Intel Threatens To Use The DMCA Against Anyone Who Uses The HDCP Crack

from the that'll-win-them-over dept

Well, isn't this nice? Intel, who recently confirmed that the HDCP master key was, in fact, leaked, has also decided that it's going to threaten to sue anyone who makes use of it, under the DMCA's anti-circumvention clause. The last gasp effort of those who still want to believe in DRM: after it's cracked, they'll wave the DMCA at you. Perhaps rather than falling back on DMCA threats, Intel could spend its efforts explaining to Hollywood why DRM is a mistake.
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Filed Under: drm, hdcp
Companies: intel


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  • icon
    BearGriz72 (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 2:37am

    EPIC

    FAIL!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    cc (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 2:41am

    Intel, a provider of DRM technology, wouldn't try to convince Hollywood that DRM is a bad idea. I'm sure Intel are more than happy to provide Hollywood with rope to hang themselves, as long as they get paid.

    Intel is making DMCA threats to cover its own ass, because its technology has failed at its intended purpose. Of course they saw this coming since the beginning, and this is just to make sure Hollywood doesn't hold them responsible in any way. Standard procedure, I'd say.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Bill M., 23 Sep 2010 @ 4:36pm

      Re:

      As somebody who works at a company that dabbles in the same area...yes. that is exactly what is happening, and it is SOP.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Yogi, 20 Sep 2010 @ 2:44am

    figures

    "the courts are the last refuge of the scoundrel"

    And there is one hell of a long list of scoundrels in the US.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    The Infamous Joe (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 3:14am

    Of course.

    I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    ofb2632 (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 3:24am

    How exactly is using the correct master key an anti-circumvention? i would love to see that explained in court.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2010 @ 3:56am

      Re:

      Is circumventing the protection on your TV.

      Blurays use a different encryption that already broken and can be copied freely, the HDCP is just for live streams and such.

      But as many have pointed out, is easier to use the own equipment HDCP to do copying, so HDCP broken was not that important to many. It is more of a statement, because in practice it didn't work anyways.

      How else would Intel fool the suckers?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2010 @ 6:31am

      Re:

      Although the article mentions the DMCA, I don't see where Intel says that's the stick they plan to use. I could see other arguments, such as copyright and liscencing, though I'm not sure how strong those cases would be.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Wig, 20 Sep 2010 @ 4:06am

    Why?

    If I understand correctly, the master key was leaked, not hacked, cracked, reverse engineered, circumvented ... So why threaten with the DCMA anti-circumvention?

    If it is used to generate a key pair, it is the correct, intended use. No circumvention whatsoever.

    What am I missing?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Eric, 20 Sep 2010 @ 4:18am

    I'm sure the people who would make the most use out of this (pirates) are really worried about intel coming after them with the dmca.. considering all the other things people could come after them for. My guess is, this is more to prevent companies from using the key to create some software to make it easy for your standard user.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      BoloMKXXVIII (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 5:05am

      Re: Eric

      Pirates make the most use of this? How about Apple / Linux users? Watching BluRay movies on a Mac or Linux box would be a regular use I expect.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2010 @ 5:20am

        Re: Re: Eric

        You can already rip Bluray disks you don't need HDCP to watch them.

        Unless you want to watch it directly, to which I'm certain someone will make an illegal patch any day now.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Richard (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 6:05am

        Re: Re: Eric

        Watching BluRay movies on a Mac or Linux box would be a regular use I expect.
        Sadly it's not even a possible use this is a different part of the scheme. To play a disc on Linux you need to crack the AACS encryption on the disc itself.

        What this enables you to do is to make a box that will take HDCP encrypted data from a blu ray player and put that into plain digital video format - allowing it to be recorded on an HD recorder.

        Only one person in the world needs to have such a device to enable every Blu-ray that is released to be reformatted in unprotected form and copied across either the internet or sneakernet.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Jason, 20 Sep 2010 @ 7:31am

        Re: Re: Eric

        Yep. Finally I can now think about getting a blu-ray drive for my DVR, since I'll finally be able to use it.

        NOW that DRM is broken I might finally begin to buy blu-ray discs. Its ironic, but its true. DRM is a disaster and I will not support any product that has unbroken DRM. It now appears that blu-ray (from my perspective) is ok to use.

        Intel's being idiotic in its desire to now use the courts to, in my case at least, continue to make me not want to buy blu-ray discs.....

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          interval (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 7:55am

          Re: Re: Re: Eric

          "Intel's being idiotic in its desire to now use the courts to, in my case at least, continue to make me not want to buy blu-ray discs....."

          As stated earlier its just bluster to get the studios off their back. Intel won't actually bring one case to court.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          AJB, 20 Sep 2010 @ 9:38am

          Re: Re: Re: Eric

          The picture quality increase is just not that much better than an upscaled DVD. I still maintain that BluRay is the biggest fraud perpetrated on the American buying public. They used their monopoly power to shut down their competitors, then charged exorbitant prices for their product (almost triple for the discs and five to ten times for the player). Where was the Congress when this anti-competitive behavior was being done? Why were the movie studios able to restrict content to just one format? The biggest loser is the consumer and the government did NOTHING to protect their interest.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 20 Sep 2010 @ 3:57pm

            Re: Blue-Ray vs “Upscaled” DVD

            It’s a fact that lots of people can’t tell whether they’re watching hi-def video or not.

