CD-copy protection system said to have simple flaw

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-- CD-copy protection system said to have simple flaw

Posted by Fir3start3r on Oct-08-2003 16:43:

CD-copy protection system said to have simple flaw

This just as good as the black marker thing on Celine Dion's CD...lol

quote:

Tuesday October 7, 2:21 pm ET
By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES, Oct 7 (Reuters) - A Princeton graduate student said on 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. (OTC BB:STEH.OB - News) 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.

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 (BERT.UL), 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."

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.

Source

Posted by farley on Oct-08-2003 18:27:

Technology at it's finest

Posted by torontotrance on Oct-08-2003 18:29:

Boy their ideas get better everyday. Jeff knows what I know tho, in Canada I can borrow someone's cd, make a copy of it and it is all legal as long it is for personal use. Gotta love cdn law.

Posted by skip on Oct-08-2003 18:36:

quote:
Originally posted by torontotrance
Boy their ideas get better everyday. Jeff knows what I know tho, in Canada I can borrow someone's cd, make a copy of it and it is all legal as long it is for personal use. Gotta love cdn law.

i think that's the way it is in most countries! it's that way here too!

all these copy protections are a bunch of shit really and are really easy to pass! they should just drop it and make cds cheaper and better available all over, especially all the genres that aren't so well known!

Posted by torontotrance on Oct-08-2003 18:48:

I buy a lot of used cd's because the prices for some cd's are pathetic. I do understand how much it costs to license and get a deejay to do the tracks + promotion and marketing. Some are really expensive, no wonder downloading took off.

Posted by Mr.Mystery on Oct-08-2003 19:14:

quote:
Originally posted by skip
i think that's the way it is in most countries! it's that way here too!

Yeah, but on top of that we can download music legally too

Heh, these copy protecting things don't work anyway - I've been able to rip every single copy protected CD to mp3... I just can't play them on my CD player...

Posted by Maikeru on Oct-09-2003 03:19:

Another way to beat it:

Look at the bottom portion of the CD, notice a ring somewhere in the middle portion of the CD? The outer portion of the CD contains all the Copy Control data, everything inward after the ring is the MUSIC.

Take a small piece of tape and color it black, then apply it from the ring to the outer portion of the CD. Put it in your CD-ROM, and rip away!

Posted by webmeister on Oct-09-2003 13:17:

Read about this on Wired News this morning ... all you can do is laugh really

Posted by Ste on Oct-09-2003 13:23:

isnt that an illegal virus if the cd copies files onto your computer without your consent?