Macrovision announces SafeDisc DVD-ROM copy protection
Posted on 14/05/03 21:08 by Jan Willem                             
Macrovision announces SafeDisc DVD-ROM copy protection

LOS ANGELES at E3 - May 14, 2003 - Macrovision Corporation (Nasdaq: MVSN), the leading provider of copy protection and digital rights management ('DRM") technologies, today unveiled its new DVD version of SafeDisc® during the Electronic Entertainment Exposition (E3 Expo) at the Los Angeles Convention Center. SafeDisc-DVD protects DVD-ROMs from unauthorized copying.

SafeDisc is the most effective and widely used copy protection available for CD-ROMs, protecting over 70% of the top 20 PC games titles sold to retail in the United States, according to the NPD Techworld data for 2002. Once again demonstrating its industry leadership, Macrovision has extended the patented SafeDisc technologies for the growing DVD-ROM market to provide developers and publishers with a high level of copy protection for this higher capacity format.

The number of DVD-ROM games available is growing rapidly due to the popularity of DVD-enabled consoles such as the Xbox and PlayStation2, and due to the increasing use of DVD media for PC games. While the current version of SafeDisc-DVD is optimized for PC DVD-ROM drives, the same technologies can be used as a second-level copy protection enhancement to the proprietary copy protection and security features that are used by console games manufacturers.

Steve Weinstein, executive vice president of Macrovision's Entertainment Technologies Group said, 'SafeDisc provides the highest level of security against both unauthorized copying and hackers by effectively encrypting each title and incorporating a sophisticated digital signature. The widening availability of games titles on DVD-ROM is expected to provide a boost to the industry and fuel demand amongst consumers. Macrovision is pleased to extend our de facto industry standard software copy protection solution from CD-ROMs to the DVD-ROM format."

About SafeDisc

SafeDisc is a software-based solution that does not require any changes to the publisher's application code and is compatible with standard PC or Mac environments and CD/DVD-ROM hardware. It is comprised of authenticating digital signatures embedded on the disc, an encryption wrapper, and various anti-hacking technologies that secure the CD/DVD-ROM executable. The patented SafeDisc digital signatures are added to each original disc during the mastering/replication process and prevent copying by standard optical disc writers.

SafeDisc is comprised of three main feature-modules:

⋅ An encrypted wrapper, using the industry-proven SafeDisc Toolkit.

⋅ Anti-hacking software, which is added at the time of encrypting the application. This anti-hacking technology prevents hackers from de-bugging the software or reverse-engineering the product.

⋅ A digital signature, which is added at the time of mastering and is required to decrypt and run the application.

With a number of security options available, depending on the requirements of the publisher, SafeDisc DVD is extremely flexible. It can be set up to require the original DVD-ROM be present in the DVD drive each time the main application is accessed, or for the DVD-ROM to be inserted after a specified number of days, at the discretion of the publisher. Alternatively, the configuration can be formatted to lock the application to a particular PC, so that the DVD-ROM is only required for installation.

Source: Macrovision.com

Reactions
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By cico, Wednesday 14 May 2003 22:23
cicosounds nice, but: 1) all those cool options won't work for sure 2) it will be cracked after an hour 3) we will be able to clone it after two hours puke supergrin clown
By AtomicX, Wednesday 14 May 2003 22:35
This could be interesting, the DVD format obviously differs from the CD format, so there are more previously unexplored possibilities for protection for MacroVision to play around with. In addition, DVD writers are relatively new beats, and have not yet reached the same level of technical competancy as CDRWs. This is also an opportune time for Macrovision to implement new weak sectors. However, all of the recent games I have bought have still been in CD-ROM format, and the 650MB limit per CD is still sufficient for many developers. In addition, surprisingly few users have PC-DVD drives. I think it will be a long while before SafeDisc DVD is used on a routine basis. By then CloneDVD will probably be available, and the never-ending battle will start all over again. And most users still won't have grown up to the fact that it is time to start paying for software rather than copying it, or "making legal backups" as some CDFreaks users DO actually use it for. And CloneDVD will probably suffer from mass-piracy YET AGAIN... and so the world goes round. Sigh.
By Bane, Thursday 15 May 2003 05:24
And I guess you'll be the one to do all of this. You're going crack the game and be the first to develop the software to 'clone' the game? I don't disagree with you that the protection won't be defeated in some way, but what I can't stand are people who post arrogant comments like yours, that make it sound like they are the ones who are going to be one who defeats the protection. I would say it's a given that any protection that comes out, short of online activiation like Microsoft's XP Windows product, is going to prevent copying and use of the software. I don't see the need for statements that already state of obvious.
By Da_Taxman, Thursday 15 May 2003 07:48
Da_TaxmanYou can also participate in the discussion on our Forum
By Cubeman42, Thursday 15 May 2003 17:35
Cubeman42What everyone including the kill joys have to look at is this. I am a warez user and mostly due to fact that I dont have $2000 dollars to spend on the next greatest server software so I can study for cert tests but when it comes to games the manufacturers are suffering from same thing the RIAA and its members are doing. Putting out losts of generic crap. You can look for the reviews and try your best to screen out the 23,000+ EE (empire earth) clones but its comes down to one thing. The cracking of software allows people to look before they buy. As yes with most games I do buy if I like it. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but lets refrain from parenting people here. If its your opinion own up to it.
By AtomicX, Saturday 17 May 2003 21:22
"As yes with most games I do buy if I like it" Yes, sure you do. No matter how "generic" the "crap" is, it doesn't give you the right to pirate it so you can "try before you buy". If you dislike the product, don't buy it. You clearly have no understanding of the hard work and capital which goes into making games, if you did, you'd pay for them.
By G00SEISL00SE, Sunday 18 May 2003 02:34
lol sure safedisk is realy safe
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