Until this is resolved, or DRM is put in history's trashcan of poorly conceived technologies, cracking will be supported by mainstream users in self defense of their media investments.

While there is no doubt some truth to this, it's also true that there are legitimate reasons for cracking the encryption.

In my case my new HP system, sold as an HD-DVD media center complete with one movie in HD-DVD format, does not play HD-DVDs. Apparently the monitor it came with does not support the HDCP content protection.

To watch a movie in high definition, I'll have to bypass the encryption. If I can't play my paid-for movie because they sold it to me “defective by design”, then I have no qualms about bypassing the defect.

Another reason is, as you say, to make a backup. High-definition movies sell for two or three times the price of older DVDs. You don't need to buy many before you have a significant investment – one that insurance companies won't cover. An off-site backup is simple common sense.

Another reason is for protection againt encryption key revokation. Bypassing AACS was reportedly much easier than cracking the encryption on the old DVDs. The AACS people knew that it was only a matter of time – why else include the ability to revoke keys for specific players and movies? With the very real possibility of my player or movies being reduced to scrap in response to a crack, I need the ability to remove the encryption altogether.

If this seems self-serving for the hackers, well, tough. I haven't pirated any HD movies and I don't plan to, but key revokation is still a real threat.

Finally, another reason is to protect against the format being made obsolete. Should HD-DVD disappear in favor of Blu-Ray (or a third format), I need the ability to transfer my paid-for movies to that format.