Google has received a Cease and Desist notice from the AACS (Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator). The legal body behind HDCP (High Definition Content Protection) seeks to protect high definition movies from being copied by going after search engines.

The AACS has begun a storm of C and D notices to try and protect HDCP. The AACS is responsible for overseeing the creation of the DRM and legally defending it. The AACS must certify equipment to be deemed HDCP compliant and it’s also begun legal action against anyone or anything deemed a threat to the security of its DRM. This Cease and Desist to Google is only one in several sent out recently by the AACS.

Ever since the code behind the HDCP had been cracked several websites are posting the actual hexadecimal codes that will allow copiers to bypass the protection. This code would only be useful in the hands of sophisticated users and developers who wanted to make utilities that allowed you to copy HD DVD and Blu-ray movies to your computer’s hard drive. Posting the hex codes is a clear violation of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

What’s interesting is that the AACS goes after Google, a search engine, just for linking to the sites with the codes. Google really has no direct control over what the sites in its index publish. But just for linking to the sites and the very articles with the offending codes, Google finds itself subject to the AACS first step toward litigation. Should Google be found legally responsible for its link to hex codes - would this set a precedent for information on the Internet?

But the AACS must feel it has little other recourse. Many of the websites gleefully publishing the codes aren’t hosted in the US and therefore the DMCA doesn’t apply.