CSS and DeCSS
The name Jon Lech Johansen might not be on everyone's lips but for people who do not like the way the
Content-Scrambling System (or CSS) encryption on DVDs force you to watch boring previews and limit your menu choices, he was the light at the end of the tunnel. His program DeCSS allowed people to make copies of the DVD without these limitations -- hop over to what you want to see when you want to see it.
There is a war happening between two new rival high-definition disk formats vieing for commercial dominance. Blu-ray and HD DVD. I personally think the Blu-ray is the better format and that HD DVD is a poorly thought out hack. Regardless, both standards will use the newer Advanced Access Content System (AACS) encryption system.
Last week, Jon made this post on his blog:
DeAACS.com
AACS, like CSS, will be a success. Not at preventing piracy. That’s not the primary objective of any DRM system. Anyone who has read the CSS license agreement knows that the primary objective is to control the market for players. Don’t you just love when your DVD player tells you "This operation is prohibited" when you try to skip the intro?
6 years ago I didn’t think of registering decss.com. Not intending to make the same mistake twice, a while ago I registered deaacs.com.
Now if only products that implement AACS would come to market...
Emphasis mine. Heh...
Posted by DaveH at January 16, 2006 8:08 PM