“Descrambling DVDs just got even easier, thanks to a pair of MIT
programmers.”
“Using only seven lines of Perl code, Keith Winstein and Marc
Horowitz have created the shortest-yet method to remove the thin
layer of encryption that is designed to prevent people — including
Linux users — from watching DVDs without proper
authorization.”
“Their “qrpff” program is a more compact cousin of the DeCSS
utility that eight movie studios successfully sued to remove from
the website of 2600 Magazine. But unlike DeCSS, qrpff is
abbreviated enough for critics of the Motion Picture Association of
America to include in, for example, e-mail signature files — and
many already have.”
“I think there’s some value in demonstrating how simple these
things really are and how preposterous it is to try to restrict
their distribution,” says Winstein, a 19-year-old MIT sophomore
computer science major.”