            Oh, and “upscaled” is just a marketing term.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2010 @ 4:33am

    Wow - looks like Intel is on the back foot on this one. Threatening lawsuits? Unbelievable. First you have to prove it.

    Put a tax on blank BluRays and be done with it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      fogbugzd (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 4:51am

      Re:

      Taxing media has never done anything except take money from the wrong people and give it to the wrong people.

      Most pirated movies go to hard disk, smartphones, iPads, and other devices. Downloadedd movies rarely make it to blueray. You could try taxing all the things it does go to, but a couple of years from now it would be going somewhere else we never thought of. Meanwhile everyone owning a smartphone or hard drive would be paying the tax and piracy would continue unabated.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 9:35am

        Re: Re:

        "Meanwhile everyone owning a smartphone or hard drive would be paying the tax and piracy would continue unabated."

        Probably make it worse. If I'm paying for it, I'm damn well going to be using it. My only exception to that rule is car insurance. I hope to never use that.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Marius, 20 Sep 2010 @ 4:40am

    No longer efficient

    As far as I know DMCA only applies to protection methods that are "effective":

    Contracting Parties shall provide adequate legal protection
    and effective legal remedies against the circumvention
    of effective technological measures that are used
    by authors in connection with the exercise of their
    rights under this Treaty or the Berne Convention and
    that restrict acts, in respect of their works, which are
    not authorized by the authors concerned or permitted
    by law.

    How effective is a protection if everyone knows how to decrypt it?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Michael Lockyear, 20 Sep 2010 @ 5:27am

    Who cares?

    The DMCA is American...the last time I checked all of my electronics come from China (or Taiwan, Malaysia, etc)!

    For a non-American this means that sooner or later our devices will bypass this form of DRM "out of the box"...devices supporting the DRM will be (are) worth less than devices which just work.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2010 @ 5:48am

    OHHHHHH canada

    we dont have dmca HAHA intel F YOU

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Marcel de Jong (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 5:55am

      Re: OHHHHHH canada

      Imagine, if you will, that ACTA has been enacted in your country... And then look at this issue.

      I agree, many countries around the world don't have the DMCA, but the sword of Damocles called ACTA is hanging above our heads, all because of the greedy asshats from the RIAA and the MPAA.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jim, 20 Sep 2010 @ 6:19am

    I'd be shocked if they didn't

    Intel gets license fees for each OEM and for each device that uses HDCP. Hollywood will surely also continue to mandate HDCP. That means companies like Samsung and Toshiba MUST get a license from Intel if they are going be sure their devices can play Hollywood movies. If the folks at Intel are smart (and I think they are), they're already exploiting that monopoly power to increase profits in other areas.

    Of course Intel will sue to make sure everyone (or at least all those that can be sued) will continue to be forced to use the Intel-controlled standard and continue to pay Intel license fees. As long as they can do that, whether or not that standard has been cracked is irrelevant to Intel.

    Supposed you had a business plan that relied on cracking HDCP. Do you think any VC would fund it knowing that Intel's legal department would come down on you like a duck on a June bug? Not likely.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    pegr, 20 Sep 2010 @ 6:30am

    Not simple (but not tough)

    Since decrypting at the wire level gets you an uncompressed digital stream, any "circumvention device" (other than something you plug directly into a monitor) will have to compress the stream before handing it off to a recording device. This is something a tad more complex than just a tap.

    On the other hand, if some asian company makes a magic box that just lets you connect your blue-ray to any monitor, people will not understand why that is so "bad", and that will make our case even better to "joe-six-pack".

    Intel will not be the heavy. They have no standing. Anything they say now is to cover their behinds. They are speaking to their customers, not us.

    The only reason Intel is speaking now is because their customers are now "deer-in-the-headlights". Somebody had to say sumptin!

    (As you sow, so shall you reap!)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Richard (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 7:02am

      Re: Not simple (but not tough)

      A standalone HD recorder or video grab card should be capable of compressing raw HD video. After all my $300 HD camcorder does it.

      The most likely scenario is a monitor that has HDMI outputs for daisy chaining. It is cheaper if that output doesn't do HDCP - but just sends out unencrypted HDMI data (like my camcorder does).

      Having said that - why are we bothering to even discuss this in a world where you can get hold of Slysofts anyDVD - HD software with a couple of mouse clicks?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Jimr (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 6:33am

    software emulation WILL be released.

    Once a software emulation of the process IS released to the internet it WILL be impossible to put the genie back in the bottle.
    Most likely it will be written/release from some part of the globe where the DMCA and it's enforcement will be totally useless. Beside which the first adopters of this knowledge do not really care or worry about any stupid laws and their consequences.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2010 @ 6:53am

    Maybe they'd have to give the money back.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Kevin (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 7:05am

    Cause that's how you win the hearts and minds.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    GrinningFool, 20 Sep 2010 @ 8:11am

    It will be interesting to see if they really do it. Intel is sensitive to the backlash of the community but does need to look tough for their licensees sake.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    PogyBogy, 20 Sep 2010 @ 8:26am

    HEHEHHE sue me

    I have successfully used the HDCP master key to unencrypt, and then stream media off of my pc unencrypted. come and get me Intel.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    crade (profile), 20 Sep 2010 @ 8:45am

    Aren't these sort of situations the whole reason they wanted that anti-circumvention stuff?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2010 @ 11:23am

    ya, suing everyone worked so well for the RIAA

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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