Earlier quoted context omitted.
Welcome to humanity.
nice to meet you
Likewise.
No, Silly, Piracy is Theft
91–100 of 103 posts
Re: No, Silly, Piracy is Theft
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is this true? Why do you think DVD copy protection is doomed to fail? Smart tech people who think this are usually falling into the trap of assuming DVD copy protection has to be perfect. It doesn't; it just has to make large-scale copying and distribution economically irrational. So far, the BD+ scheme on Blu-Ray disks has had to be bypassed title by title, with Slysoft's breaks being corrected by Macrovision an…
To make copy protection work, consumers have to be coerced/convinced into using locked-down systems. If we use systems that we have total control over, then copy protection will never succeed. There still is the analog hole, as well.
> coerced, convinced--or without mainstream alternatives:
"Starting in 2006, many new laptop computers have been sold with a Trusted Platform Module chip built-in... Intel is planning to integrate the TPM capabilities into the southbridge chipset in 2008..." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module
Or simply unaware, and with little chance of ever finding out:
http://isis.poly.edu/csaw/embedded (and assorted talks at HOPE, Defcon, Shmoocon, etc. on hardware and firmware covert channels)
Re: No, Silly, Piracy is Theft
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is this true? Why do you think DVD copy protection is doomed to fail? Smart tech people who think this are usually falling into the trap of assuming DVD copy protection has to be perfect. It doesn't; it just has to make large-scale copying and distribution economically irrational. So far, the BD+ scheme on Blu-Ray disks has had to be bypassed title by title, with Slysoft's breaks being corrected by Macrovision an…
You're concentrating on the wrong side of technology. In order to prevent copying, one has to do so on _every_ computing/playback device, not only the content producer blessed ones. As long as we've got private communications, it will become ever easier to share media over the internet. It only takes one "Pirate_0" to break the copy protection (even if it requires digitizing LCD signals). And if breaking the protecti…
You didn't read the second-to-last graf of my comment. Even if they can't universally stop copying, and a small number of people can still introduce high-fidelity copies, they can use technology to create deterrents to distributing them.
Two simple examples:
If a license or physical player is needed to create a high-fidelity copy (for instance, by capturing raw video streams from a player), and the output video is watermarked, content providers can revoke the player. Now "free" copies cost players.
If the same technology creates a trail of evidence leading back to "pirate 0", people will start getting sued. Not everyone the RIAA sued was innocent, and there's nothing to say that the DVD legal teams will create the same PR firestorm the RIAA did by abusing the system. Just as importantly, if it takes a huge amount of effort to create a supply chain of unlawful copies, the court case is much more damaging.
Content protection is not really a practice focus for us (though anticheating and kernel protection are), so my thoughts on this are not an exhaustive summary of the space of solutions content providers have. I'm just saying, the content providers aren't always on the wrong side of computer science.
Re: No, Silly, Piracy is Theft
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is this true? Why do you think DVD copy protection is doomed to fail? Smart tech people who think this are usually falling into the trap of assuming DVD copy protection has to be perfect. It doesn't; it just has to make large-scale copying and distribution economically irrational. So far, the BD+ scheme on Blu-Ray disks has had to be bypassed title by title, with Slysoft's breaks being corrected by Macrovision an…
To make copy protection work, consumers have to be coerced/convinced into using locked-down systems. If we use systems that we have total control over, then copy protection will never succeed. There still is the analog hole, as well.
Consumers don't care about locked-down systems; if they did, the dominant portable MP3 player would run Linux. It doesn't; it's the iPod.
The analog gap isn't an unsolveable CS problem. Yes, you can't encrypt photons. But you can watermark and trace them. Preventing copies is CS-hard. Preventing covert channels is also CS-hard. Watermarks are a defensive application of covert channels.
Watermarks -> revocation -> economic disincentive to copying transactions.
Watermarks -> evidence -> lawsuit -> economic disincentive to copying at all.
Also, none of these things has to work perfectly. The industry's goal isn't to stop copying. It's to capture the maximum amount of revenue per title.
Re: No, Silly, Piracy is Theft
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read this: http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/ and then purchased the book later on. Why? Because I found it was a useful book and wanted to support the author and own a physical copy. I also would have never purchased the book if I hadn't been able to go through it first online. I realize that I wasn't pirating - but the analogy doesn't break down in the manner you suggest.
Buying a physical copy of a book is a little different, as it does offer some additional benefit (in terms of portability, different medium, whatever). However, let's say that your argument is that some people will like the author and "buy" a copy of the music they already have, even though that copy offers zero additional benefit to the consumer. That's a donation, not a purchase.
Buying a physical copy of music in the form of a CD confers addition benefits over a downloaded MP3 as well, one of which is the higher quality of uncompressed 16 bit audio (or better, if SACD or DVD-Audio versions are available).
