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RFID To Track Play of DVDs And CDs? 237

jayp00001 writes, "A Taiwan-based maker of DVDs and CDs for major studios is about to begin putting RFID chips in disks. The eventual aim is for DVD and CD players equipped with an RFID reader to prevent copied or out-of-region disks from being played."
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RFID To Track Play of DVDs And CDs?

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  • by clickclickdrone ( 964164 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @06:51AM (#16128939)
    Because when it starts getting that hard to be honest..
    I buy loads of CDs from other countries, mainly US & Japan and if this will stop me being able to play them then sorry guys, I'm going to start to explore other avenues..
    • by NinjaFarmer ( 833539 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:08AM (#16129011)
      My next house will have a faraday cage.
      • That's called concrete (with rubar reinforcement). Also works great against hurricanes. :-)
        • R(h)ubar(b) is tasty in pies, but you might might want to use rebar in a concrete structure. And it doesn't make for a very good faraday cage anyway. You need a solid conductor on the walls/ceiling/floor for a proper cage.
          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by networkBoy ( 774728 )
            You need a solid conductor on the walls/ceiling/floor for a proper cage./i?
            no you do not.
            You need a conductor of a mesh size smaller that the minimum (smallest) wavelength you want to block. Mesh of 1" squares is more than adequate up to the low GHz range. Screen door mesh (assuming metal and not plastic) is good for the mid to high tens of GHz.

            You will also gain a ton more by having two 1" square meshes offset and at less than one wavelength apart (for the target of ~2.5GHz and lower) than you would for
            • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

              by networkBoy ( 774728 )
              Damn botched close itallics tag. shoulda used priview :)

              Anyway, the concrete/rebar thing actually works quite well up to a couple hundred MHz. Think of the old 900MHz cell phones and how much trouble they were inside buildings (esp. parking structures).

              The true parinoid, have a double insulated enclosure with both a floating faraday and a grounded faraday. Each of these faradays are in a sealed enclosure, the foating faraday has Brown/Pink/White (IIRC order of preferance) noise coupled to it while the ou
    • by Shaper_pmp ( 825142 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:27AM (#16129096)
      More to the point, how is embedding an RFID chip in the disc going to prevent people playing region-encoded discs outside of their regions?

      Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't region-encoded discs already... well... region-encoded?

      Either people buy legit US/Japanese/whatever players (which you can't guard against with RFID chips), or they get their existing player chipped to bypass the whole region-protection mechanism - is there any reason to think this isn't going to work with the new RFID players, too?

      Of course, if the DVD players refuse to play unRFIDed discs then they'll be a bit useless for all the existing DVDs out there (nothing like breaking backwards-compatability to hurt a new product). If the RFIDed DVDs have some kind of (data) flag on the disc to turn RFID-checking it on it's liable to be trivial to reverse-engineer or omit the flag when copying the disc, too.

      Even if it does somehow "eliminate optical disc piracy in the entertainment and IT sectors", does anyone else think it's wonderful how they've finally managed to do it just about the time that broadband and bittorrent have made "optical disc" piracy obsolete, even in the mainstream?
    • by Mongoose ( 8480 )
      The main reason I'm excited about Bluray is the Japan / US region are the same. I don't have to bother with working around the region locks anymore. I wanted to lend a disc to a co-worker, so they could get a feel for an art style. Guess what? I had to rip the damn disc. I couldn't transfer the ownership of that disc even if it's for a short time. Also I wonder with Bluray if some smart company will start offering rentals of Japanese Bluray in the US. I know in areas with large Japanese populations o
  • hmm.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Yahweh Doesn't Exist ( 906833 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @06:52AM (#16128940)
    and everyone pays for a more expensive RFID-capable CD/DVD player because...?
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Potor ( 658520 )
      because i imagine that one day older technology will be outlawed by act of congress, like analogue television
      • analog TV is not being outlawed by congress. you are free to have one and watch whatever you want on it. Over the air broadcasters are just not going to be allowed to send analog signals over the same public airwaves as they have been.
    • Re:hmm.... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Tim C ( 15259 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:05AM (#16129001)
      ...because by the time your current player finally dies, that's all that's available?

