Coming Soon - Biometric DVD Players? - bit-tech.net Forums

GreatOldOne · 19th May 2005, 13:42

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/05/19/Biometric_DVD/

Pricester · 19th May 2005, 14:00

I don't get it... all this will stop will be people lending/selling legitimate copies to their friends. It also would cripple online retailers - unless of course, there's a way to add your biometric information yourself... in which case it wouldn't be that good as a security measure.

It'll never catch on.

Da Dego · 19th May 2005, 14:10

Ummmmm?! Anyone else bothered about the fact that we'd all have fingerprints floating around just for DVDs!? Maybe this is more a US concern, but we all like to keep our fingerprints as FAR away from databases as possible.

This is another one of those stupid "This is a great plan...we can really protect our DVDs now..." without ever being thought through. How does this protect piracy?

So I go, use my BMID to buy a legal copy, come home, and exercise my legal right to make a backup copy (which doesn't have the RFID issues). Protection thwarted. The DVD can now be published all over the world, but I still can't run the legitimate one in my own player without my fingerprint.

What if my wife wanted to watch when I wasn't home? Ala M$, the RIAA and film industry wet themselves at the chance to screw the legitimate users in the name of "protecting piracy," which will do nothing of the sort.

Pballer98c · 19th May 2005, 14:50

hmmm... not sure this would ever catch on. I honestly wouldnt pay to update my dvd player for a locked version. I appoligize if this was addressed in the rest of the article (dont have enough time to read the whole article right now) but how would you play the dvd's in your computer (this is where I watch all of my movies). Also, what about when you rent a dvd? hmm... will read the rest of the article, hope these issues were addressed.

TheAnimus · 19th May 2005, 18:09

Da Dego, its a hash of your print, like with most biometrics, these are easily one way encodings, and thus, no loss of privicy.

In an RFID tag on the DVD player. Quite simply, this won't work, its stupid. Like Macrovision copy protection its easy to just by-pass that block. Also it dosen't sound like your getting the entire movie hashed against your biometric, thus its stupidly easy to get past, as their is just a system that checks the RFid tag.

You wouldn't be able to buy them as gifts for people!

I think this is just a stupid research project which has got some press.

Firehed · 19th May 2005, 21:02

I hope this isn't some anti-piracy concept, people will never buy into it anyways. People want things as easy as possible, and I'll tell you that when I first saw a DVD that had previews, that pissed me off a LOT. Now, some idiots are deciding to U-POP them so you can't FF thru them, which is BS, plain and simple. Any way that you inconvenience the customer, you lower the chance that it will catch on.

Blademrk · 19th May 2005, 23:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firehed

when I first saw a DVD that had previews...

Got to admit, that annoys me too. If they want to put trailers on dvds just put them in the extras folder so you don't have to watch them everytime you stick the disk in the drive. or at least make them skipable.

I can't see this biometrics BS taking off either

Zidane · 20th May 2005, 00:09

Quote:

Seth Schoen, staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said it's unlikely this DRM plan will be any more effective than others preceding it.

"It only requires one person to break it," Schoen said.

Schoen said this is the "smart cow problem": Once one of the cows opens the gate, the others will follow.

that quote from the article is so damn good i copied it.

as for those people concerned about privacy, read my post here in the BT biometric passports news thread. as it will save me re-typing it (big brother is here. but in this case, biometrics on your dvd player are a very bad idea).

having read the article, the smart cow problem is a great analogy. they can put a damn padlock on the dvd if they want to. all it takes is one person to break it. they have to be lucky all the time, we just have to be lucky once.

this sort of thing is taking biometrics waaaaaay too far. its unsuitable for this kind of application and i doubt it will catch on. what happens if i buy a dvd, then accidentally cut my thumb off during a mad dremelling session? do i instantly lose the right to watch my 100 legally purchased and licensed dvd's? if they add a "reset" function to allow me to reset the biometric data.... whats the point in having the protection at all? i think this is more of a "lets see how far we can push the technology" idea, rather than anything thats going to turn out to be practical.

