A quick hack: true 'Netflix'

From AOL's TV Squad comes news that hackers have fast worked out a way to make films on Netflix's still-new streaming service into downloadable commodities.

Earlier this year, Netflix launched a free service that allows subscribers to view a limited number of films online instead of waiting for the DVDs to arrive. Users had to watch their selections from a browser window; and, since the movies are encoded with Windows Media DRM, they could not download them onto desktops or portable devices.

But the rules have changed, thanks to a group of hackers at Rorta forums. Sensing the opportunity, the community cooked up a workaround involving Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player 11, FairUse4WM and Notepad.

The hack makes the number of streaming hours available to users each month downloadable; it does not, however, give hackers free range of every streaming video on the site.

Hackers, which with offerings like file-sharing often pushed the envelope of digital media innovation, are ever more finding ways to compromise the "web 2.0" destinations that have become everyday aspects of internet users' lives.