Downloadable Conditional Access System
Encyclopedia
Downloadable Conditional Access System or DCAS is a proposal advanced by CableLabs
for secure software download of a specific Conditional Access client (computer program) which controls digital rights management
(DRM) into an OCAP
-compliant host consumer media device. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association
(NCTA) proposes that DCAS be used as a substitute for physical CableCARD
s, a standard also created by CableLabs for which products began appearing in August 2004 as part of industry compliance to the FCC mandate, which in turn is pursuant to the Telecommunications Act of 1996
. DCAS is a controversial proposal for a variety of reasons: it currently does not exist, has no set deadlines for support on all cable systems, the specification even in draft form is not currently public, may not satisfy FCC requirements that security modules be separable, and requires an operating system (OCAP) that a majority of consumer electronics
(CE) manufacturers do not wish to implement.
DCAS, as currently envisioned, removes the need for physical set-top box
es or CableCARD
s currently required to protect encrypted
digital content. It is proposed that instead of a card with removable circuitry, a custom ASIC
chip be soldered onto the circuitboard of any digital cable-ready device. DCAS software would run on this custom chip. Additional circuitry needed to run the OCAP operating system would be required. OCAP programs then would be used as the sole method of interacting with DCAS since it will enable cable companies to force the download of new security software.
The basic purpose of DCAS is to implement DRM protection in software, supported by future OCAP-compliant consumer devices such as digital television
s, DVR
s, and set-top boxes (still required to support legacy non-OCAP-compliant devices). This secures the information transmitted in the link between the cable company and the consumer device. Besides decryption, the DCAS software controls how the content is used—whether it must be deleted immediately after viewing, or after a set period of time, which devices it may be transferred to and if transfer or recording is permitted. The scheme may be used more broadly and is being advanced by Rupert Murdoch
's company NDS
as a DRM method useful also for portable media player
s and other devices not attached to cable networks. A working DCAS prototype was created by Samsung
and NDS for the cable industry and was demonstrated to the FCC in November 2005.
According to Brian Dietz of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA):
It is asserted by proponents that DCAS provides greater security for the cable industry because it allows them to change their entire security structure by downloading new software into host devices. If a particular encryption algorithm is cracked, it can be replaced by another one. Detractors note that if the physical circuitry is compromised, it may not be replaced as is the case with CableCARDs. Some DCAS scenarios do use removable cards: OCAP-based devices may incorporate internal support for a kind of "smart card
" (similar to the current SIM
chip in a GSM
cell-phone) to identify the subscriber and provide further protection. Proponents assert that DCAS is more supportable since DCAS devices would not require a qualified technician to install the card. Detractors assert that the final version of DCAS may require a physical card insertion, and that technicians are not required to insert CableCARDs anyway, since they are merely the same kind of cards that consumers routinely insert in their laptops. It is asserted that if cable companies are finally forced to agree on a standard for two-way communication that CableCARDs will be able to be remotely configured as would be the case with DCAS devices.
The appearance of DCAS as a possible future technology has been used as a reason that the FCC should release cable companies from obligations regarding CableCARDs. Verizon FiOS
wishes to be released from having to support CableCARDs at all on its network. Cable companies point to DCAS as a reason that they should be released from their obligation to use CableCARDs in their devices, as the FCC directed in 1998. The Consumer Electronics Association
representing major consumer electronics manufacturers disagrees with these applications for waivers pointing to the insubstantiality of the proposal and that cable companies are notoriously late and half-hearted in their support of their own standards, as evidenced by their behavior with their earlier CableCARD proposal. Detractors of DCAS point out that the proposal is being used to sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the minds of consumers, CE companies, and the FCC. Consumers are motivated to hold off buying CableCARD devices, CE companies are wondering whether their CableCARD technology investments will soon be obsolete, and it causes doubt amongst FCC regulators whether they should enforce deadlines and restrictions placed on cable companies regarding CableCARDs. Detractors point to this as the latest in a decade-long set of delaying tactics that the cable company has used to avoid compliance with the Telecommunications Act of 1996
. Cable companies counter that CableCARD devices have failed in the marketplace and that it would be foolish for them to be forced to use CableCARDs when the superior technology of DCAS will soon be available.
