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DRM Advocate Violates DRM

Posted by Zonk on from the i-don't-like-you-either dept.

Alsee writes "A year and a day after arguing DRM was good for business, acceptable to consumers, and necessary in today's world, JupiterMedia VP and Research Director Michael Gartenberg comes face to face with DRM reality, downloads a circumvention tool, violates DRM, and blogs about his MS Reader DRM issues being solved ... permanently. Perhaps now he would be interested in the EFF Action Center where Americans can quickly and easily ask your Representative to co-sponsor the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act."

33 of 397 comments (clear)

  1. Oh god... by KD5YPT · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... such an irony. Its like advocating for death penalty and finds yourself in a electric chair with the executioner asking you "Medium Rare or Well done?"

    --
    In US, you can easily buy enough major firearms to wipe out your neighbourhood but a few little fireworks are banned.
    1. Re:Oh god... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      From his blog:

      "While DRM is a necessary evil, the notion of not being able to de-activate an older machine with a limited number of installs is user hostile at worst. Good case study for firms on HOW NOT TO IMPLEMENT DRM solutions."

      He appears to hail from the "Medium Rare" school of self-execution.

    2. Re:Oh god... by ZephyrXero · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's funny that he still sees it as a "necessary evil"... How many other problems will he need to face before he realizes just how unnecessary it is? DRM makes suits feel better, but rarely stops people from getting around it.

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
  2. He was right then, and he's right now. by RingDev · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To quote Mike from his original blog last year:

    "Our research shows clearly that DRM is only an issue to consumers when it's technology they keep bumping into."

    That remains true. His problem now w/ the MS DRM is that he's bumping into it. If the DRM was improved so that it would get out of his way, he would still have no issue with it.

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    1. Re:He was right then, and he's right now. by rhizome · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If the DRM was improved so that it would get out of his way, he would still have no issue with it.

      Except that the whole *point* of DRM is to be in the way. What would a DRM system that did not get in the way look like?

      --
      When I was a kid, we only had one Darth.
    2. Re:He was right then, and he's right now. by steelfood · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This begs the question. How does this technology know who you are, and how does it know that you're you. How does a computer differenciate between you loaning something to somebody (a DVD) and making a copy for that person (your ideal DRM would provent you not from making the copy, which would get in the way of people looking to back things up, but prevent your friend from playing your DVD).

      Perhaps your solution is biometrics. But what if you got into a horrible accident and lost that particular part of your body? Your eyes? Your face was disfigured? You lost your fingerprints, fingers, or even the whole arm?

      So what about a unique PGP key? What if you lose or forget it? Do you stop being you? Do you now have no right to any of your stuff because you cannot be identified?

      Any way you cut it, DRM will be intrusive to somebody. And if you justify its existence by saying that person isn't likely to be you, then I think that's a very selfish way of looking at things, and completely inappropriate for application to the rest of the world.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    3. Re:He was right then, and he's right now. by centauri · · Score: 4, Funny

      This begs the question

      No, it doesn't.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Durga.
    4. Re:He was right then, and he's right now. by localman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I hate to just appeal to my own authority here, but even a medium level understanding of technology seems to indicate two things:

      1. Real criminals will always be able to get around DRM
      2. Regular people will always bump into it in some innocent situation

      Let me connect the dots from there: DRM sucks. And it always will. That won't necessarily stop it from becoming mainstream and accepted, just like copyright extention and the stagnation of the public domain, but that doesn't make it right or good.

      Cheers.

    5. Re:He was right then, and he's right now. by RedWizzard · · Score: 4, Insightful
      That is what DRM's should do in my opinion. They don't yet, but hopefully they will.
      They won't because it's not in the content owners interests for DRM to work that way. The content owners want you (or your insurance) to pay for a new copy of everything when the old one is stolen or damaged. They want you to buy separate copies for your car stereo, your home entertainment system, your computer, etc. In fact they'd like you to rent all your content. DRM doesn't quite enforce all that (yet), so it doesn't work entirely the way the content owners would like either, but it's closer to their vision than yours, and it's likely to get worse for the consumer, not better.
  3. teh forumla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    1. force drm down our throats
    2. circumvent drm to do it
    3. ????????
    4. profit!!!

