One-play Microsoft DVD is no hoax

[Alpine]

STORY stating that the Beast of Redmond had developed a technology which enabled DVDs to be played only once was much vilified on the Net. Some claimed it was a pure hoax. But the story's originator - The Business - has named now named its source.

Step forward one Alistair Baker, md with Microsoft in the UK. He claims that Microsoft's DRM software now gives the owner of content "total control over how it is viewed". That could mean that not only could the content be viewed only once but that the content could also have an expiry date and/or time of day.

Why would anyone want to introduce one-play DVDs, you might ask? To sell new hardware, of course. Baker describes the typical playing device as a "new DVD player from manufacturers like Toshiba supporting high-definition DVD and running Windows CE."

Now the British paper was inundated with emails and letters from hackers pointing out various ways around such DRM software. Granted even the dumbest of PC users could point a handycam at the PC's screen and retain a copy.

But that's not the point. Most users would simply not bother. Instead it indicates just how paranoid the major owners of content have become given that they would treat such an offering seriously. Particularly since the Beast is the supplier of the world's most ripped-off software. The INQ also sympathises with those who are environmentally concerned. It's bad enough having PCs which destroy CDs by the dozen, every time you try to burn something. But a technology which is so wasteful the CD deliberately gets used only the once?

The INQuirer