CableLabs
Founded in 1988 by cable television operating companies, Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. is a not-for-profit research and development consortium that has cable operators as its members. System operators from around the world are eligible to be members. Members dues are based on revenue...
for secure software download of a specific Conditional Access client (computer program) which controls digital rights management
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
(DRM) into an OCAP
OpenCable Application Platform
The OpenCable Application Platform, or OCAP, is an operating system layer designed for consumer electronics that connect to a cable television system, the Java-based middleware portion of the platform. Unlike operating systems on a personal computer, the cable company controls what OCAP programs...
-compliant host consumer media device. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association
National Cable & Telecommunications Association
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association is the principal trade association for the U.S. cable TV industry, representing cable operators serving more than 90 percent of the nation’s cable households and more than 200 cable program networks, as well as equipment suppliers and providers...
(NCTA) proposes that DCAS be used as a substitute for physical CableCARD
CableCARD
CableCARD is a special-use PCMCIA card that allows consumers in the United States to view and record digital cable television channels on digital video recorders, personal computers and television sets without the use of other equipment such as a set top box provided by a cable television company...
s, a standard also created by CableLabs for which products began appearing in August 2004 as part of industry compliance to the FCC mandate, which in turn is pursuant to the Telecommunications Act of 1996
Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. This Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, was a major stepping stone towards the future of telecommunications, since this was the...
. DCAS is a controversial proposal for a variety of reasons: it currently does not exist, has no set deadlines for support on all cable systems, the specification even in draft form is not currently public, may not satisfy FCC requirements that security modules be separable, and requires an operating system (OCAP) that a majority of consumer electronics
Consumer electronics
Consumer electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, most often in entertainment, communications and office productivity. Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver...
(CE) manufacturers do not wish to implement.
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
es or CableCARD
CableCARD
CableCARD is a special-use PCMCIA card that allows consumers in the United States to view and record digital cable television channels on digital video recorders, personal computers and television sets without the use of other equipment such as a set top box provided by a cable television company...
s currently required to protect encrypted
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
digital content. It is proposed that instead of a card with removable circuitry, a custom ASIC
ASIC
ASIC may refer to:* Application-specific integrated circuit, an integrated circuit developed for a particular use, as opposed to a customised general-purpose device.* ASIC programming language, a dialect of BASIC...
chip be soldered onto the circuitboard of any digital cable-ready device. DCAS software would run on this custom chip. Additional circuitry needed to run the OCAP operating system would be required. OCAP programs then would be used as the sole method of interacting with DCAS since it will enable cable companies to force the download of new security software.
The basic purpose of DCAS is to implement DRM protection in software, supported by future OCAP-compliant consumer devices such as digital television
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
s, DVR
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
s, and set-top boxes (still required to support legacy non-OCAP-compliant devices). This secures the information transmitted in the link between the cable company and the consumer device. Besides decryption, the DCAS software controls how the content is used—whether it must be deleted immediately after viewing, or after a set period of time, which devices it may be transferred to and if transfer or recording is permitted. The scheme may be used more broadly and is being advanced by Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
's company NDS
NDS Group
NDS Group Plc. is a developer of pay TV technology. NDS was established in 1988 as an Israeli start up company. It was acquired by News Corporation in 1992. The company is currently headquartered in Staines, United Kingdom...
as a DRM method useful also for portable media player
Portable media player
A portable media player or digital audio player, is a consumer electronics device that is capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, video, documents, etc. the data is typically stored on a hard drive, microdrive, or flash memory. In contrast, analog portable audio...
s and other devices not attached to cable networks. A working DCAS prototype was created by Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
and NDS for the cable industry and was demonstrated to the FCC in November 2005.
