AACS DRM tentacles reach far into operating systems

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
Date: August 13, 2007 9:06:14 AM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Subject: AACS DRM tentacles reach far into operating systems


AACS DRM tentacles reach far into operating systems

By Ken Fisher | Published: August 12, 2007 - 11:03PM CT
Introduction

"The biggest trick the devil ever pulled was in getting folks to
blame someone other than Hollywood for video DRM." -not Keyser Söze

Peter Gutmann, author of a well-known and fascinating paper
describing the tradeoffs of Microsoft's content protection system in
Windows Vista, is on the hunt again. Last year, his paper "Cost
Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection" painted a grim picture
of the lengths Microsoft went to in order to gain full compliance
with AACS, the next-gen copy control system for Blu-ray and HD DVD
(and they did go far). Now Gutmann is reiterating his claims but also
reportedly digging deep in his attacks on Microsoft. While Microsoft
deserves some of the blame, the bigger story here is the technical
nightmare created by AACS and how its tentacles are reaching into the
consumer technology we all use daily. It's a shame that this is
getting lost in the mix, but after discussing the issue with a
journalist this weekend, I decided to delve a little more into it
here.

Gutmann's presentation at this year's USENIX Security Symposium in
Boston has been profiled at Network World. Gutmann's thesis is fairly
basic and unchanged from last year: Microsoft spent way too many
resources appeasing Hollywood when it should have been making Windows
Vista better. Gutmann is essentially correct; any time a consumer
electronics manufacturer or other technology company has to waste
time with DRM, that company is wasting resources that could be better
spent elsewhere if DRM wasn't a sad fact of life. Let no one doubt
that. All of this attention focused on Microsoft is missing the
bigger story, however.

...

http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/aacs-tentacles.ars



-------------------------------------------
Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com