A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft

Dieppe writes "A simple chip added to a DVD disk could prevent retail theft. According to the AP article at MSNBC, the chip would be activated at the register to make a previously dark area of the DVD clear, and therefore readable. Could this help to stem the tide of the approximate $400 million dollars in losses from brick and mortar stores? Game console DVDs could also be protected this way too. Could this help to bring the prices down on DVD games and movies?"

Comments

"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not theft! It's copyright infring... oh wait.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[Daengbo]

This "protection mechanism" will be broken, just like every other one has been. If it only need to be activated, professional criminals will have access to the tools necessary to activate the DVD player. It will be useless and only aggravate the life of the consumer, so it will come and go just like other protection systems.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[Daengbo]

I wasn't confused. The mechanisms are strikingly similar, though. The chip is activated at the register and the DVD is now readable. Professional thieves will have access to the method of activation because that's what they do. Thieves have tools related to their trade. Steal a set of DVDs just like you always did, activate them, and sell them (or, more likely steal them and fence them to a man who has the tools). It will stop the theft of DVDs for only about 15 minutes, all the while introducing another level of complexity and failure into the legal purchase process.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[CmdrGravy]

There's been a number of occasions when I've bought stuff and the staff have forgotten to remove the security tags or they haven't been deactivated properly. At the moment that only means you might set off the alarm on the way out of the store or in other stores but with this system it may mean you get home and find the DVD is unplayable which means a trip back to the store for a replacement.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[jimicus]

Which isn't going to be particularly easy if you meet a clerk who is under the impression that the deactivation process is 100% perfect and the only way you could possibly have a DVD which is unreadable is because you stole it.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[PopeRatzo]

Is there something wrong with the current system of sticking the little white plastic thing on the box that sets of an alarm if it's not disabled?

I admit that I don't do a lot of shopping for media in brick'n'mortar stores, but the last time I did, they had this seemingly elegant system for theft control.

I don't see how this new "chip on a disc" system is a revolutionary improvement.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[packeteer]

This whole idea is a misunderstanding of basic economics. The price of anything is based on the maximum price the seller can sell it for while maximizing the number of items sold. Basically, the cost of producing goods has nothing to do with what they are sold for. You first determine the most money you can make by selling an item, then you decide if the profit margin is thick enough for you. If you determine that people wont pay enough to make up the cost of the item you don't sell it. If you find out they will pay what it costs and then some you will almost certainly sell it.

It's that simple. Theft and fraud do not bring the price of goods up. When shopping carts are stolen from the supermarket it does not raise the cost of food. If they could have possibly raised the price before they would have already done it. Theft cuts into profits but it absolutely does not raise the price for the consumer.

Sharpie anyone?

[sam1am]

Sounds like a sharpie might be useful...

LOL

[WindBourne]

Could this help to bring down the prices????? You HAVE to be kidding. That really is funny.

Re:LOL

[Strilanc]

A drop in the price isn't worth it. You know how every once in awhile someone walks out of the store and the alarm goes off because a cashier didn't deactivate a tag correctly? Imagine that happening, but you only find out after an hour-long drive home.

Re:LOL

[ZombieWomble]

You do realise that this article at no point refers to piracy or similar issues? This is dealing with actual physical theft from the stores - stock that the shop buys, and someone walks in and takes without paying for it. It's the thing the standard slashdot meme set explicitly uses as an example of "stealing" as opposed to copyright infringement. And since it's so clearly defined, this is not measured through reduced sales or the like, but is actual, explicit losses incurred by the stores (I'm sure padded to some degree, but infinitely more believable than the various RIAA-style numbers). Hence why this content protection does absolutely nothing to prevent copying or general piracy, but does significantly inhibit casual shoplifting.

I congratulate you on your devious combinations of stock lines to grab some karma which is completely unrelated to the story at hand, but do try and at least glance at the article the next time?

Sorta cool

[ArcherB]

As long as I can still back up my DVD's to my HDD and then view them off my own burned DVD's, I don't care what they do!

You try keeping your daughter from destroying those Disney DVD's that are only released once a few decades!

