Has Hollywood gone overboard on piracy?

The entertainment industry argues that its new digital rights management system will bring flexibility to the use of video content, but consumer campaigners say it has taken too much control. George Cole reports

Imagine someone creeping into your living room and tweaking your DVD player so that it no longer played any discs. Or what about a DVD disc that didn't like the look of your television, and so only displayed low-quality video pictures? Such scenarios are theoretically possible with a new digital rights management (DRM) system being rolled out by the video industry, PC companies and consumer electronics firms.

What is more, under the new system, no one need enter your home to disable your video player. Little wonder, then, that Mike Evangelist, a former director of product marketing for Apple Computer, describes the new system as sinister and has set up the HD Boycott website (www.hdboycott.com), urging people not to buy high definition (HD) discs and players. But those behind the technology say we should welcome the new flexibility it will bring to using digital video content.

This year sees the launch of a new generation of home video systems, HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc, which offer high definition video and are seen as the successors to DVDs. DVD was launched with anti-piracy technology that was easily cracked. According to the Motion Picture Association of America, video piracy now costs the industry about $3.5bn annually, mostly through pirated discs. In 2004, the MPAA seized more than 76m worldwide, an increase of 44% on 2003.

The film and video industries are determined not to let the same thing happen with HD-DVD and Blu-ray, so they have backed a powerful and sophisticated DRM technology called AACS (Advanced Access Content System), co-developed by Sony, Toshiba, Intel, IBM, Panasonic, Microsoft, Warner Brothers and Disney. The group has formed the AACS LA (Licensing Administrator) to issue AACS licences (www.aacsla.com But in their efforts to combat piracy, some believe the entertainment industry will have too much control over how consumers can use both software and hardware.

Disabled players

AACS uses industrial-strength encryption technology and an elaborate key-based system for authenticating hardware and software. These keys can be modified at any time, so that if unlicensed players or drives come on to the market, updated keys can be added to new video releases. The new keys could restrict playback to older title releases or even disable a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player by modifying its firmware. But Michael Ayers, a spokesman for AACS LA, says such steps would not be taken lightly: "It couldn't be done unilaterally by one party."

But as Seth Schoen, staff technologist of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org), points out, this system won't help reduce piracy: "The key management system is aimed at preventing people from making unauthorised players, not from making unauthorised copies, and it probably won't prevent file sharing either."

Schoen believes technologies like AACS will stifle innovation and competition: "It's easier to see why major electronics companies and Microsoft are keen on AACS: because it will help them curtail competition among players and stop anyone from introducing unforeseen disruptive innovations in the home entertainment market. The VCR, TiVo, and Slingbox have all come from nowhere and shaken things up; major manufacturers and entertainment companies would like to see that this doesn't happen again."

AACS also has the ability to degrade the high definition video signal sent to a TV or monitor if the user has an unprotected digital or analogue connection between a player and display device. But Ayres says most studios have indicated they won't use this facility and if they do, it will have to be highlighted on software packaging.

But such assurances have not placated everyone. "The most objectionable aspect of AACS is that it allows the seller to retain control of the use of the disc forever," says Evangelist.

"They can determine what devices will play it, how and where it can be copied and used, and even change the quality of the output depending on whether or not the devices are 'approved'. The providers can change the rules whenever they like. You will no longer have any certainty about what you can do with your own property, now or in the future."

Schoen adds: "It's conceptually creepy that someone can take away functionality from a product after you bought it. That said, this particular problem is now pervasive in high technology, not just in DRM. A mobile-phone carrier can take away functionality from a phone after you bought it. If you use a non-open source operating system, your operating system developer can take away functionality from your computer afterwards. So this is a broad trend and I would not single out AACS revocation for unique criticism."

But he adds: "I would like customers to worry about the big picture of the ability of manufacturers to take away functionality you've paid for, and, conversely, to stop you from tinkering or getting add-ons to improve the functionality of your products. This is an issue for our time that goes well beyond AACS."

There are also plans to plug what is known as the "analogue hole", which means pirates could run a high-quality analogue signal, digitise it and then use it for making pirated discs or file sharing. Under the AACS licensing agreement, manufacturers will begin removing analogue connections from their hardware from the end of 2010 - known as the analogue sunset.

"We believe the digital connection will give consumers a better experience in terms of quality and convenience - a single digital cable can carry both audio and video. And yes, it will improve security. We think the 2010 deadline is far enough ahead to be comfortable with," says Ayers.

However, Schoen thinks this is yet another doomed attempt at stifling piracy: "I think the analogue sunset spells trouble for paying customers who might want to do something that the AACS people didn't anticipate. But because it's a long way off, I don't anticipate that it can stop or really dent unauthorised file sharing."

AACS supporters point out that under a provision called Mandatory Managed Copy (MMC), content holders will be compelled to provide options for consumers to, say, copy a disc on to a home server or download content to a portable multi-media player. "I think we'll see content holders allowing consumers to view their titles in a variety of ways now they have a robust copy management system in place," says Lavinia Carey, director-general of the British Video Association.

Legal copying

"MMC will result in consumers being able to copy discs. What we don't have in place are the business models. For example, there might be a charge for copying a disc, or a content holder could decide you can only copy the film and not the extras on to your portable player," says Richard Doherty, another AACS LA spokesman. "For the first time, consumers will be able to rip video discs legally and not have to resort to using unauthorised and often illegal tools," adds Ayers.

But Schoen is unimpressed: "Entertainment companies should not have the power to use the law to prevent technology innovators from providing flexibility to paying customers without begging permission. AACS is touted as increasing flexibility for consumers - which it does grudgingly, in a predetermined, short list of ways. This after eight years in which DVD innovations were deliberately crushed through litigations.

"What passes for 'flexibility' in DRM systems like AACS is always years behind the technical state of the art because of the costs and delays of negotiating licences and because of the conservatism of entertainment companies. If consumers have devices that are functional but not licensed through deals with AACS LA, managed copy is intentionally designed not to work with those devices.

"That includes most devices built before the advent of AACS, all home-brew and hobbyist devices, and devices made by innovators who can't afford the lawyers to negotiate the licences."

Where will it play, Sam?

One issue that's far from settled is whether Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD will use a regional coding system, as found on most games consoles and DVD.

Regional coding is used to control the territory in which software is used. For example, DVDs developed for the US market (known as Region 1) are designed not to be played on European DVD players (Region 2).

If you try playing a Region 1 disc in a Region 2 player, playback is forbidden. But it's relatively simple to bypass regional coding, and most players have cracks or hacks. There are also specialist retailers who will modify a DVD player or recorder so that it reads discs from other regions. This opens up thousands of titles, many of which are never released in Europe.

Although the first HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc players won't use regional coding, that door is still open and some believe the Hollywood studios will demand its inclusion. Regional codes have been assigned to Blu-ray Disc.

"I think studios will want to protect the various licensing agreements they have in different territories," says the British Video Association's Lavinia Carey. Rumours suggest that regional coding could be tied to AACS, which would make hacking it not only difficult, but illegal. That's because laws like the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the EU's Copyright Directive make it an offence to bypass copy protection systems.

But Richard Doherty of the Licensing Authority says: "There are no plans for this and there's nothing in AACS's technical specifications that would work with regional coding."
