A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft

Dieppe writes "A simple chip added to a DVD disk could prevent retail theft. According to the AP article at MSNBC, the chip would be activated at the register to make a previously dark area of the DVD clear, and therefore readable. Could this help to stem the tide of the approximate $400 million dollars in losses from brick and mortar stores? Game console DVDs could also be protected this way too. Could this help to bring the prices down on DVD games and movies?"

LOL

[WindBourne]

Could this help to bring down the prices????? You HAVE to be kidding. That really is funny.

Sorta cool

[ArcherB]

As long as I can still back up my DVD's to my HDD and then view them off my own burned DVD's, I don't care what they do!

You try keeping your daughter from destroying those Disney DVD's that are only released once a few decades!

No

[aichpvee]

It won't help, people will just find a way to do the activation themselves at home. Just like they have with all the electronic security measures. What's for damn sure is that even if it worked (it won't) it won't do anything to lower prices. They've already got us hooked like junkies at the prices they're charging and there's no way they'll lower them until demand drops off.

Copy protection

[shaitand]

$10 bucks say they try to find a way to add copy protection into the chip as well.

Hahahah

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Could this help to bring the prices down on DVD games and movies?"

No, but it could raise the profit margin.

End the sentence

[suv4x4]

I magically know how these end, dunno why, so I filled in the gaps for all of you:

A simple chip added to a DVD disk COULD prevent retail theft, but won't.
Game console DVDs COULD also be protected this way too, but won't.
COULD this help to bring the prices down on DVD games and movies? It won't.

Bottom line is, apparently on Slashdot you can substitute "could" with "won't" and you get to read the actual material we're handed. Cut down the pointless speculation guys, it's lame.

Re:No

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"It won't help, people will just find a way to do the activation themselves at home. Just like they have with all the electronic security measures."

A thwartable scheme doesn't mean that it's 100% useless. Consider how easy it is to prevent fingerprints from being left behind, yet they're captured all the time.

hmm

[pak9rabid]

So not only will there be motivation to steal DVDs, but also the activator as well. Bravo.

Preemptive Strike!

[dj_tla]

Article should read At home, using a cheap Chinese device, the chip is activated and sends an electrical pulse through the coating, turning it clear and making the disc playable.
China thanks you for creating another black market for it to thrive in.

Why steal retail?

[fugu]

Wouldn't it just be easier to download the movie instead of risking getting caught shoplifting? =p

Re:No

[penguinoid]

You fail to account for human stupidity and laziness. And shoplifters are plenty stupid IMO, very bad risk/payoff there, and too lazy to get a job. I'm pretty sure the chip requires some equipment to deactivate. Would you buy something so you can deactivate chips on the DVD's you stole?

Cop Math

[rueger]

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

I just love those numbers. I'm much more concerned about the estimated $120 million in lost productivity resulting from time spent dealing with broken shoelaces, and the estimated $275 million in annual losses to people who are shortchanged by hot dog vendors.

How about a moratorium on all numbers that were pulled out of a PR guy's ass?

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Re:LOL

[Strilanc]

A drop in the price isn't worth it. You know how every once in awhile someone walks out of the store and the alarm goes off because a cashier didn't deactivate a tag correctly? Imagine that happening, but you only find out after an hour-long drive home.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[Daengbo]

This "protection mechanism" will be broken, just like every other one has been. If it only need to be activated, professional criminals will have access to the tools necessary to activate the DVD player. It will be useless and only aggravate the life of the consumer, so it will come and go just like other protection systems.

History Says: Prices will go Up.

[Domo-Sun]

it should lower the markup on the DVD's because they don't need to recoup their (real world physical) losses due to theft.

Isn't that what the record industry said when CD's came out?

"The price will come down."

Then, they changed it to, "Well, you're getting better quality. That's why CD's are so expensive."

Brilliant!

[atomicstrawberry]

Make it even more inconvenient to buy legitimate copies. That'll sure encourage people to buy them instead of resorting to piracy.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[Daengbo]

I wasn't confused. The mechanisms are strikingly similar, though. The chip is activated at the register and the DVD is now readable. Professional thieves will have access to the method of activation because that's what they do. Thieves have tools related to their trade. Steal a set of DVDs just like you always did, activate them, and sell them (or, more likely steal them and fence them to a man who has the tools). It will stop the theft of DVDs for only about 15 minutes, all the while introducing another level of complexity and failure into the legal purchase process.

It must be magic

[jkabbe]

I am sure that they can invent something that can be installed on a million cash registers in the United States but will be impossible to procure by any other means. Why didn't anyone else think of this earlier?

Yeah, no.

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Judging by how often the door alarm goes off, a chip being activated or deactivated at the register has a HIGH RATE OF FAILURE.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[OECD]

(or, more likely steal them and fence them to a man who has the tools)

Hmm. You're probably right. This will likely only deter the most casual of thiefs, and annoy many more paying customers (who would then feel completely justified in D/Ling the CD.)

