VARIANT
SOURCE-TARGET CALIBRATION (VS-TC)
Background
When the entertainment industry added feature length DVD’s for home use, a new and sinister industry developed. This is the illegal copying and sale of “pirated” versions of production DVDs. Many methods have been attempted to modify the legal DVD’s in such a way that either the copying or subsequent viewing of the illegal version of the movie is corrupted and thereby rendered unusable. All versions of the “Anti-Piracy” systems have failed to stop the manufacture of illegal copies and sale of illicit DVD’s.
Purpose
The purpose of this development project is to create a means of producing a movie and other industry DVDs that cannot be copied in a useable form. In keeping with the present philosophy of offering the public an economical DVD movie, other entertainment productions and proprietary software, the means of manufacture must embrace an easy and inexpensive procedure to fabricate a DVD that cannot be copied.
Objective
Identify, prioritize and create the methodology for the manufacture of DVD’s that cannot be copied. Attend to the obstacles and means to overcome them by creating a cost effective procedure that manufactures a “for sale” DVD that does not unduly increase the production costs while effectively inhibiting illegal copying.
Understanding the Challenge
The principal companies producing entertainment and intellectual DVD’s stress the continuing struggle of the industry with the benefit/protection balance between the rights of intellectual property owners and varying uses of the property by the purchaser as end user.
The economic balance between the investments in production of entertainment/information DVD’s and diminishing return on that investment because of the proliferation of unpaid pirated copies, is shifting in favor of the latter.
A successful anti-piracy program requires an effective and efficient Information Technology (IT) capability and corporate commitment to its continuing development. Anti-Piracy IT offers not only a means to protect the intellectual property of the creators but also its use in a comprehensive and responsible systemic and businesslike way. As the 2000 millennium advances there is both positive and negative publicity concerning developing conflict between protection of property rights and the definition of the” fair use” concept as it applies to the copyrighted items.
“Fair
use” is a doctrine that allows limited use of copyrighted material without
requiring permission of the rights holder.
This provision in
Meanwhile the movie studios, record labels and other intellectual property owners have been aggressively pursuing companies that make it easy for individuals to copy and share digital materials. The expense is mounting and the successful prosecution of the “pirates” is becoming more difficult as the interpretation of the law is broadening.
Assumptions
It is assumed, that in the course of time, the interpretation of the copyright laws will be resolved in a spirit of fairness that protects the intellectual investment of the creators of the IT and the fair use of the intellectual property by the purchaser.
It is also assumed, that in the meantime, anti-piracy programs will be developed as essential to protect the investment in time and production of the copyright owner because experience clearly illustrates that unprotected property will be copied and sold without due consideration to the legal owners.
CURRENT METHODOLOGY USED BY THE FILM AND VIDEO
INDUSTRY
OBJECTIVE: Copy-Protected DVDs
A great effort was spent trying
to make DVD movies difficult to copy, but still playable on a DVD player. Some
simple examples are the inclusion of bad sectors (defects analogous to
scratches) or bad DVD structure (adding bogus content to a DVD). These are
deliberate attempts to inhibit archival programs from making backup copies of
the DVD.
SOLUTIONS: Authoring Techniques (the process of writing the original DVD).
None of the current authoring
techniques constitute real copy protection because the standard software built
into the DVD player by the manufacturer is totally unaware of their
existence. As a result, authoring
techniques proved to be an ineffective method to hinder DVD copy programs. Most popular authoring techniques are: CSS (Content Scrambling System),
Macrovision Rip Guard, Sony ARccOS
and Settec Alpha-DVD.
(i) Content Scrambling System
(CSS) – Most of today’s DVDs are encoded with CSS, a digital encryption
scheme to avoid duplication. DVD players
currently on the market can play DVDs encrypted with CSS because they each have
a key to unlock the information on the disc.
Another way to think of CSS is a locked door. DVD players can unlock the door. Similarly, a software decryption program can
unlock the DVD and permit a copy application.
(ii) Macrovision - Many DVDs contain
Macrovision, an analog copy protection.
When a DVD player plays a DVD encoded with Macrovision, the DVD player
will output a video signal which is incompatible with analog recording devices,
such as VHS tape recorders. Macrovision
is not a digital protection, so it has no effect on software which is designed
to copy a DVD.
