AACS is one of the copy protection algorithms used to keep HD DVD and Blu-Ray DVD out of the hands of those dirty, nasty pirates everywhere. One of the ways it accomplishes it is by using an encrypted key to make sure your content is "original". These keys can be revoked which would render all "copied" material unreadable (or something like that).
A few months ago, a number of hackers found how to hack the keys to copy the material. Now, new keys have been released to thwart those nasty pirates and once again, they have been able to hack them. This time though, a week before DVDs bearing these new keys were released to the public.
The creators of these copy protection scams truly don't understand how these people work. The people responsible for "hacking" the keys most likely have no interest in making money or selling pirated goods. They do it for the challenge. Remember when you were a kid and your parents told you that you couldn't do something....exactly. You wanted to do it 100 times more. It's human nature. These "hackers" (or should we call them content liberators), are just following human nature. And as long as we have these stupid "restriction controls" in place like AACS, there will be those who will find a way around it.
Is it any wonder why all this stuff cost as much as it does? Have you looked at the retail price of a HD DVD? $30 in most cases. That's almost twice the cost of a regular DVD. My advice to all these companies that buy so heavily into copy protection is this; stop using it. Save that money and figure out how to COMPETE with pirates, not beat them. Beating them will never happen. Maybe then you will be able to offer value to your customers. Have fun fighting a losing battle and meanwhile, count me out as a customer.