DVD Copying Ban In The Works June 22, 2007
Read more DVRs , Entertainment , Movies , PC , Technology
DVD copiers of the world listen up because there’s every chance that copying [er, backing up] DVDs might become a thing of the past.
A proposed amendment by the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) in the US would change the copy protection license to ban ALL DVD back-ups and stop playback of movies in PCs or players without the original DVD in the drive.
It’s being backed by Intel, Warner, HP, Pioneer and Toshiba, Disney and others. This is the third time something like this has been put up for vote but it has been defeated twice already. However, the backing this time is stronger. In real terms, it means hardware restrictions will be added to players and PC drives to prevent data from being de-scrambled and then copied. It will also prevent software makers from making “virtual drives” that run a DVD image from a hard drive. Say goodbye to digital jukeboxes then and streaming kit.
If it gets the thumbs up, it will be enforced in 18 months, by which time we will all have moved on to “backing up” HD movies anyway.
Does anyone else think that as anti-piracy moves goes it’s about five years too late and there’ll be those out just waiting with a workaround?-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
Comments
These measures come far too late to be of benefit and only serve as bait because hackers will welcome a new challenge.
Seems like too little too late to me. If this does come into force it wont be long before someone has found a way round it.
Feh. How does this differ from the trivially circumvented security presently on game disks? Have these people got nothing better to do?
I'm not so sure that it's an issue with them having nothing better to do - it's all motivated by the same thing. They perceive that they are losing money due to piracy and therefor see that they should do something to stop it.
In my opinion therein lies the issue. They are trying to 'stop' it when in reality they should be moving with the times and making use of the technology as it exists.
I'll tell you this for free. If I had the option to pay say £2-£4 (maybe even £5) for a high def movie download of gaurenteed quality I'd pay it. Could you imagine how much money is there to be made by circumventing the whole process of cutting and distributing millions of DVDs and the potential margins to be made in the distribution?
Instead they spend their already made millions on lawyers attempting to change the direction the world is spinning in. In my humble opinion - moronic. The world is changing and they can't see it.
Spot on Steve...
They are wasting there profits on trying to prevent something that will never be prevented. Piracy is only around because the goods are too expensive in the first place.
The best way to prevent it is to meet peoples demands, offer cheaper alternatives.
As for new measures, the hackers must be lovin it... if you can make it, you can break it...
Not only has the Horse bolted, it won the race, has since died, been turned into glue, and now holds together the box of my new DVD burner!
You see when industries are this far behind the 'hacker' they almost secure the hackers future!
I agree they shouldnt be trying to fight hackers, instead they should think about taking a page out of there book. The movies should be more widely avaliable for download, they should take advantage of the technology instead of fighting against it.
Don't you think that by getting this 'passed' they then have a legitimate case for the same with HD version in court.
Maybe doing it so late as nobody cares is a tactic for the next model.
ie, well if you passed it for DVD's why not pass it for HD DVD's.