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Encryption Security Media Music Your Rights Online

SunnComm Reconsiders Lawsuit Threat 258

Posted by michael from the shift-keys-now-a-okay dept.
The Importance of writes "SunnComm, which yesterday had threatened to sue Alex Halderman for writing a report critical of SunnComm's MediaMax CD3 DRM technology, has now backed off that threat. 'I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research,' SunnComm's CEO Peter Jacobs said."
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SunnComm Reconsiders Lawsuit Threat More

SunnComm Reconsiders Lawsuit Threat

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  • Haha, nice save! (Score:5, Funny)

    by 2nd Post! ( 213333 ) <gundbear.pacbell@net> on Friday October 10, 2003 @12:45PM (#7184186) Homepage
    By coincidence he also didn't figure out he didn't have much chance of winning *anything*, financial or otherwise, did he?
    • If you read the article, you'll see that he honestly gave this as the reason for droping the lawsuit.

  • I don't know what's scarier: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by GMFTatsujin ( 239569 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @12:48PM (#7184210) Homepage
    The fact that he could bring the lawsuit up at all, or the fact that he thought he could WIN.

    "I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research," Jacobs said.

    If I may submit an idea, sir, if you really want to avoid chilling effects on research through this law, perhaps you could bring the challenge to court anyway, and then lose. That would set a precident.

    Hell, you wouldn't even have to get a good lawyer. In fact the worse a lawyer you get, the more benficial it'll be in the long run. Think it over?
    GMFTatsujin
    • Do you expect any less out of a company that makes a product that requires NO technical expertise to defeat?

      Could mismanagement (ie: wasting millions on crap DRM like this) be as much or more to blame for the RIAA's woes as P2P?
      • Yeah, I definitely think anytime a company wastes money on an inheritenly defective product such as this - it can't be a good thing for their bottom line. Funny how you don't hear about that stuff though when they talk about their decreasing profits all the time...
      • I'm no psychology major (but I'm sure that those of you who are can back me up. Or flame me.)

        Harsh DRM is destined to fail. Not for the fact that it's badly engineered, but for the fact that people don't like to be told what to do.

        Telling people to not to do something makes them want to. Trying to take away their ability to makes them mad, and try even harder.

        The reason harsh (as opposed to all DRM) will fail, is that the harder companies try and destroy consumer rights (and yes, I do believe that th

      • Do you expect any less out of a company that makes a product that requires NO technical expertise to defeat?

        I felt kinda bad for SunnComm when I heard about this. They tried so hard to develop an undefeatable DRM system, and the company that tested it for them verified that it was impervious to any sort of attack.

        When it got released into the wild, half the world would never notice that the DRM ever existed, and the other half can disable it by holding down one key.
    • I agree with this. There goes our perfect test case for proving the DMCA is have chilling effects on free speach rights.

  • Public Suicide (Score:3, Interesting)

    by blunte ( 183182 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @12:49PM (#7184231)
    You gotta wonder if their latest decision had anything to do with the 50,000 (guess) emails they received from people like me warning them what public suicide it would be to do that...
    • The crack wore off.

      See, if they just said "Yeah, we were high on crack at the time" then the public could just go "Oohhh," nod knowingly and get on with things. I notice that there's a lot of crack flowing in corporate America these days...

  • I think his quote read more like... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Sebby ( 238625 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @12:50PM (#7184239)
    "I don't want to be beaten to a bloody pulp by students, researchers, and geeks!!"

    Still, would've been fun to see a judge laugh their case out the courtroom.

    • "I don't want to be the guy that gets laughed out of court for trying to stop users from hitting the SHIFT key".

      Seriously, it doesn't take a genius to work out that:

      a) the "protection" mechanism was going to be easy to circumvent; and
      b) once the circumvention was common knowledge, the "protection" mechanism was going to be useless.

      Now if the circumvention method involved something a little more difficult than pressing one single key (or disabling autorun) then he might have something to go to court about
    • "I don't want to be beaten to a bloody pulp by students, researchers, and geeks!!"

      Students, researchers, geeks and what army?

  • I'm disappointed.. .sorta (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Whammy666 ( 589169 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @12:50PM (#7184242) Homepage
    I would have liked to see this go to trial with the aid of the EFF. It would have made an excellent test case challenging the stupidity contained in the DMCA.

