Re: new generic content schemes popping up everywhere...

[Jonathan Morton <chromi@cyberspace.org>]

>Indeed. The whole concept is fatally flawed; probably the biggest
>challenge facing a cracker attacking this system is choosing which of the
>many avenues to start with :-)
>
>1. The drivers. I really like displaying audio and video via my hard
>drive, so I use drivers which do that...

Or you could take the hardware approach.  Hmm, this 8-bit microcontroller
on an ISA card looks *just* like a SoundBlaster AWE32, but it's got a 2.5"
HD attached to it.  And this custom piece of hardware which I just plugged
into my DVI port is a perfect video-capture device, complete with a
FireWire interface which I can stream into an ordinary Macintosh, or
digital camcorder.  Combine the two and you can brute-force your way out of
any copy-protection system under the sun which is intended to run on a
consumer-level PC.

Sorry, but these people make me laugh.

The small-time pirate can simply copy analogue-to-analogue - it'll be
slightly off quality but more than good enough for the average Joe (look at
the number of low-grade 128kbps MP3s out there).  The big-time pirate can
*always* get hold of enough exotic hardware and/or hackery to get around
the "protection schemes".  Who loses out?  The ordinary consumer who's paid
their $$$ like a good citizen.

Strange that I haven't made much use of the DVD capability on my PowerBook.

--------------------------------------------------------------
from:     Jonathan "Chromatix" Morton
mail:     chromi@cyberspace.org  (not for attachments)
big-mail: chromatix@penguinpowered.com
uni-mail: j.d.morton@lancaster.ac.uk

The key to knowledge is not to rely on people to teach you it.

Get VNC Server for Macintosh from http://www.chromatix.uklinux.net/vnc/

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version 3.12
GCS$/E/S dpu(!) s:- a20 C+++ UL++ P L+++ E W+ N- o? K? w--- O-- M++$ V? PS
PE- Y+ PGP++ t- 5- X- R !tv b++ DI+++ D G e+ h+ r++ y+(*)
-----END GEEK CODE BLOCK-----