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New anti-piracy software scans and blocks illegal content from displaying on your monitor
A few days ago there was a smattering of reports on NEC's new pirate-detection software. In essence, this software scans the original content and creates a digital signature for each and every frame. The signature is very small (only 76 bytes) and can then be compared against videos on sites like YouTube or Vimeo. NEC touts an accuracy of 96% and only five false-positives per million.But that's completely missing the point.
NEC makes computer monitors and TVs! They make the chips that prepare and process data before it is displayed on your screen!
Are you see what I'm getting at? This new anti-piracy software could run on your monitor. Your monitor could analyze your downloaded TV show, film (or even a video game!) and simply refuse to display it.
Even if this new software doesn't find a place embedded in your computer screen, NEC's technology has already been approved for inclusion in MPEG-7. You know how DVD players can 'decode MPEG-4'? Well, the MPEG-7 decoders in tomorrow's DVD players will have this anti-piracy measure built-in at the hardware level.
Pretty scary huh?
Comments
21
Subscribe to commentsr3loadedMay 10th 2010 1:25PM
Ok, so how will it differentiate between copyrighted material bought legitimately and pirated material? Exactly.
Oh, and circumvention in 3, 2, 1...
Sebastian AnthonyMay 10th 2010 1:53PM
If it's in hardware, embedded in every computer screen and TV... that might be quite hard to circumvent :)
Boomshadow...Mike BoomshadowMay 11th 2010 11:32AM
@Sebastian: Hard, but not impossible. Additionally, you don't have to circumvent what you don't buy. If the MPAA tries to force manufacturers to sell broken hardware, then consumers just won't buy it. All it has to do is screw up a few times when a customer tries to play legitimate media, and it's done. The word will be out, and the anti-piracy players will go the way of PlaysForSure devices.
216May 10th 2010 1:26PM
Well that's not good
JesseMay 10th 2010 1:33PM
I think you've missed a big step here.
The software developed can detect COPY WRITTEN material, not pirated.
There is a huge difference.
They can guess that all copy written material on sites like Youtube and Break are illegally posted because it is the owners (movie studios) looking.
hombreloboMay 10th 2010 2:01PM
So ... who is going to buy those monitors ??
Maybe the first few thousands get sold, then people will complain that they couldn't play this movie or that site, and that is the end of NEC.
So companies really never learn ....
William WolfMay 10th 2010 2:04PM
This isn't going to go over very well. As others have pointed out, and the first thing that I thought when reading this, how will it figure out which content to display and which content to block. Exactly, it will just block everything. The government shouldn't be given this kind-of power. We're turning more and more into china every day.
"There will be blood in the water, and the sharks will come."
laeroMay 10th 2010 3:22PM
Internet will, much like nature, find a way. And besides that, would this (making content aware, auto censoring displays) not be illegal, in some way?
Gardiner WestboundMay 10th 2010 3:24PM
I remember Sony's DRM fiasco. This sounds like another one in the making.
theampersandMay 10th 2010 5:34PM
Hopefully FFMpeg will be able to convert MPEG-7 to MPEG-4.
customerMay 10th 2010 5:39PM
On the contrary, it could be really easy to circumvent: just don't buy anything from idiot companies that think this is anywhere near acceptable.
nintendo_101May 10th 2010 7:11PM
I'm assuming that signature is similar to md5 in the fact that if you change one letter (or pixel) the entire signature is different. Which means that when it's scanned against YouTube if the user puts a water mark (which most do) it would spout a different signature.
Let's assume that doesn't happen, this still won't solve or slow down the piracy in these areas. Because when you tell a hacker that it's impossible, the first thing he shows you is that your wrong.
megablueMay 10th 2010 10:02PM
LCD monitors market is highly competitive. In order to survive in the market your product must be good and cheap. Adding such anti piracy chip in a monitor will increase the cost a lot It is just a stupid solution.
megablueMay 10th 2010 10:04PM
And, who would buy a monitor that cant display some software, images or videos, while another monitor let you view anything as you pleased?
Boomshadow...Mike BoomshadowMay 11th 2010 11:33AM
Agreed. There's a burgeoning market in region-free DVD players after all; FFMPEG-free monitors won't be far behind.
BuggerMay 10th 2010 11:10PM
This is nothing new, remember HDMI & HDCP?
They work like a charm, because DRM were slipped into these standard silently when everyone still ignorant about HD technologies.
All they have to do now is make THIS into a standard for all monitor, then it will become an acceptance to the public sooner or later.
RolfMay 11th 2010 5:43AM
Always hated NEC.
If samsung or LG adopts this I'd be devastated,
But NEC made the worst monitor I've ever owned. So they're simply even worse.
And I really DO wonder how it would know the difference... I mean, if you were to change a movie's file type to something, then convert it back would it SOMEHOW recognize the images from the movie/tv show/game?
Also, last I checked it wasn't illegal to download something you already owned. I have a massive CD collection. When my last hard drive crashed I simply downloaded my collection, because it was easier than getting them out of my storage unit. I downloaded a movie yesterday because my DVD was scratched. It's actually at a lower quality than my DVD was, but it actually will play. Would they keep me from seeing the movie I PAYED for?
SpamdelMay 12th 2010 1:04AM
The right to distribute is one of the copyright rights. You technically can't download it.
feraligatr8May 11th 2010 6:03AM
They actually expect people to buy the monitors???..... -_-
mahMay 11th 2010 9:02AM
Obviously, this wouldn't work unless all companies adopted technology. You think NEC would devote money to this technology if they didn't have a plan to license it? The idea is to make it so you don't have a choice and all monitors (this applies to any similar scheme, not just monitors) are on the same page. Just wait for a government mandate, that is the only conceivable vehicle for mass adoption.