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Sony's New Nagging Copy Protection

Posted by Zonk on from the annoying-your-customers dept.

bort27 writes "You can put away your Sharpies, because Sony has launched a new CD copy protection scheme that is actually designed to be easily cracked: 'The copy-protection technology is...far from ironclad. Apple Macintosh users currently face no restrictions at all. What's more, if users go to a Web site to complain about the lack of iPod compatibility, Sony BMG will send them an email with a back door measure on how to work around the copy protection.'"

9 of 404 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting... by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 5, Interesting


    So...they've figured out they're not going to stop dedicated music pirates.
    So instead of making the copy protection stronger, they're making it weaker?

    Ostensibly, this is to stop 'schoolyard piracy' (as if your average 'schoolboy/girl' can't rip tracks to MP3), but I'm seeing a slightly darker angle here...hold on...

    <tinfoil-hat>

    OK. Here we go:

    1. Sony makes copy-protection weaker, while making 'speed bump' obstacle to 'schoolyard piracy'.
    2. Correspondingly, more people turn from 'schoolyard piracy' to 'actual piracy'.
    3. RIAA suddenly has many more viable targets
    4. ???
    5. Profit!

    </tinfoil-hat>

    Whew...wearing that thing sure makes you paranoid...but does it make you paranoid enough?
    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

  2. ok... by Chewbacon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So if you complain about it, they'll tell you how to get around it? Why bother hindering at all?

    --
    Chewbacon
    The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
  3. The sad part... by CyberSnyder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...is that while the copy protection sucks, we're paying for it in the form of passed on costs from Sony.

  4. If you use the back door you are given... by vrimj · · Score: 5, Interesting

    what are the legal implications? Your still getting around a copy protection scheme, presumably Sony couldn't sue you, but what about potential criminal penelties?

  5. Let's just hope.... by Himring · · Score: 5, Funny

    Let's hope they don't start making condoms....

    --
    "All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
  6. its a trojan horse by vingilot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They want people to accept DRM, this time its easy to crack-- first hit is free. Next time though...

    call me paranoid

    Jonathan

  7. Sing it with me - D. M. C. A. by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sony makes copy-protection weaker, while making 'speed bump' obstacle to 'schoolyard piracy'.

    Stop right there. This is the entire strategy.

    They're making copying their CD a matter of circumventing an encryption device which is a felony under the DMCA. There's guaranteed to be some encryption in this scheme somewhere, even if it's not the actual data tracks that are encrypted. Perhaps some meta information.

    No matter, they're taking illegal copying of a CD from copyright infringement to a felony for easier / more terrorizing prosecution. Pragmatically, that's the only way they're going to be able to enforce artificial scarcity in this market.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  8. Re:backdoor by Steve_Jobs_HNIC · · Score: 5, Funny

    up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start.

  9. Re:Sony Assumes too Much by tuffy · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Do you feel the same way about security tags in shops?

    I would if I had to keep the tag on even after I've bought the item.

    --

    Ita erat quando hic adveni.