THE CULPRIT: Third Party Decrypters (TPD)
Most mainstream DVD copy
programs depend on TPD applications to remove authoring techniques (such as CSS
and Macrovision) from the DVD. The removal could be done on the fly (while
copying takes place) or as a separate process which rips the DVD contents to a
hard drive folder prior to the DVD being copied. The best DVD copy programs offer a wide
variety of features, including:
· Compression capabilities
· Decodes CSS decryption
· Retains or omits bonus footage
· Restores defective or scratched DVDs
· Copies PlayStation and other computer games
· Creates and/or copies photo slideshows
· Supports multiple disc formats
LATEST SOLUTIONS
AACS HD-DVD and Blu-ray
DVDs were launched with
anti-piracy technology that was easily cracked. The film and video industries
are determined not to let the same thing happen with HD-DVD and Blu-ray, so
they have backed a powerful and sophisticated DRM (Digital Rights Management)
technology called AACS (Advanced Access Content System), co-developed by Sony,
Toshiba, Intel, IBM, Panasonic, Microsoft, Warner Brothers and Disney. The
group has formed the AACS LA (Licensing Administrator) to issue AACS licenses.
As
recently as December
27th 2006, a programmer (hacker) found his AACS test disc's title encryption
key imbedded in PC memory and was able to use it to copy the movie to his hard
drive and decrypt the video. (HD DVD uses the AACS copy-protection system to
encode content, as does the Blu-ray Disc format, though it adds a couple of
extra anti-piracy techniques to boost its protection level.)
LATEST CULPRIT: Advanced Authoring Techniques
Authoring techniques are static
entities which cannot change. They are similar to a target that does not move;
even a blind sniper can hit that target if he tries long enough.
Many programmers (hackers) do
not break DVD protection by a methodological approach; they don’t even have a
plan for an approach. They try, and keep
on trying until they hit the static protection, just as a blind sniper will
eventually hit a static target.
ONEHELP SOLUTION: VARIENT SOURCE-TARGET CALIBRATION (VS-TC)
THE VS-TC PROJECT
About ONEHELP
Apart from PC Repair Automation
and software development, ONEHELP is the first and only firm that developed an
encryption method without an encryption engine.
ONEHELP also developed both variable and static codes that do not
require a code generator. Any expert in
the field will insist that the above is impossible; that very
"impossible" is the source of our strength and innovation.
Variant Source-Target
Calibration (VS-TC) is our next innovation, the next challenge of creating a
true anti-piracy application.
VS-TC PROJECT: Introduction
Today anti-piracy measures
include a watermarking and digital rights management update schemes to secure
DVD discs against copying. The two new
DVD formats are:
·
Blu-ray, which is backed by companies including Sony, Apple, Dell, HP,
Panasonic, Sharp and Samsung, together with studios including Disney, MGM and
Fox
·
HD-DVD, which is backed by companies including Paramount Pictures,
Universal Studios and Toshiba.
Piracy is one of the biggest
threats to the movie industry, resulting in lost jobs and lost revenues and
whether it is Blu-ray or HD-DVD, both will see the fate of the easily cracked
old generation DVDs unless the VS-TC technology is implemented to curb the piracy
of the two new DVD formats and all future formats. This project is designed to respond and
resolve key challenges facing the movie industry against piracy.
PROJECT: Design and Methodologies
The project design will draw on
the relevant theoretical work and laboratory implementations of four main
areas:
1-
DVD anti-piracy protection
2-
Blu-ray anti-piracy protection
3-
HD-DVD anti-piracy protection
4- VS-TC technology that can be implemented to the
above without any hardware modifications
Project Launch and Duration
The project
is divided into 4 phases.
Phase 1
Implement
Variant Source-Target Calibration on DVD players:
A. Select and
assign key personnel and project staff
B. Procuring Hardware equipment and writing
preliminary software
C. Broadcasting digressive sound and video
signals
D. Measuring
corrective calibration
E. Determine
ideal median corrective factor
F. Publish a
movie on hard drive with corrective factor
G. Publish a
movie on DVD with Variant Source-Target Calibration
Phase 2:
Collecting
documentation and reviews on Blu-ray and HD-DVD in order to assess:
A. Public
readiness for accepting these new formats and willingness to purchase the
players
B. Latest
breakthroughs in hacking into the new formats and the relevance of such events
on which format will outlast (or eliminates) the other.
Phase 3:
Obtain
Blu-ray and HD-DVD TV & PC players, compliant video cards, compliant
monitors and published movies for both players
in order to:
A. Attempt
to break into the securities of both formats
B. Assess
the effectiveness of these securities on anti-piracy
Implement
Variant Source-Target Calibration on Blu-ray
and HD-DVD players
A. Broadcasting digressive sound and video
signals to receivers and measuring corrective calibration
B. Determine ideal median corrective factor
C. Publish a DVD movie with corrective factor
Deliverables list:
Deliverable No. Deliverable title
1 Key personnel and project staff
2 Equipment
and software
3 Broadcasting
digressive signals
4 Measuring
corrective calibration
5 Median
corrective factor
6 Publish
movie on hard drive
7 Publish
movie on DVD
8 Blu
and HD assessment
9 Blu
and HD securities and effectiveness
10 Publish
movie on Blu-ray and HD-DVD