Re:Sorta cool

[networkBoy]

Mine did.
When I contacted Disney about a replacement disk at cost (not retail) I was told "tough shit". When I pointed out that had they not used rip-guard and other countermeasures to me making a backup, and as such I expected them to make a good faith effort to replace my damaged disk, they said "tough shit, buy a new one". When I pointed out that the disk was over a year old and out of production, they said "tough shit, try e-bay". So I did and I found a really inexpensive (Chinese "overrun") authentic disk.
See if I buy Disney media anything ever again, it's off to TPB and netflix + anydvd + dvd decrypter.

Back onto the topic at hand, TFA mentions that this tech is applicable to other products as well, I wonder how soon till the regularly missed activation gets consumers pissed about coming back, and gets the customer service reps numb to the issue, such that freshly pilfered merchandise can be activated at the customer service desk rather than the register?

One of my mates worked at Office Depot. Someone stole a display computer, walked it over to the service desk, made up some bogus issue with the ($2000) PC, balked at the estimate, and carried "their" PC out the door, with the staff holding the door for them!
Same thing will happen with this tech.
-nB

Copy protection

[shaitand]

$10 bucks say they try to find a way to add copy protection into the chip as well.

Hahahah

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Could this help to bring the prices down on DVD games and movies?"

No, but it could raise the profit margin.

End the sentence

[suv4x4]

I magically know how these end, dunno why, so I filled in the gaps for all of you:

A simple chip added to a DVD disk COULD prevent retail theft, but won't.
Game console DVDs COULD also be protected this way too, but won't.
COULD this help to bring the prices down on DVD games and movies? It won't.

Bottom line is, apparently on Slashdot you can substitute "could" with "won't" and you get to read the actual material we're handed. Cut down the pointless speculation guys, it's lame.

Preemptive Strike!

[dj_tla]

Article should read At home, using a cheap Chinese device, the chip is activated and sends an electrical pulse through the coating, turning it clear and making the disc playable.
China thanks you for creating another black market for it to thrive in.

Reduce... prices?

[straponego]

Oh yeah. That's what they're working on. They got a dozen guys on it. They got 'em working in shifts!

/me wanders off, cackling

Why steal retail?

[fugu]

Wouldn't it just be easier to download the movie instead of risking getting caught shoplifting? =p

Re:Why steal retail?

[adona1]

Absolutely not. Some of us prefer to have a physical media, a printed cover, DVD extras and the like. I can't be having with any of this fiddling with codecs, badly burnt discs, questionable quality...and above all, the illegality. Downloading a film deprives the studios, the actors and the crews involved in making a film.

So that's why I always steal the DVDs from stores :)

Will it lower the cost?

[wtfbbq]

No, people that steal wouldn't buy if they couldn't steal. The price of the dvd themselves + the burning is very cheap and the theft is really only worth the physical amount. People that steal likely aren't going to be buying if they couldn't steal. If they can't steal physically they will turn to downloading or getting a blockbuster membership and turn to ripping/burning. If anything, this added ability will just make the checkout lines in Best Buy take longer. Oh, it will also increase the production costs and the machine that will 'validate' the dvd will likely INCREASE the cost. I'm not an endorser of people stealing, but I doubt this would have anything but a negative effect. Hell, if the 'validation' fails 1 outta 100 times the whole system will likely collapse and it will just be a huge waste of money.

Cop Math

[rueger]

Retail theft of entertainment products, including video games, accounts for as much as $400 million in annual losses, according to the Entertainment Merchants Association.

I just love those numbers. I'm much more concerned about the estimated $120 million in lost productivity resulting from time spent dealing with broken shoelaces, and the estimated $275 million in annual losses to people who are shortchanged by hot dog vendors.

How about a moratorium on all numbers that were pulled out of a PR guy's ass?

right idea, wrong direction

[Catcher80]

Well, there is a great idea in here somewhere. "A chip smaller than the head of a pin is placed onto a DVD along with a thin coating that blocks a DVD player from reading critical information on the disc. At the register, the chip is activated and sends an electrical pulse through the coating, turning it clear and making the disc playable." Wow.

How long do you think it will take for these "DVD Decryption" devices, as it were, to hit the black market and for plans to be readily available on the internet?

