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

CD copy protection trumped by Shift key :rolleyes:

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- A Princeton graduate student said Monday that he has figured out a way to defeat new software intended to keep music CDs from being copied on a computer -- simply by pressing the Shift-key.

In a paper posted on his Web site late Monday, John Halderman said the MediaMax CD3 software developed by SunnComm Technologies Inc. could be defeated on computers running the Windows operating system by holding down the Shift key, disabling a Windows feature that automatically launches the encryption software on the disc.

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.

Merely a speed bump
Computers running Linux and older versions of the Mac operating system are unable to run the software and are able to copy the disc freely, he said.

The CD in question, Anthony Hamilton's "Comin' From Where I'm From," was released by BMG's Arista label in late September. Music retailers praised the release, which BMG touted as a breakthrough in the industry's efforts to prevent music piracy.

"SunnComm's claims of robust protection collapse, when subjected to scrutiny, and their system's weaknesses are not only academic," Halderman said in the report.

A spokesman for SunnComm was not immediately available to comment on the report. A spokesman for BMG, a unit of Bertelsmann AG , said the company viewed the software as a "speed bump" to prevent mass piracy of the disc.

"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."

Blaming file sharers
Halderman, who has previously done research on CD copy-protection techniques and their effects on consumer sentiment, called the latest protection attempts into question.

"CD copy-prevention schemes that [depend] solely on software, as SunnComm's does, will be trivial to disable, and alternative strategies that modify the CD data format will invariably cause public outcry over incompatibility with legitimate playback devices," Halderman said.

The music industry has blamed piracy and online file sharing services for a prolonged slump in CD sales. Software like that from SunnComm has been seen as a way to slow down the tide of CDs being ripped into digital format and uploaded to the file sharing platforms.

Originally posted by JParuBob
The music industry has blamed piracy and online file sharing services for a prolonged slump in CD sales.

Interesting. I blame a huge wave of really shitty music.

Originally posted by Welby


Interesting. I blame a huge wave of really shitty music.


No! That cant be it! Doesn't everyone just love the boy bands? ;)

Originally posted by Welby


Interesting. I blame a huge wave of really shitty music.
Agreed:rolleyes:

Is suncomm a publicly traded company?

Their stock performance might be kinda funny to watch right now.


How embarassing. :shaking:

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031009/95573_1.html

And he's gettin sued!

isnt illegal to install software on a persons computer with out there knowledge?

I don't think the copy protection would have worked on my PC anyway. I have the autorun feature turned off, which is what holding the shift key does temporarily.

Originally posted by mike
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031009/95573_1.html

And he's gettin sued!

I think if the guy gets a lawyer with half a brain... he'll win.

If I was the judge, I would be throwing the case out with the message to suncomm...


"Let me get this straight, you guys are too fucking stupid to test your software and your upset when in a meer few minutes someone figured out holding the shift key down will defeat it?

In order for your software protection to work you must have assumed everyone on the planet is stupid, just hope to god that people don't realize this and sue your company for slander."

I seriously hope that guy wins out in court. I hope Suncomm goes down the drain for their own stupidity.

man, that's worse than the sharpie hack last year...... :rolleyes:

btw - unless there is a larger article out there.

When did he ever say he was defeating the copy protection to actually copy the CD? I didn't read that in that article.

Originally posted by mike
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031009/95573_1.html

And he's gettin sued!

WTF? its illegal to delete drivers installed on your system by something your purchased?

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 ...'"

am i reading that right? is it saying that you have to have premission and documention of their product to tell people that their product is flawed due to the ease of bypassing their "security" system?

Halderman and Princeton University have significantly damaged SunnComm's reputation and caused the market value of SunnComm to drop by more than $10 million.

:laughing: haha stupid fuckers - serves em right.

1. The author admits that he disabled the driver in order to make an unprotected copy of the disc's contents

well, how else do they plan on him taking advantage of his "fair use" rights? isnt their system a violation of such? meaning - with that software (assuming you couldnt so easily disable it) - can you no longer produce a copy of a CD for yourself? i know lots of people who copy CDs and use the copy while storing away the origional).

Originally posted by TR
isnt illegal to install software on a persons computer with out there knowledge?


Yes.

They can't sue him unless theres some law against FREE SPEECH. :mad:

Originally posted by TR
isnt illegal to install software on a persons computer with out there knowledge?


which begs the question: why doesn't somebody take legal action against SunComm for hiding embedded programs in your music CD? These Music Corporations are going wayyy to far.

an article about him being sued hit CNN today.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/biztech/10/10/bmg.protection.reut/index.html

Originally posted by mike



Yes.

I've thought more about this...

Where is the law?

If it is illegal, why hasn't anyone said anything about the 2 billion pop-ads and tracking software that tend to get covertly loaded on your computer when you aren't looking?

Pop ups and spyware are non-destructive, technically this "security" program limits the use of your computer, so I'd consider it destructive. They claim there's a EULA, which would get them out of it but.... Hell just turn off autorun, it's lame anyway




btw seems the company changed their mind and decided not to sue

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2003/10/10/news/8797.shtml

Seems like they could've said:
"We realized that he's a broke grad student who owes more than he's worth, and it'd just cost us a buncha money to try and screw him, and even if we won, we'd get nothing anyway, so we're not going to bother"

Or maybe:
"Doh! We overstated what our product could do, and somebody found out! We've gotta shut him up quick!"

man these guys are just all OVER the place. :rolleyes.

