Have a Home Movie Network
Source: CNET
Tech, studio giants team on new DVD locks
Last modified: July 14, 2004, 11:37 AM PDT
By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
A group of high-profile technology companies and movie studios have joined forces to create a new copy protection standard for DVDs that could allow high-definition movies to be copied and used inside home networks.
Dubbed Advanced Access Content System, or AACS, the technology--which has yet to be created--would replace the anticopying technology that now protects ordinary DVDs, but it would be focused on next-generation, high-definition discs. As previously reported, the group behind the technology includes IBM, Intel, Warner Bros., Disney, Microsoft, Sony and Panasonic, as well as Toshiba.
Unlike today's technology, which allows movies to be played only in authorized DVD players, AACS would potentially allow people to store copies of a movie on home computers and watch it on other devices connected to a network--or even transfer it to a portable movie player.
"We're going to enable a bunch of new scenarios that add to things that you can do with discs in the home today," Michael Ripley, a senior staff engineer at Intel, said during a conference call. "We're building the foundation of something that will have broad support and will meet the broad needs of the affected industries in a way that has not necessarily happened in the past."
The AACS LA alliance (the LA stands for Licensing Authority) marks the culmination of years of tentative and often suspicious contact between the high-tech industry and Hollywood. Technology companies and content companies have developed content protection systems before--but rarely in concert.
The group has considerable work ahead before coming to market. Members said they have already begun working on the specifications and hope to release the technology this year. But earlier cross-industry content protection alliances, such as the Secure Digital Music Initiative, have broken down after hammering out initially promising agreements....
The content protection system on today's DVDs, called Content Scrambling System, or CSS, was broken in the late 1990s by hackers. A program that helped copy DVDs called DeCSS was subsequently distributed by Norwegian programmer Jon Johansen. Although U.S. courts ruled that it was illegal, other programs soon appeared, including the popular DVD X-Copy from 321 Studios.
Like CSS, the new AACS technology would be added to a disc as it is created and would require specific hardware or software to have the "key" to unlock the content on the disc. Individual keys could be retired by studios if they slip into the public domain, allowing the overall system to continue functioning, even if a key is broken or accidentally released, as was the case with CSS.
Unlike today's technology, the...
Bottom line:
If the group is successful, a consumer might be able to buy a high-definition movie, store it on a PC, watch it on a networked television and transfer it to a mobile device to watch while traveling. But the two main camps have sharply divided loyalties and may not be able to reach a consensus.
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