are apparently getting into the act:
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/xeni/481544025/
   http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/05/01/09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b/
4. A new genre of poetry (steganorhythms?):
   http://scriptorium.monastic.org/
5. Apparently, people have also put the numbers to music, but I do
   not have a link.

Regards,
Gora

P.S. I have been working on scientific programs for some time now, to an
     extent that I have been dreaming about them. A recurring part of
     the dreams involve a sequence of cryptic codes which might form
     some hidden message. I am posting them in the hopes that someone
     can cast light on them, before I go crazy:
     09f91102
     9d74e35b
     d84156c5
     635688-0