Re: No, Silly, Piracy is Theft
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Buying a physical copy of a book is a little different, as it does offer some additional benefit (in terms of portability, different medium, whatever). However, let's say that your argument is that some people will like the author and "buy" a copy of the music they already have, even though that copy offers zero additional benefit to the consumer. That's a donation, not a purchase.
Buying a physical copy of music in the form of a CD confers addition benefits over a downloaded MP3 as well, one of which is the higher quality of uncompressed 16 bit audio (or better, if SACD or DVD-Audio versions are available).
You can get flac rips at private music trackers like waffles. The library is comparable to if not better than itunes. There are some 24 bit rips out there but not very many.
Re: No, Silly, Piracy is Theft
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're concentrating on the wrong side of technology. In order to prevent copying, one has to do so on _every_ computing/playback device, not only the content producer blessed ones. As long as we've got private communications, it will become ever easier to share media over the internet. It only takes one "Pirate_0" to break the copy protection (even if it requires digitizing LCD signals). And if breaking the protecti…
You didn't read the second-to-last graf of my comment. Even if they can't universally stop copying, and a small number of people can still introduce high-fidelity copies, they can use technology to create deterrents to distributing them. Two simple examples: If a license or physical player is needed to create a high-fidelity copy (for instance, by capturing raw video streams from a player), and the output video is wa…
To render watermarking useless, pirate_0 only needs to periodically buy a new player+LCD with cash. Any scarcity created by discouraging amateurs from being pirate_0 will only encourage professionals to move into the sector.
Even if it costs $1k to get each movie release out of protected form, it's cheap for a (dubious) advertiser wishing to get a message out to a huge audience.
And further down the road, I suspect there will be an anonymous market for such content. $1k is only a penny from 100k people.
Re: No, Silly, Piracy is Theft
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
You didn't read the second-to-last graf of my comment. Even if they can't universally stop copying, and a small number of people can still introduce high-fidelity copies, they can use technology to create deterrents to distributing them. Two simple examples: If a license or physical player is needed to create a high-fidelity copy (for instance, by capturing raw video streams from a player), and the output video is wa…
To render watermarking useless, pirate_0 only needs to periodically buy a new player+LCD with cash. Any scarcity created by discouraging amateurs from being pirate_0 will only encourage professionals to move into the sector. Even if it costs $1k to get each movie release out of protected form, it's cheap for a (dubious) advertiser wishing to get a message out to a huge audience. And further down the road, I suspect t…
The sector is already dominated by professionals. The dynamics of satellite TV were similar, and though it was a painful process to revoke not only malicious players but the entire population of defective players that broke the protected path from DTV to the S-Video port, they eventually succeeded.
My point is, "useless" is too strong a word. It isn't silver-bullet simple, but it is a tool that can be made to work. Content providers are already costing Slysoft money; now they just have to figure out how to increase that cost fast enough to push them out of business.
Re: No, Silly, Piracy is Theft
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
To render watermarking useless, pirate_0 only needs to periodically buy a new player+LCD with cash. Any scarcity created by discouraging amateurs from being pirate_0 will only encourage professionals to move into the sector. Even if it costs $1k to get each movie release out of protected form, it's cheap for a (dubious) advertiser wishing to get a message out to a huge audience. And further down the road, I suspect t…
The sector is already dominated by professionals. The dynamics of satellite TV were similar, and though it was a painful process to revoke not only malicious players but the entire population of defective players that broke the protected path from DTV to the S-Video port, they eventually succeeded. My point is, "useless" is too strong a word. It isn't silver-bullet simple, but it is a tool that can be made to work. C…
Both satellite piracy and creating DVD decryption software require cracking the decryption process in a sustainable way.
But for getting one-time copies out, there will always be an analog output at the end of the chain. Watermarking allows the distributor to pinpoint the device used, but the only thing they can do with this information is shut down the device. I don't see how this can be an economic threat when player prices must be kept low for consumers, but there are millions of people wanting pirated content (which is easily distributed after extraction).
Re: No, Silly, Piracy is Theft
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
The sector is already dominated by professionals. The dynamics of satellite TV were similar, and though it was a painful process to revoke not only malicious players but the entire population of defective players that broke the protected path from DTV to the S-Video port, they eventually succeeded. My point is, "useless" is too strong a word. It isn't silver-bullet simple, but it is a tool that can be made to work. C…
Both satellite piracy and creating DVD decryption software require cracking the decryption process in a sustainable way. But for getting one-time copies out, there will always be an analog output at the end of the chain. Watermarking allows the distributor to pinpoint the device used, but the only thing they can do with this information is shut down the device. I don't see how this can be an economic threat when play…
There are two things they can do with the watermark: revoke the device, and sue the person who bought it. You can't get an AT&T SIM card or a DTV smart card without a contract. The only difference between those and a DVD player is the form factor.