Fw: [ISN] World's first DeCSS executable prime number

[Jason]

----- Original Message -----
From: "InfoSec News" <isn at c4i.org>
To: <isn at attrition.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 7:11 AM
Subject: [ISN] World's first DeCSS executable prime number


> http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/21591.html
>
> World's first DeCSS executable prime number
> By Thomas C Greene mailto: thomas.greene at theregister.co.uk
> Posted: 11/09/2001 at 03:56 GMT
>
> Math professor Phil Carmody, who in March of this year managed to
> encode the DeCSS source in a prime number, has upped the ante by
> producing a prime number which represents an executable version of the
> banned CSS descrambler.
>
> Legally this is all a bit squishy, as the DMCA forbids us to make
> available an access-control circumvention device. All well and good,
> not that we've tended to care what the DMCA allows or forbids; but
> this item is also the fruit of mathematical research which the public
> certainly has a right to see.
>
> It's a fine legal paradox for the recording industry to chew on. Is
> research illegal because it could in some tiny degree weaken their
> monopoly over the production and distribution of digital media? Or
> does the public's right to be informed of academic developments make a
> circumvention device legal when it also exhibits academic value?
>
> In practical terms, we have to wonder if there's anything to be gained
> from objecting to such an exercise. Would the industry dare try to
> chill research and journalism, with the public-relations nightmare
> that entails, merely to maximize their profits? We wonder. They
> certainly lost their nerve over the SDMI debacle
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/21086.html.
>
> And anyway, isn't the public's right to exchange information
> ultimately a superior concern? Which is not to say that profits don't
> matter -- but just that some things matter more.
>
> "I'm a firm believer in authors' and artists' rights, the rights that
> are protected under copyright," Carmody writes on a Web page detailing
> his latest potentially illegal prime number
> http://asdf.org/~fatphil/maths/#Smallest. "Ripping off DVDs with no
> intention to buy the originals is illegal in almost all countries in
> the world, and correctly so."
>
> "However, I do not believe that the current implementation of US law
> is a sensible one," he continues. "I believe it's logically
> inconsistent, and is biased towards the interests of multinational
> publishers and against consumers."
>
> We couldn't agree more. So here's that fascinating prime number, which
> incidentally just happens to defeat CSS:
>
> 493108359702850190027577767239076495728490777215020863208075
> 018409792627885097658864557802013660073286795447341128317353
> 678312015575359819785450548115719393458773300380099326195058
> 764525023820408110189885042615176579941704250889037029119015
> 870030479432826073821469541570330227987557681895601624030064
> 111516900872879838194258271674564774816684347928464580929131
> 531860070010043353189363193439129486044503709919800477094629
> 215581807111691530318762884778783541575932891093295447350881
> 882465495060005019006274705305381164278294267474853496525745
> 368151170655028190555265622135314631042100866286797114446706
> 366921982586158111251555650481342076867323407655054859108269
> 562666930662367997021048123965625180068183236539593483956753
> 575575324619023481064700987753027956186892925380693305204238
> 149969945456945774138335689906005870832181270486113368202651
> 590516635187402901819769393767785292872210955041292579257381
> 866058450150552502749947718831293104576980909153046133594190
> 302588132059322774443852550466779024518697062627788891979580
> 423065750615669834695617797879659201644051939960716981112615
> 195610276283233982579142332172696144374438105648552934887634
> 921030988702878745323313253212267863328370279250997499694887
> 759369159176445880327183847402359330203748885067557065879194
> 611341932307814854436454375113207098606390746417564121635042
> 388002967808558670370387509410769821183765499205204368255854
> 642288502429963322685369124648550007559166402472924071645072
> 531967449995294484347419021077296068205581309236268379879519
> 661997982855258871610961365617807456615924886608898164568541
> 721362920846656279131478466791550965154310113538586208196875
> 836883595577893914545393568199609880854047659073589728989834
> 250471289184162658789682185380879562790399786294493976054675
> 348212567501215170827371076462707124675321024836781594000875
> 05452543537
>
> We knew you'd be intrigued.
>
> Related Story:
> DVD descrambler encoded in 'illegal' prime number
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/17681.html
>
>
>
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