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For example, during the winter of 2002, there was the Midbar Cactus Data Shield debate. Island/Def Jam released More Fast & Furious on CD with Midbar's protection. Retailers had expected at least a ten percent return rate on the disc as a result of compatibility issues with certain CD players. While our unofficial survey revealed those concerns to be unfounded, the potential problem was there. The beat goes on. In June, it was reported that CDs protected by the Cactus Data Shield as well as Sony's key2audio could be defeated with a felt-tip marker. While Midbar says that it was never considered to be a universal hack, it's still proof that technology companies need to stay one step ahead of hackers. Midbar is holding true to its word and has introduced CDS-200.4.0. This new version of their technology enables protected playback on the Mac. Among others, this version also includes a feature whereby recording labels now have the option to add "extra" multimedia content to the disc. CDS-200.4.0. also includes a feature that eliminates the remote potential to hack in such a way. Sony DADC's SecuROM is a copy protection solution that applies an electronic keycode to each disc to differentiate an authentic CD-ROM from a fraudulent one. Software developers are provided with an online encryption toolkit. The publisher can encrypt his or her title on the Internet. The replicator needs to get software from Sony, and will have to figure out which keycode to put on the master during glass mastering. With the keycode in place, the replicator can use standard testing tools. Two security features have been added to Sony DADC's SecuROM offering. The first is an enhanced disc encryption signature. At present, SecuROM is the only solution currently available that cannot be defeated by popular raw data copying tools such as DiscJuggler or Clone CD, as well as by any generic cracks or emulators, according to Johannes Stegfellner, director of SecuROM Licensing. Drive compatibility, he says, is 99.9 percent. Another new feature of SecuROM is Trigger Functions which allow the developer to program multiple and fully customizable authentication checks throughout the entire application, providing what is said to be a much stronger copy control than systems with only one check at program start. The Trigger Function toolset enables the publisher/developer to customize a unique security code for each title to prevent even title-specific cracks and Internet piracy. TTR Technologies has been working since the late 1990s to perfect a copy protection technology that will satisfy the music industry. According to CEO Sam Brill, they have found a way to offer six options within their SafeAudio applications, which are marketed by Macrovision. Their technology is put on to the disc during the replication process. Virtually all encoder and test equipment manufacturers have adopted SafeAudio and integrated it into their encoders. For disc-distributed software, the company has introduced DiscGuard DVD which is a non-reproducible electronic signature applied during mastering. This signature is used to decrypt the content on the disc. If the signature is not present that means it is an unauthorized copy and the content cannot be decrypted and the copy is useless. The signature does not require any modifications to existing DVD encoders. As with DiscGuard and SecuROM, Smarte Solutions Inc.'s recent agreement with DCA Inc. lets the replicator continue to be part of the copy protection solution. DCA will enable their encoding equipment to support SmarteCD's protection technology during the signal processing of optical disc masters. The result, according to Smarte Solutions, is a fail-safe mechanism for eliminating vulnerabilities within the mastering process by altering the media and preventing it from being duplicated or digitally reproduced, rendering a pirated copy useless. "Pricing on Smarte Solutions will depend on volume and other criteria," a company spokesman says. StarForce Technologies has introduced the newest product in its suite of software protection solutions. Called StarForce CD-R, these discs are produced through a one-of-a kind manufacturing process and are intended to use on ordinary CD-ROM drives. According to the company, no one can tell the StarForce discs apart from regular gold or silver CD-Rs. They are made by a special technology that while the disc is in the drive, the StarForce system determines if it's the original disc or an illegal copy. If it's a copy, it won't run. If the disc is original, the program will work as intended; the user is never aware of the protection. "What's interesting is that the disc will appear to copy exactly with the help of CloneCD, BlindWrite, and similar tools, but the application will not run. In addition, trying to use drive emulators such as VirtualCD to get the copied program to run will fail to work," they say. StarForce also provides a technical solution for legal backup copying issues for users who wish to make a backup copy of their purchased software. The StarForce Backup System distinguishes between a legal and an illegal user and can provide the legal user with an opportunity to make a backup copy of software that has been copy-protected. The system was designed to provide backup capability for applications protected by StarForce Professional and CD-R copy protection systems. It ties an application to a user's computer and allows the user to run a protected application without the original protected CD identification procedure. A user does not have to use the original protected CD to run the application, only a copy of the CD in the CD drive. But if a motherboard or CPU is replaced, a user will have to use the original protected CD to run the application again. Another company added to the mix is Israel-based Doc-Witness, which expects to release a new technology in Q4 2002. Called OpSecure, the technology looks exactly like a CD-ROM, but requires a Smart Card that ships with the CD to open content on the disc. On the regular optical surface of the CD you have the software and the locks. The keys are kept in the Smart Card. "If someone tries to copy the CD, he will copy the software and the locks, but copies will not have the key because they are not physically contained on the optical surface of the CD. Unlike with a static key, there is no type of encryption on the information," says Doc-Witness's vice president of marketing Gal Inbar. OpSecure also deals with the problem of sharing. The first time a user installs a CD, the Smart Card looks at the motherboard's number and stores it on the smart card memory. That number is compared each time the same disc is installed. The system will tell the user when the licensing agreement is exceeded. This sole identity concept can be carried online as well, according to Inbar. "Passwords are generated by the Smart Card," he says. "The user won't know what the password is and won't be able to share it with other people. Smart Card will check the password after the login." The technology is costly, and not suited to movies or music, but rather to expensive software programs. Inbar estimates cost to be about $2/unit. The first application, expected to be ready this quarter, will be for Playstation2. By first quarter 2003, the company hopes to offer mass production capacity with a system that will be fully compatible with existing replication lines. Elicense is another technology vying for software piracy prevention business. Developed by ViaTech Technologies of Natick, Massachusetts, Elicense was used originally in the music industry on a Snoop Dogg title, but the company has since switched its focus to software. This technology puts a key within the registry when a title with the protection is installed. When that title is run in the future, the system will check for that key in the registry. That key will also check certain physical serial numbers within the computer itself. Elicense will cost about 10 cents per disc for physical media. If the content is sold via a download, the company will get a percentage of sales, so it's a sliding scale, according to spokesman Eric Schwertzel. A couple of game publishers are said to be currently using the technology.
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