Intel Threatens DMCA Using HDCP Crack

mikesd81 writes "Intel is apparently threatening to use the DMCA against anyone using the HDCP crack under the DMCA's anti-circumvention clause. 'There are laws to protect both the intellectual property involved as well as the content that is created and owned by the content providers,' said Tom Waldrop, a spokesman for the company, which developed HDCP. 'Should a circumvention device be created using this information, we and others would avail ourselves, as appropriate, of those remedies.'"

Comments

Barn Doors

[tsalmark]

After the horse has left the barn it's too late to close the door.

Re:Barn Doors

[Thanshin]

Unless you can shoot the horse down, hang the horse thief and buy another horse.

The problem comes when you forget about all that happened and put the new horse in a new barn, which is open.

Re:Barn Doors

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Or just assume you can keep using the same horse.

Speaking of horses, this analogy is starting to seem like beating a dead one. Let it go...

Re:Barn Doors

[airfoobar]

Is this a car metaphor but with horses which I see before me? The real problem is when the barn owner sells the horses, but also trains them to return to his barn as soon as their new owner is asleep.

Re:Barn Doors

[AusIV]

The thing is, the horse hasn't really left the barn. At this point HDCP isn't really about preventing piracy - there are much better ways to rip most HD content. The value of HDCP to Intel is that it forces anyone who wants to build an HDMI compatible device to license HDCP if their users want to get the full HD experience. Thanks to the DMCA, the leaked master key doesn't mean much on that front. There may be some Chinese manufacturers putting out a few cheaper devices, but anything the average consumer will buy at Best Buy still has to license HDCP from Intel. In this statement, Intel is making it clear that they intend to use the DMCA to enforce licensing requirements against any manufacturers who might think this means they don't have to license HDCP anymore.

That is the modus operandi

[anUnhandledException]

With DMCA hell I could protect something with 2 bit encryption. There is only two keys. 1 and 0. Pretty easy to crack right? It doesn't really matter. No matter how easy to crack doing so opens you up to the DMCA.

If they win expect more "paper tiger" encryption and content protection systems. The teeth isn't the weak flawed crypto. The teeth is in the lawsuit potential.

Re:That is the modus operandi

[Thanshin]

they want people to hack them, so they have a legally binding way to go after them.

...and drink their blood!

What! My theory is as sound as yours.

And much better for a movie.

Re:That is the modus operandi

[jabuzz]

The EU version of the DMCA specifically only provides protection for effective encryption measures. So for example the first time the CSS wast taken to the European Court the ruling was that it was not an effective encryption measure and the case was thrown out. The fact that due to flaws in the scheme an ordinary PC can crack the CSS encryption in less than a second makes it ineffective and thus not eligible for protection.

If HDCP simply required gathering 40 public keys from 40 different bits of hardware to work out the master key then it is highly likely that it would be ruled and ineffective encryption measure and thrown out.

Similarly your two bit scheme would also fall foul of the requirement to be effective.

Oh Yea?

[__aavqan3009]

Maybe I won`t use Intel....

Backward Headline

[Anonymous Coward]

Who wrote the headline? Shouldn't it be "Intel Threatens HDCP Crack Using DMCA"?

Re:DMCA Lutero

[wonkavader]

Well, no. But the legal proceedings against him (or more rightly, customers using his work-around) were costly: at least 3 million people dead.

Let's hope Intel shows a little more restraint than that.

Re:LOC vs DMCA

[VGPowerlord]

So if the Library of Congress says jail-breaking is okay, and the DMCA says it's not, which one takes precedence in U.S. law?

The Librarian of Congress has been empowered to create DMCA exemptions, so the Library of Congress would win.

Re:So, anybody up to making an open source cracker

[DeathToBill]

The OpenGraphics project are building a graphics card with a big-ass FPGA on it. Seems like the right tool in the right place...

Re:BD not cracked

[synthesizerpatel]

BlackMagic Design makes PCI cards and USB boxes with unencrypted HDMI video capture.

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/

Re:So how long before HDCP is replaced?

[airfoobar]

The village people?

Re:There's No DMCA Outside The US

[bfree]

There may be no DMCA outside the US as the DMCA is an American law, but the WIPO Copyright Treaty upon which it is based has been enacted in many other countries. For example there is the EU Copyright Directive 2001/29/EC

Re:Bring it on

[Mattcelt]

All that has to be done is for a company to make a module with a flashable keyspace. Then the end-user can add the master key to the device themselves, and nobody gets in trouble (unless they start sharing the content).

Re:Prediction.

[Joe U]

Upload it to their completely legal hardware HDMI converter that doesn't decrypt HDCP and has a very easy to write firmware upgrade system.

not relevant to BD but *is* relevant to cable/sat

[TheGratefulNet]

bd is breakable (slysoft.com) and so who cares about BD anymore.

but for the mythtv guys who want to timeshift cable (non-clear qam) or sat-tv, you really only have hdmi now. the s-video is a joke and they won't give you component since its analog and is a 'hole' (lol).

if the hdmi sniffers/importers start hitting the shelves, that would enable us mythtv guys to FINALLY consider coming back to pay-tv again.

this could be a GOOD thing for the content guys. right? RIGHT??

of course they'll never see it that way. I currently don't have a pay-tv sub and have let mine lapse for a few years, now. my myth-tv setup only picks up OTA and what is tunable by my hdhomerun box. if, though, it was possible to easily import the hdmi/dvi streams from the cable boxes, that would actually put the pay-tv back into consideration again.

if I can't record it to MY system, I don't want it. but let me timeshift my way and I can open my wallet.

intel and the rest of the industry: hear me, please. I'm a revenue stream that you refuse to tap because of your silliness.

Re:BD not cracked

[AndrewNeo]

BD encryption (AACS) was broken some time ago. AnyDVD HD still works even on the newest movies. But no, HDCP has nothing to do with Blu-ray directly.

Interoperability

[aztektum]

The DMCA allows for reverse-engineering for interoperability. So, eat a dick Intel.

Re:Bring it on

[julesh]

All that has to be done is for a company to make a module with a flashable keyspace. Then the end-user can add the master key to the device themselves, and nobody gets in trouble (unless they start sharing the content).

Nope, sorry, still a device designed to enable breaking "effective" technological measures, whether it requires end-user modification or not.

No, the *real* answer is to market *two* devices, one of which enables a perfectly legal non-copyright-violating use (i.e. an HDMI->DVI adapter that converts standard monitors to HDCP-enabled ones) and one of which doesn't circumvent the DRM (i.e. a DVI video capture board). Plug one into the other and you have an apparently legal means of capturing encrypted video streams.

Problem is, I assume HDCP is patented. You won't see such devices being mass marketed because they would necessarily infringe on those patents. So maybe another approach is required: just a device with an HDMI port, an ethernet port, an FPGA and a memory card reader to provide the design for the FPGA. Legitimate use: can be programmed to display stuff on your TV. Memory card distributed with it has a simple photo-viewing application. Alternative memory card you can download from somewhere apparently unconnected to the manufacturer has the HDCP-cracking application.

Re:So, anybody up to making an open source cracker

[jonwil]

There are already chips out there that can do HDMI with HDCP (e.g. Analog Devices AD9393) if you supply a key.
So it should be a matter of using one of these plus a key derived from this intel master key.