Give Your DVD Player The Finger

sebFlyte writes "Wired is reporting on some scary new DRM tech being developed. From the article: 'At the store, someone buying a new DVD would have to provide a password or some kind of biometric data, like a fingerprint or iris scan, which would be added to the DVD's RFID tag. Then, when the DVD was popped into a specially equipped DVD player, the viewer would be required to re-enter the data.'"

Comments

This is a non-starter

[TripMaster Monkey]

Couple quotes from TFA:

Ed Felten, a computer science professor at Princeton University, called the proposal the "limit of restrictiveness."
"I think people would find it creepy to give their fingerprint every time they wanted to play a DVD," Felten said. "It's hard to think that would be acceptable to customers."

Seth Schoen, staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said it's unlikely this DRM plan will be any more effective than others preceding it.
"It only requires one person to break it," Schoen said.
Schoen said this is the "smart cow problem": Once one of the cows opens the gate, the others will follow.

Unfavorable bovine comparisons notwithstanding, these two statements sum up nicely why this will never happen:

• The tech-savvy will easily find a way around this protection...it's only a matter of time.
  
• The tech-non-savvy will be so inconvinenced and put off by this incredibly restrictive protection that the public outcry will be deafening.
  
• The tech-somewhat-savvy, who previously couldn't be bothered to break other, less restrictive protections like region codes, will have vastly increased incentive to seek out the cracks produced by the aformentioned tech-savvy group, thus effectively compounding the problem.
  
  Add to all this the increased costs of manufacturing the 'specially equipped DVD players' mentioned in the article, and it's easy to see why this idea is a non-starter.
  
  

Re:This is a non-starter

[whterbt]

This could easily be employed by the MPAA as a smokescreen. Say they want to implement X, a restrictive DRM scheme.

They publically announce that they are going to "adopt" this fingerprint idea or some other draconian, over-the-top, Big-Brother DRM technology and attempt to push it down people's throats. They wait for the inevitable backlash, and say, "We're sorry for trying to do that. We'll use this less invasive DRM scheme X instead."

Invasive technologies...

[ylikone]

such as this will never work. Because people will not buy products with this stuff on it.

I hope.

Why would anyone buy this?

[Stop Error]

I for one would go back to a VCR before submitting to this. Simply insane to think that I need to be treated like a thief when BUYING something they think I may STEAL later. (making available)

This is nuts.

I hope you don't have kids.

[Gondola]

You'd have to keep running back to the DVD player every time they wanted to watch one of the 10,000 Disney and other assorted DVDs that they like to watch endlessly.

This is crazy talk, really, and really prevents the fair use rights we have now (loaning to friends, etc.)

Why don't they just sell tickets every time we want to watch a DVD? "They're $2 cheaper per viewing than going to the theater!"

This would kill the industry

[mbrinkm]

I, for one, would never purchase a product that required this level of security for my home entertainment. The only time I would consider giving my fingerprint or some other biometric data would be for a HIGH security job.

I don't trust any person at electronics stores with my SS#, why would I trust them with more personal information?

Re:This will never work

[calibanDNS]

FYI, current generation DVD players are not DRM-less, the DRM is just transparent to most users so they can ignore it. With a system like this, the DRM just becomes obvious to the average Joe. Of course, maybe this is what we finally need to happen to give the average Joe a kick in the ass to be opposed to DRM.

This will ENCOURAGE piracy

[sunderland56]

So, if this comes to pass, huge numbers of people will buy the DVD, take it home, enter their fingerprint ONCE, and rip it to a non-protected copy. Then, they'll just use the much-more convenient copy.

In other words, everyone will have and regularly use a DVD copier. And, once you're copying it for yourself, what's the difference if you make a few extra copies? Hey, while I'm sitting here, Aunt Martha might enjoy this movie too.....

Re:Gifts? Online purchases?

[0x461FAB0BD7D2]

I doubt it will be used for retail DVDs as it wouldn't be cost-effective.

However, it may yet be useful in securing workprints and pre-release copies. That would decrease bootlegging. A workprint of Star Wars III hit the BitTorrent networks yesterday. You can be sure George is looking to employ this technology when he makes his next Indiana Jones.

Re:only for previews.

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

Those are already watermarked. No reason to add an additional (and expensive) level of encumberance. Also, how exactly would they prevent someone simply playing the disk in a player that has no hardware to "honor" the RF tag restriction? We're not talking a new DVD format here, just a boondoggle tacked to the disk.

THEY WANT TO PUT YOU IN JAIL BY DEFAULT!!!!

[Thud457]

The media distribution companies won't be happy until we're all trussed up like Hannibal Lecter, becuase we might copy their precious "intellectual property"!!!!

They need to make things EASIER and more attractive to the consumer, not less!

If a restrictive, half-baked scheme like this went through, it'd be easier to buy the damn media, and then download a cracked copy off your favorite p2p so you can easily view the movie you paid for on your laptop.

Re:Gifts? Online purchases?

[adrianbaugh]

I can't see the public buying it. Do you remember DIVX? DVDs that automatically degrade after 48 hours? Me neither; they all crashed in flames, because the DRM was too intrusive. The public will put up with a certain amount of unintrusive DRM, like that in current DVDs, but when it gets in-your-face they reject it. And this is about as in-your-face as it gets: what happens when the kids are being baby-sat but Dad buys the DVDs? Every family would have to make a list of who bought which DVDs so as to know which finger to give the machine.

There is no way the public would touch this with a barge pole - I can see it being useful for oscar pre-releases etc. but if the firm that came up with the idea thought it had any mass-market potential they need their heads examining.

Re:Authenticate This!

[Divide By Zero]

People WILL give up biometric data for $20. People give up their passwords for chocolate readily, and they have some appreciation for what they're good for. I have no doubt that a black hat could take a stack of DVDs out with a fingerprint scanner, trade DVDs for names and thumbprints, and come home with more biometric data than you can shake a copy of the Patriot Act at.

Couch it in a "biometrics data" study on some college campus and you'll have kids LINING UP to give you biometric data, and probably more than that. They sign up for credit cards, giving name, address, income, and a ton more for a t-shirt. I've seen it happen. They run out of shirts before they run out of applicants.

Combine it with Avi Rubin's "get all the identity-theft information you can for $50" class and you've got a world-class identity theft scheme.