How about, a security device hidden on the DVD itself that will ALWAYS make the security device go off (electrical tape be damned) unless it's rung up at the register first? That would sound like a useful application to me. Come on... people will stop stealing just because they can't watch it? The basic principle of stealing/hacking/whatever is first and foremost "do it to see if you can" right? I can't imagine the inordinate amount of people who will laugh their asses off after stealing this worthless media content, if for no other reason just to piss off Wal*Mart or whoever. It's fun sticking it to the proverbial man.

Another point, how many of you have bought a DVD or other related product, and gotten the hidden security device on it deactivated at the register, just to have to door alarm beep at you and you have to pull out your receipt to verify your purchase? How many people are going to make it out the door and to their homes, to discover their DVD wasn't REALLY activated at the register, before they figure out it's a bad idea? You think Wal*Mart is going to believe you when you come back in and say "Yes I bought this, no it wasn't activated for some reason" ? NO NO NO NO NO.

There ARE some useful applications for this technology, oh yes, there are; however, I really think this one is quirky. Come on Corporate America.

History Says: Prices will go Up.

[Domo-Sun]

it should lower the markup on the DVD's because they don't need to recoup their (real world physical) losses due to theft.

Isn't that what the record industry said when CD's came out?

"The price will come down."

Then, they changed it to, "Well, you're getting better quality. That's why CD's are so expensive."

Re:History Says: Prices will go Up.

[BootNinja]

I don't know where you were buying your CDs, but I have never in my life paid that much money for a CD. Back when I was purchasing CDs regularly, say, 10-15 years ago, I was buying them for between 11 and 13. Today, the only place I see them for less than 15 is used.

How is this any better

[Gregory Cox]

than putting an empty case on the shelf, and having the shop assistant put the DVD in the case/exchange it for a full case at the register? Is that too difficult for stores to do?

Brilliant!

[atomicstrawberry]

Make it even more inconvenient to buy legitimate copies. That'll sure encourage people to buy them instead of resorting to piracy.

It must be magic

[jkabbe]

I am sure that they can invent something that can be installed on a million cash registers in the United States but will be impossible to procure by any other means. Why didn't anyone else think of this earlier?

Yeah, no.

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Judging by how often the door alarm goes off, a chip being activated or deactivated at the register has a HIGH RATE OF FAILURE.

Yeah right,

[omahajim]

That's like TicketBastard lowering their labor and distribution costs by allowing you to print tickets at home on your own printer, instead of having them mailed. But it costs the consumer *more* to print their own ticket at home (isn't it like $3 extra???) and mailing, which should cost them more, is no extra charge. What a racket.

I wish they'd stop treating me like a criminal.

[thesandtiger]

I can guarantee that the first time I experienced getting home and popping in a DVD that had not been activated would be the last time I buy a DVD from a brick and mortar store. Possibly the last time I bought a DVD, period.

I'm an honest person - I don't steal. I'm tired of being treated like a criminal, tired of being inconvenienced because some people are criminals, tired of the assumption being that I'm guilty. I'm tired of that fucking alarm going off when I walk out of a store and everyone looking at me like I'm a thief because the security tag wasn't deactivated. I'm tired of security guards at stores thinking they have a right to look through my bags. I'm tired of ruining my nails and cutting my fingers thanks to clamshell packaging.

Wanna know how to reduce theft, increase sales and all without making people feel like scumbags? Change your fucking business model to one that addresses the needs consumers actually have. The fact that your store security is for shit is *NOT* *MY* *PROBLEM*. Will Best Buy give me a new stereo if someone breaks into my home and steals mine? No. So why should I pay when they get robbed?

Here's an idea: Have machines at stores that hold spindles and spindles of DVDs and CDs. Have the customer swipe their credit card at the machine and select the movie they want, and then a pre-made DVD (for a "hot" new release) can be spit out, or, if it's something that's a little more obscure/rarely needed, it can be burnt on the spot. Don't have or want to use a credit card? No problem - just take a voucher from a display, go to the check-out line, pay with cash and the clerk can activate the code on the voucher - then the machine will give you what you want when you scan your ticket in.

This would even let there be less packaging and waste. If someone wanted a special collector's edition with all the goodies, keep those in a secure spot and get them when needed.

For small electronics, why not have vending machines like they do for iPods and cellphones now? It annoys me that I have to waste time getting a clerk to open up a cabinet just to get some $30 item I want - and it's a waste of their time, too.