Managing Rights Management

SlySoft Busts Blu-ray BD+ Security - Again

SlySoft is again claiming that it's AnyDVD (HD) 6.4.0.0 software will remove the BD+ security component of Blu-ray. So far no comment from Sony, Macrovision who acquired the BD+ technology late last year from CRI, or the bdplusllc licensing authority. I've asked Macrovision to comment,  but so far no response.

As I noted back in November, it's entirely possible that the strongest versions of BD+ have not yet been deployed in order to gather information regarding the kinds of attacks that can be successful. This "honey pot" strategy might be a useful defensive tactic against hackers / crackers / pirates.

Will The World Wait For Blu-ray (and BD+)?

Writing in Content Agenda, Paul Sweeting notes in his Media Wonk blogicle attempts by British company New Medium Enterprises (NME) to market HD-VMD, a lower-cost, HiDef optical format and players.

Despite Blu-ray's triumph over HD DVD, it's far from clear that Blu-ray will become the sole--or even dominant--HD format around the world. Its high costs will remain a deterrent to consumers in many markets, some of whom will be open to lower-cost alternatives....

Enter The Chinese, Mitsubishi, 20th Century Fox: New Licenses Of Blu-ray BD+

The BD+ licensing authority maintains an online list of those who have become adopters, content partners, or eligible code developers for this layer of Blu-ray security. So far, only Fox is a content partner or code developer.

Wired: BD+ Helped Blu-ray Win The Format War

Wired has a good story on the contribution of BD+ to Blu-ray's besting HD-DVD in the HiDef optical disc format wars.

Sony's victory in the DVD format wars was largely due to its embrace and Toshiba's rejection of a sophisticated anti-copying scheme that promises to be relockable should it be cracked at some point in the future....

Paul Kocher, Cryptography Research's president and chief scientist, thinks HD DVD's decision not to adopt his technology eventually tipped the battle to Blu-ray.

"I don't want to pretend that security was the only thing that drove the content war," Kocher said. "But from a content perspective, I think security is the biggest overhang over the future of the studios and I think they realize that and they are doing what they can to deal with that."

HD-DVD: RIP.

What Is Blu-ray Anyway?

Now that Blu-ray has won the HiDef optical disc format war, what is Blu-ray anyway?  Over on CoolGadgets there is a longish posting that provides a good overview, including a quick review of Blu-ray security technologies AACS, BD+, and ROM mark. ROM mark is an antipriracy feature that is a watermark on the physical disc so that players can check on the authenticity of the disc inserted in the drive and then refuse to play titles that lack the proper mark.

What's Next for Blu-ray, BD+?

So now that Toshiba has given up on HD-DVD, what's next for Blu-ray, the winning HiDef optical format? This is the question posed by Kelly Rush and posted on HiDefDigest. Rush's prognostications include the suggestion that "BD+ starts getting aggressive:"

Until now, studios haven't been overly-aggressive with pushing this; they haven't even really needed to yet, since BD+ has not been properly cracked. Expect the studios and the Blu-Ray alliance to monitor what happens in the piracy community extremely closely now, and start making aggressive changes, should the need arise. Also, don't be surprised if new updates are added to the specs if it looks like crackers are getting too close to a proper solution for the BD+ protection, that allow the studios to have even tighter control over the DRM (Sony and Blu-Ray have made it clear that they don't mind breaking certain capabilities on older-standard Blu-Ray players as they move forward).

Agreed.

Toshiba Makes It Official: Giving Up On HD-DVD

Variety and Reuters are reporting that Toshiba has officially given up on HD-DVD, now leaving the market open to Sony-backed Blu-ray. Quoting from a Toshiba release, Variety says:

“As a result of recent market developments, the company has decided to discontinue sales and marketing of HD DVD players. Accordingly, Toshiba will begin to cease shipments of its HD DVD products to retail channels,” it said in the statement.

Toshiba To Pull Plug on HD-DVD This Week?

Reuters, the NYTimes, and other sources report that Toshiba is about to give up on HD-DVD. The combination of Wal-Mart, Netfix, and Warner moving exclusively to Blu-ray seems to have done the trick. As a consequence, the studios will be able to rely on superior anti-piracy technologies incorporated in Blu-ray, include the BD+ programmable security layer.

Reasons given by some for the end of the HiDef optical disc format war now include a concern that net distribution of HiDef video may supplant optical discs of whatever format in several years and the studios , consumer electronics companies, and others need a decent period before that happens to recover their respective investments. Matt Richtel and Eric Taub's NYT article noted:

And the Winner Is: Wal-Mart Goes Exclusively Blu-ray

Wal-Mart has announced on its blog that it will exclusively support Blu-ray HiDef optical disc format. This follows a similar announcement by Best Buy and Netflix.

