Newest Audio CD DRM Proves Ineffective 703
The Importance of writes "As noted previously, a couple of weeks ago BMG released a new CD by Anthony Hamilton that included DRM. Slashdot readers speculated that the system wouldn't work. Now there is a report proving it doesn't work by Alex Halderman, a graduate student at Princeton's computer science department and the author of an earlier, definitive report (PDF, HTML version) on first generation CD copy protection. Famed computer scientist Ed Felten asks: "Is this the end of the road for CD copy protection?" His answer? "It ought to be.""
For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
1. Click the Start button and select Control Panel from the Start Menu.
2. Double-click on the System control panel icon.
3. Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
4. Configure Device Manager by clicking "Show hidden devices" and "Devices by connection," both from the View menu.
5. Insert the Anthony Hamilton CD into the computer and allow the SunnComm software to start. Observe that the SbcpHid device driver is added to the Device Manager list when MediaMax runs for the first time.
At this point you can attempt to copy tracks from the CD with applications like MusicMatch Jukebox or Windows Media Player. Copies made while the driver is active will sound badly garbled, as in this 9-second clip [10].
Next, follow these additional steps to disable MediaMax:
1. Select the SbcpHid driver from the Device Manager list and click "Properties" from the Action Menu.
2. Click the Driver tab and click the Stop button to disable the driver.
With the driver stopped, you can verify that the same applications copy every track successfully.
And oh, yeah, this work is a blatant DMCA violation.
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
This prevents the SbcpHid driver from being installed in the first place.
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:5, Funny)
Cheers from Germany!
you have just violated the dmca1111 (Score:5, Funny)
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:5, Interesting)
How to turn off autoRun and autoPlay (Score:3, Informative)
Copied straight from MS:
Make sure that the AutoPlay feature is enabled in the registry:
Click Start, and then click Run.
Type regedit, and then click OK.
In Registry Editor, locate the following registry key:
In the right pane, go to step g if the value for Autorun is 1.
If the value for Autorun is 0, right-click Autorun, and then click Modify.
In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, type 1 under Value data, and then click OK.
A value of 0xb
Linux is a DMCA violation? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Proof: stronger version of DMCA is needed! (Score:5, Insightful)
This doesn't matter. Who cares if you lock out all those people that aren't technically savvy enough to really use their computers to begin with? These people probably couldn't figure out how to even get on Kazaa anyway.
If you can't even lock out those who know well enough to use the shift key, or to simply disable auto-run to begin with (as the author rightly points out many people have already done), then there is absolutely no hope of keeping this music off of file-sharing networks, or out of black-market pirate CD rings. All this is doing is locking out people who don't need to be locked out, and keeping the music easily accessible to those who (in the record industry's eyes) do need to be locked out. It is therefore completely ineffective and arguably counterproductive.
In fact, it's no better than the pen trick on the old schemes. I mean, if you didn't read Slashdot or CDfreaks or whatever, you'd have had no idea that that worked either. The average consumer probably still knows nothing of the pen trick. But the fact that people who generally do a lot of copying did find out about it made that copy protection method completely useless to the record labels. The whole point is to stop people from copying (and sharing), not to punish those who just want to listen to their CD's (much as it seems otherwise so much of the time).
About the only good thing I could see coming out of this (for the record industry) is a conditioning among average consumers to begin to accept DRM. Over a long period of time, that may change prevailing attitudes among the public. But it won't stop people from copying that want to copy and know anything at all about PC's, which has to be the end goal of all this in the minds of the RIAA and their cohorts.
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
Or just hold down the shift key when you put the disc in and the autorun won't install their mediamax trash to begin with.
Or do what I do. Just get TweakUI and prevent autorun for CDs to begin with. It is quite useful when you don't want your new game or whatever to autorun its installer when you put the disc in.
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:5, Funny)
Please stop what you're doing and call your local BSA office. The product you're using did not come with a box and is therefore pirated. Stay where you are and remain calm. The police will arrive shortly.
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:3, Informative)
Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CURRENTCONTROLSET/SER
Change the variable Autorun from 1 to 0 to disable
Change the variable Autorun from 0 to 1 to enable
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:5, Funny)
1. Insert CD into drive
2. Start grip, CDDB info retrieved automatically
3. Select All Tracks and then press "Rip + Encode" button
But Windows is easier to use because, well, because it just *is*, that's all!
