Update 9.29.08: Almost immediately following the exposure of the vulnerability, Amazon reportedly converted its entire collection of streaming content to Adobe's encrypted RTMPE protocol -- many had previously used the unencrypted RTMP variety -- effectively closing the loophole.

Reuters has revealed a security flaw in Adobe's online video playing Flash software, one that allows readily-available software to capture full-length movies from Amazon's Video on Demand service. Testing by the international news wire showed that programs such as Replay Media Capture, designed to make local copies of YouTube or other web-hosted videos, are capable of copying an entire streamed film from Amazon once its free two-minute preview has begun playing. Because Amazon wants paying customers to be able to watch their purchases as quickly as possible, that two-minute preview is really the first two minutes of the full, unencrypted stream -- allowing films to be watched sooner than if the previews were dedicated files, but also allowing video capture programs to continue copying the data on the back end even after the player has stopped showing footage on the front end. It remains to be seen if either Amazon or Adobe will institute technological changes to thwart this now-widely-known loophole. Originally published on Sunday, September 28, 2008 at 11:31AM.