Firm drops suit against grad's CD hack

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/10/13/media.sunncomm.reut/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- A software company, citing academic freedom, has backed away from a threat to sue a Princeton student who published details on how to thwart its CD copy-protection technology.

Peter Jacobs, the chief executive of SunnComm Technologies Inc. , said Friday the company disputed the conclusion by Princeton student Alex Halderman that its software was "irreparably flawed," but would not pursue the matter because it did not want to chill academic research.

Halderman, who is working on a doctorate in computer science, posted a paper on his Web site earlier this week detailing the ways SunnComm's MediaMax software could be defeated. These included simply holding down the "Shift" key on a keyboard, while loading the disc in to a CD drive.

SunnComm did not contest that finding, but earlier said the paper cost the company more than $10 million in market capitalization.

"R&D is our life," Jacobs said. "It wasn't our intention to strike a blow against research. We sincerely thought that the research was not founded on the premise for which the technology was invented in the first place."

Trying to discourage copiers
Earlier this year, Phoenix-based SunnComm and BMG, a unit of the German conglomerate Bertelsmann AG , signed a deal for BMG to license SunnComm's MediaMax CD-3 copy protection software.

The music industry, faced with slumping CD sales it blames on digital piracy, has actively sought new technologies to cut down on what it sees as rampant copying of compact discs and the sharing of those files online.

In late September, BMG's Arista label released "Comin' From Where I'm From," a CD from singer Anthony Hamilton. It was the first major release using the SunnComm software.

In his Web posting, Halderman also explained how to stop the driver that the MediaMax software installs on a computer when the CD is first played, leaving the user free to copy the disc.

SunnComm said Thursday it would sue Halderman and urge felony charges against him for alleged violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Change of heart
But Jacobs said he had a change of heart.

"I'm looking at the big picture," Jacobs said. "I'm feeling better already. (The research) doesn't dilute our technology at all, nor does it nullify our technology."

Halderman's graduate advisor at Princeton is Ed Felten, a well-known academic who once filed suit against the Recording Industry Association of America after the record industry trade group suggested it would use the DMCA to prosecute Felten for publishing a paper on flaws in an industry-devised digital security system.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has led the charge against the DMCA, also spoke out against SunnComm.

"What more proof do you need that the DMCA is chilling legitimate research?" EFF senior attorney Fred von Lohmann said in a statement.

Drama or comedy?
"In America today, scientists shouldn't have to fear legal action for publishing the truth. Based on the apparent weakness of its technology, perhaps SunnComm should be hiring more Princeton computer scientists, instead of threatening to sue them."

Jacobs, whose company counts the Chinese government as a minority investor, argued the dispute came down to a misunderstanding over the intent of his software.

"The problem was that he declared this an unrepairable flaw and that was the part that really hurt us," he said. "He was reviewing a drama when we were writing a comedy."

Interesting story....

I have a bit o' insight into this industry, given that the co. I work for also owns Technicolor and I do a lot of work for them (largest Mfg. of CDs and DVDs in the world).

The guys that run these co.s are stupid when it comes to tech. Mosly a bunch of back-room deal makers like you'd expect from a mob movie cast.

Wouldn't surprise me if this SunnConn company wasn't owned by someone's brother in law.

The thought that they could sue under the DMCA act is the worst part.

They ain't gonna get true anti-piracy till they go to a new media where its part of the hardware technology.

Originally posted by JParuBob


"The problem was that he declared this an unrepairable flaw and that was the part that really hurt us," he said. "He was reviewing a drama when we were writing a comedy."



I wish someone would ask them to explain their reasoning behind their product not being unrepairably flawed. I mean, any time you use software to protect something, it's inherintly flawed.

Originally posted by Screwzer
Interesting story....

I have a bit o' insight into this industry, given that the co. I work for also owns Technicolor and I do a lot of work for them (largest Mfg. of CDs and DVDs in the world).

The guys that run these co.s are stupid when it comes to tech. Mosly a bunch of back-room deal makers like you'd expect from a mob movie cast.

Wouldn't surprise me if this SunnConn company wasn't owned by someone's brother in law.

The thought that they could sue under the DMCA act is the worst part.

They ain't gonna get true anti-piracy till they go to a new media where its part of the hardware technology.


Then someone will decide they need to be able to record to that media, and then you can drop digital signal to a processor then back to that new media. Yep, secure alright ;)

Originally posted by FourBanger
I don't think the copy protection would have worked on my PC anyway. I have the autorun feature turned off, which is what holding the shift key does temporarily.

So how does one go about turning off the autorun jazz? I hate that damn thing! :mad:

Originally posted by Welby


Interesting. I blame a huge wave of really shitty music.

...and $16 for a .50 CD. Fawk 'em.:mad:

Originally posted by mike
Pop ups and spyware are non-destructive...

Sure they are.:rolleyes:

Originally posted by Drunk tank

So how does one go about turning off the autorun jazz? I hate that damn thing! :mad:

Here. Google is your friend. :D

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/cd_autoplay_pro.htm