    1. Re:teh forumla by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually for once, the AC's feeble joke is spot on: DRM isn't as much about preventing people from cracking it as it is about having solid grounds to sue infringers.

      DRM's more or less open goal is to prevent "casual theft" in the form of playground CD swapping, but it's much easier to sue someone who took deliberate, non-obvious steps to circumvent a protection than sueing someone who just copied something. For infringers, it takes away the "oops I didn't know it was forbidden" excuse.

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  4. necessary evils by justforaday · · Score: 5, Informative

    Note that he still feels DRM is a necessary evil, just so long as there's a way to circumvent it...

    --
    I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
  5. Just maybe by stratjakt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can be for DRM, but against shitty implementations thereof?

    No wait, that would involve too much thought and judgement. Black and white is so much easier.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    1. Re:Just maybe by Jarnis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How can you have DRM that doesn't get into your way?

      DRM, by design, takes away your ability to access/modify/distribute data.

      Data is, by definition, there to be accessed/modified/distributed.

      There can only be slightly less braindead DRM, and braindead DRM. DRM will ALWAYS get into your way sooner or later (it's designed to do that) - even when you limit your usage to what fair use allows you to do.

    2. Re:Just maybe by Jarnis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You don't seem to get it.

      With computers, when you are accessing the data, you are making a copy of it. If nothing else, you are copying it to the framebuffer of your videocard for display.

      Any 'effective' DRM that tries to prevent you from copying the data will affect your legal, fair-use rights to access the data.

      Until all your own hardware talks to each other and phones home to the DRM makers, there is aboslutely no practical way to DRM something to work only on 'your' hardware. The hardware doesn't know who owns it, and if you are asking for access on multiple hardware platforms, you are asking for copies. One copy = unlimited copies. No matter how you obfuscate, limit or mangle things, it boils down to a simple fact; If you have bunch of data on your hard drive or RAM, in order to do *anything* to that data, you are making a copy of it, and any piece of code designed to prevent that is going to prevent legimate uses (or alternatively the DRM is so weak its irrelevant and you can make unlimited copies)

      The whole idea of DRM is so braindead - until they have DRM code running in your brain, it's always circumventable, and to make it hard to circumvent, it will inevitably get into way of legimate uses, as numerous legimate uses *require* making of copies of the data.

    3. Re:Just maybe by orz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Many (most? all?) DRM advocates also advocate criminal penalties for violating DRM (DMCA, etc).

      If he's a believer in the DMCA and similar laws, he should explain whether or not he believes that he should be jailed for his actions, and why. If he's not a DMCA advocate, he should explain how DRM could work without the force of law backing it.

      But I can't be bothered to read through a years worth of blog to find out if he discusses that issue.

    4. Re:Just maybe by Jarnis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hey, I understand that.

      Problem is, to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the data, you need to prevent huge number of scenarios where you access the data - many of them quite legal.

      The only difference between 'making a warez copy of the data to be distributed for all mankind' and 'making a backup copy in case the original dies' is *intent*. And no DRM can dechiper that.

      There is no way to 'secure' identification of an 'authorized user' to 'unlock' data. Once an authorized user unlocks it legimately, he can make copies (or if he can't, then DRM is in the way).

      I dunno.. for decades we had this analog rights management system called 'the Copyright Law' that ensured that 'talented individuals' got their 'appropriate compensation'. Content business was huge before the term DRM was even invented, so additional protection seems pointless. Now if your business model cannot survive unlimited digital copying, maybe it's time to rethink the business model? Because you cannot possibly prevent it - once you have a digital copy, and you allow an user to access said digital copy, it's possible to make a perfect digital copy of it. It's so fundamental that any DRM is doomed to fail, and on the way there it will piss off paying customers that just wish to legally access the data they paid for.

