Blu-Ray to Include New Copy Protection

Lord Haha writes "In an announcement (warning: links to a PDF) last night, the Blu-ray Disc Association, led by Sony, representing one of two competing high-definition DVD formats (the other being HD-DVD, led by Toshiba), stated it will simultaneously embrace digital watermarking, programmable cryptography, and a self-destruct code for Blu-ray disc players. Will this be the continuation of the trend into more and more restrictive DRM? Or something that will fade away like Betamax Tapes? Two articles on the topic can be found at Tom's Hardware and PC World."

Comments

Scary. very scary.

[robyannetta]

Quoth the article at Tom's Hardware, The third part of the announcement that is perhaps most surprising, is Blu-ray's adoption of a third DRM technique ... what it calls "BD+," described as "a Blu-ray Disc specific programmable renewability enhancement that gives content providers an additional means to respond to organized attacks on the security system by allowing dynamic updates of compromised code."

I take this to say "We concede all control over this device to the **AA."

Am I the only one that finds this disturbing? Isn't this a violation of fair use? Will the public buy a player with BD+ in it?

Re:Scary. very scary.

[garcia]

That isn't disturbing at all, this is:

This controversial technology would require that disc players maintain permanent connections to content providers via the Internet, making it possible for discs that fail a security check to trigger a notification process, enabling the provider to send the player a sort of "self-destruct code." This code would come in the form of a flash ROM "update" that would actually render the player useless, perhaps unless and until it is taken to a repair shop for reprogramming.

That's stepping a little too far over the bounds of protecting *your* content. If you destroy *my* hardware you have invaded my private space which is unacceptable.

Sounds like mission impossible

[aaronsb]

This disc (and player) will self destruct in 5 seconds.

True costs of piracy?

[YankeeInExile]

The thing that always frosts me, is whenever The Industry talks about piracy they always bandy about numbers like (from TFA), three billion dollars per year in lost revenue. I would really love to see their methodology.

It seems to me that, people who are going to pirate content, probably come in three basic groups

1. Hoarders: These are the guys (gals?) who just want to fill up disc space with media they never look at, just to be able to brag on Slashdot about their gigs and gigs of DVD rips. They would never purchase the media, as that defeats their Virtual Dick Length.
2. Povs: Want the content, but cannot afford to pay retail. They go to the flea market and get the 3-dollar knockoffs. These people probably have some budget for media, but choose to get more bang for their buck by pirating.
3. Lookie loos:Not really interested in the content, but if it's very cheap (or free), they will take a look. They probably spend a lot of money on media, and usually want the real deal for the packaging and extras.

Has anyone ever done a study on what percentage of users of pirated content, would have purchased that content, had it not been available outside the legitimate distribution channels?

Has that study been done, and The Industry discovered that it is such a tiny fraction as to make no difference?

Of course, I can see how large-scale commercial piracy really does hurt the distribution system. If a retailer buys three dozen copies of a title for sale as the genuine article, and those three dozen copies SELL as the genuine article at retail price, but were knocked off by a Chinese plant, then that represents a true loss of revenue. What percentage of the discs sold world-wide (I know this is a serious problem in Europe and the Orient) as legitimate are really pirated?

In other news

[Anonymous Coward]

The sun rises, the tides fall and rise, and it becomes cold in winter.

Seriously, you knew this was going to happen. The only surprising thing here is the "self-destruct code for Blu-ray disc players". And that isn't so much surprising as sad and hilarious.

I wonder if they'll be implementing the self-destruct code in the PS3. If they do, if you thought the class action lawsuit over the DRE'ing PS2s was bad, wait until the first moment that some kind of vulnerability-- like buffer overflow in Phantasy Star Online for the Gamecube-- is found in an internet-capable PS3 game. Then watch as everyone playing that game gets targeted by a little bit of wormy executable code that triggers the Blu-Ray destruction tripwire and kills the console permanently...

Follow the Porn

[Dhaos]

All these new systems will fail for one reason: Porn.

Porn producers are very realistic, and very saavy. Do you think people are going to buy "Buttbandits 23" if they know that every time they queue it up, some manufacturer is getting a record of it?? Even those without tinfoil hats know this is a bad idea...

My prediction is that the pornographers will use a version of the high-def discs WITHOUT the phone-home feature, or will stick to DVDs.

Pornography: Saving Western Civilization since 1826.

Re:Self-Destruct? Not likely

[tgrimley]

Even worse: what about when hackers can start sending these self destruct packets themselves. Imagine how pissed you'd be when someone "destroys" your dvd player!