Vobile Fingerprinting and Cryptography Research Watermarking DVD Patent Applications

Every Thursday the USPTO publishes new patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight applications address optical disc content security. Assigned to Vobile, the first application discloses techniques for fingerprinting and identifying digital versatile disc (DVDs). Assigned to CRI, the second application discloses a content security layer providing long-term renewable security that includes content watermarking.

Netflix Chooses Blu-ray Exclusively

Netflix is going exclusively Blu-ray. Momentum seems to be building for Blu-ray and against HD-DVD. Perhaps the end of this optical disc format war is in sight. According to the AP:

Netflix has stocked both formats since they became available in 2006, but said the decision of four of the six major studios to issue films only in Blu-ray format made it likely that the Sony format will prevail.

"From the Netflix perspective, focusing on one format will enable us to create the best experience for subscribers," the company said, adding that not many customers order high-def DVDs.

Samsung Sued Over Defective Blu-ray Players

CNET and Wired (and other sources) are reporting that a class action law suit has been filed against Samsung that  allegedly refused to provide firmware updates to some Blu-ray players that do not play certain titles correctly. The Wired article speculates that the problem(s) may have something to do with firmware that cannot handle correctly the BD+ copy protection technologies.

RIAA: $1.5 Million Per Ripped CD - It Won't Make Any Difference

While I believe that technical means can be useful in reducing piracy (e.g., Blu-ray's BD+ technology acquired late last year by Macrovision), I believe that the RIAA has been using litigation as a way of postponing the day when the major record labels are going to be forced significantly change their fundamental business models.

As reported here earlier, the RIAA has argued that ripping CDs is illegal. Not content to sue individuals for large sums of money, Ars Tecnica reports that the RIAA is now seeking through legislation to create a statutory penalty for ripping a CD that would add up to  $1.5M for a CD with a typical number of tracks.

The change to statutory damages is contained in the PRO-IP Act that is currently up for consideration in Congress. We've reported on the bill before, noting that Google's top copyright lawyer (and the man who wrote a seven-volume treatise on the subject of copyright law), William Patry, called the bill the most "outrageously gluttonous IP bill ever introduced in the US."

I'm reminded of the scene in Aliens when Riply and Newt have the following exchange:

Ripley: These people are here to protect you. They're soldiers.
Newt: It won't make any difference.

Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD Followup

Earlier I suggested that it was too soon to call a winner in the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD SuperBowl of next gen optical formats. Last week, several outlets, including the Hollywood Reporter and ComputerWorld, have noted that HD-DVD player sales have plummeted following Warner's announcement that they would exclusively support the Blu-ray format.

Apparently in response to the Warner, Toshiba announced earlier this month major price cuts for HD-DVD players:

"While price is one of the consideration elements for the early adopter, it is a deal-breaker for the mainstream consumer," said Yoshi Uchiyama, Group Vice President Digital A/V Group. "Consumer sales this holiday season have proven that the consumer awareness of the HD DVD format has been elevated and pricing is the most critical determinant in consumers' purchase decision of the next generation HD DVD technology. The value HD DVD provides to the consumer simply cannot be ignored."

Although it appears that the Warner announcement has given Sony and the Blu-ray camp substantial momentum, the format wars may not be settled until next January when the 2008 results are known.

 

What Did Macrovision Acquire in the BD+ Transaction?

Macrovision had announced acquisition of the BD+ technologies that are used in Blu-ray discs and systems to provide a programmable security layer. In reviewing the Cryptography Research Inc. (the creators of BD+/SPDC) web site, I observed that they still had a notice that they owned certain intellectual property relating to SPDC and that interested parties should contact them regarding licensing.

There's nothing wrong with this, but being curious, I asked (via email) Linda Quach, a press relations person, whether Macrovision had indeed acquired all rights, title, and interest in the SPDC/BD+ technologies. Here is the substantive portion of her answer (also via email):

I’ve confirmed with our product management team that we did in fact acquire all rights, title and interest to BD+/SPDC technologies. 

We’re working on redesign the content on the Macrovision website to include the BD+ technology, and have asked CRI to continue to host this information for a little while longer while we work on completing our marketing materials, so that anyone interested in finding out more can still have access to this information.  We’re working with CRI to ensure that all requests are appropriately handled.

Thanks for the quick response and clarification.

