KOI ANUNTA/YH

DVD hacking for dummies

Three months ago, Jon Johansen, a Norwegian sixteen-year-old posted a computer program on the Internet that breaks through the encryption code of Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs). Johansen figured out the DVD encoding with the help of other members of his group MoRE—Masters of Reverse Engineering. The group posted the program on the Internet so that other Linux OS users could use it to play DVDs on their computers without having to purchase DVD players.

(Linux is a computer operating system similar to Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac OS. Linux provides DVD players to its users; however, the DVD players will not work without the expensive, top-secret DVD encoding).

Johansen was able to crack all the security codes, even though the encoding for DVD players is different for each manufacturer, because it is relatively easy to figure out the rest of the codes once any one of them is known. The weak link in this case was Real Networks' Xing DVD player.

This process of breaking down a finished product into the raw components it was assembled from, or in the case of a computer program, into the source code it was originally written in, is called reverse engineering.

Last week, police raided Johansen's home. His computers were confiscated, and both he and his father were arrested. Although he was released several hours later, Johansen is currently being sued by Sony, Universal, MGM, and Warner. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, these four companies currently hold licenses to use DVD technology, and each of them stands to lose both past investments and potential profits if people could play DVDs on their computers without needing to purchasing DVD players. These DVD players typically sell for anything from around $450 to $1100.

Johansen's case has sparked a heated international debate between free technology groups and entertainment industry giants. DVD distributors are trying desperately to crack down on hackers like Johansen, but the issue of intellectual property rights and how they are enforced is a controversial topic with few precedents. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Johansen is charged with violating is barely a year old.

In an effort to protect their investments, and strengthen current laws, entertainment companies are filing intellectual property lawsuits all around the world. "Owners of intellectual property, like owners of any other kind of property, get panicky when it looks as if someone or something is about to decrease or destroy the value of that property. Hence: lawsuits," Professor Robert Dunne, Yale law professor and co-director of the Center for Internet Studies, said.

As a result of corporate fear, a wave of lawsuits concerning DVD technology software has surged across the United States. In California, over seventy hackers and Internet authors are being sued for trade secret theft by the recently-created DVD Copy Control Association.

This growing problem is certainly not limited to the West Coast. In New York and Connecticut, there are several people being investigated for similar reasons by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) . In some cases, as entertainment companies and hackers continue to fight it out in the courtroom, the illegal information is still available on the web.

Computer Science professor Michael Fischer claims, "What makes [the cases] complicated is that there are inherent conflicts between the rights of authors and the rights of consumers, between property rights and civil rights, between what is socially desirable and what is technically feasible, between what people say they believe and what they actually do."

"Ripping"— as the process of using illegal information to reproduce MP3s or DVDs is commonly called— is certainly not a new phenomenon. Bootleg copies of audio cassette tapes, CDs and videos have always been easy to find. In fact, organizations such as the MPAA were originally created by entertainment companies to combat the problem of illegally ripped copies of media products.

"Piracy has always been a problem," said Stan Eisenstat, director of Undergraduate Studies of the Computer Science department. "Computers have merely made copying much easier." The problem is worsened by the fact that, unlike hard evidence purchased or sold publicly, there are few guidelines for the dissemination of DVD information on the Internet. Intellectual property laws on the subject are attempting to catch up to a burgeoning dilemma that already exists.

And in response to cases like Johansen's, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is currently being revised to add, "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title."

As entertainment corporations hurry to create copyright organizations, hackers, programmers, web sites, and civil rights groups are also rapidly organizing. Organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in San Francisco are providing lawyers and footing the bill for hackers being sued by entertainment companies. These cases are not about piracy or hacking, claims EFF Executive Director Tara Lemmey. "They are about censorship of speech critical to science, education, and innovation." Newyen technology has posted a web site requesting digital signatures for a petition in support of Johansen. These groups argue that computer users reserve the right to educate others freely on the web.

Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux operating system, supports Johansen, and chastises the companies that are suing programmers and web sites. In a story on Cnet.com, he argues, "Technology is only as good as the user experience. This is a perfect case of companies who want to screw their customers over."

In Jon Johansen's case, other supporters argue that Johansen was not pirating information, but providing a code. Thus, they reason, he was not violating any piracy laws. "A pirate does not have to know how to decode DVDs to make bit-for-bit copies of them by the thousands," insisted an article on LinuxToday.com. Johansen's youth has also sparked anger from human rights groups who are appalled that the sixteen- year-old minor faces the possibility of two years in prison.

Johansen is just one of many teenage computer users who are making the most of the Internet. With illegal MP3-copying prevalent among college students, and the wealth of information on DVDs now available on the web, some schools fear DVD piracy might increase as well.

Yale's Information Technology Services department (ITS), however, is not worried. "There are probably few people on campus who are familiar with DVD hacking technology," claimed David Davies, manager of student computing at ITS. And he has good reason not to be concerned. Few college students even own any DVD equipment. Since few Yalies have DVDs, copying them is not an option.

Though the high quality of DVDs is attractive to Yalies, the high prices are a big deterrent. "It's a lot more high tech than VHS, kind of like tape vs. CD. It's so much better," says Yemeserach Getahun, PC '01. She quickly adds, "the only thing is [that DVD is] a lot more expensive. If you give it about six more months, it'll be perfect."

Perhaps the prices of DVDs will go down before long, but even then students ripping DVDs may not be a problem. It is easy to find information on how to copy DVDs, but a variety of factors make the copying itself more trouble than it is worth.

For one thing, DVD copying products are quite expensive, unlike MP3 copying software which can be found distributed freely on the Internet. Not only that, but unlike audio tapes, CDs, and video cassettes, DVD copying can only be done on a computer with special software and a DVD-ROM drive.

While an MP3 copy takes up a few megabytes (MB) of hard drive space, the data encoded on a single DVD can occupy up to a whopping five gigabytes (5GB), making it unlikely that many college students will have enough disk space to store even one copy of a DVD.

Unless the DVDs are being copied for mass distribution, the overhead costs of an entire hard drive, and having to purchase both the DVD and the necessary software far outweigh any benefits.

"Right now, the cost is so prohibitive it is not worth the effort," stated Steven Miller, BK '00, and Eryan Cobham, SY '01, agreed. "I don't think it'll be a problem here. It's a bit too much trouble to go through."

Worst of all, DVD copies are of a poorer quality than the polished originals. The copies lack the surround sound, texture and interactive features. "The greatest thing about DVD movies," Miller added, "are that they are crystal clear, almost three-dimensional. True DVD quality would require an entire hard drive. It would be better to copy a video from a videotape."

Nonetheless, if computer prodigies like Jon Johansen continue to remain one step ahead of the corporate tycoons, DVD piracy might soon be sharper, cheaper, and more efficient. At the slow pace intellectual property court proceedings are moving, the likelihood of stringent intellectual property laws against DVD piracy any time soon is slim.

As the novelty of DVD products wears off creating lower prices, students will be more likely to purchase DVDs in the future. Also, alternate operating systems like Linux, complete with free DVD players, are becoming more attractive and user-friendly.

In the meantime, ITS is prepared to take action if a problem arises. "If people started pushing huge files (like movies) over the Yale network or our internet connection," said Davies, "that would be a concern." "The Data Networking Operations (DNO) group constantly monitors the level of network usage, and people operating servers that generate excessive network traffic have been—and will continue to be—shut down."

Special thanks to Professor Peter Kindlmann for the great links. Thanks to Eryan Cobham SY '01, David Davies, Prof. Robert Dunne, Prof. Stan Eisenstat, Prof. Michael Fischer, Yemeserach Getahun PC '01 and Steven Miller BK '00.

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