HDCP Encryption-Decryption Codec Released

NEW YORK: Developers have released an open-source implementation of the HDCP encryption/decryption codec. The codec is commonly employed to protect high-definition video content from being copied and widely distributed.

“This is a software implementation of the HDCP encryption algorithm,” Rob Johnson and Mikhail Rubnich wrote at the Web site of State University of New York. “We are releasing this code in hopes that it might be useful to other people researching or implementing the HDCP protocol.”

Intel developed High-bandwidth Content Protection or HDCP. The codec prevents copying across a number of interfaces, including DVI, HDMI, UDI and others. The codec was cracked earlier this month and released on the Internet. Intel said it would sue anyone who used it, Wired reported. Johnson and Rubnich have nonetheless made it available at http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~rob/hdcp.html.