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SunnComm Says Pointing to Shift Key 'Possible Felony'
The Importance of writes "A couple of weeks ago BMG released an audio CD with a new type of DRM. Earlier this week, a computer science graduate student at Princeton wrote a report showing the DRM was ineffective - it could easily be defeated by use of the 'shift' key. The stock of the DRM company (SunnComm) has since fallen by 20%. Now, SunnComm plans to sue the student under the DMCA and claim that SunnComm's reputation has been falsely damaged. According to SunnComm's CEO, '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.'"
told ya
Precedence set by Sklyarov trial.
to see if DMCA really has merit in the courts. This is so nutty its unbelievable.
For gross incompetence... !
:)
Please tell me this is a "Friday FUnny" (ahead of schedule) or something like that...
However it could be a good thing: if the DMCA is used to protect this type of trash, people will see it for what it is and MAYBE the law will be shot down for being too broad by protecting dumb-ass business models.
If the DMCA prevents me from telling someone how to use A BASIC FEATURE OF WINDOWS to prevent malware from being run on my computer, then I'm moving to a different country. (Oh wait, I already did... my VISA ran out!)
MadCow.
I used to have a sig, but I set it free and it never came back.
waaaaaaaaaat? you've got to be shitting me. we need laws shielding scientific research from the dmca.
you too can sue SOMEONE ELSE for a faulty product YOU made.
You just can't make this stuff up folks.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Try telling people that they're not allowed to make copies, or allow copies to be made.
If anyone lets loose with the secret that hearing a request doesn't force one to obey it, sue 'em under the DMCA. After that, anyone who doesn't obey you is obviously using a circumvention device (their brain), which you can have confiscated by the authorities.
Seeing as users of these operating systems can deactivate the DRM by, um, using the operating system, which the student also pointed out, where does use of these OSes stand? Are you not allowed to point out that the system fails to work for anything but Windows (okay, and MacOS X)? I presume not.
I mean really, this was the most retarded DRM scheme I've ever seen. In installs a Windows driver to screw up readback by using a windows Autorun on the CD. They were sufficiently cunning to include a MacOS X driver too. Anyone using anything else won't even notice there's any DRM at all. Bafflingly stupid. And you can disable Autorun can't you? I seem to recall trying to do such things many years ago when I used Windows simply because it was bloody annoying.
Jedidiah
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
DMCA protects "encrypted" data. The audio tracks on the CD are NOT encrypted, they are in the CD(tm) standard format. DMCA not applicable.
Their program installs without permission. Their program causes my CD(tm) player to not read CD(tm) disks. Their program causes my computer to not function and installs without permission. Sounds like a virus.
IANAL but I say coutersue under (Patriot Act?) for computer hacking and virus writing. Point out audio tracks are not encryted therefore not covered under the DMCA.
My IP has been logged I will be contacted by the Department of Homeland Security for questioning the DMCA.
I guess it's time for MS to get sued! Below is for Win 9x, and ME. SUMMARY
This article describes how to disable the feature that allows CD-ROMs and audio compact discs (CDs) to run automatically when you insert them in your CR-ROM drive.
MORE INFORMATION
How to Disable the Feature That Allows CD-ROMs and Audio CDs to Run Automatically
To disable the feature that allows CD-ROMs and audio CDs to run automatically:
Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.
Double-click the CDROM branch on the Device Manager tab, and then double-click the entry for your CD-ROM drive.
On the Settings tab, click to clear the Auto Insert Notification check box.
Click OK, click Close, and then click Yes when you are prompted to restart your computer.
1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
Or look at the files on their system, either:
That's like saying "well, the customer bought the damn horse statue, how dare he bitch about the 100 greek soliders hiding in it".
....that we can only type in lowercase? if the shift key is a DMCA (oops, four counts there) violation, then I guess someone is going to have to make a very large keyboard for standard use...
I think this is one of the few legitimate arguments aganst education - with education, morons like this can run a company, hire lawyers, write legislation (and crappy DRM) and get rich doing it.
I haven't purchased this CD and I don't intend to. If I am correct in my assumption you open the shrink wrap, nowhere on the wrap does it have an EULA. Then you put the CD into your computer, does it pop up an EULA? If not and if it put files on my harddrive then I consider that unauthorized use of my computer. They did not inform me of what the CD would do when put in my computer. Also if they do not have an EULA screen then it is not a criminal act to delete the files that it created or use sysdiff or other tools to audit your system after having run this program. If they wanted this stuff to be secret or protected by law they needed an EULA, otherwise its all fair game. IMO, but that doesn't matter to big brother, or to the carnivore system, or to those people whom say they represent you because you did not vote for them and have a big big fancy property in the "country" in Vermont because they were paid off.