Gizmodo: First Paramount Blu-ray Discs Spotted

As evidence of HD-DVDs further declining prospects, Gizmodo says that the first Paramount Blu-ray discs have been spotted on Amazon's UK site:

...it seems that Amazon UK is listing three Paramount Blu-ray titles with that definitive release date: Trading Places, Coming to America and Anchorman, the latter of which was never available on Blu-ray before (as far as we can see). Amazon UK doesn't list the HD DVD versions, and these are all new Zone 2 releases, not US imports. Could this be an error on Amazon's part or just a sign of things to come?

Reuters - Porn Industry Challenged By Video Sharing Sites

In a Reuters article, Adam Tanner reports that the adult film industry is being hit hard by piracy. Adult rated videos are being distributed by sites such as Xtube, a site for 18+ year olds apparently modeled after youtube.

"We're dealing with rampant piracy, tons of free content," said Steven Hirsch, co-founder of privately held Vivid, the best-known studio making sex films.

Vivid once earned 80 percent of its roughly $100 million a year from DVD sales, but last year that fell to 30 percent, Hirsch said in an interview.

How Does BD+ Security Figure Into The Swing to Blu-ray

As noted in this pages and elsewhere, the media have started to declare Blu-ray the winner in the HD format wars. Although Blu-ray has momentum, we've seen shifting alliances and coalitions for some time. So in my view it's a little premature for someone to crown the King. Nevertheless, the hills are alive with with sound of bloggers and pundits of all kinds. Here's a sampling.

EngadgetHD says correctly that BD+ has not (yet) been broken and has an architecture diagram that has appeared previously in various venues. The Engadget article is consistent with the account given by Macrovision during the November conference call following announcement that they would acquire the BD+ (SPDC) technologies from CRI.

Warner Goes Blu-ray - Are the HD Format Wars Over?

Eh, what's up, Doc? Warner Bros announced last week that it will eventually release only on Blu-ray rather than on HD-DVD optical discs.  Their press release in part says:

“A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry,” said [Kevin] Tsujihara [President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group]. “Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience.

RIAA Argues Riping CDs Illegal - Institutionalized Stupidity

As readers know, I'm favorably disposed to technical means such as DRM, watermarking, fingerprinting, conditional access, and encryption for protecting digital content provided that the technology is reasonably user friendly and that those who use it to protect content provide full disclosure to consumers.

As reported by Marc Fisher in the Washington Post, the RIAA is arguing in a legal brief in a suit against Jeffrey Howell (and elsewhere) that the mere act of ripping tunes from music CDs and storing those tracks constitutes making illegal copies.

The Howell case was not the first time the industry has argued that making a personal copy from a legally purchased CD is illegal. At the Thomas trial in Minnesota, Sony BMG's chief of litigation, Jennifer Pariser, testified that "when an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song." Copying a song you bought is "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy,' " she said.

Fox, Apple, and FairPlay - Jon Healy's View

Check out Jon Healy's coverage (LA Times blogs) of the Fox / Apple iTunes deal regarding downloading Fox movies. Fox has been in the lead on Blu-ray BD+ and their implicit endorsement of Apple's FairPlay DRM should come as no surprise.

Healy says:

Today, the Financial Times reported that 20th Century Fox's home video unit, Fox Home Entertainment, had agreed to offer new titles for rent through Apple's iTunes store and sell DVDs with an extra copy of the movie locked in Apple's proprietary FairPlay DRM. If the latter proves to be true (no mention of it in the NYT piece), it means the movie industry may be on its way to the same DRM incompatibility problem that has vexed the music industry....

Does Microsft Want Market Confusion Re Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD?

Investors' Business Daily (via CNN) says that no winner has emerged from the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD format war. Although Blu-ray has sold more discs, ongoing studio realignments have continued to muddy the waters. And confusion may serve the interests of some competitors. Citing movie director Michael Bay, the IBD article claims that Microsoft wants both formats to fail until HD digital downloads are perfected:

Movie director Michael Bay in early December complained on his official Web site that Microsoft MSFT is providing financial backing for HD DVD because it wants both high-def disc formats to fail.

"That is the dirty secret no one is talking about," said Bay, director of the recent hit film "Transformers." "They want confusion in the market until they perfect the digital downloads." Microsoft sells HD movie and TV show downloads to its video game consoles through its Xbox Live Marketplace.

Couldn't find the Bay article on his site.

Are Blu-ray and BD+ Gaining Momentum Post Macrovision Acqusition of SPDC Technology?

The BD+ licensing authority web site lists three new Asian companies supporting BD+ as adopters. The three were added since last Sunday. This appears to be the single largest addition to the adopter list in several months. The number of movie studios remains one: Fox.