Re:For the iMac it's only 2 steps: (Score:5, Funny)
1). Insert CD into drive
2). Take iMac into tech support, so they can "extract" the cd that is now jammed in your computer.
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:3, Funny)
Maybe the latest version of WineX will support the SbcpHID driver.
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:4, Insightful)
Are you sure? I don't see this as reverse engineering. I see it as troubleshooting a broken computer.
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
Run -> gpedit.msc -> computer configuration -> administrative templates -> system
In the right pane, double-click "Turn off autoplay" and set to enabled.
Auto-running CDs is a security problem waiting to happen.
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:5, Interesting)
As a Mac user, let me just say that my "virus immune" platform has already been bitten by this. One of the few pieces of malware in the wild that was Mac-compatible was exploiting the equivalent functionality on the platform; it was known as the Autostart Worm. It was an embarassment for Apple and some publishing houses, and eventally showed up on some shipping commercial CDs. Since then, Mac users have disabled the functionality using the QuickTime control panel/system pref pane.
not necessarily (Score:4, Insightful)
Even under the bullshit of the DMCA, one has the right to reverse engineer or bypass copy protection schemes to excersize his fair use rights.
The exception of course, occurs when one is a minor in a foreign nation that has extradition agreements to the USA.
Aphex (Score:5, Funny)
That's not garbled, that's the Aphex Twin mix!
Quick! Someone prosecute Microsoft .. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:For those too lazy to RTFA (Score:4, Informative)
More than a handful of windows games require administrator access to run (not to install, to RUN).
To which one would reply 'well make a separate account for playing games'. To which I would reply 'with a mindset like that, no wonder Linux may never make it to the desktop of the average person.'
It wont matter (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It wont matter (Score:2, Insightful)
Too many good independent artists out there sharing their music for free (the way music should be) for me to waste money on the overplayed used up lyrics and sounds we've been hearing over and over again... This seems to go in hand with why I run a Linux OS and play free games and use free office-suite's instead of spending hundreds of dollars...
Software/music/movies, should be free - hardware/concerts/theaters shou
Re:It wont matter (Score:2)
Too many musicians don't perform in order for that to be fair. Particularly composers of electronic music, in which the music cannot be 'performed' live and is most often used in DJ sets at 'concerts'. Maybe some of the money dance clubs make should go to the musicians who had songs in the set mixed by the DJ, but it seems unlikely that that will be enforcable without the physical presense of the musicians (or reprasentatives) at the club the music is played at; hardly a pra
Huh (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah and 64k should be enough for anyone.
Re:Huh (Score:5, Funny)
Quotes are used to make people laugh, not to win at Trivial Pursuit. His quote was quite humorous. Who cares if Billy G didn't really say it? Who cares if it's not quoted verbatim?
Honestly dude, Bill Gates trivia does not magnify the size of your penis.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Okay, let's wager. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Okay, let's wager. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Okay, let's wager. (Score:2)
I have $10 on this guy being contacted by the FBI and IRC lawyers with illegal gambling and tax evasion references by the end of the day. Any takers?
I'll take your bet, (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Okay, let's wager. (Score:2)
yes.
amazing shift key kung fu.. (Score:3, Funny)
sheesh..
It is amazing that anyone was even worried about this..
however, if microsoft gets in the bios and disables the shift key... "they don't need a shift key" you can bluescreen on boot and probably get around it by pressing the windows key.
Report (Score:5, Funny)
Now there is a report proving it doesn't work
No doubt written with a Sharpie pen.
Defeated by disabling autorun! (Score:2, Redundant)
Illegal shift keys! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Illegal shift keys! (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I love the text on the CD.. (Score:2)
Re:I love the text on the CD.. (Score:5, Funny)
Words change meaning when you translate from English to Marketing. :)
I can think of some other stuff to enhance (Score:2)
MPAA: same story!
SCO: ditto!
Re:I love the text on the CD.. (Score:2)
When an audio CD installs a driver (Score:5, Interesting)
No audio CD should be installing *ANYTHING* on my PC, unless I'm aware of it at first.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:When an audio CD installs a driver (Score:2)
I've lived without buying a CD for over 6 months now. My boycott of the RIAA has been going good, particularly as I feel more and more that CDs are a ripoff compared to DVDs.
