The encryption on DVD's Content Scrambling System has been hacked. The encryption algorithm appears to be weak. Though a cracker program for DVD had been in circulation for some time, the algorithm and the code was only released last week on a Linux DVD development mailing list. This means that Linux users can play DVD without having to boot back into Microsoft Windows. It would also make the whole concept of the current regionalised copyrights void.

The DVD Forum has apparently come up with a system where they assign a unique key to each manufacturer and then include a corresponding key in each DVD. Thus, the demented logic goes, if a manufacturer's key is compromised, that corresponding key can be dropped from new DVDs so that they will not play. However the DVD Forum must not have counted on having its CSS algorithm subjected to scrutiny. Someone should have explained to them that "Security By Obscurity" is a euphemism for "Hackable".

In order for a Linux DVD player, it was necessary to understand how the DVD CSS works. Given the abilities and skills of the Linux community, it was to be expected that such an event would occur sooner rather than later. However the stupidity of the DVD Forum is highlighted by their amazing incomprehension of even the most basic tenets of security. It is far easier to protect a crypto-system in hardware than software. In software, it is possible to extract the critical data. The widespread availability of Windows based DVD player software made the task easier. The fact that an Open Source player exists means that most of the safeguards that DVD had boasted can easily be circumvented.