      This idea is a complete non-starter in any case - are they really saying that I won't be able to burn my crappy home movies of my daughter to DVD to post to my parents?
      • Re:hmm.... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by gutnor ( 872759 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:51AM (#16129212)
        It is unlikely that's all that will be available.

        There are always at least one brand that will sell a player without rfid like what happen with dezoned dvd player. In the beginning it was difficult to find one, after a while some brand started to sell some and not it is not even possible to find a player that check zone encoding on dvd.

        Off course the movie studio could use the RFID to store something mandatory to read the DVD. But that would mean making DVD incompatible with the huge park of player already existing. There is no way they will try that at the same time than they try to introduce the next generation of players ( they want people to replace their DVD player by a next generation one, not buy another dvd player )

        The only way this technology would be usefull is if you make a law that outlaw DVD player with the RFID reader, but xxAA have more juicy target for their "buy you own politician puppet" budget.
        • They could always put multiple copies of the movie/music on the disc, degraded versions to play on anything, the higher quality requiring a key or something from the rfid tag. Or add bonus content that can only be access on rfid capable players. I can see being able to watch std quality video, with only 2 channel stereo on normal players, but with rfid ones, you get your dolby/thx audio, and higher quality video or something like that.

          What I find invading, is if they require that th DVD player be networke
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Sagachi ( 986501 )
      and everyone pays for a more expensive RFID-capable CD/DVD player because...?
      ...because it's better! It's part of the upcoming technology revolution - Betamax, Laserdiscs, and DAT are about to reach critical mass!
    • by Renraku ( 518261 )
      Special features, man.

      Doesn't matter whether or not the features could be just as easily done on both systems..

      All you have to put on the CD is that it's for use with RFID players only, and that it differs from the standard CD because it has special tracks on it. Never mind it can be played in a regular player, I'm sure most people wouldn't try it anyway and would accept their new $200 cd player for their living room.
  • What a bargain (Score:3, Informative)

    by LividBlivet ( 898817 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @06:52AM (#16128944)
    Costs more, does less.
    • Re:What a bargain (Score:5, Informative)

      by tomhudson ( 43916 ) <barbara DOT huds ... a-hudson DOT com> on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:33AM (#16129128) Journal

      Costs more, does less.

      Sony ... is that you?

      Seriously, I've always told my friends to steer away from name-brand dvd players for exactly that reason. My supposedly crappy Apex is region-free out of the box, plays everything I can throw at it, and "just works". Other brands that my friends and relatives bought AFTER I WARNED THEM NOT TO just don't.

      And when I go "I told you so" they go "yeah, but its a name brand and it costs more. It SHOULD work better."

      People don't listen. The worst part ... when their name brand unit dies ... AND THEY DO IT AGAIN! Rrrrr! (And its not even Talk Like A Pirate Day until tomorrow)

      • by mark-t ( 151149 )

        My first DVD player was an Apex.

        It performed quite well for about a year and then suddenly died _JUST_ past the warranty expiration date.

        I bought a Toshiba DVD player after that... had it for years now and never had problems.

    • 'scuse me, but I thought that's the idea behind DRM? Did I get anything wrong there?
  • Warning Label (Score:4, Informative)

    by celardore ( 844933 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @06:53AM (#16128946)
    As long as they include a warning label on the CD case (like the 'copy protected' ones), so we can choose not to buy it that will be fine.
  • by iainl ( 136759 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @06:53AM (#16128949)
    This means a new standard, and new players all round. It's no longer a DVD, and I'm certainly not running out and buying a new player for it.

    On another, rather important, note, they mention it for HD-DVD. HD-DVD doesn't even _have_ region encoding, so they can't tell me the disc is from the wrong one; that's why I want HD-DVD rather than Blu-Ray.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      HD DVD doesn't have region encoding YET, but they're planning to add it via firmware update.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      It will play in your DVD player. It will not play in new players with a mismatching region code. When your DVD player breaks (or when you upgrade to HD), you will buy a new player. The only way to protest is to stop buying, and that ain't gonna happen. People have money to burn and they will buy to fill the void between sleep and work with entertainment.
      • I am not sure how many years it has been, but I have yet to replace a DVD player and my last VHS player lasted 10+ years (different stock from todays fare).
        As the new disks can not be changed in such a way to break them on 'old' players there is just going to be 'legit' players and 'old' players, note: 'old' players can not be classed as non-legit.
        This is all based on the fact the goverments do not do something stupid on the behalf of the movie companys.
    • by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve ( 949321 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @08:01AM (#16129260)
      On another, rather important, note, they mention it for HD-DVD. HD-DVD doesn't even _have_ region encoding, so they can't tell me the disc is from the wrong one; that's why I want HD-DVD rather than Blu-Ray.