~ryan
If SunnComm protected CDs install drivers that stay system resident (as I gather happens based on what is said in the article), and no mention of this is made on the packaging of the CDs, might that itself be something one could sue over?
Music CDs are not software, and therefore if I insert a music CD into my computer, it should not act like software, nor should it install anything onto my computer without my consent or even a notice it is doing so. I bet the DMCA could be manipulated to sue over THAT.
- MaineCoon
Whose girlfriend recently bought a CD-player/radio for $20 and the Reloaded soundtrack for $15.
Hunt your preferred prey at Aliens vs Predator MUD. Join the war at avpmud.com port 4000
How on earth did someone manage to sell about 250,000 shares for a dollar a piece (that's what it looks like anyways) when the stock is worth a dime.
Don't worry, they couldn't sue themselves (they'd have to borrow even more money). This is a completely pointless threat! Their web site pulls up a disclaimer upon loading that informs you that the company hasn't made any money (probably up to their eyebrows in debt) and they're under their rights not to report to any stock purchasers just how much they've lost until they break even (if ever). The CEO of the company acknowledges that buying their stock is a risk of losing your entire investment in it.
How are they so concerned about their 20% loss in stock value when they warn their own shareholders that they're buying a volatile stock in a company that hasn't made any money and they don't want to tell you how much they've lost and/or owe? What damage exactly has this kid done to their reputation?!? They don't have one!
-Joe
If we're all god's children, what's so special about Jesus? - Jimmy Carr
#include
#include <IANAL.h>
Seems to me this guy can file suit against the US.gov to have the DMCA ruled unconstitutional. He certainly seems to have standing...
The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
I've used a slimjim at least twice to get into my own car.
My wife works at a mall where the guards use them to let owners into their own cars repeatedly (only for mall employees who have registered their vehicle).
Your comparison of slimjim users equaling probably thieves is just as flawed as the record labels assumptions about CDs in computers.
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
Can someone please remind me why this is not a criminal act of sabotage ?
:
1 8_en_2.htm#mdiv3:
Paraphrasing via the Register http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/33298.html
"He found that when the disc was first inserted, it auto-installs a device driver that subsequently interferes with attempts to
copying the songs on the CD.
'"The driver examines each CD placed in the machine, and when it recognizes the protected title, it actively interferes with read
operations on the audio content,'"
From the Computer Misuse Act http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1990/Ukpga_199000
"3.-(1) A person is guilty of an offence if-
(a) he does any act which causes an unauthorised modification of the contents of any computer; and
(b) at the time when he does the act he has the requisite intent and the requisite knowledge.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b) above the requisite intent is an intent to cause a modification of the contents of any
computer and by so doing-
(a) to impair the operation of any computer;"
Unauthorised modification - check.
Impairs the operation of the computer - check.
Requisite intent and knowledge - check.
But it is of course a crime being committed by a large company, so I guess it doesn't really count.....
If anyone can tell me of any CDs that use this technology and are available in the UK, please let me know so that I can report these EvilDoers to the appropriate police department.
"Free software as in beer, copy protection as in racket" - Telsa Gwynne
Pressing the shift key is not a violation of the DMCA. Telling someone to press the shift key is a violation of the DMCA.
But they can't have it both ways -- either pressing the shift key doesn't do a damn thing, in which case the student "falsely damaged" their reputation but did not violate the DMCA, or pressing the shift key breaks their 'copy protection' scheme, in which case he may have violated the DMCA but he did not damage their reputation, their lame product did. But not both.
I hope he countersues them for millions and wins. They have essentially claimed he is an idiot and that his paper is wrong. Well if his paper is wrong then it should be simple to find out by trying to repeat his experiment. I am reasonably certain of the outcome of that. This is a frivolous lawsuit by an idiotic company. They were proven scientifically to be idiots by a scientist and then further exacerbate their idiocy by suing instead of trying to fix their bullshit technology. Idiots!
the funny thing is, is that this ars technica article on the original subject quotes a bmg rep saying that they fully knew that holding the shift key would get people past it...
h tm l
http://arstechnica.com/archive/news/1065630292.
so if they knew it was weak/useless, then why did they release it? And how could they get pissed when someone points out how weak it is???
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms,
I've seen the backwards .sigs, and the "ROT26-encoded" .sigs here, claiming that reading the .sig is a violation of the DMCA. I always thought those were jokes!
But seriously, the greatest threat to the DMCA is friends like this. Every time the public sees the DMCA in action like this, the tide of popular support for repeal or reform will grow. Don't you think we owe SunnComm a debt of thanks for shedding light on the true nature of this abysmal law?
When all you have is an axe, everything looks like a grindstone.
The EFF should have a field day with this one.
... and apparently they are.
. php#000585
http://www.eff.org/news/breaking/archives/2003_10