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Earlier today I mentioned Alex Halderman and his paper (pdf) on the CD protection scheme developed by SunnComm, which can be cracked! yes cracked, by holding down the shift key while putting the disk into your computer. Well, Donna writes that SunnComm is taking legal action against Halderman because he has based his paper on "erroneous assumptions" and because he has violated the DMCA.
"No matter what their credentials or rationale, it is wrong to use one's knowledge and the cover of academia to facilitate piracy and theft of digital property, said SunnComm CEO Peter Jacobs. "SunnComm is taking a stand here because we believe that those who own property, whether physical or digital, have the ultimate authority over how their property is used."
Really? How about the copyright balance, where things like fair use (and the right of first sale) are involved? We are talking about a copy protection that will be sold on lawfully purchased CDs, that users might want to play on their computer CD players. Is it fair use to space shift? While this question has not yet been definitely answered by legislatures and courts, a private company is effectively answering that for us.
More From Donna/Copyfight:
Later: Fred von Lohmann: "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."
Later #2: Ernie Miller @ LawMeme: "I do not know what 'device' Halderman could possibly have been trafficking in, unless they plan to go after him solely under section 1201(a) for actually circumventing such a device (a first as far as I know)."
Later #3: Dan Gillmor: "Plainly, [SunnComm's] aim is to silence any debate over the apparent lameness of its technology. This shouldn't be allowed to stand. I hope the EFF and other organizations will raise a defense fund; I'll contribute."
I decided to call SunnComm directly and complain about their abuse of the First Amendment and academic research: 602-267-7500. While they have the DMCA on their side, does not mean is it right for them to stifle academic freedom or the right to publish. The law is wrong here, as are SunnComm's actions. Where does this leave us if research is squashed, and information such as this just ends up being passed around, from user to user, with no research or writing done on these DRM systems. Where does that leave cryptography research? I am not advocating the mass breaking of laws, as researchers need to be sensitive and professional in their work, but there is something very wrong with the DMCA when this kind of thing happens.
/. discusses. And Alex gets interviewed.
Posted by Mary Hodder at October 09, 2003 02:28 PMSoftware-Level protection was a "dumb idea" to begin with. So far everything Sunn Comm Technologies have developed with Audio CD protection was ineffective and rather simplistic.
In V1 they simply changed the format from audio to data, this simple trick was easily defeated and caused DVD players to reject it.
Once again Sunn Comm was overly confident and didn't take the time like we have to really sit down and invent something, they simply made an auto install software which is rather ridiculous! Surely I had thought of that one before but was wise enough to know how ineffective it would be...thus it was rejected a long time ago.
I think the legal action is out right silly and sun comm should STOP crying over spilt milk...they were lazy, rushed the technology and spent more money on PROMOTION rather than DEVELOPMENT. Any user would have figured this one out, you can't even call it "protection" really.
Sunn Comm GET OVER IT!
We still maintain Audio Lock-Box is the most compatible and secure protection to date, it will go into beta testing early next year.