      This statement needs to be changed to say that HD-DVD doesn't have region encoding now. The fact that it is not being imposed now does not mean that it won't be imposed in the future. A web search can provide some interesting comments on this.

      The thing that I find most interesting about HD-DVD is that the whole idea of PAL or NTSC discs is going away. At least so far it appears that HD-DVD's standard will be 24 fps video and it will expect the hardware (HD-DVD player and TV) to correctly display the image in whatever format is necessary.
      • by iainl ( 136759 )
        The main quote that interests me is the one from a senior guy at Toshiba promising never to do this. So I'm not that worried. The steering committee for the format continue to discuss the idea of future players having region locking, but it's not part of AACS, so they can't force it on currently-available players.
  • by portwojc ( 201398 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @06:57AM (#16128961) Homepage
    With RFID chips embedded maybe we won't have to peel three seperate stickers off the DVD case.

    That would be nice.
    • by GweeDo ( 127172 )
      Nope, they will add a fourth with the EULA for the RFID features.
    • by Firehed ( 942385 )
      It would be nice. But two of the three stickers are a warning that there's an anti-theft device (read: RFID-esque tag) contained within. Yeah, you thought opening the five you got for Christmas was a pain in the arse... try working in a video store where you need to open a hundred of the things in an hour (you can't even get movies in bulk without those stickers directly from the supplier). We'd all love it if those stickers go away, but it's just not going to happen.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    Open up DVD-drive, cut wires to RFID-reader. Now every DVD will seem like it doesn't have an RFID-track, thus will work as a "legacy disk". Next innovation, please.
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      What should I cut??? The red or the green wire?
  • by Secrity ( 742221 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:03AM (#16128991)
    If suspect that this crap won't go very far as I suspect that it won't be difficult to circumvent.
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by gigne ( 990887 )
      Options:-

      1) Cover the disk in foil
      2) snip the RFID reader in the player making it recognise legacy disk
      3) destroy the RFID tag in the disk using LARGE electromagnet
      4) refuse to buy one

      thinking about point 3... I have used the technique before to destroy a RFID tag on thing I purchased. Aside from the problems of small popping when the foil in the tag melts, it seems to be a good way of destroying lots of tags. A strategically placed electromagnet and a sensor and you could hit every one that passed!
      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by AlphaLop ( 930759 )
        And rip the car keys out of everyones pockets as well as fry their credit cards! GO ANARCHY! :)
        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by gigne ( 990887 )
          The RFID destroyer would be no larger than a small matchbox. There is no need for a MASSIVE (as in size) electromagnet, only a small, strong, directed em pulse.

          The RFID-Zapper project uses a camera flash coil to induce enough current in the aerial to kill the silicon. I have tested something similar using a CCFL backlight inverter coil.

          RFID-Zapper [events.ccc.de]
      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Zocalo ( 252965 )
        And the destruction of the RFID tag is going to occur without damage to the probably even thinner layer of metal that holds the actual media content because?
  • by ProppaT ( 557551 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:11AM (#16129034) Homepage
    I've bought thousands of cds. I also have hundreds of records and various other forms of music media. And music isn't cheap! I refuse to buy into music stores such as iTunes because I feel it's ludicrous to have to pay what adds up to almost the same price as buying the physical disc to have digital copies of music files that are encoded lower than I would have encoded it myself if I had the disc. But, I swear, the second they pull a stunt like this, I'm out. See ya. I'll still buy cds from all the independant artists I love, because I'm sure they'll avoid this like the plague. But it looks like the only option will be music services such as Yahoo! Unlimited that charge me $60 a year to listen to whatever I want. Now if only I had broadband in my car, I'd be set...
    • by aug24 ( 38229 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @09:13AM (#16129758) Homepage
      But it looks like the only option will be music services such as Yahoo! Unlimited that charge me $60 a year to listen to whatever I want.

