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Another Audio Watermark Scheme Wins TI DSP Contest

Posted by timothy on from the psshhhshhhsh-don't-play-this-psshhshshhh dept.

CaptainTylor writes: "Texas Instruments' DSP and Analog Design Contest Challenge is over, and the winner is a group of students from Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, who presented yet another scheme for digital-audio watermarking, and got US$100,000 for it. Here is a Dallas Morning News article on the winners, which is of course light on the tech details. Abstracts of the winner and the other two finalists are available, but I couldn't find the full submissions. It's worth noting that the competition was not specifically about copyright protection, just about using the TI TMS320 DSP in interesting ways. Wonder how long it'll take before someone cracks this scheme..."

And speaking of schemes, cracking, audio and contests, Logic Bomb writes: "According to an article from the Associated Press, the United States National Archives are holding a contest of sorts to see if anyone can finally figure out what was erased on the infamous Watergate tape that pushed Nixon's downfall over the brink. It would be amazing to have this national mystery put to rest."

3 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by Templar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No matter how unrealistic it is as a business model, copy protection is still an interesting problem, especially through watermarking.

    Inclusion of watermarking code into DSPs is inevitable. CD-R companies, for example, have been eager to embrace similar methods... try burning a SafeDisc2 protected image on a new Plextor drive. Even a perfect data source can just be blocked by hardware, by detecting patterns.

    Obviously, some companies will see a way to make a profit by getting around this. Educated consumers will buy hardware without locks.

    The question is, will Congress permit anyone to create CD-R writers (for example) in the future that do not have firmware copy protection.

    I hope the DMCA was an anomaly, and not an example of things to come.

  2. Cracking it... by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny
    Wonder how long it'll take before someone cracks this scheme..."

    Maybe they actually wrote the crack first, then reverse engineered it.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  3. what a horrible idea by Chundra · · Score: 5, Funny
    Dammit. If there's one thing I truly hate, it's getting water in my ear. It sloshes around and makes everything sound muffled. Try as I might, there's nothing I can do to get it out of there, so eventually I give up. Then, late at night, I'll be lying in bed and this unexpected stream of warm water trickles onto my pillow. Suddenly I can hear again! Out of curiosity, I get up, turn on the light and see just a few drops of ear fluid on the pillow. I think to myself, "Wow, such a tiny watermark made such a big difference".

    And they want us to PAY for that? I think not!