Yeah right,

[omahajim]

That's like TicketBastard lowering their labor and distribution costs by allowing you to print tickets at home on your own printer, instead of having them mailed. But it costs the consumer *more* to print their own ticket at home (isn't it like $3 extra???) and mailing, which should cost them more, is no extra charge. What a racket.

Re:Hahahah

[timmarhy]

they pay lead actors 10 million odd per flick - cry me a fucking river.

shrinkage

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, if more retailers examined the footage closely, they would find that it's mostly the same kids stealing and a lot of them know people at the counter. In turn, people at the counter steal and encourage their friends to stop by and get the stuff they need. So retailers continue to pay shit wages to their workers, raise prices (like Borders) and workers continue to steal because they feel "justified". Until Netflix and bittorrent came along, the only people who lost were the consumers. Now it doesn't really matter. Anyone with a half a brain can netflix and copy dvds; it's sure a lot cheaper than driving to the mall.

Talkin' turkey

[mattr]

Bottom line: No, not at all.

The people who shoplift are not your target market anyway, have no disposable income, probably are insignificant outside high crime area/high volume retail.

It will cost money to develop the chip which will be passed on to consumers, and boosting the amount of money spent pressing each disk. Shops that do not buy the hardware to detect the chips will be losing money because the same volume of theft will occur but the real value of the otherwise worthless CD has been increased by the chip. The idea that money is actually being lost is an illusion created by the record companies who use flashy printing and threats to assign a huge price to what is really very cheap to produce per unit. There is a constant cost they incurred to make the album and then a continual advertising cost and pressing cost. The pressing cost is extremely low compared to the advertising cost but it is presented as being high. By charging outlets for theft they give outlets a reason to buy antitheft hardware. However the only thing the chips will really be useful for is DRM since once you have the chip on the disc the next step is to add a tag reader into all drives. It is another way to break the spec.

Re:Sorta cool

[trevorgensch]

Of you could actually try and instill some sense of respect in your kids for DVDs. Not only Disney ones, but your entire collection. My kids have been properly shown from the get-go how to treat DVDs so they don't get wrecked.

It amazes me that people expect something for next to nothing if they wreck the one they have. "Sorry, I scratched my new car, can I have a new one at cost?"

Education is the best tool.

I Call Shinanigans

[j_kenpo]

Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't it be in the retailers best interest to reduce shoplifting, and not Hollywoods? I mean, once a retailer purchases their product from a producer, its in their best interest to sell all purchased units, and when items get stolen, retailers have to jack up the price to make up for the loss. either way, Hollywood gets their money and the retail is the one SOL.

That means the distributors are
A: looking for excuses that their movies just plain suck and people aren't buying them as much and are looking for means to jack up product prices, and just plain full of shit
B: Genuinely concerned about their business partners the retailers and want to get into new markets (as the article described)

Or am I missing something? I'm not exactly on the front line of retail marketing.

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Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[CmdrGravy]

There's been a number of occasions when I've bought stuff and the staff have forgotten to remove the security tags or they haven't been deactivated properly. At the moment that only means you might set off the alarm on the way out of the store or in other stores but with this system it may mean you get home and find the DVD is unplayable which means a trip back to the store for a replacement.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[jimicus]

Which isn't going to be particularly easy if you meet a clerk who is under the impression that the deactivation process is 100% perfect and the only way you could possibly have a DVD which is unreadable is because you stole it.

Re:LOL

[ZombieWomble]

You do realise that this article at no point refers to piracy or similar issues? This is dealing with actual physical theft from the stores - stock that the shop buys, and someone walks in and takes without paying for it. It's the thing the standard slashdot meme set explicitly uses as an example of "stealing" as opposed to copyright infringement. And since it's so clearly defined, this is not measured through reduced sales or the like, but is actual, explicit losses incurred by the stores (I'm sure padded to some degree, but infinitely more believable than the various RIAA-style numbers). Hence why this content protection does absolutely nothing to prevent copying or general piracy, but does significantly inhibit casual shoplifting.

I congratulate you on your devious combinations of stock lines to grab some karma which is completely unrelated to the story at hand, but do try and at least glance at the article the next time?

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[PopeRatzo]

Is there something wrong with the current system of sticking the little white plastic thing on the box that sets of an alarm if it's not disabled?

I admit that I don't do a lot of shopping for media in brick'n'mortar stores, but the last time I did, they had this seemingly elegant system for theft control.

I don't see how this new "chip on a disc" system is a revolutionary improvement.

I wish they'd stop treating me like a criminal.

[thesandtiger]

I can guarantee that the first time I experienced getting home and popping in a DVD that had not been activated would be the last time I buy a DVD from a brick and mortar store. Possibly the last time I bought a DVD, period.

I'm an honest person - I don't steal. I'm tired of being treated like a criminal, tired of being inconvenienced because some people are criminals, tired of the assumption being that I'm guilty. I'm tired of that fucking alarm going off when I walk out of a store and everyone looking at me like I'm a thief because the security tag wasn't deactivated. I'm tired of security guards at stores thinking they have a right to look through my bags. I'm tired of ruining my nails and cutting my fingers thanks to clamshell packaging.

