A digital rights management (DRM) licensing authority is strong-arming search firms, bloggers and open source advocates in a desperate attempt to stop the spread of a software key that disables copyright protection on Blu-ray and HD-DVD disks.
Copyright reform activist Cory Doctorow decided on Monday to remove the information from a group blog to which he contributes after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (AACS-LA).
The AACS-LA is backed by technology vendors including IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Sony and Walt Disney, and oversees the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) DRM technology used on high-definition DVDs.
The so-called processing keys published on the blog let users disable the DRM that prevents users from copying the disks or playing them on unlicensed equipment or software.