Posted by Tom on 06/07/06 22:40

Excerpts from
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2006/tc20060526_680075.htm


The real battle over the next generation of DVD devices is between the
manufacturers and the consumers. The battle is over Digital Rights
Management. These new disks are packed full of copy-protection
functions, some of which impair our ability to use the content we pay
for.

The only way DRM can really work is to control all of the hardware the
video data flow through, including the monitor. The problem is that at
some point an unencrypted video signal is sent to a display device. It
can be split off before it gets there or videotaped once it's on the
screen.

The AACS (Advanced Access Content System) supported by both Sony and
Microsoft addresses this problem. The standard calls for scaling down
HD content to a low resolution if the player isn't hooked up to an
HDCP-compliant connection. In other words, if the player is connected
to a monitor without the right cables, the quality of the image will
be deliberately degraded.

Blu-ray goes beyond the AACS, incorporating two other protection
mechanisms. The ROM Mark is a cryptographic element overlaid on a
legitimate disk. If the player doesn't detect the mark, it won't play
the disc. This will supposedly deal with video-camera-in-the-theatre
copies.

Even more extreme is a scheme called BD+ that deals with the problem
of what to do when someone cracks the encryption scheme. The players
can automatically download new crypto if the old one is broken. But
there's an ominous feature buried in this so-called protection
mechanism. If a particular brand of player is cryptographically
compromised, the studio can remotely disable all of the affected
players. In other words, if some hacker halfway across the globe
cracks Sony's software, Sony can shut down my DVD player across the
Net.

The Blu-ray's DRM scheme is simply anti-consumer. The standard
reflects what the studios want, which is no copying of their material
at all, for any reason. The possibility that they would disable
thousands of DVD players, not because they're hacked but just because
they might be vulnerable, would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
It's clearly an option today.

What do consumers want? We want high quality video and sound, of
course. We also want interoperability. When we buy content, we expect
to play it on every gadget we own. The newest video servers require
content to be copied to the hard drives, so that they can stream video
throughout the house. Soon, we'll also want to take the movies that we
paid for with us on small multimedia players like video iPods.

I support the rights of the studios to protect their content right up
until it stops me from doing something reasonable that I want to do.
Blu-ray crosses this line.

So should the studios just roll over and close their doors? I have
some suggestions for them:

....Find a new pricing model. There's an iTunes for movies out there
somewhere.

....Fuggetaboutit. It's true that lots of people download movies off
the Internet or buy bootleg copies, but how many adults will sit in
front of a computer screen and watch a pixilated movie or be content
to watch a DVD where someone's head keeps blocking the camera every
few minutes? The kids who download movies off the Net can't afford to
buy a real copy anyway. Stopping them from downloading and watching a
movie doesn't translate into an extra sale.

....Go through the motions. Build a minimal DRM, enough to deter people
from casual copying. Then grit your teeth and bear it.




--

Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem.

....John Galsworthy

[Back to original message]