The three new additions are China's Dongguan Contel Electronics Co., Ltd., Hong Kong's Tonic Digital Products Limited, and Japan's VideACE, Inc.  

Macrovision Says SPDC (BD+) Important to Its Integrated Services

As has been widely noted, Macrovision is acquiring Gemstar TV Guide. In Friday's conference call to explain the logic of the merger, Macrovision addressed the future role of Self Protecting Digital Content (SPDC) technologies recently acquired from CRI. In the Blu-ray context, SPDC is implemented as BD+.

SPDC is fundamental to empowering our Hollywood studio customers to distribute content securely across a multitude of devices and is complementary to Macrovision's historical businesses. With SPDC we envision the capability of unique security code traveling with each piece of content and interacting with virtual machines on a playback side allowing rightsholders to distribute in various different formats but maintaining economic control and security. While it is applied to Blu-ray today via BD+, we see a future where SPDC is applied to other forms of digitally distributed content, not just physical formats.

However, in response to an analyst question concerning deals in which Macrovision bundles various of its technologies:

As I've said in the past, I'm not particularly interested in bundling BD+ into those bundled relationships because BD+ is such an emerging part of the marketplace for Blu-ray that I don't want to diminish the value proposition and the effectiveness associated with BD+.

Seems like the business situation regarding BD+ is fluid.

Macrovison Says BD+ Not Hacked

In today's conference call regarding the acquisition of BD+ technology from CRI, Macrovision says that BD+ has not been hacked:

"So first of all let me provide a clarifying comment. BD+ has not been hacked. There was a software player that did not have the correct implementation of the specification, and as a result, it did not have the same effectiveness for controlling and understanding the BD+ spec. So it wasn't that BD+ was hacked. BD+ actually wasn't hacked. And since we had heard about that, there were conversations between CRI [the developer of BD+] and the software player manufacturer and developer at which point in time they corrected the specification and the hole was closed. So to the best of our [Macrovision's] knowledge, BD+ has not been hacked yet and its been several months that its already been out there."

Macrovision Conference Call Tidbits

As noted earlier, Macrovision is acquiring the BD+ technology from Cryptographic Research Inc. They did a conference call with a brief intro followed by Q/A from Wall Street analysts who follow the Macrovision stock. Some selected (and quasi-random) points made  by Macrovision during the call:

• Annual royalties from CE manufacturers; per disc royalties from content providers (studios);
• High margin business;
• All technologies will be hacked; BD+ is no different;
• The level of royalty from the content provider depends on which BD+ features they want to implement on a title by title basis:
  • Basic BD+ protection
  • forensic watermarking;
  • Added countermeasures to specific hacks;
• Intend to extend BD+ beyond Blu-ray to embed it across Macrovision's DRM middleware solutions;
• Bridges Macrovision to HD, HiDef;
• 4-5 $million revenue in 2008, accelerating in the outyears;
• May be used to compete with OMA2 (mobile DRM standard) given the pricing points Intertrust has requested;

Macrovision Buys Developer of BD+

Macrovision says it's acquiring BD+ technology from Cryptographic Research, Inc.

“We are a research organization dedicated to solving difficult cryptography problems,“ commented Paul Kocher, President and Chief Scientist of Cryptography Research Inc. “We developed SPDC to enable consumers to experience content across a broad range of devices while simultaneously providing content owners with the control to manage the security of content in this dynamic environment. Macrovision shares this goal and now that SPDC has entered commercialization, we are confident Macrovision will take it to the next level.”

Unlike previous DVD security technologies, a critical advantage of BD+ is its ability to respond dynamically to security threats. Similar to Macrovision’s ACP technology, BD+ resides both in devices and on the media. Title-specific security code is embedded in each BD+ protected disc. On the device side, BD+ utilizes an embedded virtual machine and APIs that are integrated directly into the media player, which communicate with the code from the discs. As a result, new titles can carry unique security code to address emerging threats, thus providing content producers the ability to respond to security breaches without impacting legitimate consumers.

HD Formats, Hollywood Acceptance, and the BD+ Crack

Writing on the Home Theater Magazine website, Mark Fleischmann notes the Slysoft crack of Blu-ray BD+ and wonders how this will affect the acceptance of the competing HD formats by the Hollywood studios.

BD and HD DVD are both struggling formats, and one of the things they're struggling for is the acceptance of Hollywood. If the movie studios aren't confident in the ability of BD or HD DVD to protect their intellectual property, they'll have less incentive to release the gems of their catalogues in these formats. For videophiles, this is bad news.

Good point.

Is BD+ Using A "Honey Pot" Strategy Against Hackers?

