EggXpert

from:BBC  http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7314000/7314276.stm

BBC:

 

A company claims it has cracked the anti-piracy technology on Blu-ray discs.

Slysoft says the new version of its AnyDVD programme allows users to make "backup security copies" of high definition movies.

The claim is a blow to Sony which developed the Blu-ray format.

The discs are protected by an anti-piracy system called BD+.

When it launched in 2007, developers boasted it would not be cracked for 10 years.

Sony declined to comment.

SlySoft says it hacked the BD+ technology in November.

It decided to wait for the result of the "format war" between Blu-ray and HD DVD before releasing a full product.

BD+ is designed to react to attempts on its technology.

Its developers say they can re-lock copied discs, making them unusable in the future.

SlySoft reckons it is prepared for this.

Peer van Heuen from the company said: "The worst-case scenario is our boss locks us up with only bread and water in the company dungeon for three months until we are successful again."

Is there anyone who can tell me what this news means?

Another format war again?

I approve of "making back-up copies", which I believe should be the sole purpose of these kinds of programs (I use Alcohol 120% to put all my movies and games on the computer... call me lazy but I hate having to put those CDs or DVDs in all the time so I can play them, plus I have only one CD/DVD drive. I also like having instant access to them, and that if something happens to the original CD or DVD, I still have it.)

It's the warez users that are giving this kind of stuff a bad name (also stuff like P2P). "Oh look! I can rip this movie/game with this program, then upload it to a torrent!" Which then results in these companies wasting a lot of finances trying to put in the toughest piracy protection on the stuff, which the warez junkies (who are probably too poor to afford the stuff) keep cracking, then they beef it up again, then they crack it again, etc. etc. with an end result that hurts the middleman.