It appears that Samsung is in some hot water with some of the big movie studios. According to reports, Disney, Paramount, Time Warner, Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Studios are filing suit against the company because its DVD-HD841 DVD player allows customers to bypass copy-protection safeguards.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=897

Kudos to Samsung!
Shall we start a contribution blog for them?


You know, this whole copy protection crap (on music or videos) might eventually come crashing down around the heads of the RIAA and the MPAA. Likely, it's just a matter of time.
There are many ways for even the average user to bypass that infernal stuff.
The only way they could succeed is to somehow (by force of law?) compel the hardware manufacturers to coordinate with the copy-protection software schemes. My bet is it ain't gonna happen, but no one can be certain.
The cartels have lots of clout.

"The only way they could succeed is to somehow (by force of law?) compel the hardware manufacturers to coordinate with the copy-protection software schemes."

They do. Civil law only - the CSS licence requires DVD player manufacturers impliment the copy-prevention systems, and the DMCA ensures that noone can (legally) make a DVD player without agreeing to the CSS license.

Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry, I meant compel under the penal code (as well as under civil law).

And when I use the word "succeed", I mean this to connote being able to effectively deter consumers with a formidable, if not an almost impenetrable, barrier.

Samsung tries to respond to the consumer. Gets sued.

Doesn't it just make you want to go out and buy a new whatever? Me neither.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at the article and saw my DVD player! Not only that, I didn't know it was hackable until I read about the lawsuit -- I'd never even thought about it.

I think I know what I have to do.

The MPAA is embarrassing themselves.. the Samsung DVD-HD841 hasn't been produced for over a year.

Good times!

The absence of DRM does not make hardware "Hacker-Friendly".

"Consumer-Friendly" would be more accurate and descriptive.

There's always Apex and Sampo.

(My DVE-631CF with an external 120GB drive makes a great movie jukebox for about $200.
Plays Compact Flash cards too!)

If this is about the region coding, they aren't going to get far.

There is no circumvention since the region coding isn't part of CSS.

As far as any copyright claims are concerned, they have to prove somebody infringed...Can't see how someone could distribute from a desktop set...

They probably started filing the paperwork back when the player was in production. Legal matters are slow.

The region coding isn't part of CSS technologically, but legally its required by the CSS licence. The issue here isn't the region coding directly though. Another part of the CSS license specifies minimum standards of tamper-resistance (Otherwise a manufacturer would make players that can be de-regioned by moving a jumper). They are quite strict technical standards - even include things such as a requirement that decryption, decoding and digital-analog conversion are all performed on the same chip so data cannot be intercepted between them. In this case, the studios are suing Samsung for making a player that is too easy to tamper with.

"In this case, the studios are suing Samsung for making a player that is too easy to tamper with."

What is stopping US from suing the studios for requiring a format that is to hard to tamper with to exercise our fair use rights?

Oh, that would be campaign contributions.

You don't negociate with Hitlers, you kill them. The same goes with the RIAA/MPAA pesting crouds.

By the time the electronics industry understand that, the RIAA/MPAA and it's escorte of parasites will remain to be just a bad memory.

The sharing of child porn is a fundamental human right.
Any attempt to stop it is a serious violation of freedom of speech.
Go! Child Porn Sharing!

jackrabbits, I have the ability to delete that sick post you just made, but I'm gonna let leflaw have your ass instead.

You better run. AND you better hope your IP is untrackable by the FBI. They WILL be alerted!

Canada.

Jackrabbits:

It appears that you have no morals whatsoever.

Child pornography is the one thing that is killing the p2p hobby and turning us into the bad guys.

It is damaging to the child's well-being and can cause a stigmata for many years to come in that child's life.

When I go on to download, I get sick and tired of seeing all of the search results containing images of young children getting screwed in one fashion or another. THIS HAS TO STOP NOW!

And if you share it or download it or possess it, you WILL go to jail for a long, long time PERIOD.

Independentmusic: Jackrabbits ought to be banned for life from this site for posting that garbage. We don't need those kind of people here making statements like that.

Is Leflaw a lawyer? If he is, jackrabbits is in big trouble.

Yes, he's an attorney here in in the U.S., but it remains uncertain as to what can be done when the offender posts from another nation.

Just ignore the troll. He only posted the child-porn comment to watch the reaction here.

It's possible and likely the fu*ker is posting with some kind of proxy, or from a public library.

But I am sure leflaw & the feds will find out the "if's" and "what's" about it all.

I happen to know of a few white-hats hackers want to play "Elmer Fudd" and go hunting bunny-wabbits. Although I advise folks to stay out of it and let the legal authorities handle such matters, I fear some of them don't wan't to/won't take my advice.

I rushed out and purchased one of these (DVD-HD850) and applied the HDCP hack, now I can watch any R1 dvd at 1080I on my older hdtv which only has componet inputs. Damned if I'm gonna toss my hdtv out and go spend another 5 or 6 hundred bucks for one with an HDMI input. Screw the MPA and the RIAA!! If you want one better act now before it's too late to find one.

"In this case, the studios are suing Samsung for making a player that is too easy to tamper with."

"What is stopping us from suing the studios for requiring a format that is to hard to tamper with to exercise our fair use rights?"
"Oh, that would be campaign contributions."

gfmlcka , good one!