Next-gen graphics connector picks up DRM skills
 

The members of the task group proposing the 1.1 update consist of companies such as AMD, Dell, Genesis Microchip, HP, Intel, Lenovo, NVIDIA, and Samsung Electronics. Support for HDCP is something that we expected when news broke that DisplayPort 1.0 supported "optional robust copy protection." HDCP support built into the standard would mean that any DRM restrictions on the content being viewed would be enforced on both the transmitting and receiving ends. DisplayPort 1.1 will be compatible with HDCP 1.3, allowing products using both DisplayPort and DVI or HDMI to share a common encryption key.

Movie studios would much prefer to be able to control how we view their content on both ends rather than just one, because they know that if we can see it, it can still be pirated. As Ken mentioned previously, their solution to this conundrum is that content providers can choose to simply not display HD content at all on a non-HDCP monitor. It is more likely that they would degrade unprotected content to something like 540p, however Hollywood has reportedly agreed to delay these forced quality downgrades until as late as 2012. Whether they stick to that plan remains to be seen.