Fox recently announced its support for the Blu-ray Disc (BD) format and specified BD's better copy protection as one of the main reasons it selected BD over the competing HD DVD format. Today the BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association) has officially announced that the copy protection the BD format is going to adopt is AACS, just like HD DVD already has done, but it will additionally support "BD+" and "ROM Mark" protections:
The foundation of the Blu-ray content management system, AACS(1), is a state of the art content management system that is many times more powerful than that used in DVD. Additionally, AACS enables new consumer usage models around network functionality and internet connectivity including managing copies, in an authorized and secure manner. In addition to AACS, the BDA took a dramatic step in the battle against mass production piracy with the adoption of ROM Mark. ROM Mark, which is unique to Blu-ray Disc, is a new technology designed specifically to thwart large scale, mass production piracy, a problem that experts estimate costs the movie industry alone in excess of $3 billion per year in lost revenue. To combat this, the ROM Mark technology embeds a unique and undetectable identifier in pre-recorded BD-ROM media such as movies, music and games. While invisible to consumers, this ROM Mark can only be mastered with equipment available to licensed BD-ROM manufacturers, essentially preventing unauthorized copies of a disc. The BDA also adopted "BD+", a Blu-ray Disc specific programmable renewability enhancement that gives content providers an additional means to respond to organized attacks on the security system by allowing dynamic updates of compromised code. With these enhancements, content providers have a number of methods to choose from to combat hacks on Blu-ray players. Moreover, BD+ affects only players that have been attacked, as opposed to those that are vulnerable but haven't been attacked and therefore continue to operate properly.
(1) The Blu-ray Disc Association's adoption of AACS is subject to the BDA's approval of the final AACS specifications and license terms and conditions. |
"BD+" sounds like it's based on SPDC (Self-Protecting Digital Content) which BDA has been rumoured to have adopted.
How do you think will BD's presumably better copy protection affect the format war: Will it scare consumers away from buying the format or can it possibly make HD DVD supporting Hollywood studios to switch side? An interesting scenario is if vulnerabilities in AACS are found which "BD+" can take care of. Please feel free to share your thoughts below.
Source: Business Wire




Just make a half-decent PC drive I can save my data to cheaply and effectively. Thank u, come again.
*plans on waiting 5 years*
Signed,
TiredOfWaiting.