AACS won't sue spreaders of encryption key

You could hardly have asked for a clearer demonstration of the futility of copy protection than the events of the past three weeks. The DVD-encryption key that sparked a user rebellion on Digg in early May is now largely moot. Despite having been posted to hundreds of thousands of websites and garnering attention worldwide, the key is now useless, because the industry group that oversees HD DVD and Blu-ray copy protection has changed its encryption scheme to use a different one.

The new key, in turn, has itself already been leaked, even before it was scheduled to go into effect this week.

Perhaps in recognition of the futility of stopping the spread of an obsolete code, the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (the industry group behind the AACS copy-protection standard) seems to have abandoned its earlier threats of legal action.