On Wed, Apr 06, 2005 at 04:27:55PM -0700, Brad Templeton wrote: > On Wed, Apr 06, 2005 at 03:25:02PM -0700, Joe Votour wrote: > > Myself, I see Microsoft as the defining factor here. > > I figure that in order to integrate things as well as > > they currently do (i.e. an On Screen Display), they're > > going to need to decrypt that data somehow. The PC > > architecture is too open to allow that to happen. So, > > I think that based on Microsoft's lead is where things > > will go. If they get full access to the data from the > > CableCard, then MythTV, with sufficient work can also > > do so (even if it means completely reverse engineering > > things). Otherwise, I have to wonder if Microsoft > > will just promote another XBox-like device that > > performs the full Media Center functionality (by > > XBox-like device, I mean a device that is closed in > > nature, as opposed to a Media Center PC). > > We can reverse engineer it but may not be able to legally use > that information. > > After all, the DVD CCA licenced DVD decryptor keys to the various > makers of DVD playing software for PCs. And yes, people were > able to instrument those players and get those decryptor keys. > But they can't legally make decoders using them. > > (Of course, at the same time, people also found out how to break > the encryption, without posession of those keys. Unfortunately > the software to do this is also illegal in the USA.) > > The question is, will the cablecard folks be willing to accept > the fact that if MCE gets the keys to talk to a cablecard, that > people will be able to find them out?
One of us misunderstands how CableCard works. I *think* it's you, but I'm not sure. The decryption will be happening in the hardware device that the CableCard plugs into needs to be able to read the card -- and that card may be smart, doing chaining-block type stuff -- but the hardware device will in fact be expected to protect the secrets of the *card*, it just doesn't have to protect the secrets of the *stream*. You don't talk to a cablecard, so you don't need keys. The cablecard *is* the key, the tunercard is the *lock*. Forgive me if this was all already obvious, and I just missed it. :-) Cheers, -- jra -- Jay R. Ashworth [EMAIL PROTECTED] Designer Baylink RFC 2100 Ashworth & Associates The Things I Think '87 e24 St Petersburg FL USA http://baylink.pitas.com +1 727 647 1274 If you can read this... thank a system administrator. Or two. --me
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