"Print" key derails copy protection in first-gen HD software

Chicago (IL) - Copy protection has never been more sophisticated than in the high-definition age: An armada of hardware and software aims to fend off hackers and restrict access to high-definition content and prevent especially movies from being copied. But at least for now, you don't have to take the back road to disable HD copy protection. Just use the front door.

A new technology, a new opportunity for the content industry to lock down its content: With the introduction of high-definition content (HD), content providers are carefully modeling a multi-level copy protection technology to make direct access to the content as difficult as possible - and to avoid a scenario of CSS_Descramble, a program that knocked out the original DVD content protection with 60 lines of code back in 1999.

According to c't, the security issue was confirmed by Toshiba and apparently all shipped HD DVD notebooks are affected. While the company claims that WinDVD does not violate AACS LA and that there won't be a mandatory update for current Qosmio G30 owners, the firm said that it will be releasing a player update and a new graphics driver.

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