Security threats Toolkit

Story: Fixed BBC iPlayer hacked again

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Clarification

Tom,

Of course, more than happy to clarify:

1. Who is spinning what, exactly, and why?

BBC, the story, distract attention and damage control.

2. How is the iPlayer employing "security through obscurity"?

Specifically, the iPhone client is employing "security through obscurity". There is no DRM involved, it is an entirely unencrypted MP4 stream, the 'copy protection' is *not* copy protection, they are simply relying on the particular characteristics of the browser installed on the iPhone - relying on nobody else knowing the characteristics of a browser is, how to say it... 'unwise'

3. How do you use the word 'hack'? Do you mean the word 'hack' should only be employed by the media when the subject is the serious compromise of computer systems? Can it not also be used to describe a workaround?

To an extent we're just talking semantics here, and of course these are arguable. Personally, I don't believe this circumvention warrants the term 'hack', but not really my point. To the wider world the terms 'hack' and 'hacker' have negative connotations. If the real story is that the BBC have double standards where it comes to DRM, the attention on the 'hacker war' will cover this up.

4. What do you mean when you say "there is no DRM involved in iPhone copy protection"?

I mean exactly that. There is *no* DRM involved. As the BBC will themselves admit when pushed, the DRM is *added* at the last minute in the case of the Windows XP client. The 'stream' to the iPhone is not a stream, it is a simple MP4 file (which is why it is being downloaded).

5. What is the "real story" here?

Simply this.

The BBC have been claiming that the reason they could not produce a cross-platform iPlayer was DRM. They used this excuse to the press, the BBC Trust, to OFCOM, to the Open Source Consortium, and to everyone.

They claimed this was absolutely non-negotiable.

And yet here, we *clearly* have the BBC violating their own rule.

So what is it to be, BBC? One rule for the iPhone and another for every other platform?

Is DRM essential for the iPlayer, or is it not?

Somebody, somewhere is not telling the whole story...

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