re: #80 Walter L. Newton

Then why do we have DUI check points? Because the assumptions can be backed up with actual facts. We know for a fact that a lot of people ripe off media of all sorts.

That’s not assumptions, that’s facts. Just like DUI, we know it happens enough to assume that we have to be proactive.

I have no problem with that.

I’ve seen some DRM that basically attaches a serial to a specific cd so they can track it back to the source, I don’t have a problem with that idea. I also don’t have a problem with them putting a limit on how many times you can copy a DVD but they won’t even go that far. Why should I be limited in how I can view a product I paid to use? There was just a settlement last week between Real Networks and the studios that was interesting:

boingboing.net

The suits in question revolve around RealDVD, software Real introduced in September 2008 that would copy the full contents of a video DVD to a file that could be played back on a Windows system. RealDVD is not a DVD ripper: those programs use one of many methods to strip the Content Scramble System (CSS), the DRM that wraps up DVD content, and other defensive techniques.

CSS and its ilk aren’t precisely defended by technology—the standards are too weak or poorly executed—but by law. The much-excoriated Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibits “circumvention” of software that’s designed to prevent copying. Breaking DRM encryption breaks the law.

But Real went through the steps to obtain a license from the DVD Copy Control Association (DCCA), which controls CSS on behalf of the movie industry. RealDVD decrypted the DVD, copied it, and then locked it tight. Up to five PCs licensed by the same person could play back the discs. (Real also broke through a couple of unrelated protection efforts.)