</rant>

19th May 2005, 13:42	#1
GreatOldOne Thoroughbred of Sin Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Evil League of Evil Posts: 10,299	Coming Soon - Biometric DVD Players? http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/05/19/Biometric_DVD/ __________________ "The iPhone is like some glorious early-60s sports car. Not as practical, reliable, economical, sensible or roomy as a family saloon but oh, the joy." - Stephen Fry A GOO-ster is Born - Build Diary Electronics Help Needed! RSS Twitter

19th May 2005, 14:00	#2
Pricester Multimodder Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Coventry, UK Posts: 105	I don't get it... all this will stop will be people lending/selling legitimate copies to their friends. It also would cripple online retailers - unless of course, there's a way to add your biometric information yourself... in which case it wouldn't be that good as a security measure. It'll never catch on. __________________ Rule 7: By the time you've finished building it, it will be out of date Known as Rocketeer almost everywhere else

19th May 2005, 14:10	#3
Da Dego Brett Thomas Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Cleveland, OH USA Posts: 3,906	Ummmmm?! Anyone else bothered about the fact that we'd all have fingerprints floating around just for DVDs!? Maybe this is more a US concern, but we all like to keep our fingerprints as FAR away from databases as possible. This is another one of those stupid "This is a great plan...we can really protect our DVDs now..." without ever being thought through. How does this protect piracy? So I go, use my BMID to buy a legal copy, come home, and exercise my legal right to make a backup copy (which doesn't have the RFID issues). Protection thwarted. The DVD can now be published all over the world, but I still can't run the legitimate one in my own player without my fingerprint. What if my wife wanted to watch when I wasn't home? Ala M$, the RIAA and film industry wet themselves at the chance to screw the legitimate users in the name of "protecting piracy," which will do nothing of the sort. __________________ "Frankly that seems overkill. iluvtrees2 arguing with spec is the intellectual equivalent of a bunny rabbit taking on a pissed-off lion." - Nexxo

19th May 2005, 14:50	#4
Pballer98c Supermodder Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 455	hmmm... not sure this would ever catch on. I honestly wouldnt pay to update my dvd player for a locked version. I appoligize if this was addressed in the rest of the article (dont have enough time to read the whole article right now) but how would you play the dvd's in your computer (this is where I watch all of my movies). Also, what about when you rent a dvd? hmm... will read the rest of the article, hope these issues were addressed. __________________ --XP 2500+m @ 3000, 1gb ddr400, 120gb wd hdd, 300gb seagate hdd, xp pro sp2, g-force fx 5500 OC-- http://padlockhost.com - free and secure image hosting!

19th May 2005, 21:02	#6
Firehed Why not? I own a domain to match. Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: An hour north of Boston Posts: 12,576	I hope this isn't some anti-piracy concept, people will never buy into it anyways. People want things as easy as possible, and I'll tell you that when I first saw a DVD that had previews, that pissed me off a LOT. Now, some idiots are deciding to U-POP them so you can't FF thru them, which is BS, plain and simple. Any way that you inconvenience the customer, you lower the chance that it will catch on. __________________ hire me @ eric-stern.com - web developer and php ninja pics @ my smugmug :: Twitter @firehed :: blog @ firehed.net 40D\|580EXII\|285HV\|AB800\|70-200f/4LIS\|17-50f/2.8\|150f/2.8Macro\|50f/1.8 MacPro @ 8x2.8GHz, 10GB FBDDR2, 3TB HD :: MBP @ 2x2.2GHz, 4GB DDR2, 320GB HD

19th May 2005, 18:09	#5
TheAnimus Banned Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Reading Posts: 3,214	Da Dego, its a hash of your print, like with most biometrics, these are easily one way encodings, and thus, no loss of privicy. In an RFID tag on the DVD player. Quite simply, this won't work, its stupid. Like Macrovision copy protection its easy to just by-pass that block. Also it dosen't sound like your getting the entire movie hashed against your biometric, thus its stupidly easy to get past, as their is just a system that checks the RFid tag. You wouldn't be able to buy them as gifts for people! I think this is just a stupid research project which has got some press.