Re: [OS:N:] DRM and Open Source

--- Les Bell <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> James Michael DuPont <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> >>
> > I don't see how DRM - in and of itself - can make open source
> > unusable.
> 
> because it is impossible to make an "open source" program that cannot
> be modified to LIE about its own state.
> <<
> 
> In that case, the DRM algorithms violate Kerchoff's Second Principle,
> stated in "La Cryptographie Militaire" (1883), which states that the
> security of the cipher must not depend on the secrecy of the
> algorithm.
> This is considered very basic to current cryptographic algorithms
> such as
> RSA, 3DES, Blowfish and Rijndael, all of which are published and
> extensively discussed, and for which there are open-source
> implementations.
> In other words, you can know the algorithm backwards, but you're
> still
> going to need the key to decrypt the ciphertext.
> 
> While simple approaches, such as distributing content along with a
> matching
> one-time session key, are so obviously weak it's not funny (just give
> your
> friends the key along with the content), I'm not so sure more
> sophisticated
> approaches can't be achieved using open source.
> 
> We can certainly provide *security* as good or better than
> proprietary
> programs, via OpenSSH, OpenSSL, FreeS/WAN, etc. I'm sure the
> open-source
> community could do something similar which allows content creators to
> distribute their work and achieve an equitable situation in which
> content
> is available at a fair price and creators can earn a living.
> 

OK. The issue is that in the case of DRM, the receipient is the display
tool and the user is the attacker trying to get at the content. 
The user has the source code of the entire tool and they can modify the
source code so that it LIES about not being violated, maybe by keeping
a copy of the original software running and such. 

in the end, it is next to impossible to prevent a smart hacker who has
full access to all the source code from modfying the software to emit
the content.

that is why I am starting to belive that DRM and F/OSS are
incompatible, only when HW that contains algorithms on chip are brought
in can this be done. That however reduces the ability for everyone to
use it.

mike

=====
James Michael DuPont
http://introspector.sourceforge.net/

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com


_______________________________________________
Subscription and Archive: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/open-source-now-list/
-
For K12OS technical help join K12OSN:
<https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/k12osn>