If you mean that you might be able to decrypt a copyrighted work because you used that same encryption method on a non-copyrighted work, then definitely not. The work under protection will be considered. (Otherwise, I am unsure what you meant.)
From what I recall, it was the actual protection method that was protected by DMCA - when DVD protection was cracked it was forbidden to distribute a particular section of code so they just printed it on a Tee-shirt to troll the powers that be.
> Outside the Internet and the mass media, the key has appeared in or on T-shirts, poetry, songs and music videos, illustrations and other graphic artworks, tattoos and body art, and comic strips.
Using the encryption key to decrypt the data on a DVD is illegal “circumvention” per DMCA 1201, if it’s done without authorization from the copyright owner of the data on the DVD. If it were really illegal to simply publish the key on a website, then printing it on clothing that they sold instead would not be a viable loophole.
I’m glad it is still referred to as a controversy that they were issuing cease and desist letters for publishing information when the actual crime they had in mind, which was not alleged in the letters, is using the information to decrypt a DVD.
Publishing the key is a crime but even “discovering” the key is a crime. My toy thought is that you could legally do key discovery using non-copyrighted media though of course now that I think about it why would it be ciphered in that case LOL
