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Blu-Ray To Punish Users for Modifying Hardware
datemenatalie writes "As reported on Engadget, consumers should expect punishment for tinkering with their Blu-ray players, as many have done with current DVD players, for instance to remove regional coding. The new, Internet-connected and secure players will report any "hack" and the device can be disabled remotely. As the article asks, "Are they talking about PVP-OPM techniques and rejected HDMI keys, or something else far more sinister? Because apparently "A hacked player is any player that is doing something it's not supposed to do," which open to a pretty fair amount of interpretation--most of which egregious.""
You have been watching too much porn your dvd player has been locked to watch G rated movies from now on.
Enjoy bambi!
The world's smartest bug zapper www.zapstats.com/kickstarter
When we tell kids about a time when it used to be possible for people "own" things.
Savage times, those were.
Just hack it to not report certain of its hacks
Verification systems that require any work on the consumer end will never work 100%. It's just too easy to get around.
And why am I buying the assinine secured player instead of the grey market Chinese one, exactly?
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
I think that the concept of Regional Coding is largely dead now anyway since they tend to release everything at the same time to avoid piracy. Regional Coding was really a violation of WTO rules anyway.
I don't like the idea of hardware that reports back to base. If we go in that direction our TVs will report us when we channel flip to avoid commercials.
YOUR TV HAS BEEN DISABLED. SKIPPING COMMERCIALS IS THEFT!
#37:
#7:
Between 'em, these two posters say it all.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Can someone explaine to me why its not illegal for a company to punish a consumer for tinkering with a product that that consumer had purchased?
Have you ever heard of a Homeowner's Association?
Latewire
Heck, if something in my house that needs to be plugged in doesn't have a missing screw, then I automatically know it's broken.....I have to get inside and give it "more power". My wife insists that certain "toys" of hers are off-limits, but little does she know what 9 volts can do compared to 1.5.
If I open something up and tinker with it, then fine, I void the warranty. But for companies to think they have the right to monitor what we do with their products to the point that they can deploy countermeasures just has to be stopped.
I think it's time for www.{stop|avoid|donotbuy|FU}blu-ray.com sites to start popping up. As previous posted stated, hopefully this will go the way of divx (the old crippled DVD players divx that is).
Now of course this would have been a nice way to kill off the floppy drive...have it phone home when it detects user-modified DSHD.
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
Because as far as I can tell, there is absolutely no way that ANY PC-style computer is going to be able to even come CLOSE to implementing the kinds of "security" features that the Blu-Ray Association has been talking about, without the kinds of OS+hardware-level "DRM" that Microsoft has been promoting a move toward for the last four or five years...
The entertainment industry is running around shooting at people, and Microsoft just happens to be selling them guns
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Can someone explain why I would have hooked my Blu-Ray player up to the Internet in the first place?
Can someone explaine to me why its not illegal for a company to punish a consumer for tinkering with a product that that consumer had purchased?
You've touched on what may be the most ominous thing about this. We're living in the age of the EULA, and it looks like they're trying to set a precedent for extending that model ("You're not purchasing it, you're paying for the right to use it as long as we feel like letting you") from software to hardware.
"Under the terms of this License Agreement, Ford Motor Co. may revoke your right to drive this automobile if you buy parts or seek service from any person or entity not officially licensed by Ford to provide such parts or services..."
It's a Brave New World...
One of the reason's I pick at Microsoft is because they aren't developing DRM to protect their own content so much as they are striving to expand their business to get a piece of every entertainment industry transaction.
KFG
Because the companies are the ones who buy the laws, not the consumers.
This is why it is, in fact, illegal for the consumer to tinker with the product that that consumer has purchased. (So long as you aren't a believer in that whole "a legislative act contrary to the Constitution is not law" thing.)
The companies can do things like write a law which completely alters the fundamental balance of copyright law, and pass it directly to Jesse Helms who drops it into congress where it passes unanimously on a voice vote because not one single member of congress has read it. The consumers... well, maybe if they write enough letters and make enough noise for enough months they can convince a congressman to give a speech in their favor, which will be written into the congressional record and then forgotten about. If the same group makes enough noise for over a decade maybe a law on the subject they've been agitating about will be put up for debate, though God knows what it will look like by the time it gets through committee.
I mean, okay, in theory the consumers are the ones 'buying' the laws, because the consumers are the ones who vote. However
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
PC's with DRM, DVD players with DRM....software that gets automatically turned off if you unscrew the case..ect..
Don't the Major players understand that they are creating a market for for the off-brand Korean/Chinese/Asian manufacturers to sell consumer electronics without all this crap?
Unless the U.S. starts seriously inderdicting consumer electronics that don't meet RIAA/MPAA standards people ARE going to buy these things via mailorder from overseas.
The Chinese already don't respect copyright OR patents. What makes them think they will not see this as an opportunity to make money and jump into the market? They already make practically ALL of the components that go into the "Branded" versions that will go to the U.S. It's gunna be trivial for them to duplicate (in quality) a Blue-Ray DVD player without all the DRM crap on it.
In Russia you own the DVD player; In United States, DVD player owns you....
If you just refuse to buy this shit. Encourage everyone you know to boycott Blu-ray. Remember Divx? No not the MPEG-4 compressor but the orignal Divx, the one from Circut City. It was to be the DVD replacement. Take DVD, remove some of the cool features and require people to pay per view. Hollywood couldn't stop drooling on themselves over the PPV idea, and the fact that consumers couldn't sell used discs. All the major studios cast in for Divx and most said they were only doing Divx, no DVD.
Well, an effective consumer boycott was organized. People were informed about how much Divx sucked, and so they didn't buy it. Their VHS tapes were good enough and they stuck with that. In the end, Circut City took a bath to the tune of $100 million and Divx died.
The same can be done here. DVDs are good enough for most people. Those without HDTVs really couldn't give two shits and even for those with, it's not like DVDs are an eyesore. Yes, I'd love to have more HD content, but I don't cry when I have to watch a DVD.
So work to convince consumers you know to boycott Blu-ray, they can keep buying DVDs, just no Blu-ray discs or players. Most importantly, convince the videophiles you know. These are the ones who will spend the money on the inital players that will allow the price to lower for the mass market. If the videophile community decides not to buy it, it'll be a major financial hardhsip.
That's all it will take. The electronics companies are happy to play ball with the media companies when it doesn't affect their bottom line. However if they are producing devices no one will buy, they'll get pissed and stop making them. They are also the ones with the real power, the electronics industry is FAR larger than the entertainment industry.