There’s a bit of a fuss on t’internet at the moment about a 128-bit number that is the key to decrypting hi-def DVDs. The DVD manufacturers aren’t happy to see this going around, and are issuing legal documents to anyone they can find to prevent its dissemination. They’re allowed to do that (probably) because the number is considered a copy protection circumvention device, which makes it illegal to own under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Still with me? Well thanks to Ed Felten, you too can be the proud owner of a 128-bit number. If enough people collect their own number (and we’re talking more people than have ever existed by several orders of magnitude) then there will be no numbers left for stupid encryption schemes like this. Even a decent subset would cause them a headache, as due diligence would call for a full search of all existing numbers.

And before you get any ideas, AC 0F 65 D1 24 AF 00 D3 95 81 E8 45 88 6C 93 8A is already taken.

User requests support from developer, but makes it very clear that they don’t deserve any help.

(HT: DF)

Error message from an installation of Mozy:

“I understand that if I ever lose this key, that neither I nor Mozy will be able to decrypt my data and I will be hosed.”

Hard to argue with that.

Incidentally it seems like a good service, esp. for free, and if you use the link above you get a little extra free space (as do I). Let me know if you need a link to the Mac client.

We were lucky enough to inherit a PS2 from my brother-in-law, who has upgraded to an XBOX 360. There are scarcely half a dozen games I like, the off-the-top-of-my-head list being something like:

• Elite
• Populous
• Civ
• Dune 2
• DiceWars
• Gran Tourismo

That last one makes me happy to have the PS2, the only platform that runs GT. I can waste many happy hours on that, which is fortunate because I utterly suck at all other games. For example, last night I tried Half Life, and died before I even saw anything to shoot because I couldn’t climb up a ladder without falling to my doom.

I’ve signed up for a Remember The Milk account to try and keep track of my domestic life. I don’t know if the app is any good yet (though it’s certainly well regarded), but the signup screen is as good an example of the usefulness of Ajax as I’ve seen – go try it now, even if you don’t press the commit button.