    On the other hand, I'm glad the kid isn't going to get shafted by this.
    • Not just the EFF. According to this [cnn.com] from CNN, the students advisor is Ed Felten. This could bring serious clout and backing from a number of organizations to his aid. It also lends a good deal of legitimacy in the public eye, with regard to his motives in conducting this research.
    • It seems plausible to me that SunnComm's CEO had a sit-down with the DMCA proponents where they informed him to cease any pursuit of legal action involving the DMCA, since they're afraid that putting a weak case against it could result in a court throwing out the entire Act, and thereby jeopardize their ability to contnue to threaten others/hide behind/abuse it to their benefit.
  • I'm still waiting on those fucks who bought Emusic to change their minds about running it in to the ground.

    One 180 by music industry idiots deserves another...

  • From the article: "I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research," Jacobs [CEO SunnComm]said.

    "Halderman's graduate advisor at Princeton is Ed Felten, a computer science professor who once sued the Recording Industry Association of America in a challenge to the constitutionality of the DMCA. The RIAA had threatened action under the DMCA against Felten and colleagues after they said they would publish a paper disclosing flaws in an industry security initiative. That suit w
  • If you design a drm that easily bipassed by hitting the shift key then you don't deserve to be in business.

  • Heh (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Kaa ( 21510 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @12:52PM (#7184258) Homepage
    I am guessing his lawyers explained to him in simple words his chances of winning that lawsuit...
    • I am guessing his lawyers explained to him in simple words his chances of winning that lawsuit...

      If by "simple words" you mean "vociferous laughter", you're probably right.

      Lawyer: Wait, let me get this straight... you want to sue him for WHAT?
  • I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research

    "I don't want to be the guy that gets blamed for getting the DMCA either thrown out in court or repealed."

    • Which is why I *really* want some stupid corporation to plough ahead with one of these bullshit legal threats. The DMCA is a disaster, a blunt instrument [chillingeffects.org] whose real purpose is to intimidate into silence the great majority of people who do not have access to unlimited legal help. What kind of justice is that?

  • Truly disappointing (Score:2, Insightful)

    by lurker412 ( 706164 )
    Too bad they're backing off. This was so patently absurd that it provided terrific support to the anti-DCMA forces.

  • I'm not gonna hit ya (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dark Paladin ( 116525 ) * <jhummel.johnhummel@net> on Friday October 10, 2003 @12:52PM (#7184272) Homepage
    Start sarcasm here.

    Oh, hey, look at that - you're doing something I don't like.

    You know, I could hit you with this baseball bat. You deserve it, you know, for saying that my security of the plant doesn't work too well since I leave the backdoor unlocked and unprotected.

    But I won't. No, I'm just walking here in front of you, slappin' this bat against my palm - but I'm not really going to hit you with it for saying that people could just walk into the back of the store because my level of "protection" really just involves scaring away the local kids.

    You did a study on my security system so people could make an informed choice about either using me, or saving the money by not having me walk up and down the sidewalk glaring at people? You know, you intellectual types are the reason why people steal things in the first place, and why my security techniques don't work on folks.

    I should hit you with this bat. I still might - but I'm not.

    -- SunComm

    Stop sarcasm here.

    Look, SunComm, you're solution you peddled to the music folks is just not secure. You know it, we know it - you're just pissed that your customers, who you thought were a bunch of luddite rubes, now know it. Granted, your customers should realize that there are other ways to ensure profit (lowering prices, giving less restrictive online purchasing options like those seen by the iTunes store, the MusicMatch store, and growing others) - but as far as your business is concerned, it's a wash.

    Now we can all get on with our lives.
    • Yay for the parent post. Much more polite, many fewer expletives than I'd have used, but yeah, what he said.

      Now, can someone explain just why SunComm thought it was a good idea to threaten litigation, but then back off, effectively publicizing the Shift thing even more for the two people who hadn't heard about it already? What kind of battle cry is "hey, we're taking you to court because you proved we're incompetent tools...oh, wait, we meant all of that except for the court thing!"? I don't care quit
      • Now, can someone explain just why SunComm thought it was a good idea to threaten litigation, but then back off

        Because if it went to court, it could be damaging to the DMCA. The threat of litigation can be as, if not more, effective than actual litigation to get people to do what you want them to, especially with the provisions in the DMCA which make the penalties much worse if you don't stop doing it when asked to.

        To use the parent comment's analogy, they don't have to swing the bat, just threaten to.
    • ....your customers, who you thought were a bunch of luddite rubes....

