The 1394 Trade Association, an organization dedicated to the proliferation of the FireWire standard, announced today that it’s passed an important hurdle when it comes to delivering wireless FireWire content. The organization today announced that it would support a content protection scheme employed by leading electronics manufacturers.
The 1394 Trade Association’s Wireless Working Group (WWG) is chartered to deliver the industry standard into the wireless domain. Initially, the WWG is working on developing a 1394 Protocol Adaption Layer (PAL) to the IEEE 802.11 standard. 802.11b is commonly used by computer makers for wireless networking, including Apple — whose AirPort products support the standard.
Today the WWG announced that it has “resolved the issue of commercial entertainment content protection” for devices that employ support for its 1394 PAL for 802.11. WWG chair Steve Bard explained that Digital Transmission Content Protection, or DTCP, is an approved standard for content protection in wired 1394 environments. “The WWG 1394 PAL facilitates the use of data protected by DTCP across 802.11,” said Bard.
The news has won approval from the Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator, LLC (DTLA). Also called “5C,” the organization is comprised of electronics giants Hitachi, Sony, Intel, Matsushita and Toshiba, and serves as the licensing arm for their DTCP standard. DTCP helps to protect unauthorized interception and retransmission of digital video and audio content.