Update: Blu-Ray DRM Plans Released

The Blu-ray Disc Association said Tuesday that it has settled upon the AACS rights-management system to secure its discs, together with an additional identification and update scheme.

Both the competing Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats will use the Advanced Access Content System, which was specifically designed for next-generation optical discs. However, the Blu-Ray group will also secure its discs with ROM Mark, a method to identify authentic Blu-Ray discs, as well as "BD+", which will serve to dynamically update the rights-management schemes in case workarounds or other cracks are discovered and exploited.

The Blu-Ray Disc Association is comprised of 143 members, including Apple, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Mitsubishi, Panasonic Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sony, TDK, Twentieth Century Fox, and Walt Disney Pictures and Television.

The additional protection schemes proved to be the tipping point for Fox, a company executive said. The studio announced last Friday that it would be releasing its content on the Blu-ray format.

"We made no secret when we approached both formats that wed make a decision primarily on content protection," said Andrew Setos, president of engineering for the Fox Entertainment Group, in an interview.

"Our announcement last Friday that we would be in fact publishing on Blu-Ray disc best was a result of content protection, and no other issues," Setos added, including the potential cost of replicating the discs.

A statement attributed to the coalition of companies jointly backing the rival HD DVD spec, and led by Toshiba, called Foxs assessment of the Blu-Ray rights-management technology "surprising and misleading".

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