  6. So can we report him... by Lothsahn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    To the agencies and get him arrested for violation of the DMCA?

    Finally, a GOOD use for the DMCA... putting people behind bars that support the DMCA.

    Mod me flamebait, if you want... but DON'T mod this funny! I'm being serious...

    --
    -=Lothsahn=-
  7. Ugh... by Mad_Rain · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Re-read the comments he made: From the first article, last sentence "DRM is a necessary technology that need not burden consumers, tech vendors or content providers."
    From the second one, last sentence. "Good case study for firms on HOW NOT TO IMPLEMENT DRM solutions."

    He didn't make a 180 degree turn on the issue. He was critical of this particular implementation of DRM (and the general cluelessness of Microsoft tech support when it came to his esoteric issue).

    It's a small step for him in a better direction, perhaps, but he hasn't changed his position from reading those remarks.

    --
    "What do you think?" "I think 'What, do you think?!'"
    1. Re:Ugh... by bani · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem is that virtually ALL DRM is like this.

      It's a small step for him in a better direction, perhaps, but he hasn't changed his position from reading those remarks.

      Yep. He's still an asshole.

  8. How ironic by Flying+Purple+Wombat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The blog entry (TFBE?) highlights a huge problem with DRM schemes. You legitimately obtain a copy of a protected work. Years later, something breaks or becomes obsolute. Now you're screwed, because you can't use the protected work that you paid for. You have two choices: buy another copy, or break the DRM. But the latter makes you criminal under the DMCA.

    This madness has to stop!

    --
    If God had meant for man to see the sunrise, He would have scheduled it later in the day.
    1. Re:How ironic by mellon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually, you may not have the choice of buying another copy. Frequently things go out of print, and there's no reason to assume that this will change in the new age of DRM. The way it will happen will be less likely that they stopped printing it, since "printing" digital media is basically free; rather, what will happen is that the original issuer will go out of business, leaving you in the lurch with not even an avenue of support.

      And if we get really effective DRM, you won't even have the choice of breaking the DRM, because the DRM won't be breakable. The only reason this guy was able to break the DRM was because it was crappy DRM. Which, frankly, is the best kind, because really effective DRM renders the product unrecoverable if the access key is lost.

      I haven't ever broken the DRM on a piece of iTMS music that I've purchased, but one of the things that makes me comfortable in buying iTMS music is that I know the DRM is breakable, so in the event that iTMS goes away, I am not shafted.

  9. Did this guy just break the DMCA? by putko · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Did he just break the DMCA, in a very public way? Or is this not the case.

    It sure looks like the did the sort of thing that folks do, that can get them in huge trouble -- he attempted to circumvent a technological device there to protect Copyright.

    Is he really so dumb as to blog about it?

    --
    http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_s tone_your_children/dt21_18a.html
  10. Re:Interesting Piece of Legislation... by gsfprez · · Score: 4, Insightful

    nice to see its bi-partisan names on the bill.

    Goes to show that evil is not a party line problem; its a congressional whore problem, spanning both parties.

    I hope that this passes. Reasonable R's and D's need to get behind this kind of thing, putting the assholes like Hollings and Hatch out to pasture...

    --
    guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
  11. He still does not get it by Black+Art · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He still supports DRM, but only "good" implementations of it.

    What he does not get is that DRM *has* to be intrusive to work. DRM is based on having someone other than the owner of the machine control the data on that machine. If you want to move that data to another machine, you have to request permission and it had to be hard to get pewrmission, otherwise people will take advantage of you and copy the data more times than allowed.

    DRM is all about control. Control does not work unless you show them who is the boss early on.

    An interesting side effect of this is what it is teaching Americans. It is teaching them that they only way they can do what they want in society on a day to day basis is to break the law.

    Contemptable laws generate contempt for ALL laws.

