Pointing to the shift key is now a felony

manadren_it · Post by **manadren_it** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 12:51 pm

Analysis of the MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System
SunnComm Response
Update: SunnComm backs off on lawsuit

A few weeks ago BMG released a CD featuring the new MediaMax CD3 copy preventin system which protects the CD Audio from being copied while also containing DRM protected WMA files of the tracks. Problem is, for BMG and SunnComm anyway, the copy protection is very easy to defeat. It's entirely software based and relies on a hidden driver to work. So if you disable the driver, run Linux or Mac OS 9 [supports only windows and Mac OSX], or prevent it from being installed [by turning off autorun or holding down the shift key when inserting the cd] you can rip the cd audio tracks normally.

When Princeton grad student John A. Halderman discussed this in a recent article, SunnComm's stock dropped 20% and they got kinda angry. They claim that he made false assumptions on the robustnes of the technology because he never recieveed the white paper on the technology. Also they claim that he as violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by disclosing unpublished MediaMax management files placed on a user's computer after user approval is granted.

SunnComm CEO Peter Jacobs, speaks of the matter,"The conclusions contained in the Princeton University grad student's report issued last Monday were derived from incorrect assumptions by its author. The author did not ask for, or receive, SunnComm's MediaMax 'white paper' documentation available on the technology prior to concluding that 'MediaMax and similar copy-prevention systems are irreparably flawed ... This cat-and-mouse game that hackers and others like to play with owners of digital property is over. No matter what their credentials or rationale, it is wrong to use one's knowledge and the cover of academia to facilitate piracy and theft of digital property. SunnComm is taking a stand here because we believe that those who own property, whether physical or digital, have the ultimate authority over how their property is used. Owning copying technology is not an unconditional 'free pass' to replicate or distribute protected work."

Update:
SunnComm and CEO Jacobs has since backed off on the lawsuit against Halderman saying ""I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research."

"I just thought about it and decided it was more important not to be one of those people. The harm's been done . . . if I can't accomplish anything [with a lawsuit] I don't want to leave a wake," he said.

On that note Jacobs also mentioned that SunnComm already had a new version of the software in the works, even before the paper wqs released, which would address many of the issues that were brought up.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 3:02 pm

Stupid DMCA...

There will always be around it, them and the RIAA should just call it quits!

On the other hand, it gives hackers something productive to do instead of cracking into sites.

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manadren_it · Post by **manadren_it** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 8:07 pm

The DMCA is indeed a joke and a royal pain in the arse. How else could wearing a t-shirt with a line of code on it, waving a around a felt tip pen, or pointing to a key be considered a possible felony.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 8:51 pm

Haha that's funny. But it's true. It is indeed a joke. Imagine going to court for a case like that.

"You will be sentanced to jail for breaking copyright laws by wearing a Tshirt with source code on how to make a p2p program."

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megaspaz · Post by **megaspaz** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 3:46 am

what kind of damages could sunncomm have gotten? they're a friggin penny stock anyway. besides, notice how they never went after microsoft who had made this feature in the os and the other magazine's who taught us how to disable cd autorun by holding down the shift key? basically almost everyone would have figured this out on their own. there's a reason why sunncomm is a piddly penny stock company... it's because their stuff doesn't work! what a joke of a company.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1434, old post ID:12560