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Blu-ray Protection Bypassed
ReluctantRefactorer writes with an article in the Register reporting that Blu-ray copy-protection technology has been sidestepped by muslix64, the same hacker who bypassed the DRM technology of rival HD DVD discs last month. From the article: "muslix64's work has effectively sparked off a [cat]-and-mouse game between hackers and the entertainment industry, where consumers are likely to face compatibility problems while footing the bill for the entertainment industry's insistence on pushing ultimately flawed DRM technology on an unwilling public." WesleyTech also covers the crack and links the doom9 forum page where BackupBluRayv021 was announced.
That these cracks and counter DRM attempts cause enough compatability problems that the Consumer electronics industry gives up on DRM, and the studios would have to follow if they wanted there content sold at hi def prices....
One can dream that they'll come to there senses. There is nothing more annoying than petty restrictions on the content you buy..
Why shouldn't I be able to watch my dvd/hd movie on my ipod OR computer OR TV. This is getting stupid. The thing is the studios are unified in there stance by the MPAA, maybe consumers should start lobbying or just stop buying..
Interesting premise, but think about it. For that to be effective you need to tell people that they can't watch the latest movies or whatever on any sort of player that isn't connected to the internet. If you release anything on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, it's going to hit this "hole", get converted to some unencumbered format, and away it goes. And "Rocky 9, available today on AppleMovieThing" is locking a lot of people out.
It needs to be open, non-intrusive (for the owner) and allow fair use.
The only difference between some fair use and illegal copying is intent. Not a system in the world can discern that.
To call it a "cat-and-mouse game" is overstating I think. Why should the content sellers care about someone cracking Blu-Ray or HD-DVD encryption? They know that piracy is inevitable. They just want to keep it underground so the average consumer doesn't participate. And for that, under the DMCA any proprietary encryption system will do just fine. The DMCA gives them the permanent legal right to go after anybody who doesn't license their decryption technology, or who tries to circumvent it in an unauthorized way.
DVD is a great example. DeCSS has been around for years, but it hasn't had a material impact on DVD sales because DVD copying isn't widespread. (At least in the USA; parts of Asia like China are a different story.) Threat of legal action backed by the DMCA has kept DVD backup software generally unavailable to Joe Consumer, despite the widespread prevalence of DVD-R drives and media.
Bottom line: You could break their encryption and print up all the geeky De-AACS T-shirts you want, but it won't materially affect content sales.
All they've done is implement a decrypter working from the format specs, and worked out a way to hack decrypted keys out of a software player.
Once they've done that, they can hack decryption keys out of a hardware player. These cannot be changed without ticking off a whole bunch of consumers. Working out the decryption code was probably the hard part of the process.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
I'd say DVD took off once the Playstation 2 came out. Before that, DVD players had been expensive and VHS was good enough for most. PS2 put millions of DVD players in people's living rooms as a side-effect of something they were going to buy anyway. Before PS2, DVDs were confined to a small slice of shelf space in video stores; once PS2 came out, they increased very rapidly indeed.
Things may have gone differently elsewhere, but in the UK the Playstation 2 was a major force behind mass-market acceptance of the DVD format.
I used to think that the Playstation 3 would have the same effect for Blu-Ray, but now I'm far from sure. Quite apart from the price, it's just too late; it's this generation's N64. In the NES and SNES days I was a total Nintendo fanboy, but if my parents hadn't had a fit of generosity and got a PC, I'd have given up waiting for N64 and bought a Playstation, and I'm sure many others did the same. How many people have already given up waiting for PS3 and gone out and bought a 360?
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
I WANT to buy, I REALLY DO! I think there is some great content out there that I WANT to own LEGALLY...
But I'll be damned if I am going to go through all the hassle of taking my ITMS DRM crap and converting it to a stardard mp3 format so I can play it on my "other" players. Same with movies... Its TOO MUCH HASSLE...
I'll just grab the pre-decrypted, ready-to-use, no DRM, no hassle, play anywhere, play anytime torrents, ftp files, usenet d/ls, etc... (hell I can automate this with a few scripts for God's sake)..and deal with the guilty conscience of cheating an artist out of a penny...
Its not that I WANT to cheat the artist out of his/her penny, but if you strip everything away it comes down to a pretty simple economic equation:
H = Hours of MY time spent converting DRM'd crap
V = Value of my time
X = Number of content files
AEC = Artist earnings per content file
So... you end up comparing H*V*X vs. AEC*X, and in MY mind the answer is always:
H*V*X > AEC*X
You go ahead and plug in your own numbers, I have, and to me, its just not worth it. My time is money, and if you think you are going to not only charge me money to buy your content, but then turn around and charge me (indirectly) to modify your content for my purposes, you're nuckin futs!
Opinion:=TMyOpinion.Create(Me);