      SunnComm's customers are a bunch of luddite rubes. I believe so. Nothing you said in your post disproves this.

      You can in fact be a luddite rube and still discover after it is too late that the magic snake oil you bought doesn't perform as promised. The snake oil vendor can indeed be pissed, as you say, when customer find's out. But all of this can apply to a luddite customer. In fact, I would say that finding out after it is too
  • seriously, that's all I can really say about their CEO.

  • I take it back... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bull999999 ( 652264 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @12:54PM (#7184286) Journal
    I hereby withdraw my nomination of Jacobs for the annual McBride Award for Excellence in Stupid Lawsuits.

  • "I don't want to be the people my parents warned me to stay away from," said Jacobs of his decision.
    Too late. You're in the DRM business, so you're already the scum your parents warned you about.

  • Translation (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Dinglenuts ( 691550 )
    Translation of this guy's soundbite after being run through the BS machine: "I don't actually know anything about computers, but I thought I knew how to be a belligerent mercantilist. Now I realize I don't have a chance in hell of winning anything, especially since this kid is a college student with no money, so instead I'm going to try to spin it so me and my stupid company don't look like total asses. I'll be going back to my job now as a slave for the RIAA and their associated goons. Have a nice day!"
    • That is one of the points I made to him when I wrote the other day. I mentioned that he is yet another CEO of a technology company that really doesn't have a clue as to how anything works. I told him to stop wasting investors money on something that they will never be able to protect. As long as it can be heard it can be copied.

  • Gotta love the cluelessness. New CEO anyone? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fname ( 199759 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @12:55PM (#7184310) Journal
    The last line in the article, a quote from CEO Jacobs, says it all:
    "It's 10 million bucks, but maybe I can make it back, and maybe [Halderman] can learn a little bit more about our technology so as not to call it brain dead."
    Or, you could design a system that isn't braindead.

    The saddest part is that they acknowledge this will only deter casual copying, i.e., fair-use. The real CD pirates (the ones selling pirated CDs) will just laugh, and no matter what system they use, it will get uploaded to Kazaa (people ripped their old 45s and put them up on Napster for crying out loud). So we have a system which prevents "honest" customers from listening to their music on their iPod, does nada to prevent uploading to Kazaa, and less than nothing to stop CD pirates.

    Will somebody please give these guys a giant dope-slap to the back of their heads?
    • BTW these aren't all my comments, they're based on the comments of a friend.

      First SunnComm to sue 'Shift key' student for $10m [theregister.co.uk] and then they change their minds [dailyprincetonian.com] so as not to stifle research, but who is really the guilty party?

      Has anyone determined whether it is in fact legal for SunnComm to install a device driver without asking or making the user aware that that is what will happen?

      In the UK, this appears to be completely illegal [hmso.gov.uk]:

      (1) A person is guilty of an offence if--

      (a) he does any act which ca

      • any act which causes an unauthorised modification of the contents of any computer

        There will probably be some fine print somewhere on the CD stating that by playing this CD in your computer, you agree to the terms, which may include installing special software on your computer to protect your digital rights. So it's not unauthorized, because by using the contents of this software you agree to be bound by the terms of the license.

        Part of the strategy is that most people won't bother to read the fine print
    • I'm starting a company to sell pieces of sticy tape to put on jewel cases.
      If anybody removes the tape to open the jewel case with the intent to copy the CD, I'll sue them.

      And don't reply to me with any confounded ideas about how to remove sticky tape from jewel cases or I'll sue you too.

      That ought to be worth at least -- one million dollars.
    • The real CD pirates just make exact copies. There is no need to reverse engineer if you are making an exact copy. Only need to if you are making changes or adding functionality.

      As for Jacobs, maybe he should learn a bit more about his technology so that he can realize it's brain dead. Most of my windows systems have autorun disabled for security reasons. Automatically trying to run stuff on ANY inserted CD is not always a good idea.

  • The problem with this whole mess (Score:5, Insightful)

    by GreenCrackBaby ( 203293 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @12:57PM (#7184322) Homepage
    I don't understand why companies keep putting DRM on CDs and DVDs. Is it just ignorance, or do they honestly believe there's value there? I forget how much Macrovision protection on DVDs costs, but it's a significant piece of the total cost of the DVD -- I'm sure that SunnComm charges a similar price for each CD shipped with its "DRM" (I use quotes because this really is the most pathetic DRM I've heard of).

