The unbreakable CD copy protection - is it finally here

[Mark R]

A truely revolutionary approach to the problem of CD duplication has been proposed by the small company Doc Witness. The technology promises to address <FONT color=#990000>COPYING</FONT>, <FONT color=#990000>SHARING</FONT>, <FONT color=#990000>COUNTERFEITING</FONT>, and
<FONT color=#990000>FAKING</FONT> IDs.

Unlike all previous efforts, this method looks as if it will work. It changes a CD from a purely passive data storage device, into an active security device - a smart card, but it is supposed to remain 100% compatible with any standard CD/DVD drive. By incorporating an electronic device, similar to that in a smart card, together with an optical input/output system, into a CD - the disc is able to convert a conventional CD drive into a sophisticated smart card reader, providing absolute proof that the disc is not a copy.

The system also provides for secure individual IDs for each disc sold - no need for CD-keys or product activation.

No comment is made on the price of the system, although from its sophistication it is unlikely to be widely used, except on high-priced products.

They are also quiet about how they aim to avoid cracking of the software once it is installed - they may find that this is a particularly difficult problem.

 

[Double Trouble]

That's hardly "unbreakable" in any way -- all it would take would be for someone to make a small patch to the software to remove or modify the part of the code that checks for the existence of the 'smartcard'-like device. Nuttin' special....... Way to expensive to widely adopt, and I'm not sure it's any better than "dongles" for security protection.

 

[sean2002]

Safedisc was supposed to be unbreakable too

 

[Mavrick007]

Sounds troublesome and expensive. Something that MS would pass on to the consumer.
Your game no longer works cause you upgraded part of your system, now you have to call MS, jump through a hoop and prove that you actually own the product. Have a nice day.

 

[VTrider]

I dont' think they will ever come out with unbreakable CD copy protection! Everything has 'always' been broken, cracked, or modified 100% of the time since this whole silly game started decades ago. Why do the power that be even try anymore? I feel funny saying this but I actually feel sorry for these guys sometimes, talk about a losing battle! :Q

I think the only thing funnier than another 'unbreakable' protection scheme is the picture in my head of that company executive in a suit somewhere high up in an office meeting explaining to his/her superiors that 'this is it!'. Thinking he and his lemmings have figured out a way to save the industry hundreds of millions of dollars. They must know it's going to fail, I mean they have to. It must all be about money.

-VTrider

 

[vash]

Another problem with this method is the fact that it doesn't sound like it will do anything to the output. If someone had an older generation CD drive and merely outputted the tracks to .wav, those files could remake the cd in perfect order. Better yet, if you can make an ISO, its all over.

vash

 

[Mark R]

You miss the point. The whole idea of this system is that it DOES change the output, depending on the input (presumably the order in which tracks, or files are accessed). So, if you read track 1 then 2, then 10 - the content of track 10 would be different than if you read from 1-10 in order.

What makes in uncopyable is that the program will chose a random order to read the secure part of the disc, and check that what it reads is what it expects. On a local basis, this is breakable with a software crack.

However, in a networked system (vis. WON authentication for half-life), the authentication server could offer a challenge key to your PC, which it then presents to the disc, and then your PC returns the response. Only if the response received by the server matches what the server would expect from the secret key (stored only in the disc smart card), would authorisation be given. This system would be unbreakable for most practical purposes.

 

[ziplux]

Here's my question, how will the Smartcard on the CD be powered? I don't think the laser from the CDROM has enough power to run it, so it must have a battery. So now they have a convient way of getting even more revenue...you'll have to buy a new CD when the one you have is "all used up." If the battery runs out and the smart card stops working, then there's no way to get at the data.

None of this matters though because this is probably too expensive and cumbersome to be adopted.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

As far as the safety measure is concerned, take a soundcard with optical input, a CD player with Optical output and a fiber optic cable - and you have perfect digital copies of any CD you can think of.

The technology might also be vaporware - the site is not very professional, and the data is a bit too scarce.

My observation is that I see too many people having the same reaction when it comes to copy protection: "Bah, humbug! it'll be cracked". I think, however, that this is a form of passive resistance which relies too much on the belief that the technological progress has no limits. Rather than doing this, we should oppose any idea of copy protection - it's STILL a murky issue, and I have yet to see a definitive legal ruling on whether copy protection is defended by the Consumer Protection Act, the Home Recording Act (is that the name?), and how does the DMCA fit into all this. Also, what are the chances of imposing what would be a strictly (for the moment) American measure to the international industry?

Y'all should write letters to senators and the media about it, and we should do the same thing outside the US with our own regulatory bodies - the Big Industry is getting away with too many things lately, and the most recent financial scandals seem to be pointing out to a sort of "we are above things" attitude...

 

[dukdukgoos]

Whatever. NOTHING is unbreakable. All the protection schemes can do is make it difficult enough to filter out the casual users. Hard core guys will ALWAYS find a way...

 

[PuppettMaster001]

Nothing is unbeakable. I think they made a big mistake calling it unbreakable. That is a challenge to all hackers and crackers out there to crack the uncrackable

 

[Imported]

Great.. we'll go from $14 CDs to ones costing over $20.. How much more of a damn profit do they need? -_-

 

[Wolfsraider]

what's to stop you from (in the case of cd's) outputing the sound to a recordable source and copying it there?
i mean this thing seems limited in that aspect as it only checks for the source code right?

there are ways around anything-you can copy the stream then input it back to the recorder to record it or even run a capture program in the background and then burn a copy that way.since this would prove worthless in that regard how can it be fool proof?