Re:When an audio CD installs a driver (Score:3, Insightful)
END?? (Score:4, Funny)
It only *seems* like it doesn't work... (Score:3, Redundant)
See, DRM does work when you make it illegal to point out where it is weak.
disable autorun for this disk... (Score:2)
Re:disable autorun for this disk... (Score:2)
From the article:
Re:disable autorun for this disk... (Score:2)
CD DRM is impossible (Score:3, Interesting)
If you ever think you succeeded, you've failed anyway because you violated the standards that define a Compact Disc... you've got a CD-like piece of plastic that just might play in some CD players, but you will not have a CD.
Re:CD DRM is impossible (Score:2)
Not aimed at the clueful... (Score:2)
Disable device driver
Show hidden devices
blah blah blah
Re:Not aimed at the clueful... (Score:3, Interesting)
"Hey...I guess we can't do this."
How many people do you know who are still stymied by DVD/VCR Macrovision copy"protection"?
Re:Not aimed at the clueful... (Score:5, Insightful)
then: "I wonder if I can download the song off kazaa"
At which point he spends about 30 seconds searching for the song, which some more technologically clued in person has kindly made available.
Users don't grok shift keys and drivers and EULA's. They do grok kazaa however.
Re:Not aimed at the clueful... (Score:2)
All it deters is the average joe ripping it to their hard drive. (Which by the way is legal). Anyone willing to download it from kazaa, probably will anyway. Thus whether or not they could rip it themselves, seem moot.
Relying on Autorun, that's moronic. (Score:5, Insightful)
The Mac got hit pretty hard with an autorun virus that ended up shipping on many cd's. As a result many Mac users disabled this in OS 9, and I believe OS X has it disabled by default.
This might be effective on most windows home computers whose owners don't change the default setting, but I'm wondering how long before that driver gets infected with a virus....
Re:Relying on Autorun, that's moronic. (Score:5, Insightful)
Not to mention really fucking annoying.
Re:Relying on Autorun, that's moronic. (Score:3, Funny)
(Trojan horse: software that does what it says it does, but has an unwanted secret hidden inside. You don't discover this until after you've let it inside the city gate.)
copy protection (Score:5, Funny)
Follow this pseudo-proof
Step 1: Release a CD by Anthony Hamilton
Step 2: Put new copy protection on it
Step 3: Nobody copies the cd "illegally"
Step 4: QED. The copy protection works
Re:copy protection (Score:2)
Stolen from a rap artist, but still appropriate
Anthony Hamilton couldnt sell two cds if he pressed a double album
Re:copy protection (Score:2)
figure out a way to shorten it without ruining the message (its already shortened)
Wow, it's as if they didn't even try... (Score:4, Redundant)
So if you hold shift, disable autorun, or run an OS that doesn't do autorun, the CD might as well have no copy protection whatsoever.
This is about as effective as putting a sticker on the front that says 'Pretty please do not attempt to extract data from this CD on your computer'.
I wonder how much money this company got for their incredibly secure DRM system...
Re:Wow, it's as if they didn't even try... (Score:5, Interesting)
Gotta wonder, why hasn't the RIAA tried putting little "Do's and Dont's" pamphlet in CDs? I mean, seriously, the RIAA has done *nothing* to educate people about what's legal and what isn't. This is why people are appearing in court with a surprised expression on their faces. If the RIAA, ages ago, had insisted that record labels put little pamphlets in their CD's saying "please don't copy and give to a friend", then their stance would be a little easier to handle.
The RIAA says their problems are because everybody's a thief, I say the RIAA's problems are a direct result of their own ignorance. At least the movie industry is smart enough to put a list of don't on every movie. Interestingly enough, there aren't as many DVD rips out there.
similar methods (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:similar methods (Score:2)
Re:similar methods (Score:2)
The layman's way around any DRM (Score:3, Redundant)
pick one (Score:5, Interesting)
So if the CD fails to remain usable through normal wear and tear, does that put the publisher in breach of contract? They've effectively granted me a license that they are going to renege on should the physical media degrade.
They've got to make up their minds! Is it a physical good, or a digital good? Did I buy a license and the CD was just a nice way for them to fulfill their promise that I'm licensed to use the content? Did I buy a plastic disc (for $15) which I'm free to do with as I please?
Re:pick one (Score:2)
This is one reason why software copy protection never worked. People who didn't want to pirate software still wanted a program to defeat it so they could make a backup.
