I haven't been able to stop laughing yet

[arcorob]

Great protection scheme guys...
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/10/08/bmg.protection.reut/index.html

[lordsmurf]

This strikes me as being useless on system with AUTOPLAY turned off. Which is most people that burn. Software like Nero and Roxio disables AUTORUN.

[MOVIEGEEK]

"We were fully aware that if someone held down the Shift key the first and every subsequent time [they played the disc] that the technology could be circumvented," BMG spokesman Nathaniel Brown told Reuters, adding the company "erred on the side of playability and flexibility."

For every encryption there is a hack...or in this case a keystroke.

[mysticgohan17]

thats not even a hack, thats more like an accident. i bet some guys cat jumped on his keyboard while he was putting the CD in

[Roundabout]

More at

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=182025

[andkiich]

When will they learn that it's not the hackers that are hurting them. It's the crappy artists that put out junk albums that no one wants to buy.

I've stopped buying CD's because I'm tired of liking one song, and then when you buy the album, that one song you liked is the only one worth listening to. $15 for one song is a bit much.

[mysticgohan17]

actually, the cd they copy protected (anthony hamilton) is a good one. if you're an r&b fan. which i guess you arent because you're disappointed by pop albums with only one good song. thats rarely the case with other genres.

[The village idiot]

Someone should file a discrimination law suit against them! They targeted specifically windows computers! They knew it would do nothing on any other OS, and admitted that fact. That's a lot of people for some kind of class action legal battle, assuming anyone but pirates bought the disk. I bet they were really embarased when the first copy showed up on Kazaa.

[Thorn]

All they're really trying to do is prevent idiots from pirating music. Remember that most consumers fall into that cagegory... (or they seem to think so)

BTW, wouldn't this be considered a trojan?

Halderman said the protection could also be disabled by stopping the driver the CD installs when it is first inserted into a computer's drive.

[The village idiot]

I was thinking that too. I tell you one thing, if I had to reformat because of some software they put on myu machine, they would be looking at some kind of retribution.

[andydd]

Mystic..

I have a team of specially trained cats that circumnavigate all of my CDs and DVDs....they are currently working on cracking DVD-Audios CSS2 ..it involves a ball of string and a saucer of milk.

[spiderman2k1]

I saw this on TECHTV on the screen saveer's. Thought is was very funny. WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO SOME ONE PLEASE TELL ME LOL.

[monoxide77]

Mystic..

I have a team of specially trained cats that circumnavigate all of my CDs and DVDs....they are currently working on cracking DVD-Audios CSS2 ..it involves a ball of string and a saucer of milk.

lmao

[mysticgohan17]

Mystic..

I have a team of specially trained cats that circumnavigate all of my CDs and DVDs....they are currently working on cracking DVD-Audios CSS2 ..it involves a ball of string and a saucer of milk.

lmao

genius.

[Roundabout]

Well, it looks like the shift key to bypass copy protection may be illegal after all!Use a shift key = go to jail :P

"Student faces suit over key to CD locks"
October 9, 2003

SunnComm Technologies, a developer of CD antipiracy technology, said Thursday that it will likely sue a Princeton student who early this week showed how to evade the company's copy protection by pushing a computer's Shift key.

Princeton Ph.D. student John "Alex" Halderman published a paper on his Web site on Monday that gave detailed instructions on how to disarm the SunnComm technology, which aims to block unauthorized CD copying and MP3 ripping. The technology is included on an album by Anthony Hamilton that was recently distributed by BMG Music.

On Thursday, SunnComm CEO Peter Jacobs said the company plans legal action and is considering both criminal and civil suits. He said it may charge the student with maligning the company's reputation and, possibly, with violating copyright law that bans the distribution of tools for breaking through digital piracy safeguards.

"We feel we were the victim of an unannounced agenda and that the company has been wronged," Jacobs said. "I think the agenda is: 'Digital property should belong to everyone on the Internet.' I'm not sure that works in the marketplace."

The cases are already being examined by some intellectual-property lawyers for their potential to test the extremes of a controversial copyright law that block the distribution of information or software that breaks or "circumvents" copy-protection technologies.

Several civil and criminal cases based on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act have been filed against people who distributed information or software aimed at breaking through antipiracy locks. In one, Web publisher Eric Corley was banned by a federal judge from publishing software code that helped in the process of copying DVDs.

In a criminal case, Russian company ElcomSoft was cleared of charges that it had distributed software that willfully broke through Adobe Systems' e-book copy protection.

Both of those cases dealt with software or software code, however. The issue in Halderman's case is somewhat different.

