[mythtv-users] Unlocking Technologies Act

[Raymond Wagner]

On 5/9/2013 11:09 PM, Joseph Fry wrote:
>>>
>>> Which leads to my favorite line from the congresswoman's summary
>>>  is "In addition, the bill would permit the use and sale of
>>> tools – like software apps – that enable unlocking for uses that
>>> do not infringe on copyright. "  I hope it's just a firmware
>>> update for the HDHR Prime to ignore the copy protection flags on
>>> cable channels!
>
>
>> You could, but in all likelihood the firmware itself is
>> copyrighted, and thus you would not be able to distribute your
>> modified versions of it. You could (in theory) write your own
>> clean room firmware from scratch, but then you would still have to
>> crack the CC handshake to authorize your new firmware. If you have
>> to deal with the handshake, you may as well do that from their
>> open source library, rather than trying to write a whole firmware.
>
>
> I'm not suggesting that some 3rd party create the firmware...  I am
> saying that the good folks at Silicon Dust could legally change the
> firmware to ignore those flags; after all "the bill would permit the
> use AND SALE of tools..."

That would undoubtedly constitute a breach of contract, and their
authentication keys would be revoked.