"Dubbing Ten" Is Dead

As I reported in a previous entry, B-CAS encryption system was broken with various technologies. The easiest way was found by a code breaker Friio, which sends the encryption key via the Internet. In the earlier version, Friio box needed a B-CAS card, but now users can download the encryption key by which they can copy MPEG2-TS indefinitely.

Thus "Dubbing Ten", new copy control system that allows users to make only 10 copies but prohibits editing which was introduced last month, is dead, too. TV stations are lobbying to enforce Dubbing Ten by legislation, but few bureaucrats agree to make a new obstacle for the DTV transition until 2011.

In fact Friio didn't break the encryption code but only dug the bug in the protocol of B-CAS. The bug was made because ARIB added copy protection to the encryption. Usually they are integrated as in the CSS of DVD, but ARIB tried to "enforce" the copy-control flag with encryption. It's nonsense because, after decryption, B-CAS generates the raw flag in the video stream that can be ignored easily.

Anyway Japanese government will give up B-CAS and Dubbing Ten. It's their own fault that implemented stupid CAS to free broadcasting.

"Free" Doesn't Mean "Zero Price" in Japanese

Larry Lessig showed a funny poster at the iCommons Summit in Sapporo, Japan. Richard Stallman said that software should be free as in "free speech" not in "free beer". However, "jiyuu" (free) doesn't mean "zero price" in Japanese, so the message "free beer for 500 yen" makes sense if it's translated into Japanese.

When I invited Stallman to our conference in Japan a few years ago, he said that "free" is a confusing English word and "jiyuu" in Japanese is accurate, so we'd better call it "jiyuu software".

Copy Protection of B-CAS Was Broken

SK Net, a manufacturer of the DTV tuner unit "MonsterTV HDUS" for computer, published a news release that they would stop shipping HDUS "because its software could be changed". It's strange because no company should be liable for other party's change of its products.

An industry insider says that B-CAS KK, which issues B-CAS cards, summoned SK and warned that B-CAS cards would not be issued to SK if they ship HDUS, because some people altered the software (device drivers) of the devices so as to copy the TV picture indefinitely, i.e., they broke the "copy-once" protection.

In fact, since Friio violated the taboo, many companies entered into this industry so that most DTV tuners, boards and even TV could be made copy-free by drivers. Such drivers are sold in Akihabara, says the insider. In other words, the copy protection of B-CAS was technically disabled.

However, as SK didn't break the copy protection, B-CAS KK's penalty might be a violation of the Anti-monopoly Law that prohibits the restriction of trades without any legal ground. Even worse, Dell uses SK's device with OEM, because Dell wasn't authorized to produce B-CAS devices. As the USTR is watching B-CAS, this could be an agenda of the Japan-US meeting about trade.