In his paper, published on the Princeton Web site on Monday, the student explained that the SunnComm technique relies on installing antipiracy software directly from the protected CD itself. However, this can be prevented by stopping Microsoft Windows' "auto-run" feature. That can be done simply by pushing the Shift key as the CD loads.

If the CD does load and installs the software, Halderman identified the driver file that can be disabled using standard Windows tools. Free-speech activists said the nature of Halderman's instructions--which appeared in an academic paper, used only functions built into every Windows computer, and were not distributed for profit--meant they would not fall under DMCA scrutiny.

"This is completely outrageous," said Fred von Lohmann, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that has previously represented computer academics concerned that copyright law would impair their ability to publish. "This is not black hat (hackers') exploits he's revealing. This is Windows 101...It is relatively hard to imagine any better example of how the DMCA has been misused since it was passed five years ago."

Jacobs said SunnComm's attorneys would refer the case to local federal authorities, who could make the decision on how to proceed on the DMCA issue. He said the company was also exploring a civil suit based on damage to the company's reputation, since Halderman concluded that the technology was ineffective without knowing about future enhancements. [like alt/shift?] :P

Future versions of the SunnComm software would include ways that the copy-protecting files would change their name on different computers, making them harder to find, Jacobs said. Moreover, the company will distribute the technology along with third-party software, so that it doesn't always come off a protected CD, he added. [more virii, trojans and malware coming soon! Stay tuned to the SunComm channel!]
The damage to SunnComm's reputation, while not necessarily permanent, was quickly seen in a drop in its market value, totaling close to $10 million over several days, Jacobs said. <What it's really about) No final decisions about legal action have been made, he added.

Halderman said he's not overly worried about the legal threat. The EFF represented his advisor, Princeton professor Edward Felten, in a lawsuit dealing with academic freedom to publish computer security information, and Princeton University supported Felten in that case.

"I expect I will be well-represented in the case of a lawsuit," Halderman said. "If pressing the Shift key is a violation of the DMCA, then the law needs to be changed."


Still laughing? :P :P

[Thorn]

He said it may charge the student with maligning the company's reputation and, possibly, with violating copyright law that bans the distribution of tools for breaking through digital piracy safeguards.

But isn't Microsoft the one that distributed the software that recognises the shift key?

Also, the claim of maligning the company's rep is akin to libel, right? Well, it's only libel if it's FALSE.

[jrbling]

when it comes down to it no matter how much protection is developed why couldnt you just play the cd on the computer while using a recording software?

[arcorob]

Yeah, I just found the latest article myself....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A5483-2003Oct9?language=printer

They just want to keep me laughing all week don't they ?

By the way, on another note. I was just slapped with a subpeona for violating the DMCA .

Seems I had just listened to a CD and was singing the tune in my car. Well, they spotted me. Now they say I illegally copied it to another format(my brain) and that i circumvented their protection.

Damn, they want me to submit my brain as evidence !!! I think I can beat it but thank GOD I was not whistling a DISNEY tune....

"Just whistle while you work....da da da da da da da.."

[rkr1958]

Damn, they want me to submit my brain as evidence !!!

I heard your case just got throw out by the Judge for "lack of evidence".

[BJ_M]

its confirmed now -- that have sued him for using the shift key under the DMA ...

SunnComm, (company motto "Light years beyond encryption") stock went into a tail spin (they lost 10 million so far) ..


this goes way above disbelief...

[vitualis]

Ridiculous! There is no circumvention here. You can only circumvent a protection device if it actually worked to begin with. Basically that so called protection method simply does not function for many NORMAL computing practices (using non-Windows OSes, not using Autorun, etc.)

Regards.

[Poplar]

I am speechless! I have no speech. I always feel those protection scheme guys should be smart. I just don't expect them to be so STUPID! They embarrassed themselves to no end......

I remembered that when they launched this CD, some big-shot from the company said consumers need to be taught a lesson. Guess what? You are taken back to school!

[bayaraa_us]

Go ahead and put whatever protection you need to put on cds

This whole protection will never work!!! Why spend so much money on this dumbass protection technology?

Just lower the freaking price of your cds. So everybody will be happy.

[Vejita-sama]

Just in case no one has mention it, every time they come up with a new encryption/protection scheme that also cost the us more money. We have to pay for R&D, changing the hardware to produce the discs, as well as any extra costs/usage fees (eg. macrovision).

The RIAA claims that CDs cost so much because pirates and bootleggers are hurting sales. But most of the cost of a CD do not go to cover that. The artist doesn't get that much from each sale after all. It's a pure rip.

While it's true that no matter what price you set their will always be people that steal technology, if the prices were more in line with actually production costs, say ~$10/disc that would stop 90%+ of people that copy CDs.

