Intel Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Matsushita Electrical Co. Ltd., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. have proposed a technical framework designed to protect digital audio and video content from being illegally copied and distributed, the companies announced today.
The framework defines an industry-wide specification based on public and common key encryption technologies, and would protect digital content as it is transmitted to and from a variety of devices including PCs, high definition televisions, set-top boxes, digital VCRs and DVD players, the companies said.
The proposal is designed to work with the commonly used high-speed digital interface technology known as IEEE 1394, and the resulting technology would be transparent to end users, the companies said.
The framework will become a major component in the digital transmission proposals being reviewed currently by the entertainment industry, the companies said. It was submitted for review yesterday to the Copy Protection Technical Working Group -- an ad hoc cross-industry group assigned to evaluate content protection technologies.
The entertainment industry has been seeking assurance from PC and consumer electronics companies that mechanisms are in place to protect their valuable content if it is to be transmitted across digital media.
Warner Bros. and the Motion Picture Company of America are among the first entertainment companies to voice their approval of the initiative, the five companies said.
Based in Osaka, Japan, Matsushita can be reached at +81-6-900-9676. Sony Corp., with headquarters in Tokyo can be reached at +81-3-5448-2200 or on the World Wide Web at http://www.sony.com/. Hitachi, based in Tokyo, can be reached at +81-3-3258-2055 or at http://www.hitachi.co.jp/. Toshiba in Tokyo, is at +81-3-3457-2105 or http://www.toshiba.com/.