Rather predictably, it has not taken long for someone to push the commercial consequences of the recently publicised cracking of the HD-DVD digital rights management (AACS), and use it to emphasise the benefits of Blu-Ray.
Over on bit-tech.net, it seems as though a public relations firm representing Cryptography Research Inc (CRI) has written to highlight their 'BD+' protection layer; which only works with Blu-Ray titles and functions separately to the standard AACS. Designed to be more than a piracy-prevention measure (i.e. it will disable pirated copies on a title-by-title basis, rather than deactivating the whole player), CRI obviously think it is time to raise the supposed advantages of their system to the tech community.
Perhaps the main question is whether this is really going to make Blu-Ray more attractive to film studios. It's hardly likely to persuade consumers, even with the notion that their entire player won't become deactivated just because they happen to play a pirated title. With many people waiting around to decide on the balance of advantages versus the risks of the competing formats, the gulf between what the studios want and the consumer expects, grows still wider.
