Downloadable Conditional Access System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:44, 3 September 2013

Revision as of 06:37, 13 February 2015

Line 1:

'''Downloadable Conditional Access System''' or '''DCAS''' was 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 [[OpenCable Application Platform|OCAP]]-compliant host consumer media device. The [[National Cable & Telecommunications Association]] (NCTA) proposed 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|FCC mandate]], which in turn is pursuant to the [[Telecommunications Act of 1996]]. DCAS wasis growing in popularity as a controversialless proposalexpensive alternative for aCableCARD, varietywith ofmajor reasons:North itAmerican didoperator notdeployments existfrom Cablevision<ref> Cisco powers DCAS deployment at Cablevision, hadhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMJg53hy9jM no</ref> setand deadlinesCharter for<ref>Charter supportunveils onWorldbox- allCisco cablekey systemssupplier of boxes with downloadable security, nohttp://www.multichannel.com/news/technology/charter-unveils-its-worldbox/386685</ref>. specificationDCAS evendeployments incan draftbe formexpected wasto grow publicin the coming years, maythanks to favorable regulatory view from the STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014 <ref> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STELA_Reauthorization_Act_of_2014 </ref>and FCC appointing a Downloadable Security notTechnical haveAdvisory satisfiedCommittee<ref> FCC requirementsappoints thatdownloadable security modulesadvisory becommittee, separablehttp://www.fcc.gov/document/appointment-members-downloadable-security-advisory-committee </ref>, and requiredwider ansupport operatingfor systemkey ladder (OCAPK-LAD) thatfunctionality afrom majority of [[consumer electronics]]system-on-chip (CESoC) manufacturersvendors didand notset-top wishbox to implementmanufacturers.

DCAS in the early days, was a controversial proposal for a variety of reasons: it did not exist, had no set deadlines for support on all cable systems, no specification even in draft form was public, may not have satisfied FCC requirements that security modules be separable, and required an operating system (OCAP) that a majority of [[consumer electronics]] (CE) manufacturers did not wish to implement. The DCAS project was abandoned by CableLabs in 2009. <ref>Jeff Baumgartner, MSOs Closing PolyCipher Headquarters, Light Reading Cable, (June 5, 2009), http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=177662&site=lr_cable.</ref>

[[Image:DCAS system diagram.jpg|thumb|400px|DCAS System Diagram]]

DCAS, as envisioned, removed the need for physical [[set-top box]]es or [[CableCARD]]s to protect [[encryption|encrypted]] digital content. It was proposed that instead of a card with removable circuitry, a custom [[ASIC]] chip could be soldered onto the circuitboard of any digital cable-ready device. DCAS software would then 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. As set-top box ASICs have now advanced to SoC implementations, the minimum hardware circuitry to store key ladders (K-LAD) is embedded in the silicon, enabling much of the security functions to be implemented in software. Further, just as traditional set-top box functionality such as user-interface and middleware are moving to the cloud, DCAS enables much of the security functions also to move to the server side or the cloud. This allows thin client set-top boxes to be deployed that can be remotely managed, in lieu of the more expensive cableCARD based systems.

The basic purpose of DCAS was to implement DRM protection in software, supported by future OCAP-compliant consumer devices such as [[digital television]]s, [[digital video recorder|DVR]]s, and set-top boxes (still required to support legacy non-OCAP-compliant devices). This would secure the information transmitted in the link between the cable company and the consumer device. Besides decryption, the DCAS software would control 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 could possibly be used more broadly and was being advanced by [[Rupert Murdoch]]'s company [[NDS Group|NDS]] as a DRM method useful also for [[portable media player]]s and other devices not attached to cable networks. An allegedly working DCAS prototype was created by [[Samsung]] and NDS for the cable industry and was demonstrated to the FCC in November 2005.<ref>[http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6518185105 Implementation of Section 204]</ref>

Line 18:

== 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. On January 27, 2015, FCC announced the appointment of the Dowloadable Security Technial Advisory Committee <ref> Appointment of members to the DSTAC, http://www.fcc.gov/document/appointment-members-downloadable-security-advisory-committee </ref>.

== See also ==