Optical fingerprinting to protect data: a proposal

To counter the increasing problem with optical media piracy, the author proposes Thor, a copy protection mechanism that incorporates both optical fingerprinting and cryptographic techniques to secure disc data. Thor presents a possible new direction in the battle against piracy. Its acceptability, and the consequent realization of this concept, depends on how determined manufacturers are to defeat digital theft. A determined pirate can break most security mechanisms, but this proposal aims to discourage piracy by offering an innovative security technique.