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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.'"
"biometric data, like a fingerprint or iris scan, which would be added to the DVD's RFID tag."
Can I just use the finger that I found at Wendy's?
Seriously though, what if you wanted to buy a gift for somebody? This isn't going to work all that well.
How about on-line purchases? Would they take a 'sample' and keep it on file to encode something at a later time. Who is going to trust the security of that?
I don't see it happening.
It could be worse, it could be Monday.
Then, when the DVD was popped into a specially equipped DVD player, the viewer would be required to re-enter his or her password or fingerprint. The system would require consumers to buy new DVD players with RFID readers.
The market has already proven this won't work.
Gadh said he could not reveal specifically how the system would work, as it is still in the research stage. A prototype will be available by the end of the summer, he said, and at that point, it will be shopped around to movie studios and technology companies.
Thanks for giving this company free advertising to the media conglomorates Wired/Slashdot, the market appreciates it!
When something strinkingly familiar was posted a couple of days ago here, I said almost exactly what I am going to say here: How does this product enable me to enact fair-use?
It doesn't.
I'm sure the MPIA/RIAA are going to be all over this.
- my wife bought a DVD I want to watch, but she's already asleep. Now I'll have to wake her up, won't I? ... oh wait a minute ... ... and my DVD collection too ... ... and throw in the garbage bin cursing the RIAA
- I had an accident and my thumb is in plaster. I don't have to go to work now. I wouldn't be able to, would I? Huray! Now I have plenty of time to watch the 135 DVDs I bought last year but never had time to watch because I'm too busy at work
- I had an accident and lost my arm
- My uncle has deceased. He had a collection of 1000 DVDs (15,000 dollar) which I'm happy to inheret
Yeah, I'm positive this will work!
Tristan.
All of this would change the ability of a consumer to resell an object they've legally purchased.
DVDs instead of being an object you'd 'bought' and own and can do anything will become something you've licensed like software and don't get to do anything with it when you're done.
I'll stop using technology and move to a monastery long before I'll give my )#$*% thumb-print to turn on a DVD or somesuch. This is patently absurd, and I really hope that the consumer market rejects any such plan.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
"The tech-non-savvy will be so inconvinenced and put off by this incredibly restrictive protection that the public outcry will be deafening."
This is already happening with the current DVD DRM scheme. My parents, for example, are so put off by DVD's which dont let you skip the commercials at the beginning, that they refuse to buy DVD's anymore. They prefer the old VHS format, sure the picture is crap, but YOU have control over whats going on, just hit fast forward.
The DVD player i got for them sits in the closet collecting dust, while the 10-year-old VCR gets constant use.
I completely agree. Despite the tinfoil hat commentary of the poster, I think this would be remarkably good at securing data, and its use in military and industrial applications is actually not a bad idea. Like most security technologies, though, the downside is the human factor. No doubt the technology to strip this sort of scan will be developed, once it is reverse-engineered.
However, to think that the next DVD you buy or that next CD you purchase will require you to input a fingerprint scan is very far fetched. There would be an uproar from consumers.
Tying biometrics with Copyright Material, with network verifications....
This assumes that ANYBODY who wants to buy material (movies) also has an "always on" internet connection.
Not true.
This assumes that the purchaser is the end user.
Not true.
This assumes the replacement of millions of DVD players.
Not true (unless extra features are supplied - eg HD DVD).
The assumes that First Sale rights will be eliminated, and people won't notice.
Not true (even Blockbuster "buys back" DVDs).
Schools, institutions and libraries won't be able to purchase the material -- it will be useless to them. Not even families (hey, *I* buy Lion King, but the *kids* load it and watch it -- and I am not even necessarily in town).
Individuals only.
The product sold (well, not sold in this case) has less value. It should cost a lot less. In which case it MIGHT play. Effective pricing? If I can currently purchase a movie for $20, and I can sell the movie to Blockbuster for $5, the new format can cost no more than $15.
Further, the inability to use as a gift item means it is purely a personal purchase (even the kids can't use it). My wife sets my "discretionary foolish purchase" limit at $10. So, it can't be more than $10.
Now, I expect them to subsidize part of my Internet bill. Knock off a couple of bucks for that, as well as an incentive to purchase a new player.
There you go; I am willing to spend $5 for a new movie in that format -- TOPS.
Will that play?
Ratboy
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
I mean, do they put out press releases like this one so that people like us can provide them with free insightful feedback? Way to get a free think-tank. "Hmm, wonder how the geek crowd will react to this? Should we pay a think-tank? Naw, let's just make sure we get on slashdot."
Seriously... if only some of your dvds are RFID-DRM'd, meaning your play will play non-RFID-DRM DVDs, then just disable the RFID tag in a DVD and viola, no thumb print needed.
Not everything can be reverse-engineered effectively. As far as I know the latest DirecTV encryption technology hasn't been broken yet, and it's been out for a while. Then again, maybe it can be broken (or has been broken) but it's just easier for people to hack another provider's encoding/encryption scheme.
That sounds like a pretty big chunk-o-change to throw out the window. Not even the MPAA is that stupid.
maybe.
-S
Boss (at cubicle): "Um, Susan - please come with me, there's a situation..."
Susan (getting up and walking): "Sure - what's going on, Bill...?"
Bill (walking down hallway to entrance with Susan): "The police are here, and they want to speak with you - is there a problem...?"
Susan (confused look on face): "Uh, no - Bill, what is going on...?"
Susan and her boss get to the front desk, where there are two uniformed officers and a unidentified man in a gray suit standing. One of the officers approaches Susan...
Officer (reaching for handcuffs): "Ma'am, please come with me - you are under arrest for child endangerment and abandonment."
Susan (frantic): "What! What do you mean?! Let me go! I haven't done anything wrong! My children are at home..."
Officer: "Ma'am, if you don't cooperate, you will also be charged with resisting arrest..."
By this time, some of Susan's co-workers have stopped and are watching the scene, but are otherwise oblivious to what is really going on - but they now think she is a bad mother...
Susan (to her boss): "Bill - what is happenning...?"
Bill shrugs his shoulders, obviously just as confused as Susan is...
Unidentified Man: "Ma'am, I am with Child Protective Services - I was notified by the DVD-CCA that your DVD player was registering repeated accesses to a locked DVD by a non-adult sized fingerprint, thus possibly indicating that no adults were present in the residence. We immediately dispatched one of our social workers to the residence to verify the presence of an adult..."
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Am I the only one reminded of The Right to Read, by Richard Stallman?
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Yes, here on Bizarro Earth Americans are well known for their concern for the environment. That's why President Gore was re-elected, nobody drives SUVs, and Americans no longer produce more trash per capita than any other industrialized nation. And that's why DIVX failed--on Bizarro Earth.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
This is really easy, and I can make money on it. I hereby exclaim my intent to patent "The Electronic Thumb" which will be a rubber thumb printed with the exact same thumbprint on every product. The consumer then uses "The Electronic Thumb" whenever they want to purchase a DVD. They keep another thumb at home, taped to the "Prole Identity Authenticator" on their telescreen. This way you can lend someone your DVDs to watch and your "The Electronic Thumb" acts as a replacement for you.
That's why this is stupid. Eventually there'll be a bugmenot.com for DVDs, where the community selects one universal token for identification.