4 ms·

Bandwidth. What if I could hand you the totality of Netflix, iTunes, etc.? Not wait for it to download, but transfer large chunks of the Internet in seconds? a

Bandwidth. What if I could hand you the totality of Netflix, iTunes, etc.? Not wait for it to download, but transfer large chunks of the Internet in seconds? and no longer have to hope that, say, Netflix won't lose vast sections of their library for contractual reasons (as it has done of late)? Backups: permanent archiving of everything you have all on one disc. It makes vast swaths of data yours, in your hand, under your control, in a ridiculously compact & cheap media. No more hoping that you can get X in time, or that it will be there some time hence. I've seen profound transformations in computing when cheap fast storage increased by an order of magnitude of orders of magnitude. This will bring that about again, to similarly disruptive and amazing results.

toomuchtodo 12y ago
Netflix would put the entire catalog in your home, encrypted, and the only data they would have to transfer would be for the control plane (billing, recommendations, etc) and encryption keys to auth you. Totally side-steps last mile monopolies as well. Don't want to work with us? We'll drop an LTE chipset in as well for the admin stuff. Redbox In Your Home.
- crb 12y ago
  This is how Doom/Quake was distributed on CD - first episode free, call iD for the unlock code.
  - angersock 12y ago
    ...or just to say aardwolf.
- joshschreuder 12y ago
  That would remove their ability to take content away from consumers when contracts expire though wouldn't it?
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    The encryption keys would be time limited (monthly basis, certain titles, etc). If you don't top up monthly, you key expires, the underlying data is re-encrypted with another key, etc.
    - joshschreuder 12y ago
      How do you re-encrypt a read only storage medium like a disk though?
      - fphhotchips 12y ago
        You could have a master-key (or set of master keys) on a read-write medium, which you could encrypt/decrypt as many times as needed? You'd be vulnerable to someone scraping the master key from memory, but no more than someone just passing the video to a recording device.
  - eru 12y ago
    To be fair, they don't have that ability in the first place against a determined attacker. (Ie once they show you the content, you can grab it.)
    - joshschreuder 12y ago
      Yeah that's true, but I would say the majority of people aren't ripping Netflix streams in case Netflix's content licences expire. If they are given a master disk with everything on it, anyone with that disk has the data on it in perpetuity (barring storage failure)
seanflyon 12y ago
"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway." —Tanenbaum, Andrew S.

toomuchtodo 12y ago

Netflix would put the entire catalog in your home, encrypted, and the only data they would have to transfer would be for the control plane (billing, recommendations, etc) and encryption keys to auth you. Totally side-steps last mile monopolies as well. Don't want to work with us? We'll drop an LTE chipset in as well for the admin stuff. Redbox In Your Home.

crb 12y ago
This is how Doom/Quake was distributed on CD - first episode free, call iD for the unlock code.
- angersock 12y ago
  ...or just to say aardwolf.
joshschreuder 12y ago
That would remove their ability to take content away from consumers when contracts expire though wouldn't it?
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  The encryption keys would be time limited (monthly basis, certain titles, etc). If you don't top up monthly, you key expires, the underlying data is re-encrypted with another key, etc.
  - joshschreuder 12y ago
    How do you re-encrypt a read only storage medium like a disk though?
    - fphhotchips 12y ago
      You could have a master-key (or set of master keys) on a read-write medium, which you could encrypt/decrypt as many times as needed? You'd be vulnerable to someone scraping the master key from memory, but no more than someone just passing the video to a recording device.
- eru 12y ago
  To be fair, they don't have that ability in the first place against a determined attacker. (Ie once they show you the content, you can grab it.)
  - joshschreuder 12y ago
    Yeah that's true, but I would say the majority of people aren't ripping Netflix streams in case Netflix's content licences expire. If they are given a master disk with everything on it, anyone with that disk has the data on it in perpetuity (barring storage failure)

seanflyon 12y ago

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway." —Tanenbaum, Andrew S.