http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/07/dece-moving-forward-with-beta-tests-but-still-sans-apple.arsThe Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) is moving forward with a brand name and a beta test for its cloud-based "digital locker" system. The name for the technology will be UltraViolet and the beta test will begin this fall, while the specs and licensing details are expected to be ready by the end of 2010.
DECE has been in the works since 2008, but had its coming out earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show. At CES, the group laid out its plans to set a standard for video encryption that would allow users to take content from device to device without sacrificing DRM. The idea would be to allow people to use their content on a number of devices while authenticating to a cloud-based Digital Rights Locker whenever the user wants to watch video on a new device. This would free the user from being locked down to a single device or type of hardware, but still allow the content providers a strong measure of control over how and when the content is consumed.
The DECE group is huge—Warner Bros., NBC Universal, Sony, Fox, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Netflix, Adobe, DivX, and numerous others. Notably missing, however, are Apple and Disney: key players in the rapidly growing world of digital distribution. Disney is working on its own portable authentication format called KeyChest, and Apple is fiercely loyal to its own DRM scheme (FairPlay). Apple joining DECE is about as likely as Steve Jobs dressing in a three-piece suit and noshing on a 16oz New York strip.
The alliance has now expanded to nearly 60 companies and the group is moving ahead, Apple or no. Hopefully the participating companies will be able to create an elegant, easy-to-use system to achieve their ambitious goal. After all, a platform-agnostic video format that doesn't rely on streaming does sound attractive. But without the participation of the most popular portable media player on the market, UltraViolet is going to fall short of its ambitious goal of becoming the media industry's "universal DRM."
The more I hear about cloud software the more I am concerned. It's security has been brought in to question and now we see the darker side of cloud software coming out. The good news is presumably this new DRM has been created by humans so it can be hacked by humans.
