Slyck news has interviewed muslix64 via PM (private message) who defeated AACS on HD DVD & Blu-ray asking a range of questions about why he decided to try and break the content protection as well as questions about the content protection itself.
Apparently, while a lot of effort was put into making AACS protection as strong as possible to attack, it turned out like building a high security safe resistant to torches, drills, etc., where the owner neglected the key by writing it down somewhere in the same room as the safe. So unlike CSS where DVD Jon had to reverse the cipher (like attempting to break into the safe), muslix64 just looked around for the key (like looking around the area of the safe for any sign of its combination written somewhere). It took just eight days for muslix64 to break the HD DVD content protection.
As muslix64 previously mentioned, going by the interview, the main reason behind breaking the content protection was due to him being upset with not being able to play his purchased movie on his non-HDCP HD monitor and mad about the Hollywood executive that decided he couldn't either. He also went after Blu-ray in an aim to avoid HD DVD itself being picked on, but instead the dreaded content protection. His main attempt in circumventing AACS was to get hold of the volume keys rather than the device keys, since unlike device keys volume keys can not be revoked. Even if the studios try revoking the content, unfortunately as the content can already be decrypted, one just has to use an alternative player, such as an open source one to play back the decrypted titles.
While the industry claims muslix64 has only made a tiny weakness in AACS, he believes that AACS is totally busted, with the only solution being to use a unique key on every disc, something that would be prohibitive in cost for the manufacturing. When it comes to formats, he does not believe BD+ is going to help much either apart from speeding up the adoption of BD+. For example, if new Blu-ray content starts widely using BD+, consumers may start going for the insecure format and Blu-ray's higher pricing doesn't help either.
In my opinion, this hack serves the movie industry right for trying to force consumers to upgrade to HDCP compliant TVs and displays even though their perfectly good non-HDCP compliant displays may well be capable of 720p or 1080i/p content. For example, all digital displays with a native resolution of 1280 x 720 or higher can display at least 720p at the full resolution, but Blu-ray and HD DVD players will not allow use of the display's digital connection if the display does not feature HDCP, which is the same scenario muslix64 ran into. What the industry has done would be like a government rebuilding a nation’s motorway network (more lanes, longer stretches, etc.) and only allowing consumers who buy cars that enforce speed limits and other restrictions to use the new roads.
I would recommend reading the full interview here.
