FC: Hollywood wants to plug "analog hole," regulate A-D

[Joseph Ashwood]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Neil Johnson" <njohnsn at iowatelecom.net>
To: "Joseph Ashwood" <ashwood at msn.com>; <cypherpunks at einstein.ssz.com>
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 6:59 PM
Subject: Re: FC: Hollywood wants to plug "analog hole," regulate A-D


> On Sunday 02 June 2002 08:24 pm, Joseph Ashwood wrote:
> >>
> > The MPAA has not asked that all ADCs be forced to comply, only that
those
> > in a position to be used for video/audio be controlled by a cop-chip.
While
> > the initial concept for this is certainly to bloat the ADC to include
the
> > watermark detection on chip, there are alternatives, and at least one
that
> > is much simpler to create, as well as more benficial for most involved
> > (although not for the MPAA). Since I'm writing this in text I cannot
supply
> > a wonderful diagram, but I will attempt anyway. The idea looks somewhat
> > like this:
> >
> > analog source ------>ADC------>CopGate----->digital
> >
> > Where the ADC is the same ADC that many of us have seen in undergrad
> > electrical engineering, or any suitable replacement. The CopGate is the
new
> > part, and will not be normally as much of a commodity as the ADC. The
> > purpose of the CopGate is to search for watermarks, and if found,
disable
> > the bus that the information is flowing across, this bus disabling is
again
> > something that is commonly seen in undergrad EE courses, the complexity
is
> > in the watermark detection itself.
> >
> > The simplest design for the copgate looks somewhat like this (again bad
> > diagram):
> >
> > in----|---------------buffergates----out
> >         ----CopChip-----|
> >
> > Where the buffer gates are simply standard buffer gates.
> >
> > This overall design is beneficial for the manufacturer because the ADC
does
> > not require redesign, and may already include the buffergates. In the
event
> > that the buffer needs to be offchip the gate design is well understood
and
> > commodity parts are already available that are suitable. For the
consumer
> > there are two advantages to this design; 1) the device will be cheaper,
2)
> > the CopChip can be disabled easily. In fact disabling the CopChip can be
> > done by simply removing the chip itself, and tying the output bit to
either
> > PWR or GND. As an added bonus for manufacturing this leaves only a very
> > small deviation in the production lines for inside and outside the US.
This
> > seems to be a reasonable way to design to fit the requirements, without
> > allowing for software disablement (since it is purely hardware).
> >             Joe
>
>
> Bzzzzztttt! Wrong Answer !
>
> How do you prevent some  hacker/pirate (digital rights freedom fighter)
from
> disabling the "CopGate" (by either removing the CopChip, finding a way to
> bypass it, or figure out how to make it think it's in, "Government Snoop"
> mode ) ?

To quote myself "the CopChip can be disabled easily," last paragraph
sentence begins with "For the consumer . . . " as has been pointed out by
numerous people, there is no solution to this. With a minimal amount of
electrical engineering knowledge it is possible for individuals to easily
construct a new ADC anyway.

>
> Then the watermark can be removed.

Which can and should be done after conversion.

> Remember it only requires ONE high-quality non-watermarked analog to
digital
> copy to make it on the net and it's all over.

You seem to be of the mistaken opinion that I believe this to be a good
thing, when the design I presented was designed to minimize cost, of design,
manufacture, and removal. I am of the fundamental opinion that this is not a
legal problem, this is a problem of the MPAA and anyone else that requires a
law like this to remain profitable is advertising incorrectly. The Hollywood
studios have already found the basic solution, sell advertising space
_within_ the program. In fact some movies are almost completely subsidized
by the ad space within the movie. By moving to that model for primary
revenue it is easy to accept that a massive number of copies will be made
since that improves the value of the ad space in your next movie/episode. Of
course I'm not involved with any studio so they don't ask my opinion.
                    Joe