Intel at centre of plan to end DVD theft

Intel has devised a scheme to prevent people from stealing DVD content from different sources and then replicating them using sophisticated copying systems. The plan, based on the 1394 bus, which is intended to protect content, could put an end to simple chip replacement techniques. Intel, in conjunction with Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi and other players, is creating what it describes as “tamper resistant software” coupled with no user modifiable parts, is intended to protect copyright content through all phases of distribution, transmission and playback. A digital transmission licensing administrator (DTLA) has already been appointed, with the first generation of key protection arriving in Q4 of this year. He or she is “currently operating out of a cubicle at Intel’s HQ in Santa Clara”, according to a source. The first implementation of the specification, version 0.9 is already available. It has been accepted for some time that the DVD consortium’s idea of producing disks which can only be read in their own areas, for example, the US, Japan and Europe, is compromised by dealers and others simply substituting a chip in a DVD ROM which allows any format to then be read. ®