Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) is a

digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...

(DRM) technology that restricts digital home technologies including DVD players and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

s by encrypting interconnections between devices. This permits the distribution of content through other devices such as

personal computers A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

or portable media players, if they also implement the DTCP standards. DTCP has also been referred to as "5C" content protection, a reference to the five companies that created DTCP;

Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

, Matsushita,

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

, and

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

. The standard was originally proposed in February 1998, when the five companies presented the system to the Copy Protection Technical Working Group (CPTWG), an ''ad hoc'' body organized to evaluate DRM technologies. The five companies subsequently established th
Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator
(DTLA) in June 1998 to simplify licensing procedures and promote acceptance of the DTCP method by content providers, electronics manufacturers, and broadcast service providers. They also released th
5C Digital Transmission Content Protection White Paper
describing the system. The paper specifies Hitachi's M6

cipher In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...

as the baseline encryption system, which was already in widespread use in the Japanese cable industry. At the time, FireWire was widely regarded as the up-and-coming standard for interconnecting media devices, although this has not been widely adopted in the decade following. More recently there appears to be a move to using

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suite are ...

carried on high-speed

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

and

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

connections to replace FireWire and similar systems, a move epitomized by the Apple TV. The DTCP standard has branched out to cover a variety of media types to respond to these industry changes, and now supports USB, IP,

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

and MOST (a media standard for automotive platforms) in addition to FireWire. The DTCP specification is proprietary and is only disseminated to members, who agree to the DTLA agreements (some fees need to be paid to even get the specification). An "informational version" of the specification, omitting some critical details of the implementation, is freely available.

DTCP+

In November 2010 the Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator proposed enhancements to DTCP known as DTCP+. This enhanced specification was due to be completed in January 2011. DTCP+ adds the following capabilities: *Digital Only Token *Media agnostic" way to carry Content Management Information (CMI) *Copy Count CMI *Remote Access capability

References

{{reflist

External links

DTLA home page

Security analysis of the Digital Transmission Copy Protection Specification
Audiovisual introductions in 1998 Digital rights management standards

DTCP+

See also

References

External links