      For me, that'll mean 'Radio'. Free, and ubiquitous.

      Try telling someone aged about 16 about the 'digital music services' that're 'streamed everywhere, in real time, capable of being received and decoded by cheap chips built into modern mobile phones'. They get really excited, then you tell them it's called 'rad-ee-oo' and they get pissed off ;-)

      Justin.

  • I don't understand (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:11AM (#16129036)
    How does RFID stop you from using out-of-region disks? Are manufacturers expected to put an RFID into each disc that the player can read to validate? What happens for recordable media? What happens if someone whips out their dremel and just disables the RFID? What happens if I lay one of more legitimate discs on top of the player when I try to play an illegal one? What about the millions of players and discs which wouldn't give a damn about playing these "protected" disks? etc.

    This sounds like just another stupid application of RFID. For the all the effort involved it would be simpler to just embed a hidden track and read that.

    • How does RFID stop you from using out-of-region disks?
      And more importantly to me, why do they want to? I don't understand the point of region encoding to start with. Why does anyone care if I want to watch the French version of a movie? Is there something I'm missing about the dvd market where my ordering one online from a different country negatively affects the bottom line of the distributors/producers/whoever somehow?
    • For the all the effort involved it would be simpler to just embed a hidden track and read that.

      Well for starters, hidden tracks can be copied. I don't expect there to be blank writable media with the RFID included, so it will always be easy to discern a pre-recorded (ie store bought) disc versus a consumer-written disc. As far as disabling the RFID reader in the player, I'm sure that will be extremely difficult in these days of "system on a chip" - more than likely it will be embedded in the one-and-only
      • It still needs some way to acquire the RFID info, even if it's capable of decyphering it. If the sensor is on the chip, ok, wrap the chip up in tinfoil.

        Some way or another, it has to read the RFID chip.
      • by DrXym ( 126579 )
        Without wishing to appear like I'm defending hidden tracks or claiming they're crack proof... you only have to look at the copy protection on most PC CD / DVD games to know that it is possible to make discs that can't be copied by normal burners. Most crackers just Daemon Tools or similar instead to get around the protection. Commercial pirates might be able to do a bit for bit copy but then the track is still there, so that's no good, and the absence of the track might be the evidence the player needs to s
  • Long-term impact (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tygerstripes ( 832644 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:19AM (#16129065)
    Okay, so most people - especially the most tech-savvy - won't bother buying an RFID-equipped player at first. However, if the industry enforcers (RIAA, BPI et al) push it hard enough this could well find its way into most players without the average consumer even noticing. It's not a certainty, but a frightening possibility.

    In that event, I have to ask a simple question:

    Will the revenue previously lost to piracy be fed back to the consumer? Will we see cheaper CDs anywhere?

    Of course not. It's basic fucking economic theory that you can charge more if you segregate a market. Piracy be damned, fair-use my arse - this is just a desperate attempt to control the market, which can only lead to higher prices for legitimate, law-abiding consumers.

    Bastards.

  • We're inches away from the RIAA/MPAA declaring that all content can only be viewed or heard on a pay per view basis at any of their convenient 'media centers'. We're taking a huge leap backwards to the days when movies were shown in dirty 5 cent halls. Maybe we should invest in good digital to analog reader-writer technology and bring back 16mm home movies and reel to reel.
  • This really should be in the Comedy/Entertainment section.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:22AM (#16129077)
    To the people saying that a person could just "cut the wires" to the RFID reader module inside vis drive:
    Ever heard of system-on-chip?

    I can tell you right now that it is extremely doable to put the necessary rfid reader circuity inside the drive controller ASIC and connect it to a simple loop antenna by a couple of pins (remember it only needs to have a range of an inch or so).

