Month: December 2005

  • DRM, Incompatibility, and Market Power: A Visit to the Sausage Factory

    Yesterday Alex wrote about how SonyBMG’s XCP CD copy protection software includes a feature – apparently built on illegally copied open-source code – to translate music files into the FairPlay format used by Apple’s iTunes and iPod, but the feature was not exposed to users. The details are interesting. But equally interesting, I think, is…

  • Hidden Feature in Sony DRM Uses Open Source Code to Add Apple DRM

    For weeks, the blogosphere has been abuzz with tales of intrigue about Sony’s XCP copy protection system. Among the strangest revelations was that XCP itself infringes on the copyrights to several open source software projects. In one case, Sam Hocevar found conclusive evidence that part of XCP’s code was copied from a program called DRMS,…

  • The DMCA Should Not Protect Spyware

    Yesterday was the deadline to submit requests for limited exemptions from the DMCA’s ban on circumvention of access control technologies. This happens every three years. Alex Halderman and I submitted a request, asking for an exemption that would allow the circumvention of compact disk copy protection technologies that have certain spyware-ish features or create security…