[free-sklyarov] Better crypto for eBooks?

Dave Sherohman esper at sherohman.org
Tue Jul 24 12:51:46 PDT 2001


On Tue, Jul 24, 2001 at 10:41:18AM -0700, Marvin wrote:
> Perhaps I am not imaginative enough, but if it's on my own general purpose
> computer, I can't see how any eBook kind of coding could prevent the use
> of generalized tools evolving to rip the contents right off the screen it
> is being viewed on.

Microsoft is working on something called "secure audio path" which is
designed to do just that.  The basic concept is that an encrypted audio
file is read off your hard drive by an S.A.P.-compliant piece of software.
The application refuses to send the (still encrypted) data to any driver
that it can't verify as also being S.A.P.-compliant.  The driver then
passes it off (potentially) to other drivers until the audio goes out
the USB port and arrives, still encrypted, at a set of compliant speakers
which finally decrypt the audio and convert it to sound.  The key point
is that no piece of this system will give any data to any program or
device that can't cryptographically prove that it will agree to observe
all restrictions placed on that data by its publisher.

Setting up something similar for video would not be very difficult once
the audio version is fully (dys)functional.

-- 
With the arrest of Dimitry Sklyarov it has become apparent that it is not
safe for non US software engineers to visit the United States. - Alan Cox
"To prevent unauthorized reading..."         - Adobe eBook reader license




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