Vulnerability Development mailing list archives

Re: hacksdmi?


From: Joseph Pingenot <jap3003 () ksu edu>
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 11:08:26 -0500

From Brooke, O'neil (EXP) on Monday, 16 October, 2000:
      This maybe a silly question but, couldn't they put a watermark into
the sound by using sounds that we cannot hear? Very high or very low
frequencies could be used, so could sounds that will be overpowered by the
watermarked content. (note: this would entail the creation of new sounds,
not simply the tweaking of existing sounds within the content) If frequency
hoping is used in the algorithm it may be difficult to know where these
watermark sounds are located.

Easy to crack: simply filter out the non-audible sounds.  There is
  no audible loss in the music, as the tones filtered out (and the
  watermark) are all outside of this range.  The tech already exists to
  do this with the analog signal; the phone company does it, although
  much more extreme; various other things do it too.
Basically, a watermark has to:
  a) Be secure even if the algorithm is known (there are those determined
      enough to read the disassembled ASM from the binary, or even the
      opcodes!)
  b) Cause the data to be irrevocably lost or at least very severely
      corrupted if the watermark is stripped
I would keep expanding upon this, but I don't really *want* SDMI
  pay-per-listen.  I'd rather actually *own* a copy of the song
  (and for reasonable prices, do you hear me, RIAA?  $17 for a CD
  is outrageous, considering the quantity demanded and the price
  of the medium.  Maybe you'd have less problem with Napster et. al.
  if you viewed them as a *symptom* instead of a *problem* and took
  action appropriate to *that* model.  It's the evolution of the market
  with technology and active capitalism, maybe?  But that's more of
  a line of thought for a paper, not a parenthesis-comment.  :)

                              -Joseph

--
Joseph==============================================jap3003 () ksu edu
"I felt a great disturbance in the force.  As if a significant plot
  line suddenly cried out in terror... and was suddenly silenced."
                        -Torg in "Sluggy Freelance" www.sluggy.com.


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