On Mon, 2003-01-06 at 14:53, Matt Miller wrote:
> Most commercial DVDs are encrypted with the CSS encryption system. In
> order to play them, you have to be able to decrypt the CSS cipher. All
No; according to a detailed thread just finished in the past few days
(search "dvd organization" at www.leap-cf.org list archives), CSS
"encryption" is nothing more than certain reserved portions of the DVD
that the ___player___ looks for *if* its logic conforms to "DVD
consortium" standards. When DVD's are copied, these reserved blocks
will not likely be open (as is the standard) unless the copier has the
cipher (DeCSS, for instance). This is to prevent copying of DVD's. So,
players that conform to the DVD consortium's guidelines (meaning
most/all publicly available players--but not Linux, which can use
libcss) will not be able to play copied DVD's. A normal, *non-copied*
DVD will play anywhere; but copied DVDs will not play on retail players
because the players deliberately cripple themselves from doing so.
Overall:
1. Linux will play normal DVD's just fine.
2. Linux/Open Source is one of the FEW ways to view a _non-DeCSS-copied_
DVD.
3. DeCSS allows copying of DVDs to be viewed in _retail_ players--not
just Linux.
Bottom line: this so-called "encryption" is _player-side_, not
media-side. The only thing stopping an "encrypted" DVD from playing is
the DVD player telling itself not to do so--and open source has no
reason to do so; it has no affiliation with the DVD consortium.
> hardware DVD players have a decryption key. Software packages in Windows
> like WinDVD also have a decryption key built into the software.
?? to do what? To play copied Cd's? That's illegal, it doesn't have
that. No "decryption" is required to play an originally pressed DVD!
The "encryption" (which is phony) is only to prevent _copying_.
> In the open source world, we have variations of DeCSS like libdvdcss to
> decrypt DVDs.
No, that's to __copy___ DVD's so that they can be played on _retail_
players!
> http://www.lemuria.org/DeCSS/decss.html
That link mentions that DeCSS is used for ripping--not playing--as I
said originally. I didn't check the other links you gave me.
-- Justin Keyes m9u35@yahoo.comDemocracy gives the aura of legitimacy to acts that would otherwise be considered tyranny. --Walter Williams
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