Intel admits Blu-ray security code is cracked

I'm beginning to wonder if the purpose of DRM is to punish the innocent. It seems it's only a bother to those who've bought and paid for DRM protected content. Everyone else has a much easier life.

Perhaps it's time all media was boycotted until every company using DRM got the message: We'll pay for it, but not on your terms.

By bubbles16 on 17 Sep 2010

@bubbles16

It's true that the market has to respond to consumer demands. But if only a vocal minority make the demands, there is no need to respond to them.

How do you propose the AntiDRM minority spreads it's message?

By matbailie on 17 Sep 2010

@matbailie

They already did. But not buying. However, that just gets "conviently" blamed on piracy rather than the DRM and the increased price-point it brings (no, DRM isn't free!).

By cheysuli on 17 Sep 2010

DRM only hinders the innocent

IDC's latest survey of Pirated Media claims pirating "costs the world economy $51 billion per year". That's daft.

First of all, that's valuing it at full retail prices, which most legal software is never sold for; it also assumes that all those people with pirated copies of the software actually have the money available to have bought it rather than used an illegal copy for free; it also ignores the fact that many people use pirated software to "try out" software before eventually paying for it legally.

As bubbles16 said, DRM is just a way to make life more difficult for the innocent.

By SwissMac on 17 Sep 2010

HDCP has been a complete disaster. It's somewhat misleading to refer to it as "Blu-ray security code" - HDCP is the encryption protocol for digital interconnects (principally HDMI connections) and was intended to prevent ripping high definition content by sampling the raw decompressed 1080p stream taken from Blu-Ray and other sources, thereby circumventing the protection methods applied to the original media (AACS, BD+, etc.).

It seems HDCP was an attempt to prevent ripping of Blu-Ray and other high definition content in a manner analogous to "ripping" a DVD by playing it on a DVD player and recording it to a DVD-R or VHS tape. Thing is, nobody ever bothered to do that, and nobody would bother going to the expense of trying to capture a raw 1080p stream and compress it in real time onto a hard-drive or blank Blu-Ray disc. It's unweildy, costly and involves unnecessary generation loss - why not just break AACS/BD+ and lift the original compressed bitstream straight off the original disc, creating a bit-perfect digital copy?

So all HDCP achieved was (1) to p!ss off consumers who couldn't watch protected high definition content on monitors with ample resolution but which happened to lack HDCP; (2) to force the sale of new equipment which was HDCP-compatible; and, cynically (3) to make a stack of cash for HDCP's rightsholders in licence fees demanded from manufacturers of HDCP-compatible equipment, a cost ultimately passed on to consumers.

By flyingbadger on 17 Sep 2010

According to Intel a software solution is impractical because it would be 'too slow'. You would think they would have heard of Moore's Law wouldn't you?

This is bound to be exploited by someone somewhere before long, especially as the company have now confirmed its genuine. I can practically hear the clatter of a million keyboards as the hackers get to work.

By omnisvalidus on 17 Sep 2010

Wording like "costs the world economy" always baffled me. If someone didn't buy a DVD (downloaded the movie) and spend money on beer instead, how it could affect the "world" economy? The money that meant to go to movie industry went to beer industry, so the overall balance of the "world" economy hasn't changed. Or I'm getting it wrong?

By Lomskij on 17 Sep 2010

@Lomskij

Sorry what they actually meant to say was "costs the film and record industry executive's bonuses fund"

By koshthetrekkie on 17 Sep 2010

Why all the fuss?

There's no need to break the DRM or come up with a hardware or software solution.

A good quality DVD at Leyton costs £2.50 :/

By Manuel on 17 Sep 2010