Who's pushing for the adoption of the content-protection plan? A group called the 4C Entity which is composed of companies such as IBM, Intel, Matsushita Electronics, and Toshiba.

These companies are asking the National Committee for Information Technology Standards (NCITS) to incorporate the code into the next-generation ATA standard for hard drives. The ATA standard would control the way a computer communicates to hard drives and the code would enable the copy-protection feature on the hard drives, thus limiting what you can do with your computer and perhaps even preventing users from backing up their hard drives.

A possible technology which would be implemented is the Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM) and the Content Protection for Pre-Recorded Media (CPPM) Specification. According to 4C Entity, "the CPRM / CPPM Specification defines a renewable cryptographic method for protecting entertainment content when recorded on physical media. The types of physical media supported include, but are not limited to, recordable DVD media and Flash memory."

If the plan gets implemented, then this could be the end of free content on the web as the exchange of digital video, audio, and information would be impossible. I guess we'll just have to sit back and wait and see what happens. Could this be the end of the net as we know it?

Executive Summary of the 4C Entity:

"The personal computing and consumer electronics industries have developed a number of technologies to protect entertainment content. An overall framework or architecture is needed to ensure that this content is protected in an efficient and effective way as it passes from one technology to another within the content protection system. The Content Protection System Architecture (CPSA) defines a comprehensive and efficient framework that makes it possible to integrate major existing content protection technologies as well as new technologies as they emerge. CPSA is equally effective for PC and consumer electronics implementation. It protects audio and video content in both the analog and digital domains. CPSA also comprehends both physical and electronic content distribution methods.

The CPSA architecture provides a framework of 11 axioms that describe how compliant devices handle copy control information, playback and output, and recording. Adoption of this architecture can strengthen the overall content protection system, ease implementation burdens on developers, and bring consistent guidelines to content protection efforts.