Duct tape and DRM
This should be music to Richard Schwartz's ears.At El Reg - Gaffer tape defeats Sony DRM rootkit.
... analyst house Gartner has discovered that the [Sony rootkit DRM] technology can be easily defeated simply by applying a fingernail-sized piece of opaque tape to the outer edge of the disc. This renders session two — which contains the self-loading DRM software — unreadable.
Still see a conspiracy here, Rich?
Category: Coffee and Cats
Technorati: Coffee and Cats
TrackBack From False Positives21/11/2005 18:22:37
When Entertainment Companies Become Gangsters
Chris Linfoot has pointed me to Gaffer tape defeats Sony DRM rootkit (which is not without own it's problems), but really better solutions are a) don't buy their product, and b) disable Windows autorun.
2. Richard Schwartz22/11/2005 02:48:24
Homepage: http://www.rhs.com/poweroftheschwartz
I never should have given you encouragement to describe my take on this as conspiracy. Although I protested that there could be nothing illegal about removing the rootkit, as Bruce Schneier's latest post mentions, DMCA issues may in fact have made it illegal for security companies to continue any efforts toward reverse engineering the rootkit once they realized that it was related to Sony's DRM -- and without doing that reverse engineering they certainly wouldn't have developed a removal kit. Failing to take action due to possibility (or overt threat) of legal action is not conspiracy. Of course, there are those who consider the entire big media copyright cartel to be a conspiracy that bought laws like DMCA.
3. Chris Linfoot22/11/2005 08:16:37
Not your take, Rich. I described Wired's take as a conspiracy theory although you appeared to buy that.
Yes, the DMCA implications of reverse engineering the DRM rootkit may also be an explanation and this highlights an interesting dilemma - how to define when software is malign. There is obvious black and white here but the grey area in between is broader and more murky than anyone previously thought.
4. Mark Gaffer06/03/2007 13:35:51
Homepage: http://www.tapes-direct.co.uk
If you do want to use Gaffer tape , or Gaffa tape to defeat this DRM , may I suggest using high grade gaffer tape , that does not leave a residue , like the ones you can get from http://www.tapes-direct.co.uk. Thanks.
Unable to post a comment? Please read this for a possible explanation...
-