The DVD CCA is set to remove hurdles to burning of legally-downloaded movie content to ordinary DVDs:
The impending technical and policy changes involve the copy group’s proprietary technology known as the Content Scramble System, or CSS. The association, an arm of Hollywood studios, licenses the encryption technology to makers of DVD players and other electronics companies and applies it widely to movies on DVDs to restrict illegal copying.
The association said it will soon expand licensing to movies that are digitally distributed on demand or a la carte–and not just for movies that are mass produced on DVDs.
The group also is working with disc makers to produce CSS-compatible blank DVDs.
It’s unfortunate that the reporter doesn’t go into any more detail about what, exactly, a “CSS-compatible” DVD is, or what the previous licensing obstacles were. My guess is that the primary change is that the CCA has green-lighted the creation of “Type A” media, which is required to encode CSS encryption keys in a format that commercial DVD players will be able to use them. I wonder if the widespread availability of “Type A” media will also make it possible for consumers to create exact digital copies of mass-produced DVDs with their home DVD burners?
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
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