There's not much you can do about the people that only want 1 song and don't want to buy the entire CD thou.

[The village idiot]

I'm afraid this demands the larget counter suit in history! I think this kid is going to have seriuos problems getting a job after this is all done, therefore he should be entitled to a rather large settlement from whatever companies are trying to steal his money. No matter what happens, this kid will have to spend 10's of thousands for legal assistance to get past this, he is owed a huge amount for their stupidity! But I'm sure the legal system will fail, and the kid will have to pay for the rest of his life.

[Thorn]

Actually, I thought this topic was news a long time ago (probably when someone announced they were working on it) and everybody said that it wouldn't work because of the autorun off/alternate os issue (it's fairly obvious to any literate computer user).

So when a protection scheme comes out that we already knew was defective... well I would hope that investors are smart enough to sell off!
When a company comes out with a really defective product and hopes nobody notices, my assumption is that they've run out of ideas. Not that I would have invested in them in the first place...

FYI the suit is over his description of the drivers, which is a little more in the field of the DMCA. Maybe this case will help point out that it should be legal to reverse engineer viruses and such. Or maybe we should sue the senate for allowing DMCA to support computer-based terrorism (they've tried to pass laws allowing the RIAA to destroy personal computers, remember). If any case like this is won, it realy does lead to legalized terrorism (police state=terrorist state).

[tompika]

I'm removing my 'SHIFT' keys just in case...

[bayaraa_us]

They are embarrased their ass off. So they have nothing to do except suing the kid. There's old saying that goes "the one who is embarrased most likely will kill the one next to him"

[The village idiot]

I'm going to start learning to reverse engineer some virii

[Roundabout]

They changed their mind...what a nice company


SunnComm won't sue grad student
October 10, 2003, 2:16 PM PT

In an abrupt reversal, SunnComm Technologies said Friday that it will not sue a Princeton University graduate student who published a paper that describes how to bypass CD copy-protection technology simply by pressing the Shift key.

SunnComm had angrily assailed Princeton doctoral student John "Alex" Halderman just a day before, claiming that his academic paper was "at best, duplicitous and, at worst, a felony." The company had pledged to file a civil suit against Halderman under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and lobby federal prosecutors to indict him on criminal charges.

SunnComm CEO Peter Jacobs acknowledged his threat to file a lawsuit was a mistake. "I felt the researcher has an agenda, which he does," he said. "But that's not relevant, and I learned that...The long-term nature of the lawsuit and the emotional result of the lawsuit would obscure the issue, and it would develop a life of its own."

Jacobs refused to divulge the reasons for his change of heart, saying only that "when the original firestorm cleared and we had a chance to poll the different organizations (including customers, advisers and shareholders) I started to have a different picture on how to resolve the issue." [Hello, Tony Soprano? Got a job for ya!]

Halderman, the computer science graduate student, said Friday that he's "confident the paper doesn't violate the DMCA, but I'm glad they've decided to drop the matter."

SunnComm's threats had drawn enormous attention in a short time, with some legal analysts saying a lawsuit would represent an egregious abuse of the DMCA, which broadly prohibits "circumventing" copy-protection technologies. The law does contain narrow exceptions for reverse engineering and academic research, though two proposals in Congress would make the exemptions far broader.

Halderman's paper, published Monday and titled "Analysis of the MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System," describes flaws in the MediaMax technology SunnComm sold and BMG Entertainment used on an Anthony Hamilton CD it released last month. It concludes that "most users who would be affected can bypass the system entirely by holding the Shift key every time they insert the CD," an action that prevents the MediaMax drivers from loading.

Since Halderman's paper appeared, SunnComm's shares have slipped precipitously, losing about $10 million in value. The company's stock appears on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board and was trading at 11 cents [har, har]Friday morning.

Without giving specifics, SunnComm's original statement indicated that the company had planned to sue Halderman and claim libel or defamation in addition to the DMCA charges. "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," the original statement said. "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."

Sounding slightly bitter, Jacobs blamed reporters for the topsy-turvy week his company had experienced. "You can never underestimate the ability of the press to oversimplify the issue," he said. "It wasn't about the Shift key...It had nothing to do with that. It had to do with reviewing a rabbit when we invented the duck and saying the rabbit didn't work right." [ ]

Jacobs said MediaMax's security system, which he predicted would be adopted by three major record labels by the end of the year, "was designed for the 90 percent of the people out there who would never work around a technology.

"I didn't think that I could get joy; I didn't think I could relieve the problem by suing," Jacobs said. "If you want to call it a mistake, yes, it was a mistake to probably talk about launching some lawsuit. But the reality is you live, you learn--and you try to do the right thing all the time."