Chips on DVDs could prevent theft

[TheUnknownComic]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18577503/

Chips on DVDs could prevent theft
Technology may also be used to protect electronic devices

Updated: 4:02 p.m. ET May 9, 2007

LOS ANGELES - New technology designed to thwart DVD theft makes discs unplayable until they're activated at the cash register.

A chip smaller than the head of a pin is placed onto a DVD along with a thin coating that blocks a DVD player from reading critical information on the disc. At the register, the chip is activated and sends an electrical pulse through the coating, turning it clear and making the disc playable.

The radio frequency identification chip is made by NXP Semiconductors, based in the Netherlands, and the Radio Frequency Activation technology comes from Kestrel Wireless Inc., based in Emeryville.

The two companies are talking to Hollywood studios and expect to announce deals this summer, Kestrel Wireless Chief Executive Paul Atkinson said.

The companies said their technology also can be used to protect electric shavers, ink jet cartridges, flash memory drives and even flat-screen TV sets by preventing some critical element from functioning unless activated.

Retail theft of entertainment products, including video games, accounts for as much as $400 million in annual losses, according to the Entertainment Merchants Association.

Many retailers now keep consumer-entertainment products behind glass cases, but that can inhibit browsing. With technology that renders stolen products useless, retailers could display items openly, thus encouraging more sales, said Mark Fisher, vice president for strategic initiatives at the EMA.

"It will also get product into a lot more outlets that are afraid of theft, including grocers," Fisher said.

[BJ_M]

this is meant to prevent shoplifting ... which is a good thing ....

but already most disks and other merchandise has tags in/on them...

sends an electrical pulse through the coating

that sounds easily defeated, just shock the darn thing ...

i cant quite picture shoplifting a big screen tv though ... though im sure it has happened

[BJ_M]

this is not really video news --- just an antishoplifting adver... moving to offtopic

[AlecWest]

this is meant to prevent shoplifting ... which is a good thing ....

but already most disks and other merchandise has tags in/on them...

Yup. My son is an assistant manager at a Suncoast Video store in Vancouver, WA. They already have anti-theft tags on them. Sadly, however, my son noticed a new trend. More savvy thieves show up with razor blades ... slicing open the case to remove only the disc inside. To prevent that, they'd have to (ulp) deface the DVD label by putting an anti-theft tag directly on the disc.

I think this measure makes good sense ... even though I have some reservations about RFID technology.

[terryj]

Wal-Marts in my area have gone from open shelf displays of
DVDs to behind glass case displays to now get this,
new releases in glass cases, DVD sets priced at
$60 or higher in glass case displays, and then everything else
in wire shelf racks.

When HBO recently dropped the price of Sopranos Box Sets
from $70 to $49, I heard a guy complaining that
it was getting to be "too big of a hassle re-arranging every week" the DVD cases as he had to unload the Sopranos
sets and find shelf space in the already over crowded
wire rack areas.

I see very soon someone coming up with an idea where
the DVD areas are "store within stores", where you
have to go through layers of glass doors to get to DVDs......
and then sevurity checkpoints that make Stalingrad look
tame just to get out....

I for one don't want the disc defaced if possible...and I put
up with Movie Gallery's "anti-theft" sticker they put on their
PVTs when they sell them off......

[TheUnknownComic]

Imagine the aggravation of getting one of these discs home and finding it hadn't been "activated."

[zzyzzx]

Imagine the aggravation of getting one of these discs home and finding it hadn't been "activated."

Exactly what I was thinking. That and what if the activating part fails 5 years from now and you want to play the disc.

[AlecWest]

Imagine the aggravation of getting one of these discs home and finding it hadn't been "activated."

It can happen. I got my girlfriend a TracFone once that promised 60 minutes free upon activation ... but that the activation took place by virtue of some kind of "scan" did at the store. When I got home and went through the activation routine, it only gave me 20 minutes. I called TracFone customer service to explain the situation ... they understood ... and immediately sent an extra 40 minute activation signal to the phone.

That and what if the activating part fails 5 years from now and you want to play the disc.

That's what burning backups are for.

[gadgetguy]

This will not prevent theft any more than Ink Tags or RF warning tags have. It may serve as a deterant to some, but as long as there are dishonest people bent on making away with goods they didn't pay for, theft will exist. I would be willing to wager that in a relatively short time some of the "activation scanners" will turn up missing from several locations, just as tag scanners and ink tag removers have.
I'm not suggesting this isn't worth a try, but to think that this will "prevent theft" is naive at best.

[ViRaL1]

I think 'reduce theft' is probably a better estmation. I've worked at stores where empty DVD cases are found in the tanks of toilets in the restrooms. It might even be possible to update the activation modules to make allowances for newer movies so that misappropriated activation scanners won't be of any use for newer titles. The downside to this is that I can see this technology being used for things like restricting use of DVDs based on location or even player (for instance not allowing discs to play on 'region-free' players). I guess we'll have to wait and see.