APC_Australia_Issue_442_June_2017

Blu-ray keys file from the URL
provided (filename KEYDB.cfg), and
copy it to the folder: ~/.config/aacs.
For any novice users, anything with
a . before the file name is a hidden file
or folder. So if you want to use a
graphical file manager, turn on ‘Show
Hidden Files’, and open the .config
folder hidden in your Home directory.
If the aacs folder doesn’t exist then
create it, and copy the keys file there.
For grumpy command line veterans,
just enter these two commands:
$ mkdir -p ~/.config/aacs/
$ cd ~/.config/aacs/ && wget
http://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.
name/files/KEYDB.cfg
Let’s get this out of the way now:
there’s a reasonable chance your disc
won’t work. Don’t panic, because we’ll
explore what to do from there, but of
the 10 discs we tried, three didn’t work.
This is due to encryption issues, which
will form the second half of the article,
but for now, just grab a selection of
Blu-rays to maximise your chances
of a working title.
Unlike DVDs, you have to mount
the disc first. Just use your desktop’s
device manager — you don’t need to do
any fancy command line stuff here.
VideoLAN is the best place to start
because it’s the easiest way to find out
if a disc will work, without needing to
use the terminal. Click the Open Disc
dialogue and choose Blu-ray. You’ll see
‘No disc menus’ ticked — just leave that
alone for now and we’ll re-explore it
later. Now click Play and with any luck
your Blu-ray will fire up. If not, move
onto the next disc.
Congratulations if your movie is
playing without incident —
unfortunately, there’s a decent chance
that you’ll have some kind of
performance issues, such as skipping
and cracking. You may, however, be
able to work around this by tweaking
your settings, such as lowering the
quality (which kind of defeats the point
of Blu-ray), or setting all the video
drivers to ‘VA API’.
MakeMKV + web
browser + media player
= play any Blu-ray
you like... for 30 days.
Blu-ray menus will be
disabled system-wide
by default, but it is
utter luxury skipping
those endless warning
screens!
“We just want to play the discs we’ve
bought without having to change OS.”
Is this legal?
Private copying of copyrighted material
is illegal down under, but the concern
of this article is with rightful access to
legally purchased Blu-rays. On Linux,
this unfortunately requires digital
circumvention — something that
has been hotly debated for years
and continually head-butts against
Fair Use Rights. In the United States,
the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act (DMCA) criminalises decrypting
protected content (even if legally
purchased), and US courts are still
fighting over DMCA versus Fair Use, so
the practice in the USA remains illegal.
The law in the UK has been quite
draconian in theory, but liberal in
practice and has been under constant
discussion for years, as the interests
of copyright holders continue to run
counter to practical realities. Personal
copies are legal if you live in Spain,
the Netherlands and here in Australia,
but do not distribute that material.
The area is muddy as these laws are
primarily for restricting the sharing of
content, not keys. To further muddy
the waters, circumvention tools may be
legal for non-infringing purposes, but
the production and distribution thereof
will not be. Legal exceptions may exist
for circumvention for the purposes of
journalism, critique or comment, and
non-commercial videos. So is this legal?
We’re not lawyers and cannot answer
that. Seek sound legal counsel.
www.apcmag.com 85