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Content Control in Mobile Devices
BigJim.fr writes: "Mobile operators envision the handset as the ultimate closed platform providing an opportunity to regain end to end control over content distribution. Right to replay from Total Telecom provides insight into how they imagine user-hostile digital right management systems in the near future." Excellent article.
I work for a shall we say large company that is planning on realeasing 3G (No one likes them, including myself). So rather than get flamed for working for them Ill just tell you flat out.. I don't get all that many requests for this tech, and thats my function here... I would say roughly 1 out of 1000 customers are interested.
Audio playback requires some kind of system that converts DRM-protected data into an audible waveform. If the system is published and openly available, then any code monkey can write one that converts it to a .wav or .mp3 file. The only other way that I can think of is fingerprinting, but that has been defeated every time it's been challenged. Other than closed obscurity-based systems, what does that leave?
A good possibility is the inclusion of an encryption chip into audio speakers, which will be delivered with digital DRM-crippled data. The data will be encrypted to a private key stored in the encryption chip of the audio speakers, which can be extracted by a simple command. This way free-as-in-speech software will NOT be excluded.
Of course you could still copy a song to a different computer or even broadcast it via Gnutella or whatever, but you could only play it on your pair of speakers. You could of course copy your private key around the network, but it's impossible to change the speakers' private keys. The only possibility is to disassemble your speakers and grab the data between the decryptor and the DAC, but not if decryptor and DAC are located on the same IC.
If the speakers are blown up, replace them by keeping the DAC/decryption unit.
If your product requires some crucial part of it to remain secure, then that will be its biggest weakness. As soon as that one thing comes out into the open, a huge swathe of the security it offered is gone. Think CSS here.
However, if your product is secure despite everyone knowning about it (because you published it), then it will be more secure than one relying on people not knowing how it works. Think DES and friends here.
There is quite a short article on Security by Obscurity with microsoft as the case study here. Alternatly, pick up your nearest book by Bruce Schneier
This post will enter the public domain 70 years after my death, unless Disney buys another extension.