[Sussex] BBC Video Downloads

[Steve Dobson]

Andrew

On Thu, Feb 08, 2007 at 11:36:45AM +0000, Andrew Guard wrote:
> If fact I am very anti-DRM as just doesn't work. Which has been show 
> again and again. DRM is defective by design in 2 ways.
> 
> 1) It restricts usage.
> It drives people nuts.  You can not just transfer the file to xyz.  They 
> do not trust you, you are not worthy of there trust the 0.0000001% of world.

Stopping the user from make transfers is kinda the point to DRM so if you
can't do it it must work.

> 2) It not successful in restricting usage.
> We all know about DVD and HD-DVD / Blue-Ray.  Also iPod FairPlay has 
> been broken as well with Microsoft WMV.  It just doesn't stop what meant 
> to stop from happing.

Which is the opposite of what you said in 1).

Sorry, Andrew, but I couldn't resist.  I'm on your side, really.  DRM is
broken but for one reason and one reason only.

DRM is basicly an encryption technology.  And the first rule of encryption
is that you've got to keep your secret keys secret.  DRM doesn't do this,
everyone uses the same keys.  I think it was Blu-Ray that was recently
cracked by someone just who was walked through the memory dump of the
player software taken when it was playing a disk.  Because the key was in 
the memory image somewhere it found it.

Okay, it wasn't an elegant attack, but it worked.

And part of my point is that the Internet has such a large resource base
that we can use the same trick to crack all the other Blu-Ray disks.  At
some point someone, somewhere (Russia perhaps), will set up a server that
lists the keys for the various releases, and we'll all be able to decrypt
a disk's content.

So DRM is a broken technology and the only way to try and make it work
is to change the law to make even taking about how to crack DRM illegal.
I don't think this e-mail has enough information to make it illegal under
the DMCA, but it must come close.

You can see how broken it is because the US Dept. of Homeland Security
is now stating that the DRM technology being deployed by some content
producers is now a major risk in the defense of America.  How much more
broken does it have to get before the law makes actually say enough is
enough?

> PS Also note that BBC doesn't encrypt there transmissions on Sky 
> (Eurosat) or Freeview, ie as such there is no form DRM.  Anyone within 
> that foot print can view the programs as there is NO protection. No TV 
> licence is required to receive.

While it is true that you have the ability to receive the BBC (and any
other visual broadcast) without a license you do not have that legal 
right within the UK.  

Steve
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