FC: More on DMCA and Dutch crypto whiz breaking Intel dig-vid scheme

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

I spoke with an Intel rep about this. Their position, as explained to me:

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46091,00.html
> The official Intel line follows, as explained by company spokesman Daven 
> Oswalt: "We have no problem with Mr. Ferguson presenting his research. The 
> information that he's saying, it's certainly his right to say it."
> However, when it comes to the DMCA itself, Intel's position appears a bit 
> harder. Continues Oswalt: "Even if Intel entered into an agreement (not to 
> sue), we'd have no control of what other government authorities would 
> decide. It's hard for us to tell what the legal ramifications (were of 
> publishing)."

Background:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02393.html

Below message forwarded to Politech by jono () microshaft org.

-Declan

*********

Niels Ferguson has found a weakness in the HDCP content
protection system. However, he can not publish the
results due to DMCA issues.

He has written a paper regarding this issue here:

Censorship in action:
why I don't publish my HDCP results
http://www.macfergus.com/niels/dmca/index.html

<quote>
HDCP is fatally flawed. My results show that an experienced IT person can 
recover the HDCP master key in about 2 weeks using four computers and 50 
HDCP displays. Once you know the master key, you can decrypt any movie, 
impersonate any HDCP device, and even create new HDCP devices that will 
work with the 'official' ones. This is really, really bad news for a 
security system. If this master key is ever published, HDCP will provide no 
protection whatsoever. The flaws in HDCP are not hard to find. As I like to 
say: "I was just reading it and it broke."
</quote>




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