    The controller chip could even scan for the correct impedance to prevent people from breaking the antenna trace, or (this is a good one) have a 'verification' RFID somewhere inside the drive case:
    If the RFID reader part of the controller can't read the unique id of it's matching verification RFID (remember nowadays it's possible to have a small pseudo-PROM area of an ASIC) it won't let you use the drive..

    We are seeing the end of the consumer-hackable hardware era; modern hardware can and will prevent all but the most dedicated hardware hackers with expensive logic analyzers from making unauthorized copies.
    • by bhima ( 46039 )
      That's exactly what 'disposable digicam' folks thought and once the 'dedicated hardware hackers with expensive logic analyzers' told the world how to easily hack the camera I suppose they reviewed their business model.

      Still... I get most of my out of region movies via bittorent anyway so I can at least get English subtitles.
    • by morie ( 227571 )
      It will still have to play standard DVD to be accepted. I am not goint to throw away my DVD collection.

      Therefore, it will have some identification system labeling it as "a disk that should be protected". This has to be
      a) an extra code or lack of code, since you cant go back and mark the already produced legacy DVD's
      b) laser-readable, because you still have to read it on a copied disk without RFID

      Therefore, the vulnerability will not be in the RFID, but in the identification code. Rip a DVD, delete the code
  • Dear hollywood (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 91degrees ( 207121 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:27AM (#16129093) Journal
    NOBODY WANTS REGION CODING. (except the publishers)

    . The people who actally make the films really don't care. They get their royalties if the disc is bought in the US, Europe, Taiwan or anywhere else. They really just want to make a living doing what they love.

    The end users hate region coding. It means they often have to wait, often end up with an inferior version, and basically reduces consumer choice while increasing their costs.

    The manufacturers don't like region coding. It makes their players considerably less popular. They go to considerable lengths to find ways around the region coding requirement. Multi-region is a key selling point of a player to anyone with any interest in importing discs. They're going to do the ame thing to try to get around RFID chips. Or anything else you might like to try. And they're really not going to be happy about having to increase their costs to add an RFID reader. These companies are working on tiny margins. No matter how cheap, RFID readers will eat into this.

    • One of the reasons given for region encoding is the different standards between regions, paticularly the PAL standard used in most of the world and the completely rubbish NTSC standard used in the US. If everything was on PAL discs you'd have loads of US consumers complaining that they don't look right on their TV sets (and in the PAL world complaining about the massive drop in quality).

      If you want to get rid of region encoding we need on TV standard.
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by 91degrees ( 207121 )
        You'd still sell the different format discs, encoded for the appropriate country. Just not the region coding. I don't think it would matter though. Australia (PAL) and Mexico (NTSC) are in the same region. And Europe (PAL/SECAM) is in the same region as Japan(NTSC). There have even been a few NTSC region 2 encoded discs sold in Europe. Many people in England import US discs, and they don't complain about the drop in quality.
      • Oh c'mon, that's prolly the lamest excuse ever. Nearly everyone uses SCART or similar ways today to connect their players to the screens. Most modern TVs are (if for no other reason then for the reason that you can sell the same model all over the world) very capable of switching between color standards. Even my crappy old Grundig can do the big three standards and pretty much every sub-standard thereof.
      • by tricorn ( 199664 )

        No, that has nothing to do with region coding. Most DVD players now can play PAL or NTSC and convert them to either. The region coding is because they want to avoid people being able to buy a DVD wherever it is being sold at the lowest price, and thus be able to price it high in one country, and low in another country, depending on local demand and economy. It is also used to manage release windows - a movie may still be in theaters or first-run TV release, and they don't want DVD sales to interfere.

        You

  • by winchester ( 265873 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:27AM (#16129095)
    ... I can read it. If it is encrypted and my player can read it, I can still read it. No matter what they try to do, unless they can come up with some sort of scheme where the complete key management is happening over a closed network that your player is mandatorily hooked up to 24/7, there is no way that this will prevent piracy.

    What they will do is make the incentive bigger for criminals to copy these disks, and they make the incentive bigger for curious people to try and hack the protection of these disks. They will also piss the general disk-buying public off by creating disks that will more often not play rather than play.

