A great deal of the problem stems from the emergence of high-definition DVD formats -- that is, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. While consumers may be eagerly anticipating HD media, Hollywood is concerned about the threat of piracy.

Thus, an entirely new system of DRM due to the media. At the core of the new system is Advanced Access Content System (AACS), a DRM standard founded by Disney, Warner Bros., Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, IBM, Intel and Microsoft. It's far-reaching, potentially affecting all manner of vendors in the content delivery chain (hardware and software media players, operating systems, graphics hardware, displays). It's also like CSS, except that it gives greater control to content producers to help enforce compliance among those vendors, and it's theoretically tougher to crack.⁸

As it relates to your PC, AACS (and HDCP, a similar technology covering output of HD to video screens⁹) is implemented through new systems like Vista's Windows Protected Video Path-Output Protection Management and PVP-User Accessible Bus.¹⁰ These technologies, for example, require hardware manufacturers to comply with content control regulations set in place by Windows Vista. Manufacturers of graphics cards will have to go along with this -- uncertified hardware won't function -- which requires a sizable and lengthy investment in technologies related to AACS/HDCP.

A glimpse into how DRM-controlled HD media will be made to play nice with your system. Source: Marsh, "How To Implement Windows Vista Content Output Protection," WinHEC2006 presentation. Link (PPT)

Still on the graphic card front, expect Macrovision and CGMS-A controls implemented on boards' composite, component (YPrPb) and S-Video outputs -- forcing users to switch to high-definition outputs to view "protected" content, since these are governed by HDCP. Most of you already knew this, of course. But it doesn't make it any easier to cone to terms with the fact that you've got to shell out for a new graphics card with AACS and HDCP if you expect to watch HD content in the future.

Of course, in Vista, there's a Protected Media Path for audio, as well, which requires similar efforts to comply with usage policies set by the content owners. This, in turn, impacts PC audio hardware and software manufacturers, and companies making output devices, like portable media players and home stereo components that support streaming. Remember S/PDIF? You'll be thinking of it in the past tense too, once you adopt Vista and try to use rights-managed audio. That's because it doesn't support end-to-end DRM.

Microsoft, meanwhile, is motivated in all this by a need to play nicely with the requirements of HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, DTCP-IP, and so on. It may be a co-founder of the AACS licensing authority, but it's beholden to the deep pockets and influence of Hollywood content producers, and it's just as subject to the rules of AACS as any Windows developer or hardware maker working with protected HD content. Should hackers find an exploit in Vista or Windows Media DRM 11 that enables the unauthorized copying of protected HD content, it'll be Microsoft's problem -- with the very real potential for all Windows Media PCs to have their AACS license keys revoked until a fix is found. Yikes.