[zapdrive]

It's just a string of characters.

[brookst]

So are bomb threats and false advertising.

I don't think "it's just characters" is a one-simple-trick.

[ok123456]

you make a mathematical formula that generates the key.

[evancox100]

Good luck with that argument!

"Your honor, I wasn't copying that movie. You see, I applied a mathematical formula to the .zip file, and it just happened to produce the movie as output. Coincidence!"

(That's not to say the key is copyrightable, it's not. I think the relevant law would be the DMCA anti-circumvention provision.)

[brookst]

"I didn't distribute the movie, just a file that XOR'd every byte with 255!"

Technical people tend to see the law as a technical thing, where technical arguments will win. Courts are generally unamused, since every judge has years of experience with defendants who think that they've discovered one simple trick.

[Xorlev]

Software, movies, music is just a string of bits.

Using something leaked always carries some inherent risk.

[realusername]

The difference is that software and music are made by authors unlike keys, that's what makes them copyrightable