# 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 > 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is a 2007 AACS encryption key that sparked the Digg Revolt, becoming the defining example of the Streisand Effect through copypasta. 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is a hexadecimal string representing the AACS processing key used to decrypt HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs, discovered by a hacker known as arnezami in February 2007. When the entertainment industry tried to scrub the number from the internet through cease-and-desist letters in May 2007, it triggered one of the largest acts of digital civil disobedience in early internet history, most famously the Digg Revolt, where users flooded the site's front page with the forbidden number[3]. The incident became a defining case study in the Streisand Effect and digital rights activism, spawning creative works from flags to songs built entirely around 16 bytes. ## Origin In February 2007, a hacker using the handle arnezami posted on the Doom9 multimedia forum with a thread titled "Processing Key, Media Key and Volume ID found!!!" The discovery was methodical: HD-DVD playback software had to load the decryption key into RAM to play discs, so arnezami identified the relevant memory region, dumped it to disk, and read the hexadecimal string right out of the memory dump[6]. The key appeared in sample code shared on the forum as a simple C array: `{0x09,0xF9,0x11,0x02,0x9D,0x74,0xE3,0x5B,0xD8,0x41,0x56,0xC5,0x63,0x56,0x88,0xC0}`[1]. Arnezami noted that the processing key worked on the very first c-value out of 512 available, remarking that "someone at the mastering facility was very lazy"[1]. Another forum member, evdberg, built a working program implementing the technique and confirmed it functioned perfectly[1]. The discovery built on existing knowledge. Arnezami stated he started the thread "knowing AnyDVD had already done it," referring to the commercial software AnyDVD HD by SlySoft, though the exact method AnyDVD used was still debated[1]. - **Platform:** Doom9 Forum (discovery), Digg (viral protest) - **Creator:** arnezami (key discoverer), Rudd-O (blogger who urged mass sharing), Kevin Rose (Digg founder who reversed censorship) - **Date:** 2007 ## Overview The string 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is a 128-bit AACS (Advanced Access Content System) processing key. In practical terms, this single cryptographic key could unlock the copy protection on every HD-DVD disc in existence and, because HD-DVD and Blu-ray shared the same AACS encryption system, Blu-ray discs as well[6]. The meme isn't really about the key's technical function. It's about what happened when powerful corporations tried to make a number illegal to say out loud on the internet. The string became a protest symbol, plastered across blogs, forums, T-shirts, songs, flags, and poems. Users found every creative vector imaginable to publish 16 bytes of data in formats that made legal enforcement absurd[3]. ## How It Spread The key stayed within niche technical forums for about two months. Then on April 30, 2007, a blogger known as "Rudd-O" published the encryption key and explicitly asked readers to share it as widely as possible[3]. The post hit Digg, a social news aggregator where users voted stories to the front page. About 15,000 Digg users upvoted articles about the key, driving it to the site's most visible real estate[3]. On May 1, 2007, the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (AACS LA) sent cease-and-desist letters to Digg and multiple other sites. The letters claimed that publishing the number constituted offering "a technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof" designed to circumvent copy protection under the DMCA[5]. Digg CEO Jay Adelson announced the site would comply and began removing stories containing the key[3]. This backfired spectacularly. The Digg community flooded the site with the number. Every story on the front page became about 09-F9. Users embedded it in comments, headlines, and images. As Jeremy Goldman noted in his book *Going Social*, "In trying to make the cracked issue go away, the AACS's letter (and Digg's response) succeeded only in making the story bigger"[3]. Hours later, Digg co-founder Kevin Rose posted a message reversing course: "After seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear... you'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow to a bigger company. Effective immediately, we won't delete stories or comments containing the code, and we will deal with whatever the consequences might be"[3]. The AACS LA also targeted individual bloggers. Rudd-O later reported that Google AdSense suspended his account ten months after the controversy, citing the page where he'd published the key. He protested that "no one can't claim copyright in a number" and called the delayed enforcement "hypocritical" given that Google had "sold thousands of dollars of ads in that very page" during the original traffic surge[2]. ## How to Use The 09-F9 meme typically functions as a symbol of internet resistance rather than a standard template format. Common uses include: - **Protest symbol:** Posting the full hex string in response to corporate censorship or DMCA overreach - **Cultural reference:** Dropping "09 F9" as shorthand for the Streisand Effect or failed attempts to suppress information online - **Creative encoding:** Embedding the number