So the blogosphere is mostly jumping up and down enthusiastically over SlySoft's apparent compromise of BD+, the Blu-ray only virtual machine based security layer on top of AACS encryption key management. A more balanced view is Scott Fulton's blogicle on BetaNews.

The beta of version 6.1.9.6 is apparently not without problems or exceptions, as indicated by a check of manufacturer SlySoft's forums today. Users reported problems copying Fantastic Four, Live Free or Die Hard, Sunshine, The Hills Have Eyes, and Spiderman 3 - which collectively constitute the bulk of all BD+ titles currently available.... Exactly how BD+ equipped content knows it's being decrypted by a validated BD+ VM, though, is a little mystery.

I have no inside knowledge. Period. However, if I were the BD+ licensing folks or the consultants who developed BD+, I might not put my best version of the technology out there immediately. I might hold back some capabilities to see how pirates attack my security system. I might make several small improvements in order to get a better picture. I can then evolve my threat analysis and implement appropriate countermeasures while working my way toward the best implementation.

Then again, BD+ might never work. The Cat and Mouse game continues.

SlySoft Busts Blu-ray BD+ Security - Updated

Engadget and numerous other sites confirm that the SlySoft's AnyDVD 6.1.9.6 beta circumvents Blu-ray BD+ security. No comment yet from the BDPlus licensing authority.

The SlySoft claim is here.

Will BD+ Be Hacked In The Near Future? Slysoft Says Yes

The blogosphere is alive with the songs of BD+ being hacked by Slysoft. This noncommital note from Engadget's Darren Murph is an example of reasonable "wait and see." Others are more enthusiastic about Slysoft's comments, for example this posting on CDFreaks.com, which quotes Slysoft as follows:

To prove them right and to take on the challenge, SlySoft has just released the latest AnyDVD version which beats the latest 4th generation HD-DVD and BluRay copy protection MKBv4, which was expected to be unbreakable.

All that AACS-LA has to offer now is BD+, but even that is on the verge of being circumvented and a release is expected by the end of this year.
James Wong, Head of development at SlySoft: "We already found a way to crack BD+ and we have just turned to fine-tuning. I should really think about hiring a bodyguard now, since this product won't please everybody."

There are a couple of things wrong with this. First, if they have cracked the AACS Media Key Block, no one expected this to be unbreakable. Rather, AACS was created as a renewable key management technology. So the MKB will be changed as planned.

More serious, perhaps, is that AACS-LA (the licensing authority) has nothing to do with BD+. Instead, BD+ is made available through its own, distinct licensing authority, BD+ Technologies LLC.

Even if it has been hacked, BD+ was designed to provide programmable security which includes the ability to detect compromised players. So we'll see if Slysoft can deliver on its claims.

Forworld Electronics Co., Ltd. Added To BD+ Adopters List

Taiwan-based Forworld Electronics Co., Ltd. has been added to the list of companies who have signed the BD+ System Adopter Agreement with the BD+ licensing entity. BD+ is a second security layer (in addition to AACS) for Blu-ray discs.

Blu-ray Updates Including BD+ Support

The error screen shown in the Engadget blogicle on the need for firmware updates to support BD+ security on certain players points to the Fox web site (www.foxbd.com/cs), which is redirected to the Blu-ray customer support site. Links to the various hardware and software vendor support sites are aggregated there, although there are no explicit references to BD+.

Has Fox Launched Blu-ray Discs with BD+?

BD+ is a Blu-ray security technology that has been championed especially by Fox.  Now High-Def Digest reports that Fox's 'Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer' and 'Day After Tomorrow' have created playback problems on certain players. The most severe problems have been experienced on Samsung's BDP-1200 and LG's BH100 players. According to High-Def Digest, both manufacturers are aware of the problem and will provide firmware updates.

It has been widely speculated that these issues stem from the use of BD+ copy protection on the two discs. We contacted Fox for comment, but so far there's no official word from the studio. 

Broken CSS To Be Used on Recordable DVDs

Several sources including Variety and IGN.com report that the DVD Copy Control Association gave final approval for the use of the broken CSS (Content Scramble System) on recordable DVDs. Variety's Ben Fritz says:

Physical and on line retailers are expected to use the CSS application to burn obscure DVDs that are no longer manufactured or not in stock. Wall-Mart has previously announced it would work with HP on such a system, while drug store chain Walgreen's also plans to deploy it....

[The CSS t]technology took years longer to be approved than many had expected because some studios wanted more robust anti-piracy protection than CSS, which can easily be hacked. But all involved eventually agreed to continue with CSS since most DVD players won't work with a different copy protection scheme.

The stakeholders apparently felt that had to do something,