    Where is the value for the producers of those DVDs and CDs? All it takes is a single MP3 to be leaked and all the copy protection on the CDs out there is useless. Back in the Napster days I ripped a fairly obscure song and made it available. Even today I can search DC Hubs or Kazaa and find my MP3 all over the place. Copy protection will only ever work if it prevents 100% of copying...which it never will.

    My advice to RIAA and MPAA member companies: just drop the whole notion of DRM on your products. Trust your customers, give them what they want, treat them with respect. Most of us won't screw you...honest!

    All DRM does is punish the honest user, spawn bizarre laws like the DMCA, and make a fun target for the release groups to crack.

    • Re:The problem with this whole mess (Score:5, Insightful)

      by pavera ( 320634 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @01:12PM (#7184473) Homepage Journal
      There is no value. I worked with Westwood studios before EA bought them, on the game Red Alert 2 they spent about 20% of the budget on the game on the copy protection they tried to incorporate. The protection was still broken within 2 hours of the games release. On their next game (BladeRunner) they dropped all copy protection because they found that they had sold nearly $1 million in Red Alert 2 because people got the warez copy, liked it and went and bought the real game. Basically they had spent around $10 million to try to prevent themselves from getting $1 million in revenue. Obviously this doesn't take into account the people that played the warez copy and didn't buy the game, but those people wouldn't have bought the game anyway I dont think (and either did they). There is no value in copy protection whatsoever, when will the RIAA and MPAA realize this?
      • "The protection was still broken within 2 hours of the games release."
        • Crackers must've been distracted with something else for the first 100 minutes, huh?

      • There is no value in copy protection whatsoever, when will the RIAA and MPAA realize this?

        When hell freezes over.
      • I've saved and spent quite a bit of cash on warze copies. Loved UT enough I picked it up and got a taste of SC4K to know to save my cash. It is also the case that when you have a goog mix of warze & legal copies of a game at a LAN the warze side will start to lose out and if they want to get into the game they need to pony up the cash (because of the hastle of hacking/patching/etc to the same version).
        just my two cents...
      • At least not in the software field.

        It has been known for a long time (mid-80s, probably) that copy protecting software is expensive, ineffective, and alienating. That's why there's hardly any of it around. Oh, sure, every now and then, someone gets a bee in their bonnet and decides they're going to try something new and stupid (XP/TurboTax/etc. Activation, anyone?) (or even old and stupid -- your story is a case in point), but all in all, the software industry's known this for a long time.

        Too bad the mu
    • Actually, I believe that Macrovision costs only around US$.05 per DVD, or thereabouts, hardly a signficant contribution to the purchase price, and not a vast amount of the production price. Source: San Jose Mercury News [siliconvalley.com].
  • SunnComm probably realized this isn't just some kid trying to burn CDs but rather a research student at a large and well respected institution. Not only would the lawsuit get lots of bad press for SunnComm but the University might choose to aid his defense.

    SCO Sucks T-shirt [anti-tshirts.com]. Shirts donate to the Open Source Now Fund.

  • I think this is because of the "nasty-gram" I sent them yesterday. Seriously though, I don't see anyway they can save thier product. There is no way they can disable the shift key to make it not by-pass the auto-run "feature". After the first run, they may be able to coerce the user into installing some app that does not allow the auto-run feature to be disabled, however it doesn't seem like a good "anti-piracy" method to me. The first time someone puts one of their disks in, the shift key will still be

  • Lesson (Score:2, Insightful)

    by malignatus ( 592780 )
    Looks like SunnComm learned their lesson from the RIAA, MPAA and SCO: Filing lawsuits because your organization sucks just makes more people realize that your organization sucks.
  • I, for one, welcome our new DCMA overlords.
  • I'm guessing his lawyers told him he was an idiot, and losing the case would make enforcing future (read: "more profitable") lawsuits more difficult.

  • second half of quote (Score:4, Funny)

    by LuxFX ( 220822 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @01:02PM (#7184384) Homepage Journal
    "I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research," Jacobs said.

    Jacobs continued by adding, "I'll settle for just creating chilling effects on the concepts of fair use and privacy."
  • for violating the DMCA on giving away this secret [compaq.com]

  • I'm parafrasing here from an old bloom county cartoon.

    Steve (Dallas)'s who to sue tips.

    One of the tips was....
    Even tough he clearly got the plantif into this mess, he is broke. Never Never sue poor people.

