ITinfo: Cracker's Instructions Delay DVD Release

DVD Cracker Causes Delay

Manufacturers fear widespread piracy

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Cracker's Instructions Delay DVD Release

by Dave Murphy
ISSN 1535-3613

Instructions explicitly describing how to crack the security of DVD (Digital Video Disc) recordings and make duplicates were distributed on a Norwegian website last month. The publication of these instructions have raised new fears of piracy in the minds of DVD manufacturers.

Japanese DVD manufacturers have postponed the launch of long-awaited new audio equipment because of their fear that the expected return on investment made in recordings will be diminished through unlicensed copying of audio and video recordings.

Matsushita Electric Industrial postponed the launch of DVD audio/video players by about six months to next May or June, while Victor of Japan plans to withhold the release of its new equipment for an unspecified period. Pioneer is also considering postponing the release of new equipment scheduled to debut later this month.

DVDs can hold more information than CDs and were launched in late 1996 as the successor to video tape players, boasting superior sound and video quality.

Hiroshi Takada, senior analyst at ABN Amro Securities in Tokyo, said the incident raised concerns over future copyright piracy in the DVD market.

"The hacker incident could cast a long shadow over the DVD market as it indicates that DVD makers may fall into a vicious circle with hackers over the copy-protection problem," he said.

FYI, an ITinfo article I wrote on November 2d about this DVD crack has been one of the most popular pages on our website for the last month. I guess there are lots of wanna-be crackers out there looking for the hack.

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What do you think? Are you concerned about inappropriate DVD copying? How about, have you ever made an illegal video or cassette copy? Leave your comments on the message center.

DVD Movies Hacked

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