Could AACS DRM spell the end of Macrovision?

July 25, 2004

Looks like DRM is about to take a giant step, a step that could possibly spell the end of Macrovision. Right now, Macrovision is receiving up to 55 percent of it's earnings through the CSS protection scheme. Yet, the CSS system has a two fold problem. One is, that many people out there have unwittingly purchased equipment for their homes, networking their entertainment with servers. Only to find out that they can't legally copy their movies to hard disk drives to stream their movies and other forms of protected optical entertainment content. Needless to say, they aren't happy campers. The other problem is, that CSS is broken and it's been broken for a long time. It is unable to protect content from unscrupulous characters that desire to distribute copyrighted works over the Internet.

This is where the Advanced Access Content System LA steps in. They are a licensing administrator set up to collect licenses for digital right protection patents. But, that's not all, AACS LA says it is putting together the Advanced Access Content System, a specification for managing content stored on the next generation of pre-recorded and recordable optical media for consumer use with PCs and CE devices. Did I mention you can stream with it, yet you won't be able to share it on the Internet? If Macrovision thinks that content producers wouldn't jump ship for this newer technology, they bettter wake up and smell the coffee.

Ostensibly this is a bid by IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Disney and Warner Brothers to set up content protection for future DVD held films, but this is likely to be a form of content protection that neither has the consumer up in arms against restrictions to personal use, and that also doesn't rigidly fix future content for use just on a DVD. The new AACS system should allow films and other content to move around a home network, without leaking out onto file sharing networks.

This particular collection of companies constitutes representatives of virtually all the interested parties in this technology.

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AACS LA will deliver its AACS as a generally available, licensable specification later this year. AACS LA's says it is seeking to engage in industry review and collaboration on the specification prior to completion which at least does give a few more familiar faces time to state their case for inclusion in the potential royalty stream.

If suddenly, Joe Schmoe could copy files from a DVD to a media server and to portable video players, a lot of the steam would be released from upset customers. The article is saying that the technology is probably ready, it's just a matter of putting it all together in a nice neat package. The only thing we don't know for sure is what will the consumer be allowed to do with their media. Head on over to DMeurope and read the whole interesting article. What are your thoughts? Would this be a DRM that the people could live with? Can such a technology (whatever it is) be defeated and the content spread on P2P just as was done with DeCSS? Looks like we will find out this fall, just in time for the big holiday rush of business.

Source: DMeurope