UCLA researchers are developing the technological infrastructure behind RFID-enabled DVD
players that would play only tagged DVDs.
A group of researchers at UCLA is working on a new RFID application that would provide
consumers a means of watching DVDs of movies as soon as they hit the theaters. It could also be
used to address one of Hollywood's biggest concerns: piracy of digital content. The group is
researching a method of using RFID as a tool for digital rights management (DRM), wherein
technologies are employed to protect media files from unauthorized use. Digital rights
management is also used to process payment to compensate copyright holders for the use of
their intellectual property. Apple computer's iTunes application, which lets users purchase music
for 99 cents per song, is an example of a digital rights management platform.
The UCLA research group is developing the software and hardware components of a system that
would embed DVDs with an RFID tag and DVD players with an RFID reader so that the tagged
DVDs would play only in RFID-enabled players and only if the reader could authenticate the DVD's
tag. In order to authenticate, the player would also need to link to some type of online network,
similar to the EPCglobal Network, that would associate the DVD with a legal sale. Through this
system, the copyright owners (the film production company and any other license-holders of the
content) would have digital rights management over the work. But viewers would not be able to
play the DVDs without an RFID-enabled player because the tag would essentially lock the disc.
The project is being developed by UCLA's Wireless Internet for the Mobile Enterprise Consortium
(WINMEC), a research group based at UCLA that also is developing RFID middleware, sensor
networking devices and online applications for mobile media (see UCLA Consortium Holds RFID
Forum).
Rajit Gadh, professor in UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and
director of WINMEC, says that the research going into the project is targeted at determining
whether the concept is technologically feasible. "We're in the very early stages of this project?the
first research stage," says Gadh. "We have different pieces of the technology and a pretty good
idea of how it is going to fit together. But we don't have anything that we could demonstrate. We
should begin to publish research reports on the project during the next six months."
Once the initial research work is complete, the group will begin building prototypes of
RFID-enabled DVD players and tagged DVDs. A potential hurdle, says Gadh, will be interference
from other electronics in the home that also use RF. The group will also need to develop a system
for writing to the tags, a platform for associating DVDs with their purchasers or owners and a
means of encrypting the tag data. The WINMEC group has developed a middleware platform called
WinRFID that it will use in the development of the RFID/DRM project.
Any commercial application of the technology would be initiated and developed by film production
companies, manufacturers of DVDs and DVDs, and any other relevant players. A method of
distributing proceeds for the rights to the films would also need to be established. "We don't know
if it's ever going to happen, but we are creating the technology in case someone ever wants to
create the business," he says.
"I don't know if this is going to reduce piracy," he adds, "but it would create a market where one
does not yet exist." Gadh believes consumers would be interested in purchasing specialized early
releases of DVDs, as well as the specialized DVD players needed to play them, if it meant being
able to watch new releases at home as soon as they come out. He is quick to point out, however,
that WINMEC is not the originator of the concept of developing a means to sell DVDs of movies
while the films are also in theaters. He says he had heard people within the entertainment industry
mention this concept before. WINMEC is researching just one technology that could be used for
this application.
Within days of a feature film's release in theaters (and sometimes before its theatrical release)
illegal DVDs of the film are often available, online or in illegal markets, says Gadh. These films are
sometimes leaked to pirates by film industry insiders or are recorded with digital camcorder
brought into a movie theater. The Motion Picture Association of America, a trade group that
represents major Hollywood studios, estimates that the U.S. motion picture industry loses more
than $3 billion annually in potential worldwide revenue due to piracy.
The digital format of most films and music released today has led to its increased piracy. The
quality of video and audio recordings based in analog technology, such as cassette or VCR tapes,
decreases each time an original version is copied. When digital recordings, such as CDs and
DVDs, are copied, however, no quality is lost. Also, it is easy to make many copies of digital
recordings to sell as DVDs or VHS tapes. The MPAA says pirates with the right CD pressing
equipment can produce thousands of perfect video compact discs (VCDs) or DVDs daily. Also, a
number of file-sharing sites allow Web users to freely upload audio and video files. In the late
1990s, file-sharing Web site Napster was sued by German entertainment company Bertelsmann,
which charged Napster with copyright infringement. Los Angeles-based Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Studios is currently suing online music and video swapping site Grokster, also over copyright
infringement.
Gadh presented the DRM project last week at UCLA during a one-day workshop with the National
Science Foundation's WICAT (Wireless Internet Center for Advanced Technology) program.
WINMEC has received a planning grant for the WICAT program, a national consortium of university
research groups that are developing wireless Internet applications. The DRM project relates to
WINMEC's broader work with wireless Internet applications because the platform for the rights
management will ultimately be managed through a virtual network, similar to the EPCglobal
Network. That network would accessible through either wired or wireless Internet connections. The
digital rights management project is one of six research projects that were presented at the event.