Re:pick one (Score:3)
Are you a troll? At least in the US, you absolutely have fair use rights, which include parody, archiving, and excerpts for exemplary or non-commercial purposes.
Try reading the law [cornell.edu] before telling people what rights they don't have.
What's more, you have every right [cornell.edu] to get together with friends and make tape copies or digital copies of music on digital audio recording equipment.
Re:pick one (Score:3)
Before posting again, read This - The Audio Home Recording Act [virtualrecordings.com]. Short short version - not only do you fully have the right to duplicate the copyrighted material, YOU PAY FOR that right if you ever buy blank CDs.
It was a nasty little piece of legislation the RIAA cooked up that let them directly tax the sales of blank CDs, while granting us nothing but copying rights the courts had already said we had. Luckily, the law I
Defense != right (Score:3, Interesting)
if we have an established right to do something (namely copy the cd for backup/personal use)
We never had a right. Instead, we had (and have) a partial defense. Fair use (17 USC 107 [cornell.edu]) is a defense, home copying of computer programs (17 USC 117 [cornell.edu]) is a defense, and home copying of sound recordings (17 USC 1008 [cornell.edu]) is a defense. Where do you see some affirmative "right" in any of the three sections I linked to? All I see is "not an infringement." An act can be "not an infringement" but still a prohibited "circum
Don't /. the poor Princeton servers... (Score:2, Informative)
Several recent news reports (AFP [1], Washington Post [2], USA Today [3], AP [4], Arizona Republic [5], LA Times [6], CNet News [7]) describe a new copy-prevention method that has been applied to an album by Anthony Hamilton released by BMG on September 23. This system, called MediaMax CD3, was created by SunnComm Technologies, the producers of the first-generation copy-prevention system MediaCloQ. Discs manufactured with SunnComm's new technique include two versions of the music, each protec
Re:Don't /. the poor Princeton servers... (Score:2)
Lets run the numbers shall we (Score:4, Insightful)
Uh huh, sure it is... (Score:2)
Right, dont think we dont see through your shenanigans, mr. hamilton. Changing around a few letters in your name wont disguise your real identity..we're on to you!
It will never work (Score:4, Insightful)
There will never be any copy protection scheme that will work.
If you can listen to it, you can copy it by just connecting the output to the input for another device.
Unless they make it so that nobody can listen to it, copy protection is an exersise in futility.
Oh for crying out loud (Score:5, Insightful)
What it's supposed to do is limit casual piracy. Make it tougher for the average slob to make a copy with the EZ-CD Copier that shipped with his Dell and give it to his buddies. That's it. Most folks would just give up if it didnt work the first time they tried, they aren't going to jump through any hoops, scribble on it with a sharpie, open up a hex editor, solder a mod-chip into their player, run a distributed cracking engine to decode it, whatever. It sure as hell has nothing to do with preventing some geek from leaking it on the 'net.
That's a *large* chunk of the sales they actually lose. Bob Magoo who gets a copy from his buddy Turd Ferguson because he's too lazy or cheap to run down to Wal-Mart and get his own.
So just friggin relax already, and dont be so proud of yourself that you figured out how to "hack" the technical equivalent of the safety pin that keeps a babies diaper in place.
Re:Oh for crying out loud (Score:3, Interesting)
Bundling Extras (Score:5, Informative)
An interesting New York Times article today about exactly this can be found here [nytimes.com]. The article even mentions a band that includes a PlayStation 2 game on a DVD with their CD. Which just goes to show that CD prices have absolutely no relationship with marginal costs.
Note they didn't do this with a Brittany Spears CD (Score:2, Insightful)
Microsoft violates DMCA (Score:3, Insightful)
To Disable CD autoplay, completely, in Windows XP Pro
1) Click Start, Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC
2) Go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System.
3) Locate the entry for Turn autoplay off and modify it as you desire.
Turns out Microsoft has been shipping a circumvention device all these years. Anyone who lets a cd run whatever it pleases is a fool anyway.
Can you help me with cassette I have? (Score:3, Funny)
Headlines I'd like to see (Score:2)
"DRM still useless."
"Music companies still don't get it."
"Consumers still buy stuff."
It's a good article and definitely worth a read just to understand how incredibly unsophisticated the people implementing this DRM stuff actually. Anyone with a passing interest in how computers actually work could have defeated this piece of shit.
