HD-DVD key? What is it? I DO NOT MEAN THE CODE ITSELF. I mean, why is it so important and what does it do?

Question

Again, to clarify, I have NO DESIRE FOR THE EXACT NUMBERS. I merely see that people are making a commotion about it, and I use Digg, so, I'm interested.

Can someone explain to me what it does and why it is the center of this fiasco?

Answer 1

All HD movies are encoded using a number of keys; usually a "public" key and a device key. In order to play back the movie you need the public key (each device has its own key).
Looks like one of the keys has been compromized; however, unlike DVDs, the HD encryption standard allows for compromized keys to be revoked.