[mythtv-users] cablecard

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Thu, Apr 07, 2005 at 10:56:05AM -0600, Robert Johnston wrote:
> On Apr 7, 2005 10:24 AM, Joseph A. Caputo <jcaputo1 at comcast.net> wrote:
> > However, when the *reason* no driver exists is because it would
> > compromise the security of the data handled by the card, then the goal
> > (or at least a side-effect of the goal) becomes one of circumventing
> > encryption, which is explicitly against the DMCA, even if the purpose
> > is to exercise you fair use rights.  
> 
> From what I understand, we would not be circumventing any security.

Any "official" security.

> The CableCard has the logic, or a person's broadcaster-issued
> decryption key(s), within it to decrypt the encrypted signals. We
> would be utilising the encryption, and not breaking or working around
> it. Now, if we were coming up with a system to decrypt the
> transmissions WITHOUT a CableCard then it would fall afoul of the
> DMCA.

So far so good.

> To be absolutely candid, if the security is so simple that it can be
> decrypted without a card and there is serious danger of that being
> discovered, there's no point creating the system in the first place.

But that's not the real problem.

> > The DMCA is not compatible with fair use.
> 
> Hear hear!

But the *real* problem is that the CableCard is apparently not
compatible with fair use either, and they just don't want to admit this
in public, too loudly.  Microsoft will let them gloss this over (likely
by doing the decryption in the closed-source software and merely using
the card for the key), but to use MythTV, the tuner card hardware needs
to do the decryption, exposing the unencrypted digital stream, which
they don't want to let out.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
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