Sandy Bridge DRM & legal torrents - conflict?

First off, illegal torrent usage is NOT the subject of this thread.

I make use of legal torrents, and am curious to know/would appreciate hearing knowledgeable views on whether the embedded 'Digital Rights Management' (DRM) in the new 'Sandy Bridge' series of Intel CPUs may impinge upon the use of these (torrents), either now or in the foreseeable future.

Opinions appreciated... thank you

 

Just to clarify, the OP initially posted this in the AW section. I've asked him to open a thread here as it deserves a wider audience. Again, a reminder on the forum rules - lets not discuss or link to illegal torrents or how illegal torrents can be safely downloaded. This is not what the OP is asking nor will it be permitted.

Thanks.

 

stuff that doesn't have the drm is obviously never affected by drm. just as it always was, legal or not. non-drm stuff is never affected by drm. drm just adds restricted additional options to the unrestricted nondrm content everyone can access.

 

I think what you heard about Sandy Bridge and DRM only concerns the forthcoming movie streaming service from Intel. Apparently they will protect the movies not software wise but hardware wise with a DRM integration in the CPU.

This means better protection against piracy, which the studios will like... so they will cooperate with the Intel service rather than with other streaming services and as the whole thing will be bound to Intel CPUs it will be quite profitable for Intel as well.

There's no such thing as hardware-wise DRM protection for torrents or similar. At least I have never heard about such a thing and I'm sure something would not sell well at all.


Edit: here's a little bit info about this steraming service: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/03/intel-to-launch-insider-movie-service-with-1080p-content-widi-2/

 

svl is right. There will be a new movie streaming service and until now there hasn't been a fool proof way to have a movie streaming service and stop users from copying the movies that they only paid 99 cents to rent. With sandy bridge the actual protection for this streaming service will be directly on the CPU making it near impossible except for the very very very dedicated and determined pirate from copying movies from the service.

 

Many thanks for the replies and clarifications:

@davepermen:
'DRM just adds restricted additional options to the unrestricted non-DRM content everyone can access' - so, by your reckoning, everything currently available to all would not be restricted by DRM, but rather added to (subject to possible charges I presume)?

@svl7:
Your post also appears to suggest greater streaming possibilities only (resulting from the embedded DRM), rather than any restrictions...

@laststop311:
As I read it, you agree with the previous contributors...

(please all… correct me if I’m, in any way, interpreting incorrectly)

I had read an article regarding an Intel/Hollywood affair (pertaining to the inclusion of DRM tech within the new SB CPUs); this gave the impression of a conspiracy of sorts.

However, if, indeed, DRM merely exists to offer its owner a wider choice of available media (and assuming that its inclusion presents no restrictions over those (if any) imposed by previous generation Intel CPUs), then I guess it must be a plus...

Many thanks folks... I greatly appreciate your input (it took a while to get answers to this) (Rep +1 each)

 

all sandybridge enabled machines will have access to intel insider which is a fhd streaming service providing movie and tv content.
hollywood/media has been reluctant in the past to offer streaming fhd for fear that doing so could lead to pirates stealing fhd content.
intel tries to prevent this by offering drm on a hardware level and afaik this is the first service that will be offering fhd movies.
its a good play by intel, in a business sense, since they are encroaching on the entertainment service providers and they could also license their drm to competitors like amazon, etc.

 

of course even if the drm protection is in the hardware a determined pirate will figure out some pins to solder or cut and get around it. Everyone knows there is no such thing as an uncrackable copy protection mechanism. Like they pirates always say "if the monitor can play the video then there is a way to copy it"

 

Will this DRM protection:
--lead to excessive cpu/gpu usage in normal (non-movie streaming) apps, like video gaming, youtube etc since there is another hurdle for the data to cross?
--hurt linux performance due to lack of appropriate drivers?

 

i doubt it. I think the mechanism will remain dormant until you go on the streaming movie sites that implement it, then something will signal the CPU to turn the feature on

 

All appears relatively positive…

Can anybody perceive any downside/disadvantage regarding the inclusion of DRM on Sandy Bridge CPUs?

 

Or they can just get an older CPU... ^^

However, on topic, it doesn't seem like it will interfere with anything. From what I heard is what others already said - that it will work only with their streaming service, and won't affect any other way of watching movies.

 

The fact that there is irremovable DRM in your CPU seems like a downside in and of itself to me, and that you have no idea what they'll try to use it for in the future.

 

Hmm... yeah... I like to think that I have a healthy level of paranoia, and I’ve had that thought also…