  • I'm confused. Did a CEO related to the music industry actually think with his head instead of his lawyers? Somebody call the RIAA and tell them that one of their associates understands the concept of public relations. I'm sure they won't stand for this monkey business.
  • Eeehm... but doesn't their DRM solution consist of a bit of software that installs itself on my computer through Autorun? Holding down shift while inserting a CD does nothing besides disabling Autorun, right?

    So, they have written a piece of software that installs itself on my computer without my knowledge or consent, and impairs the normal operation of that computer. Such programs are called trojans and there is a law against knowingly distributing such software, or installing it without my prior conse
  • How can it be any more harmfull to publish a paper that shows the DRM technology was ineffective than to put that ineffective DRM technology out in the market place?

    DRM on CDs and DVds will not be 100% secure and free from breakign the drm to be able to copy the files..

    This have been proved numerous times in all quality CS journals.. myabe this cat shoudl read up on his CS research?
  • Alright so SunnComm has seen their stock price devalued because their idea wasn't so swell, and was seemingly a great example of security through obscurity. Their stuff only works if you don't know how it works.

    DMCA says the freedom of press doesn't apply - we can wait for that to sort itself but that could take years.

    So the question now comes up, if the scheme is bad, whose job is it to let the shareholders know?

    I would think that SunnComm and other peddlers of copy protection are legally obliged to di
  • "We don't want to be the ones that give the EFF the perfect test case in court why the DMCA should be overturned."

    So far, the only think that keeps the DMCA on the books is selective prosecution, and relying on its chilling effects to do most of the dirty work.

  • Pow'full stench of Men-DAC-ity (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nanojath ( 265940 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @01:22PM (#7184581) Homepage Journal
    In the increasingly bitter wars between those advocating stronger anti-piracy protections and those who favor less stringent copyright enforcement, the decision against legal action represents one of a precious few instances of companies looking past their bottom line.


    It's hard to stuff so many misconceptions and questionable assumptions into a single paragraph. This is hardly about the conflict betweeen "strong anti-piracy protections" and "less stringent copyright enforcement." More accurate would be to cite it as an example of the ongoing conflict between weak anti-piracy protections and the legitimate research of academics and professionals who expose it as such.


    While we're at it, let's replace "anti-piracy protections" with "anti-duplication technology," just to highlight what this stuff really accomplishes - making it harder (and basically illegal) for individuals to exercise their fair-use rights in a vain attempt to keep copyrighted materials off P2P networks and (probably representing a much bigger impact on actual bottom lines) people from burning dupes of CDs for friends. I find it difficult to imagine anyone who doesn't have a vested interest in propping up the illusion of the efficacy of DRM technology advocating that any of the measures out there represent any real defense against file sharing.


    And we can go on to replace "those who favor less stringent copyright enforcement" with "a broad cross-section of individuals, academics, professionals and politicians who question whether draconian legal attacks against individuals, questionable lawsuits against academics, and legislation that extends copyright terms far beyond their traditional boundaries and violates the principles of fair use, freedom of speech and prior restraint in service of protecting claimed technological fixes for copyright violations that have so far failed to materialize as effective methods of preventing the illegal distribution of copyrighted information." Hey, it's not so snappy. But sometimes the truth hurts prose.


    And then there's "the decision against legal action represents one of a precious few instances of companies looking past their bottom line." Well, I guess it's nice to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I guess I'll make the cynical observation that this example of a DMCA lawsuit threat getting dropped doesn't seem to be all that unique, now does it? One is tempted to offer the alternative explanation - that after making a knee jerk response to getting hammered in the market (and really, this is the result of how the press reported this article - in and of itself the article would never have had this kind of effect), someone in their legal department noted that the suit was likely going to lose, that it was likely to have the opposite effect of increasing investor confidence and good will, and that DMCA suits threatening academics were a strategy likely to lead to what the industry absolutely doesn't want - a high profile case, illustrating the critical problems with the DMCA, against an individual with representation and back-up (Princeton has made it pretty clear it will stand up against attacks of this nature) likely to take it to the point where the viability of the DMCA itself might be threatened. So they cooked up the best way to spin it and had themselves a press conference.

  • Hmmm..... sounds like he's spoken to his lawyers after shooting his mouth off and has a better appreciation of whether he could win.
  • I really hope this research paper had more to it than just finding out that pressing the shift key stops the copy protection software from loading on autorun. Because how long do you reckon it took him to work this out? A day. If all you need to do is put in a days research to submit a paper at Princeton, then I am off to try and get a degree there.
  • no one noticed, since it was so far down the page...

