COPYCENSE

Updates added. Original CopyCense post published June 8, 2006.

“Having grown tired of one war, we’re on the eve of another, complete with alliances, secret codes, and laser beams. The real battle isn’t between Sony and Microsoft and their chosen formats, it’s between the manufacturers and us — the consumers, the ones who ultimately pay for it all. And the battle is over Digital Rights Management (DRM), because in addition to increased storage, these new disks are packed full of copy-protection functions, some of which impair our ability to use the content we pay for, the way we like and are legally entitled to.

“Sony is championing a standard called Blu-ray, Microsoft is pushing HD-DVD. Both formats have plenty of corporate backers. The upcoming PlayStation 3 will support Blu-ray, the Xbox 360 will get an add-on drive that uses HD-DVD.

“Both standards incorporate sophisticated DRM technology. The current crop of DVDs uses a copy protection scheme that encrypts the disk, but that scheme was broken several years ago and the hack was widely incorporated in innumerable freeware DVD decryption programs. The movie studios have vowed not to let that happen to them again.”

David H. Holtzman. The DVD War Against Consumers. BusinessWeek Online. May 30, 2006.

Related Stories & Documents:

• DRM Blog. DTV + HDTV + HDMI + HDCP + DVI = BAD DRM. May 15, 2006.

Updates:

• Ken Belson. As DVD Sales Slow, Hollywood Hunts for a New Cash Cow. The New York Times. June 13, 2006.

CopyCense™: The law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.