Intel VIIV says "no, thank you" to DRM
By Evan Blass 
posted March 17th 2006 6:00AM
posted March 17th 2006 6:00AM
Among the many interesting things we
learned from Cnet Australia's interview with the Vice President and General Manager of Intel's Digital Home Group, Don
MacDonald, about the vaporous VIIV concept (like, for example, what
the heck VIIV actually is) was the fact that Intel has decided to adopt a "don't ask, don't tell"
policy regarding content that passes through VIIV-certified hardware. On the occasion of VIIV's Australian unveiling
(yes, it's that important), MacDonald said that it's not Intel's job to be policing how consumers acquire and
transfer their content (i.e. no sniffing for watermarks or other piracy indicators), nor should they be assuming that
all consumers are criminals. He also rather boldly predicted that piracy will not be a big deal for VIIV, because Intel
is going to make content easier to buy than pirate- although how you can get much simpler than searching and
double-clicking is beyond us.[Via Slashdot]
nice to know intel are finally not overstepping their mark.
and in reguards to how you could make downloading legal content easier than pirated content, how about search and SINGLE click?
Dan x
If they made all content downloadable then the amount of people downloading illegally would be reduced. Simple as that. It's worked for music - the percentage of people downloading illegally before companys such as itunes came along was much greater than now. For me I can either install something like imesh and have my pc ruined, and then downlaod 50 odd songs that take ages to download because I'm nto using all of my bandwidth. Or i can click a button in itunes and have the song within 4 seconds.
Admittedly torrent has made things a lot easier for people, but the prices people are charging for content is so small! THey should release brand new cinema films for digital download - that way the people who download them illegally actually have an option if they don't want to go to the cinema!
Rant over - I agree with Intel - it's not their job.
This seems all well and good, but I was led to believe that Viiv certified PC's would also be sporting TPM chips (Trusted Platform Module) - so although Intel may not police the media you recieve on your PC, it makes it a damn sight easier for other companies to do just that! I can't tell if the TPM is disabled as default yet, but how long before iTunes/Msoft etc. start providing services that you can only access with TPM enabled?
I need to look into this more closely to really get the full picture, but the lack of information on what Viiv actually is seems to suggest to me that Viiv is really just a trojan horse for tighter DRM. I guess I'll have to wait and see.
"although how you can get much simpler than searching and double-clicking is beyond us"
It scans your brain, decides what you will love and automatically downloads the music.
Fredi
congratulations are due to intel for finally figuring out the value of consumer trust. i know that microsoft and others have plans to restrict content but i for one think this is an exciting turn in the IT industry. for years we've been told DRM "protects our content" but consumers, tech savvy and not, are beginning to understand theyre being shortchanged and intel is right to not want to cop the backlash when the shit hits the fan
TC, the VIIV PCs that are out already don't have TCMs. They may do in the future, but it's not a requirement at the moment.
ch424
Ok, thats a bit odd, I remember seeing a promo with Morgan Freeeman about how this whole VIIV thing was all about the DRM and downloading movies, etc.
Thanks ch424, do you have a model of a Viiv PC that doesn't have TPM installed? I figured that as the Viiv spec requires Intel 975X Express, 955X Express, 945G Express, 945P Express, 945GT Express or Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset, that the common denominator was TPM support (although not installed on 975x/955x as standard). I've had a quick look at some of the systems on the market and they all seem to support TPM, but I guess I need to check whether the chip is actually installed.
It could just download all of the content ever made and make it 100% available.
there used to be a Qwest commercial like that, but I guess it never really panned out.
The vast majority of peeps' TPM fears are totally unjustified.
People need to stop laying into intel, can't we just be decent and applaud their having said what they did? If true it's in our favour and against the parasitic ranks of RIAA and the like.
Intel, good one.
At least some one has a clue.
And yes it could be easier. Every wasted time downloading crap conversions? We all have.
I want to pop in a DVD or record a HDTV or SDTV show, have the comercials automatically removed, and have the content automatically converted to a specified format for a portlable device or (for TV stuff) buring onto DVD. I don't want to have to do anything beyond set it up. Ok Intel, let's see it.
VI IV : I'd guess it's a 64 bit chip.
DRM is a bullseye for hackers, and the last thing Intel wants is a PR nightmare like "VIIV has been cracked".
Don't forget, Intel's trusted platform thingies aren't necessarily for DRM.
http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/03/07/intel_legrande_steers_clear_of_drm/
But it probably does open a few doors for evil too. It's already been said that LaGrande won't be for consumer rigs, though.
Still, it's nice to hear a company like Intel to acknowledge that treating every paying consumer as a criminal would be silly... wish they'd mean it. ;)
Remember that this is out of Austalia. Boing-Boing (last week? well, recently) linked to a PDF of an Australian Parliament document that recommended a lot of law related to DRM and DMCA, to kill off their consumer restrictions. Comes close to putting DRM back to where it was supposed to be, keeping in-house stuff from casual hacking while allowing easy in-house usage --- not destroying fair use, time-shifting, backups, media-format changing (eg tape to CD to DVD etc).