these discs cannot be hacked
the academy of motion picture arts and sciences (not to be confused with valenti/glickman mpaa) has endorsed a proposal to wrap “screener films” for acadamy members in special drm that will only play in special players, and only for the designated individual (barring, of course, a posh hollywood party where several people can see the same screen).
Studios Eye New Anti-Piracy Technology [ap via forbes, july 3, 2004]“It’s extremely impressive,” said academy President Frank Pierson. “It certainly looked foolproof to us.”
here at the meta-roj blog, we’d like to introduce oscar to the better fool.
the proposal apparently comes from dolby labs division cinea.
there’s a couple problems here, not the least of which is that it upsets the formerly solid precept in the film industry that the academy members are influential beyond their raw numbers (about 6000), and instead should be harassed more than the general public (at least region 1 dvd’s play in all region 1 players… but if you’re an academy member, your dvd only plays in one player – i wonder if that makes them not-dvd’s anymore?)
i’m just speculating, of course, but it seems to me that those are precisely not the people you want to annoy in the film industry. but oscar knows best, and uncle dolby will handle it.
the other big problem is this:
Studios Eye New Anti-Piracy Technology [ap via forbes, july 3, 2004]The discs, by themselves, cannot be hacked, Roth [laurence roth, cinea vice president and co-founder] said.
sure, right. of course. unhackable…
…but the discs, by themselves, are coasters.