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Princeton Student Sued Over Paper on CD Copying

E

evolu

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 10, 2002
232
0
LA la land...
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Three days after a Princeton graduate student posted a paper on his Web site detailing how to defeat the copy-protection software on a new music CD by pressing a single computer key, the maker of the software said on Thursday it would sue him.

In a statement, SunnComm Technologies Inc. said it would sue Alex Halderman over the paper, which said SunnComm's MediaMax CD-3 software could be blocked by holding down the "Shift" key on a computer keyboard as a CD using the software was inserted into a disc drive.

Read the entire article here
 
it wont go in court, how stupid. they are just pissed. but if i was that kid I wouldn't have told either, I would have contacted them and said what will you give me if I don't tell.

iJon
 
SunnComm, which trades on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board, said it has lost more than $10 million of its market value since Halderman published his report.
Click to expand...
Ohhhh, poor baby...
They designed crappy software, and now they blame the kid for finding the shift key??

This DMCA really is the end of free speech...who is harmed (Physically) by finding this stupid information out? I really can't believe that people can't release information on what drivers are in use if they found out by themselves....If I found out, and wanna tell somebody, by free speech, I should be able to tell anyone right (?) without being sued...

Ridiculous...
 
This like suing the consumer advocate that pointed out the obvious, and said that Lawn Darts could maim and kill.

When your product has such an obvious flaw...

Suing the individual, who points it out rather publicly, isn't the cause of your lost market cap.

It's the management who allow the product to proceed to market with such a flaw that's to blame.
 
I think installing software on your computer without knowledge of the owner of the computer should be illegal. What if somebody screws up, and a virus is put on these CD's? That would NOT be fun. In fact, this company would be forever screwed...

I heard that this software also works on MacOS X. Has anybody see it in action, to see how it works? I'm sure it can't install anything in the background without my knowledge. Besides, a quick trip to the terminal, a bit of "su root", and a whole lotta "kill" should do the trick. Uh oh, are they going to sue me now :eek:

they can bite me...
 
Originally posted by G4scott

I heard that this software also works on MacOS X. Has anybody see it in action, to see how it works? I'm sure it can't install anything in the background without my knowledge. Besides, a quick trip to the terminal, a bit of "su root", and a whole lotta "kill" should do the trick. Uh oh, are they going to sue me now :eek:

they can bite me...
Click to expand...
Unless there's a specific version for Mac OS X on the disc there's no way for the software to run on a mac. A mac is not using an x86 processor nor (thank God) windows. AFAIK Mac OS X doesn't autorun CDs anyway. It just mounts them.

I saw a report at the register that the software in question was windows only and mac/Linux etc machines were unaffected.

From my personal experience I have been able to rip every protected CD I've ever bought by simply sticking it in my mac and clicking import in itunes:D
 
Originally posted by tutubibi
"In an abrupt reversal, SunnComm Technologies said Friday that it would not sue a Princeton University graduate student who had published a paper that describes how to bypass CD copy protection technology simply by pressing the Shift key."

http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5089448.html?tag=nefd_top

Too much bad publicity, I guess.
Click to expand...


And they wonder why some of us Consumers are boycotting their products....


-hh
 
I though i saw where the software didn't work on Macs and linux machines.
Originally posted by G4scott
I think installing software on your computer without knowledge of the owner of the computer should be illegal. What if somebody screws up, and a virus is put on these CD's? That would NOT be fun. In fact, this company would be forever screwed...

I heard that this software also works on MacOS X. Has anybody see it in action, to see how it works? I'm sure it can't install anything in the background without my knowledge. Besides, a quick trip to the terminal, a bit of "su root", and a whole lotta "kill" should do the trick. Uh oh, are they going to sue me now :eek:

they can bite me...
Click to expand...
 
they claim they knew about the shift-key workaround, and had only intended the copy-protection as a "speedbump" to piracy.

i'm guessing, in my layman's knowledge of the law, that one of their lawyers finally said "you know this isn't actionable, right? he was pointing out a functionality on people's own computers that's built in..." i loved reading the article this morning, hilarious suit.

pnw
 
Originally posted by 1macker1
I though i saw where the software didn't work on Macs and linux machines.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure it was on /., they said it didn't work on Linux or older mac systems, but I doubt it would work on newer ones either. I mean, with OS X, wouldn't you need to enter a password before any software could install anyway?
 
It doesn't work on Mac OS X or Linux.

They've gone from their 52 week high of $0.50 to $0.11 per share, nearing their 52 week low of $0.02. After hours today, it hadn't recovered any value.
 
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