BackupHDDVD creator speaks out
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 27th 2007 11:30AM
posted Jan 27th 2007 11:30AM
Just about everyone and their respective grandmothers have now gotten a whiff of this whole "BackupHDDVD" thing that's been floating around, as muslix64 was able to break down the HD DVD content protection and allow folks to sidestep the AACS boundaries. The folks over at Slyck sat down to chat with the infamous hacker about his motives, his work, and the obligatory "hopes and dreams," and as we expected, he's simply yet another (albeit intelligent and determined) individual that's frustrated with the limitations that DRM presents. He refers to himself as simply an "upset customer" looking to "enforce fair use," further explaining that he wasn't able to appropriately play back an HD DVD film that he purchased "on a non-HDCP HD monitor." He also said that his success with HD DVD led to his shared efforts while taking down Blu-ray's content protection, and noted that any stronger protection to limit the abilities of purchased media would likely be "too costly to manufacture." Lastly, he showed a bit of humbleness by admitting that he "probably wasn't the first to do this," and suggested that the ones before him probably just kept quiet, but his overriding purpose with all of this is to simply "enforce fair use, not piracy" and to "benefit the consumers." Sure, there are certainly polarized camps when it comes to breaking down content protection, but before jumping to any conclusions, be sure to hit the read link and read the full dialogue.
I'm pretty damn sure that the very first guy to "crack" the CSS content protection scheme was very specifically aimed at allowing people with Linux systems to play actual, real, purchased DVDs on their systems.
If people are frustrated with DRM, why bother buying content with DRM? Seems like a global grassroots effort to NOT BUY would be as effective. Now, I am not defending DRM and proof is in my not buying into one of the new formats. BTW, the new formats are pretty much on par with the cost of the regular SD versions, and the title selection is less than 1%. So why is this a big deal at this moment in time?
If you buy the HD DVD or Blu-ray movie you are actively supporting the framework that brings your DRM.