defectivebydesign
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Sony copy protection taking heat again: now DVDs won't play
Reports continue to filter in about DVDs that refuse to play on standard players from Toshiba, LG, Pioneer, Sony, and others. The culprit is titles that utilize Sony's ARccOS copy protection scheme, such as Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," The Weinstein Company's "Lucky Number Slevin," and Sony's "Casino Royale," "The Holiday," and "Stranger Than Fiction." ARccOS artificially scrambles sectors on the disc in an attempt to keep users from ripping the disc to a drive. Many older (or less sophisticated) players simply skip these corrupted areas as unreadable and continue on. Computers -- and unfortunately, some newer players -- try to perform error correction on these areas and fail playback. When contacted, Sony seems to deny the problem, much like Microsoft and the 360 disc scratching, and simply passes the buck onto the player manufacturers to upgrade their firmware. Meanwhile, many users have simply downloaded programs to bypass the protection and make copies without the "defect." So, is this a rootkit-like class action lawsuit in the making? Is it just overblown hype over a few players that don't follow standards? Another example of copy protection that bites legitimate users and ignores the real problem? And do average consumers even care?
TDMW interviews DefectiveByDesign
Remember those crazy DefectiveByDesign kids in hazmat suites trying to give customers the 411 on DRM outside Apple Stores? TDMW (The Digital Music Weblog) snagged an interview with the DbD collective on the state of DRM, what their beef really is and where they believe things are headed. The group has been snagging some major news coverage as of late, and this interview is a really interesting window into their stance on DRM and what it's doing to our culture (example: ooh, sorry - your mom isn't authorized to borrow that CD).In the interest of avoiding another bloody war over whether we should be shopping at the iTMS, however, I'll just direct your attention to TDMW's interview for your reading enjoyment.
Video demonstration of anti-DRM group at SF Apple Store
One of our sister blogs, The Digital Music Weblog, dug up a video of an anti-DRM demonstration by that DefectiveByDesign crew we blogged yesterday. This demonstration was in San Francisco, and from the editing of the video, it looked pretty successful - if you count talking to roughly two people successful. Maybe the hazmat suits threw off potential anti-DRM converts, causing them to think the group was there for some kind of a real cause.Does anyone else see the irony in the use of music they have absolutely no rights to? I don't think they're helping the 'we're consumers and we deserve whatever we want to be treated fairly' cause by trampling on a band's music rights.
