USB Cables to Support HDMI's DRM Scheme

That's a lot of acronyms for one headline, I know, but bear with me. In a move that has the potential for both good and bad, the trade group responsible for the popular USB format has announced that it will roll out this year a version of USB that can carry compressed high-definition video. HDMI is currently the cable of choice for HD technology (though video is carried uncompresed on HDMI cables).

Adding another cabling option, particularly one that is already widely accepted, to the HD arsenal is in many ways a good thing. Computers already come with loads of USB ports, and while HDMI is finding its way to PCs too, it's hardly a universal standard on computers. A high-speed USB port on a TV could make it easy to hook up any computer to any high-def television.

The bad news is in the fine print: The new USB technology would support HD's DRM scheme. In fact, it won't carry video at all unless it is specifically protected by DRM encryption, a move designed to prevent pirated content from being played. That's a bad sign for a number of reasons. First, we need more hardware-driven DRM like we need another collective hole in the head. DRM in software is bad enough; hardware products that won't work unless they detect a DRM scheme could be far, far worse. Second, USB is a mature format that has a long history of not being encumbered by encryption schemes like this. Yet it's not a big stretch to see a DRM-enabled USB connection suddenly becoming required for other formats by vendors paranoid about piracy. Could your printer or even your keyboard someday require a proprietary USB connection, a special cable, and a new computer to support all of this? It's certainly within the realm of possibility.

LINK: USB cables back movie industry