    From an MSNBC article [msnbc.com] [msnbc.com]:

    Future versions of the SunnComm software would include ways that the copy-protecting files would change their name on different computers, making them harder to find, Jacobs said. Moreover, the company will distribute the technology along with third-party software, so that it doesn't always come off a protected CD, he added.

    So, they intend to get their DLL onto your system by having it installed by other unrelated
  • Ok, whoever it is, you can turn off the DDoS attack against SunnComm now :)
  • projectile mental diarrhea. It's a horrible mess to clean up.

    "We're gonna sue!" is becoming some type of corporate spinal reflex. The words fly out of the festering gobs of corporate mouthpieces and overpaid execs before the (alleged) brain even gets a chance at "Whoops, bad idea." SunnComm is damned lucky that investors are dimmer than they could be; otherwise, the company would have lost much more than 1/3 of its capitalization. (How much contrarian/bottom-feeder buying activity shored up the price? Ya go

  • ....devise an admittedly anemic copy protect scheme then sue the first person to publically point it out.

    I can't see myself being terribly sympathetic to their position if I were on *that* jury.

  • Does it display a EULA? Does it try to install itself without your knowledge?

    Is that legal at all?

    I wish I had a lot of time on my hands.. I'd go buy the CD (paying cash), open it, find out that it's not an audio cd as advertised and in fact tries to hack your machine, try to return it opened, and when refused would sue in a small claims court. Hopefully that would let more people be familiar with the issues. Buy music CDs? No way man, the RIAA just want to hack into your machine. Download the mp3 instead
  • If SunnComm really believed that their ridiculous system worked, then they are to be pitied. MediaMax as described in the original paper is about as effective at preventing copying as a chalk line on the floor is at preventing break-ins. A Linux or old Mac user would never even know about the "protection" - the disc would play fine in their machine, and they probably would just rightly guess that the Windows / MacOSX files were irrelevant. But, my guess is that SunnComm knew that their MediaMax rated som
  • (Just wanted to reiterate in a more current thread)


    In commenting on SunnComm's statement [sunncomm.com] :

    The goal of MediaMax was not to invent the "holy grail" (since one does not exist).
    ...They seem to born out of some Messiah complex hell-bent on saving the world from any technological attempt to protect artists and their property.

    The Pope declared [vatican.va]:

    No matter what their credentials or rationale, it is wrong to use one's knowledge and the cover of Corporate America to facilitate disinformation regarding th

  • That someone (RIAA, etc.) told them to drop the idea of a lawsuit, because of the possibility that it would be too good of a test case against the DMCA, and might even make it all the way to getting it thrown out?
  • 'I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research,' SunnComm's CEO Peter Jacobs said.">

    This should read:

    'I don't want to be the guy that fucks up this whole DMCA thing,' SunnComm's CEO Peter Jacobs said."

    Actually, we need this kind of idiotic ligitation so the problems with the DMCA can become obvious to everyone, and so the courts can act to strike down this piece of shit legislation.

    -dameron

  • I did research** 5 times just in the writing of the subject of this post!

    **Research as Sunncomm defines it as pressing a shift key on my keyboard.


  • I think they missed the rest of his quote.

    "I'd really rather be the guy who created a big chilling effect but then pretended I didn't."
  • "...brings a lawsuit that points out to all our customers that that my company hasn't got a clue about security."
  • You are not going to "be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research". The DMCA is doing that quite nicely without your help. If anything a ridiculous case like this would be more likely to make people aware of what a ridiculous fuck-up the DMCA really is.
  • First of all, I hardly think figuring out that the CD autorun installs some software that bonks up your CD-ROM drive support in Windows is any sort of research. It's not like there's an award-winning publication in the works here.

    But, since the record companies already knew about this workaround (and also admitted it on CNN), a lawsuit against John Halderman might feasibly open one against BMG. And it would make this workaround headline news.

    By forgetting about the entire incident, lots of people are goin
  • Better to keep all the "facts" in press releases rather than the courtrooms if these developments cause the labels they deal with to come after them for fraud. They would probably prefer not to have to talk to the SEC any more, either:

    http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/complr1 74 62.htm

    Since they are a pinksheet business and don't report any financials as a public company, nobody but them knows whether they'd even be able to mount a case like this.

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