According to Brian Dietz of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA):
...we expect downloadable security to be supported nationwide by MSOs by July 2008.
It is asserted by proponents that DCAS provides greater security for the cable industry because it allows them to change their entire security structure by downloading new software into host devices. If a particular encryption algorithm is cracked, it can be replaced by another one. Detractors note that if the physical circuitry is compromised, it may not be replaced as is the case with CableCARDs. Some DCAS scenarios do use removable cards: OCAP-based devices may incorporate internal support for a kind of "smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...
" (similar to the current SIM
Subscriber Identity Module
A subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module is an integrated circuit that securely stores the International Mobile Subscriber Identity and the related key used to identify and authenticate subscriber on mobile telephony devices .A SIM is held on a removable SIM card, which...
chip in a GSM
Global System for Mobile Communications
GSM , is a standard set developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to describe technologies for second generation digital cellular networks...
cell-phone) to identify the subscriber and provide further protection. Proponents assert that DCAS is more supportable since DCAS devices would not require a qualified technician to install the card. Detractors assert that the final version of DCAS may require a physical card insertion, and that technicians are not required to insert CableCARDs anyway, since they are merely the same kind of cards that consumers routinely insert in their laptops. It is asserted that if cable companies are finally forced to agree on a standard for two-way communication that CableCARDs will be able to be remotely configured as would be the case with DCAS devices.
The appearance of DCAS as a possible future technology has been used as a reason that the FCC should release cable companies from obligations regarding CableCARDs. Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service which operates over a fiber-optic communications network. It is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications. Verizon was one of the first major U.S...
wishes to be released from having to support CableCARDs at all on its network. Cable companies point to DCAS as a reason that they should be released from their obligation to use CableCARDs in their devices, as the FCC directed in 1998. The Consumer Electronics Association
Consumer Electronics Association
The Consumer Electronics Association is a standards and trade organization for the consumer electronics industry in the United States. The Consumer Electronics Association is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $173 billion U.S...
representing major consumer electronics manufacturers disagrees with these applications for waivers pointing to the insubstantiality of the proposal and that cable companies are notoriously late and half-hearted in their support of their own standards, as evidenced by their behavior with their earlier CableCARD proposal. Detractors of DCAS point out that the proposal is being used to sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the minds of consumers, CE companies, and the FCC. Consumers are motivated to hold off buying CableCARD devices, CE companies are wondering whether their CableCARD technology investments will soon be obsolete, and it causes doubt amongst FCC regulators whether they should enforce deadlines and restrictions placed on cable companies regarding CableCARDs. Detractors point to this as the latest in a decade-long set of delaying tactics that the cable company has used to avoid compliance with the Telecommunications Act of 1996
Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. This Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, was a major stepping stone towards the future of telecommunications, since this was the...
. Cable companies counter that CableCARD devices have failed in the marketplace and that it would be foolish for them to be forced to use CableCARDs when the superior technology of DCAS will soon be available.
FCC mandate
The FCC has ruled that starting July 1, 2007, cable customers are to be able to purchase DVRs and other third-party devices to legally view digital cable without having to rent hardware from the cable company.See also
- Interactive televisionInteractive televisionInteractive television describes a number of techniques that allow viewers to interact with television content as they view it.- Definitions :...
- Copy protectionCopy protectionCopy protection, also known as content protection, copy obstruction, copy prevention and copy restriction, refer to techniques used for preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media, usually for copyright reasons.- Terminology :Media corporations have always used the term...
- OpenCable Application PlatformOpenCable Application PlatformThe OpenCable Application Platform, or OCAP, is an operating system layer designed for consumer electronics that connect to a cable television system, the Java-based middleware portion of the platform. Unlike operating systems on a personal computer, the cable company controls what OCAP programs...