Consumers May Get Caught in Piracy War
WSJ article, by Keith Winstein, on the movie industry’s new stategy for DRM:
“The anti-copying protection for high-resolution DVDs relies on secret, 128-digit passwords embedded in the hardware or software used to play DVDs. Under its new “key revocation” strategy, Hollywood and its allies in the high-tech industry start with the assumption that enterprising hackers will eventually decipher the passwords, which can then be used to make copies. But once a password is compromised and posted on the Web, the industry answers by changing the way in which its new DVD titles are made. Anyone who pops one of the new discs into their personal computer without installing a software upgrade will find that it destroys the computer’s ability to play any high-definition DVD at all. To restore the computer’s ability to play them again, the owner is forced to download new software from the Web.”
See the article here.
