IP: more ondvd encryption cracked

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Wed, 3 Nov 1999 12:38:04 -0800
> From: Seth David Schoen <schoen () loyalty org>
> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
>
>
> An important issue which Wired News didn't go into: the DVD CSS
> scheme prevented the development of open-source DVD video players.
> The recent crack has immediately resulted in the availability of a
> working open-source player, which was previously an impossibility.
> (You had to sign an NDA to write an approved player, and you had
> to agree to limit that player to certain functionality.  So a
> player with complete and functional source code released to the
> public was right out.)
>
> The copy-protection schemes based on trusted hardware have a very
> strong requirement.  _Every_ device capable of digital playback has
> to function as a sort of remote agent of the copyright holder (never
> exposing the digital data for an unapproved use or to any untrusted
> device or medium).  These days, the devices in question include
> your desktop PC; many people consider the "copyright-holder spy in
> the PC" a scary thought, and would like their PCs to work for _them_
> rather than for a third party.
>
> So now one can watch movies from DVD without proprietary software.
> This is a significant benefit of the recent crack, and suggests
> that most uses of this technique for the time being will be for
> simple home viewing rather than copyright infringement.
>
> An inevitable series of news articles will suggest that the only
> application of breaking CSS is enabling piracy; they will be
> way off base.  Most importantly, it allows the development of
> player software outside that sanctioned and licensed by the DVD
> powers-that-be: thus, players with additional features, players
> in open-source, players for minority platforms, players for
> experimentation, research, and development.  Illicit copying
> (though eminently possible) should be a footnote.  Let 100 DVD
> players bloom -- but, if you're in the US, ask your lawyer about
> "anticircumvention" and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
>
> --
> Seth David Schoen <schoen () loyalty org>  | And do not say, I will study when I
>      http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/    | have leisure; for perhaps you will
>      http://www.loyalty.org/   (CAF)    | not have leisure.  -- Pirke 
> Avot 2:5

_____________________________________________________________________
David Farber
The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems
University of Pennsylvania
Home Page: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber
Email: farber () cis upenn edu

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