I wonder if they will be prevented.......

Story: Cheap-as-chips kit smashes Intel's HD video encryptionTotal Replies: 3
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Ridcully

Nov 26, 2011
4:50 AM EDT
Here is the official university press release:

http://aktuell.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pm2011/pm00386.html.en

This is almost like the release of DeCSS for dvds......but with interesting implications. How long will it be before small "black boxes" appear.....and will the "powers that be" try to prevent details from being released at the Mexican security conference although from what I have read, I think the horse is pretty much out of the stable. Even more interesting is the Professor's implication that the requirement to provide backward compatibility will leave a weakness in any future attempts to tighten this copy protection. Interesting times ahead.

As an aside, I have never forgotten the statement made by a character in one of the mediaeval crime books I like to read which went: "What one man can lock, another man can unlock." It should be framed and hung on the wall in the halls of movie and music copy protection people.
tracyanne

Nov 26, 2011
5:10 AM EDT
But it's not that important that the copy protection racket can be circumvented, only that most of us can't easily or legally circumvent it. It is no deterent to those who make money by pirating the stuff, it only actually causes problems for those who wish to legitimately back up their copy, that they legally purchased. The purpose of these copyright protection softwares is to create a market for replacement copies. Not stop piracy.
Ridcully

Nov 26, 2011
5:33 AM EDT
I had not quite thought of it in those terms Tracyanne, but I wonder though, if your statement "most of us can't easily or legally circumvent it" is correct in practical terms ?

First, I am aware of at least three commercial software packages designed to allow users to successfully copy so called "copy-protected dvds" and it is just a matter of searching on the net for them, logging on, paying your money and go for it. Mind you, I do not by saying this, advocate the practice. Second, I think it is a UK study which showed that a large majority of computer users actually are already quite deliberately flouting the law on copyright for their own backup purposes. In fact the results of the survey caused the suggestion that the copyright laws needed to be changed to conform with what the masses of the users are doing because they are simply ignoring what they see as an unjust law. They aren't in their view, committing piracy because that is linked as far as they are concerned, with copying for profit - all they are doing is what you mention: backing up a copy of a dvd or cd that they legally purchased and wish to preserve - whether their activity is illegal or not.

I am sure that similar circumstances apply in Australia.
JaseP

Nov 27, 2011
8:37 PM EDT
And the US,...

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