What scares me is that the media companies probably did field testing and found that 98% of Joe Public was unable to defeat the DRM measures
That's why i get my music from.... (Score:5, Informative)
I believe they were mentioned a little while ago, but they're the
"We're a record company, but we're not evil" people.
Seriously. Asside from a few artists I absolutely love, I have started getting my music fix from mp3.com and magnatune. If you're gonna listen to them though, please do help them out financially. It takes a lot of bandwidth to stream mp3s.
Copy right law says (Score:2)
If you do not exercise your rights you will loose them (or at least not know when they were lost).
MediaMax announces a high-security lock (Score:2)
It's just a standard lock, but, you see, the thing is, you leave it unlocked, and it comes with a hook for you to hang the key next to the door, and a placard that says "To enter, insert key in lock and turn key counterclockwise."
Unanswered Questions (Score:3)
1) Does the software ask your permission to install the device driver that mungs your ripped tracks? Note that there are two pieces of software on the CD: one that uses a device driver to prevent a CD ripper from getting a copy of the track onto the computer, and another that controls the DRM on the WMA files. The author didn't use the latter because it required accepting a EULA, but the former he obviously was able to test. Thus I suspect that it doesn't ask you, however it's possible that it does but doesn't require acceptance of a EULA. I doubt that, however.
2) Are the tracks rippable in Linux? Obviously the WMA wouldn't be, as they require software to handle the DRM. But without the drivers, the tracks on the CD appear to be rippable in Windows, and thus I assume, also in Linux or any other OS that doesn't run Windows code.
3) If (2) is true, then how long until Linux is considered to be circumvention software?
4) Does the EULA include a provision preventing you from bypassing the device driver?
Not really news... (Score:2)
The questions are:
Will consumers realize the difference between CDs and non standard discs?
Will the media, and ultimately the RIAA, realize any such attempt is guaranteed to fail uness the hardware can be fully controlled?
What does it take for these people to realize it's a losing battle?
Once again the wagon of DRM has been rammed off the road by the candletruck of innovation.
Sad, yet refreshing. (Score:4, Funny)
Too bad they aren't as endearing as the penniless former aristocrats who were more or less kept as pets by the wealthy after World War One swept away most of the European monarchies. Watch for them in any old B&W movie that features millionaires and mansions. There's always a Count or a Baron or a Duchess at the dinner table. In a few years, after the recording industry is gone, maybe every fashionable Silcon Valley party will include a Geffen or a Rosen.
Audio Recording Quality (non-digital) (Score:2)
He filters out pop and hiss to come up with his own masters that sound even better than the digital remasters you buy in the stores.
That, my friends, is why these attempts with copyright infringing DRM software will never work.
Yes, DRM *IS* copyright infringing. It blocks me from my right to make legal copies. It is they who are breaking the laws not I.
John Q Public (Score:3, Insightful)
P2P. He asks his friends, they set him up with a client. He has some respect for copyright, but his practical interest takes over, and he grabs the album off P2P. But now he has a client installed, so he's only three clicks and a sacrifice of morals (against a company that just screwed him) away from further downloading.
The moral of the story? DRM limitations fuel P2P. This story depends on a portable player that doesn't do WMA, but there are many other inconveniences. What if he doesn't use Windows or Mac (that's me)? What if he's an audiophile who can hear the difference between WMA and FLAC?
Besides, the article says you can burn the tracks a limited number of times. That's right, without any circumvention at all, the DRM is totally ineffective! I haven't checked, but I'm willing to bet the music is all over the P2P networks. DRM is completely worthless: if there were any competition (there isn't), the idea would have died years ago.
Legal liability? (Score:3, Interesting)
Shot in the foot (Score:4, Funny)
Good thing it doesn't work! (Score:3, Interesting)
Show of hands: How many of you were so pissed off by this that your first thought was "I'm going to immediately RIP this CD and share it with the world!" Could it be possible that BMG's strategy may backfire, and make the tracks even more widely available?
What did you do? (Score:3, Informative)
The page now shows this "Several sources brought a flaw in this paper to my attention. I'm presently revising it to reflect this new information. -- J A Halderman"
Just one question... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Who the hell is Anthony Hamilton? (Score:2)
Since they invented the genre. I know the point you're trying to make but it's a moot one. Go ahead, name any non african american R&B or rap artist and I will name 100 that are.