Can Odd Alliance Beat Pirates?

Movie studios, computer chipmakers and consumer electronics companies said Wednesday they are working together to build a new copy-protection standard that would allow home viewers to watch and share high-definition video among various entertainment and portable devices, but prevent pirates from making perfect copies.

IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Disney and Warner Bros. will work to develop the Advanced Access Content System, or AACS, standard for upcoming high-definition video recorders, players and displays. It's the first time Hollywood and technology companies have agreed to work on such a project. In the past, tech companies have accused Hollywood of trying to impose too-restrictive copy-protection technologies through legal and legislative moves, stifling development.

The companies, which are part of the Copy Protection Technical Working Group, said AACS would give consumers more freedom to manage their high-definition content and simultaneously clear the way for the development of new business models.

The companies haven't yet developed the technology. But it would work with any future format -- including HD-DVD, Blu-ray and other formats in the works, said Steve Ballogh, business development manager with Intel's corporate technology group.

Already, technology and movie companies are looking beyond the DVD for storage and transmission standards that would far surpass today's devices in image quality. Hollywood executives, however, worry that the higher definitions would make it easier for pirates to make perfect copies and distribute their content widely.

The companies said they plan to make AACS available for license later this year.

Analysts said it makes sense for the industries to work together.

"There are some key decisions coming up in making HD-DVD and Blu-ray," said Richard Doherty, analyst at the Envisioneering Group. "And those decisions on how they protect content (and) make content more convenient were starting to make some people sweat."

He said he expected to see some products that use AACS available by Christmas this year, and certainly by Christmas 2005.

"It's a complex problem," said Mike McGuire, an analyst with GartnerG2. "There is some collective work that can be done to create a digital media economy where artists get compensated and technology companies are able to create and innovate."

While the idea looks good on paper now, he said, "I'll be very curious to see how they balance this control issue that the studios seem to require with consumer expectations to have portable content."