in unexpected formats (colors, music, poetry, images) as a form of protest art - **Forum signature or flair:** Using the number or the Free Speech Flag as a profile element signaling support for digital freedom The meme is less about remixing a template and more about the act of repeating forbidden information in defiance of authority. ## Cultural Impact The 09-F9 incident was one of the internet's first large-scale demonstrations that censoring digital information by legal threat could backfire catastrophically. The Digg Revolt specifically showed that user communities could overpower platform moderation when sufficiently motivated[3]. The Free Speech Flag entered popular culture as a recognized protest symbol. Marcotte's design was studied in academic contexts, with Penn State's Antonio Ceraso analyzing it as evidence of "communal ethos" formation online[3]. The flag raised genuine legal questions about whether encoding a cryptographic key as colors could constitute a circumvention device under the DMCA[3]. The AACS LA's cease-and-desist campaign, preserved in the Chilling Effects database, became a reference point for digital rights organizations discussing the overreach of the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions[5]. The irony that publishing a number could be construed as distributing a "technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof" was not lost on legal commentators[5]. The incident also foreshadowed ongoing tensions between platform operators and their user bases. Kevin Rose's reversal on Digg set an early precedent for tech companies choosing community trust over legal compliance, a dynamic that would repeat across social media for decades to come[3]. ## Fun Facts - The processing key worked on the very first c-value out of 512 possibilities, which arnezami attributed to laziness at the mastering facility[1] - AACS was designed by a consortium including Disney, Intel, Microsoft, Sony, Toshiba, and Warner Bros., yet was broken by one person reading a RAM dump[1][6] - Rudd-O's Google AdSense account was suspended ten months after the controversy, despite Google having profited from ad revenue on the page during its peak traffic[2] - Because HD-DVD and Blu-ray used the same AACS encryption, cracking HD-DVD effectively cracked Blu-ray too, even though HD-DVD lost the format war[6] - The Digg Revolt happened and was resolved in a single day, May 1, 2007[3] ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0? It's a 128-bit AACS processing key that could decrypt HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs, discovered in February 2007 and turned into a protest meme when the entertainment industry tried to suppress it[1][3]. ### Where did 09 F9 come from? A hacker named arnezami discovered the key by dumping the RAM of HD-DVD playback software and posted it on the Doom9 multimedia forum in February 2007[1]. ### What does 09 F9 mean? Technically, it's a cryptographic key. Culturally, it became shorthand for internet resistance against corporate censorship and the absurdity of trying to make a number illegal[3][4]. ### How do you use 09 F9? People post the full hex string or reference the Free Speech Flag as a symbol of digital freedom, especially in discussions about DMCA overreach or the Streisand Effect[3]. ### Is 09 F9 still popular? It's a classic internet meme with historical significance. While no longer actively shared in protest, it's regularly referenced in discussions about digital rights, encryption, and internet history[3][4]. ### What was the Digg Revolt? On May 1, 2007, after Digg's CEO agreed to remove posts containing the key following an AACS cease-and-desist letter, users flooded the entire front page with the number until co-founder Kevin Rose reversed the censorship policy[3]. ### What is the Free Speech Flag? A flag designed by John Marcotte on May 1, 2007, with stripe colors derived from the hex key values (#09F911, #029D74, #E35BD8, #4156C5, #635688), released into the public domain as a protest symbol[3]. ### Who composed the "Oh Nine, Eff Nine" song? Musician Keith Burgun created the song using the key's numbers as its only lyrics and published it on YouTube[3]. ### Did AACS fix the vulnerability? AACS revoked the compromised key and issued new ones, but the system's credibility was severely damaged by the public exposure of how easily a single processing key could be extracted from memory[1][6]. ### Was publishing the key actually illegal? The AACS LA claimed it violated the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions. Legal scholars like Matthew Rimmer argued the creative protest responses were designed to show "the law is absurd or ridiculous and should be abolished"[3][5]. ### Did 09 F9 also crack Blu-ray? Yes. HD-DVD and Blu-ray used the same AACS encryption system, so the processing key worked for both formats[6]. ## References 1. [Processing Key, Media Key and Volume ID found!!! - Page 8 - Doom9's Forum]() 2. [Google AdSense has censored me because of the HD-DVD key — Rudd-O.com]() 3. [Boing Boing - A Directory of Mostly Wonderful Things]() 4. [Free Speech Flag]() 5. [09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 - Urban Dictionary]() 6. [AACS licensor complains of posted key :: Notices :: Lumen]() 7. [09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 - Encyclopedia Dramatica]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0 Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library