Re:A peek into the curious world of HDMI copy protection
by jasomill on Monday February 18, 2013 @02:59PM
(#5240267)
Clearly true, as stripping HDCP, while useful for interoperability with noncompliant devices, is an obviously fussy and inefficient way to store or distribute video supplied in a compressed format with cracked DRM (e.g., Blu-ray, iTunes).
Well, that and inertia, HDMI being the digital evolution of the old "analog hole".
HDCP (the copyright protection mechanism in HDMI) is broken. I don't mean just a little bit broken, I mean thoroughly, comprehensively, irredeemably and very publicly broken. Broken in such a way that any possible recovery would mean layering it with so much additional new infrastructure as to render it entirely pointless. Broken. B-R-O-K-E-N. .... So why, then, is it still being shoved down my throat?
Easy. The licensing and "intellectual property" laws combine to allow some set of corporate entities to create at least a price-fixing cartel around HD Tee Vee. They probably got the idea from the success of the DVDCCA (http://www.dvdcca.org/). If you don't/can't pay the licensing fees for HDMI, you can't make products. HDMI probably keeps the riff-raff (rampant competition) out.