Wanna know how to reduce theft, increase sales and all without making people feel like scumbags? Change your fucking business model to one that addresses the needs consumers actually have. The fact that your store security is for shit is *NOT* *MY* *PROBLEM*. Will Best Buy give me a new stereo if someone breaks into my home and steals mine? No. So why should I pay when they get robbed?

Here's an idea: Have machines at stores that hold spindles and spindles of DVDs and CDs. Have the customer swipe their credit card at the machine and select the movie they want, and then a pre-made DVD (for a "hot" new release) can be spit out, or, if it's something that's a little more obscure/rarely needed, it can be burnt on the spot. Don't have or want to use a credit card? No problem - just take a voucher from a display, go to the check-out line, pay with cash and the clerk can activate the code on the voucher - then the machine will give you what you want when you scan your ticket in.

This would even let there be less packaging and waste. If someone wanted a special collector's edition with all the goodies, keep those in a secure spot and get them when needed.

For small electronics, why not have vending machines like they do for iPods and cellphones now? It annoys me that I have to waste time getting a clerk to open up a cabinet just to get some $30 item I want - and it's a waste of their time, too.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[Synchis]

Well, Yes and no.

At my local walmart store, the employees seem quite jaded with the current theft prevention system. The alarm goes off, employees turn their head, and stand and watch as customers continue to walk right on through. This makes it somewhat difficult to determine if somebody is stealing something, or if a tag just wasn't de-activated properly. The employees just don't care enough to bother with it. And believe me, if you walk up to a minimum wage employee with a security tag and say "The alarm went off, I need this fixed", they simply de-activate it for you without question. Is this the fault of the system? Not at all. But the fact remains, people trained with these systems just don't get paid enough to deal with angry customers who just want to get out of the store without setting off a loud and obnoxious alarm.

But that brings me to the next point: Would this new system be better? Absolutely not. It will end with more angry customers, more complaints, and most probably more piracy as a direct result. People want the best product, for the best price, for the least amount of hassle. Which best illustrates the problem with both the music and movie industry, *and* retail theft prevention.

The product is mediocre, the price is high, and with theft prevention tags and DRM, both retail and digital purchases are inconvenient and sometimes full of hassle. Which means piracy wins: Get the products that you *want* for a low price (free), in a convenient fashion (bittorrent most likely, but downloaded at the very least).

Do I have an answer for this? Nope. In this age, it seems there is no easy answer to the problem.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[Nosklo]

Which isn't going to be particularly easy if you meet a clerk who is under the impression that the deactivation process is 100% perfect and the only way you could possibly have a DVD which is unreadable is because you stole it.

That's why you keep your bill (yes that tiny paper they give you when you purchase something) so you can prove you bought it.

Re:"A Chip on DVDs Could Prevent Theft"

[c4colorado]

--- Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, but I heard this from someone who says they heard it from someone who [had this happen to them]/[heard it from a lawyer]

You mention a "dollar threashold" ... the interesting thing about this is that many stores have that specific rule because if they detain someone and their claims turn out to be false, the detainee can then press charges against the store for false arrest. This means that if someone steals a pack of batteries worth $2, a lawsuit would cost much more than that, so they have to be damn sure.

Also, in some states the alleged theif must make an effort or actually show intention of leaving the premises. This includes the outdoor area if the store sells items outside the store (such as pallets of potting soil or lumber outside a Home Depot). This makes it difficult to chase someone down after they have left the store, and unless it is worth it, most don't.

--- end of disclaimer

The real problem is that most of these systems are ignored. Go in about 80% of the stores that have the electronic tags and watch what happens when someone accidentally trips the alarm system ... most of the time, nothing. If they actually do try to do something it is usually to look at the items in the bag and check the receipt, and let the "inconvinenced" customer/theif out the door. Very few actually take the customer back to a register and re-buzz all of their items.

Other stores have implemented systems that CAUSE the alarms to go off constantly. For example, the Home Depot has added the "self checkout" lanes recently. They did not, however, add the devices to deactivate the electronic tags on their products to the self-checkout lanes. This means that anyone who buys anything with an electronic tag WILL set off the alarm as they exit. And they actually do check the contents of your cart 50% of the time. I usually expect it to go off and just walk out the door without looking back, often ignoring the persistant "Sir! SIR!" coming from behind me.

The truth is these systems are ineffective and, as Lumpy says above, all the stores EXPECT a certian percentage of loss to theft. Even online stores expect loss to theft. When Amazon.com receives an order they can only check so many details about the customer, if the card is stolen and is not reported until after the product has shipped they may be out that money when Visa charges back the purchase.

MOST loss due to theft from retail stores is theft by employees. How many "black bubbles" do you think actually have cameras in them on the sales floor in most retail stores? Very few. How many cameras are operational on the loading docks, storage rooms, hallways and other areas of the store meant for employee access only? All of them.

Theft prevention devices are not about preventing theft. They are to create the Illusion of Security, much like the rest of the Security industry (both physical and virtual). They keep those who haven't stolen from stealing, catch the "stupid" criminals, and slow down the real theives. Real security is expensive, much more expensive than accepting a small percentage of sales lost to theft.