USB cables back movie industry

How would it be possible to implement HDCP or any kind of DRM into a USB cable?

Remember a cable is basically just multiple wires in PVC insulation, there is no active logic involved.

Any DRM would have to be implemented in the motherboard chipset/drivers/OS and the external USB device.

This is Marketing 101: Your Customer is not a Thief. Some of your people - Accounting, Legal, Loss Control - may tell you otherwise, but they are wrong. 

They are wrong because the Customer does not like being treated as a thief or criminal. This is because most people think of themselves as being good or honest. Some are not to be sure, but in fact most are. They resent being treated as being otherwise.

If you treat the Customer as a Thief, the Customer will flee to other merchants/providers at the first opportunity. They will seek an alternative, a subsitution. If enough Customers flee, then you will find yourself out of business in short order. 

This is because the Customer is the one with the money. You may think that the Customer needs what you have, and he may, for now. But don't forget you need what he or she - esp. she - has: the money. The money will go someplace else if you upset the Customer, esp. as
one Customer tells the next about how they were treated.

This is basic human psychology. Some may poo-poo this as an overly simplistic analysis - so do you want a book? - but in fact it is quite valid. Ask any successful retailer - Nordstroms come to mind here - and they will tell you the sam.

It's just as simple as that.

DRM = RIAA crap... RIAA tells you what you can watch and listen too, but ONLY a DRM run machine/player... Fascist isnt it?

http://www.boycott-riaa.com/

Another digital paranoia example. Good news for FireWire people anyway...

Hey- remember when the said Iphone can't be hacked. And then some 14 year old hacked it in the US. And then Bangladeshi tech student also hacked it.

Those that do not diversify and adapt become extinct. 

So it shall be for the entertainment industry in its current form.

I believe Microsoft pushed the DRM as an excuse for forcing device makers into hiding the hardware specs. I doubt Bill believed the DRM could work.
We would live in a Linux friendlier world now if without the DRM dodge.

The same can be happening here -- you would have to make hardware specs secret to be certified for Windows.

Why don't they do an Apple and just make it easy to get movies instead of making USB cable's even more expensive.

I hope the people providing the DRM solution are going to give a 3 year guarentee that their solution cannot be broken, or the people who are buying the DRM get their money back.

Can someone please add up how much has been invested in DRM, and would they then please just give it to the friendly and polite Chinese DVD sellers all over the UK. That would cut down on dodgy DVDs.

;-)

Who honestly would buy one of these, when no doubt a DRM free USB cable will be cheaper. Completely pointless invention. Also like everyone else has said someone will crack it, they always do, piracy will never be stamped out.

The USB Implementer's Forum, having been borged by the RIAA/MPAA/remover of civil liberties union, is going to have the pleasure of watching their precious cables sit and rot on store shelves.
USB3 is DRM-infested ? Fine ! I'll do without it.
Where DRM is concerned, I certainly DO vote with my wallet. I'm giving nobody the luxury of deciding what I can do in my own home.
NOBODY.

HDCP is weak, and information has been accumulating on how to break it. It also seems to be the standard thing that people adopt for carrying HD content over their interfaces.

That means that, once it's completely broken, it'll be broken for all these interfaces at once.

If they had any sense, they'd have different encryption on every single interface. But that's too difficult. Heh-heh!

Nice to see Turkeys voting for Christmas

...after the Western Digital My Book story.

"You know any group of hackers has a completely unlimted amount of time to crack any DRM hardware/software. "

Yes. Any foreign power willing to back any number of hackers/crackers in order to stop the $$$ from flowing to US companies... :)

And do *you* know any corporation willing to take the risk of investing the amount of $$$ needed to hire the expertise that the development of such a system would require? I'm talking about real security here, the kind that takes years to develop, test & field! Not the "Push-Shift-To-Defeat" kind of crap, that we're used to... :( 

DMCC

the people who do "marketing research" are usually in the marketing department... and we all know how clueless they are. it might be a while until they get it through their thick skulls.

Has there been any studies of how much per DVD/CD all this DRM crap cost, and what the costs would be without it?

" if I understand it right, HDCP is not relevant for hard drives and so on as it's designed for streaming data."

Exactly. HDCP is an optional part of data streaming. You need an HDCP-aware source. Then, each equipment in the chain from source to end does a handshake with the next one. As soon as the equipment can't validate the next in chain, he's supposed to downgrade HD content or blank it.

It requires the source to use HDCP. If the source doesn't "require" HDCP, you can transmit HD all the way, with zero problem. The only problems arise when you have HDCP-required software trying to use it.

This would only work if there were no other interface through which to connect a computer and a screen. Too bad there is.

That was easy. Cha-Ching!

But I'm a filmmaker, will I have to infect my own films with DRM in order to play them off external hard drives? And how is this going to work for video editing of external hard drives?

...we all put our money into eSata and forget about USB...

QED - USB loses...

You know any group of hackers has a completely unlimted amount of time to crack any DRM hardware/software. And if you built this DRM into the cables, does that mean every company that makes USB cables is going to have to agree to adopt it?

I agree with the comments above adapt or die.

These saddoes will realize that it's not the industries they need to court but its the poor end user who is saddled with more and more crap to ensure that some multinational gets its 15th cut of the pie that day.

Well I'm sure that everyone can put the tinfoil hats away; if I understand it right, HDCP is not relevant for hard drives and so on as it's designed for streaming data. What this seems to suggest to me is that someone thinks we should be using USB3 instead of other HDCP cables; i.e. it could be a replacement for HDMI and DisplayPort as a monitor cable. Does this make sense bandwidth-wise?

So on cheap machines, the graphics acceleration will disappear into the processor and the montor port will become just another USB port.

That's really all I have to say.

... 2 weeks BEFORE the launch.

Here’s to annoying loyal customers for years to come, just so you can protect copyrighted content for the two weeks it takes to break the protection.

Honestly, you would think for people who do market research they would see the long line of costly DRM failures plus customer complaints and get a clue. It doesn’t work, the consumers who keep you in business don’t want it and it only manages to miff legit customers. I have actually seen HD footage, created and owned by the user, denying access just in case they may be trying to steal their own bloody video footage!

Who the hell will buy a USB cable that costs more because of the DRM implementation and can do less than regular USB cables?

Enough is enough; anyone who jumps on the DRM bandwagon at this point deserves to crash and burn.

And I would buy DRM infected USB cable because...? I really don't get it...

When will manufacterers stop wasting their time and resources on DRM. It will just be present itself as a minor incovenience/annoyance until some hacking group comes up with a hack/crack/workaround which will probably be about 2 weeks after the launch. Maybe they should start asking people what they really want as oppsed to trying to control them. There is just as much money to be made it in, and is generally ends up being alot less stressful . .

J

the USB 3.0 is to be backwards compatible with all current cables right? So what will happen if we just stock up in DRM-free cables?
I like usb because it's cheap and versatile - so versatile it can be used almost anywhere data transfer is needed. Limiting the protocoll will only lead to it's demise. And we can always use eSATA or anything other if we just want to cheat the system.
I really hope this news is bogus.