crankygeek_tech_notes

When the supposedly uncrackable copy protection used on DVD was indeed cracked back in 1999, two very different messages were received. Hackers and most tech enthusiasts took the crack as yet another sign that these encryption schemes will all, ultimately, fall to the efforts of hackers. The titans of the entertainment industry received another message—a challenge, as it were, to build an even more “robust” content protection system.

To do this, the powers that be knew that their content protection systems were going to have to get increasingly complex and increasingly pervasive. Attention has increasingly shifted to end-to-end protection schemes which reach all the way to output devices such as monitors and even speakers. One technology stepped to the forefront of the output protection scheme, but its existence and myriad problems would remain largely unknown for years. Meet HDCP, the so-called High Definition (Digital) Content Protection technology developed by Intel and licensed to electronics manufacturers by Digital Content Protection, LLC, an Intel subsidiary. full story here

Not long after my last post about the malware known as bots, a report came out that Microsoft is predicting that bots will be the biggest computer and network security threat in 2007. According to this Computerworld article, Aaron Kornblum, a senior attorney with Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Safety Enforcement team, said “Botnets are really where it’s at for serious cybercriminals, because of their concentrated power.” Look for much more information and more FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) in the media about bots and watch for antivirus and security software vendors to improve their detection and defense of the bot threat this year. finish story here

For almost ten years now I have argued that digital rights management has little to do with piracy, but that is instead a carefully plotted ruse to undercut fair use and then create new revenue streams where there were previously none. I will briefly repeat my argument here before relating a prime example of it in the wild.

The theory

Access control technologies such as DRM create “scarcity” where there is immeasurable abundance, that is, in a world of digital reproduction. The early years saw tech such as CSS tapped to prevent the copying of DVDs, but DRM has become much more than that. It’s now a behavioral modification scheme that permits this, prohibits that, monitors you, and auto-expires when. Oh, and sometimes you can to watch a video or listen to some music. full story here