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New Copy Protection to Make Playing DVDs on a PC Difficult

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the thankfully-there-are-alternatives-to-windows dept.

The Cowardly Pirate writes "ZDNet's Hardware 2.0 blog is reporting that new copy-protection software for DVD publishers from a company called ProtectDisc not only makes it difficult to rip movies that you've purchased but also prevents discs from playing in a Windows PC at all. From the article: 'Protect DVD-Video is the brainchild of a company called ProtectDisc. Part of the copy-protection mechanism is a non-standard UDF (Universal Disc Format) file system which results in the IFO file on the DVD (this is the file responsible for storing information on chapters, subtitles and audio tracks) appearing to the PC as being zero bytes long.'"

4 of 557 comments (clear)

  1. I have to be a smart A$$ by DRAGONWEEZEL · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Who won the coin toss today?

    --
    How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
  2. bets, anyone? by Tom · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I give them 3 weeks before their crippling scheme is broken. Anyone wanna bet?

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  3. Great Idea! by jedaustin · · Score: 0, Redundant

    With innovations like this the RIAA and MPAA's days are numbered.
    I applaud them for shooting themselves in the foot again.
    They call it Protect DVD-Video.. I call it Protect My-Wallet.
    Guess what happens if I know I can't use something that is for sale in the market?
    I WON'T BUY IT. I won't buy a DVD or CD I can't play any more than I would buy rotten fruit.

    There will always be someone annoyed enough to crack this type of technology and even if there isn't, what stops a guy from taking video out from a device that will play it and plugging it into an mpeg recorder to record it that way. Where there's a will, there's a way.

  4. The M.E.I. F. proudly present: by Xamataca · · Score: 0, Redundant

    oooooooooooooo0o0o0o0oooooooooooooo
    The Media Entertainment Industry Fuckers
    oooooooooooooo0o0o0o0oooooooooooooo
    The Media Entertainment Industry Fuckers proudly present:
    Protect DVD-ROM Crack
    Supplied By ...: H4x0R - - - - - - Release Date ....: 11-10-2006
    Packed By .....: ©_© - - - - - - - Genre/Type ......: DVD play protection
    Tested By .....: 8===D - - - - - - Release Size ....: 2kb
    Protection ....: obscure stuff - - Method ..........: exe
    Developer .....: ProtectDISC - - - Rating ..........: 10/10
    oooooooooooooo0o0o0o0oooooooooooooo
    Release Notes:
    It was damn easy. Game over.
    A recommendation for the Industry:
    Next time scrach the DVDs before selling them; We can't crack that protection... (wait!, you never know...)
    http://www.protectdisc.com/With_FL/HTML/products.h tml
    oooooooooooooo0o0o0o0oooooooooooooo

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    ***Game Over***Insert Coin***