    Or as Macalypse the Yonger put it...
    "Imposition of order = Escalation of Disorder".

    --
    "Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
  12. Mix, Burn, Rip, why Apple's DRM works... by argent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple's DRM, in the iTunes Music Store, is hardly there at all. It's "nudge nudge wink wink" DRM, it's "honor system" DRM. They should call it "digital rights hinting". Apple's old "Rip, Mix, Burn" ads pretty much tell you how to remove DRM from their files, if you're not prepared to use any of the widely-available HYMN variants. Just... change the order a little. Yeh, you take a one-time hit in the audio quality... but if you care about audio quality why aren't you buying and ripping CDs instead of lossy-compressed files anyway?

    DRM is acceptable when it's just strong enough to remind you that this isn't freely redistributable content, but not strong enough to actually prevent you from breaking it when you need to.

    That's what Microsoft doesn't get. That's what Michael Gartenberg doesn't get. Strong DRM will inevitably screw you over. If Apple used strong DRM in iTunes I'd have been really pissed when I ran out of authorizations due to a bad disk that forced me to reinstall my OS a couple of times... because even though Apple was willing to reset all my computers AGAIN, it took a while, and having all my music burned onto audio CDs meant it wasn't actually held hostage by the DRM...

    That's why Apple's DRM works. Because it doesn't. If it did, it wouldn't.

  13. So if I read the article right... by Hawthorne01 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Good DRM = Good. Don't try to go around it, that's bad.

    Bad DRM = Bad. It's good to circumvent it if you need to.

    Um, so who gets to decide what's good and what's bad?

    In the words of Homer, "Ummn, I don't know, the Coast Guard?"

    --
    "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
  14. I hope he goes to jail... by kilonad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I sincerely hope that someone, somewhere, takes him to court over this. It would publically shed light on how ridiculous the DMCA really is, and we'd have a better chance at fighting it. Or we'd at least have a precedent set that allows us to crack things we legally own.

  15. DRM Needs to happen by takeya · · Score: 4, Interesting

    DRM needs to become commonplace so that companies can see it doesn't work. Once cracks and cracking tools become widespread enough that one Joe Average can say to another "oh you just need to download this program and it will work ok" it will become apparent that DRM in any usable form is able to be circumvented.

    Once DRM becomes nearly useless, the incentive to include it with products declines, and we begin to see more and more DRM-free software. Even though we can see it's useless, the computer world needs to make these mistakes so it can learn from them and hopefully, not repeat them.

    1. Re:DRM Needs to happen by Frank+T.+Lofaro+Jr. · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It did way back in the day, with copy "protected" floppies. And then abandoning it, and using more copy "protection" and abandoning it, etc.

      The computer world keeps learning, and then forgetting.

      Perhaps some needs to give free Ritalin to IT industry execs.

      --
      Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
  16. Re:Can't have your cake and eat it too... by maxpublic · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He even says in his blog that this is a terrible implementation of DRM.

    And that's exactly where he should've stopped. If he were at all consistent he would've exercised his right to free speech on the matter but never have tried to crack the DRM.

    Unfortunately this moron believes that HE gets to be the one who decides whether or not some subset of DRM is 'good', and if it doesn't meet HIS standards then it's okay to crack it. He's essentially said that his own personal beliefs supercede the law and are justification for breaking that law.

    This makes him no different than any other 'pirate' out there, just a little slicker at convincing people that what he's doing is actually okay.

    Max

    --
    My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
  17. Re:DRM support good. DRM on consumer product bad. by Jarnis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "This enables me to do things like, for example, prepare a confidential document, send it to someone, and have it NOT be copyable."

    What you describe is fundamentally impossible to do.

    You can wrap it with ten tons of DRM Snake oil, but if the recipient can read it, it can be copied. Accessing = copying.

  18. Re:Interesting Piece of Legislation... by Chasuk · · Score: 4, Informative

    And, thanks to Google cache, here is the link to the program he used:

    http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

    --
    Neopets - the best free game on the Int