"The consortiums backing rival next-generation DVD formats Blu-Ray and HD-DVD have moved to taking pot-shots at each other over security features - despite the fact that both systems are adopting near-identical technologies.

The argument kicked off when the Blu-Ray Disc Association - an organisation which led by companies including Sony, which will use Blu-Ray in the PlayStation 3 - announced that it's to use a range of measures to prevent piracy of BD-ROM discs.

Among those measures is something called the Advanced Access Content System (AACS), which is also being used by HD-DVD and provides a content management system that apparently 'enables new consumer usage models around network functionality and internet connectivity'.

On top of that, Blu-Ray has a new step called the 'ROM Mark', a hidden watermark on Blu-Ray discs which can only be mastered by licensed content creators and therefore cannot - in theory - be duplicated by pirates, and a system called BD+ which allows content providers to update their encryption dynamically to deal with hacks to players, thus avoiding the scenario with DVD where encrypted content could be ripped easily once the encryption had been broken once. " [more]