    No winners here... is that my problem? Last time I have seen a Hollywood movie is so long ago I can't even remember.
    • The chip + RFID goes in your brain - you need to hold one of the MPAA's special decoders next to your head while you watch. That way they can make sure you're watching the ads as well. Better yet, the installation (which will eventually be a legal requirement) takes only a few minutes and and should cost less than a hundred bucks!
    • Last time I have seen a Hollywood movie is so long ago I can't even remember.

      They still make movies there? I thought they went the same way every business and only kept the management on site while outsourcing all the real work.
  • Sure, it will eventually be gotten around, but it will probably require shady imported DVD players, a firmware update, or additional hardware for when you make the disc. Although they are a bit late. With Blu-Ray and HD-DVD already out the door, it would be _BAD_ to implement it and piss off customers who already have a device. Maybe next gen though.
  • The manufacturer is making some big claims about this technology, for bootlegging prevention, not region-encoding. TFA states that this tech is for mass-market (stamped, not burned discs: your home videos will still be accessible) disks to prevent 3rd party mass copying and that it would "eliminate optical disc piracy in the entertainment and IT sectors." Ha! I don't know how this is possible - even if you could force the DVD player manufacturers to put this tech in all their new players, there are already
  • Bonus content (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Eye.Indigo ( 944760 )
    If they lock some bonus content out for players that will lack the RFID reader - they will definitely sell new players(they dont cost a lot more than a few CDs/DVDs anyways)
  • Huh? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by spiritraveller ( 641174 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @07:56AM (#16129240)
    Either it won't play old DVDs and home movies at all (in which case noone will buy these new drives), or it will have some extra track or encoding that indicates the presence of an rfid chip.

    People figured out how to get rid of CSS, what makes the studios think that this will be any harder?

    Amazing how they invest so much money in this stuff, when it's not likely to last longer than a few months.
  • Well that does it. From now on I'm going to put all my new CDs and DVDs in the microwave for a few minutes first.
  • by tomstdenis ( 446163 ) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <sinedtsmot>> on Monday September 18, 2006 @08:06AM (#16129286) Homepage
    How playing "out of region" DVDs is bad?

    Suppose I'm a fan of movies made in France ... but I live in Canada. Why would it be bad for me, or the producers of the media, for me to BUY a copy and have it shipped here?

    What they really should call that is "out of monopololistic control zone."

    Tom
  • ...from the off-center weight of the chip... makes the drive hum and vibrate enough to scare consumers.

    A few damaged DVD players might put the kibosh on this scheme.
  • by dpbsmith ( 263124 ) on Monday September 18, 2006 @08:45AM (#16129569) Homepage
    ...that the actual sales of the protected disks are not detectably higher than the sales of the unprotected disks, while the extra manufacturing costs are a meaningful nibble out of the profit.

    Of course, I have always wondered whether the push to DRM is actually driven by any clear-headed, realistic, cost/benefit analysis based on good, real data... or whether it's an irrational emotional response on the part of media executives. Or the result of very good, misleading sales pitches by the vendors of DRM technology.
    • You see, the first batch to be produced will be of films which haven't previously been released on DVD - so you can't make a direct comparison (except possibly "it did so well in the cinema, how come nobody's buying the DVD? Must be the pirates....") and I really doubt there will be two side-by-side versions in the shops which are identical in every way except for the RFID chip.
  • What I don't get is why can't the people who manufacture the hardware just tell the MPAA/RIAA to just get fucked. I'm certain that the manufactures know DRM is a dead end and know customers like me hate this crap. When I buy a new player/recorder I want it to do something that adds value to my music/movie experience; not hobble it with restrictions (reduced resolution or forced hardware upgrades etc).

  • How will they be addressing the uneven weighting this sort of addition will create? Unless they counter-balance it with an equally weighted "slug" on the opposite side of the disc, it could potentially render devices sensitive to disc wobble unable to read the data stored on these discs.
  • How about using this in a non-evil way? Like using an RFID scanner to track your CDs. You can detect if the box contains the wrong DVD (not the one written on the label). Or answer the "what DVDs are in my suitcase" question.

  • If the disc itself can withstand a EMP pulse, just build yourself a RFID Zapper [events.ccc.de].
  • Soon they will need you to plug up to a lie detector test before you can watch a movie.

Please go away.

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