Sony's New Nagging Copy Protection

bort27 writes "You can put away your Sharpies, because Sony has launched a new CD copy protection scheme that is actually designed to be easily cracked: 'The copy-protection technology is...far from ironclad. Apple Macintosh users currently face no restrictions at all. What's more, if users go to a Web site to complain about the lack of iPod compatibility, Sony BMG will send them an email with a back door measure on how to work around the copy protection.'"

Change your business model instead.

[grub]

FtA: "The whole industry is in discussions with Apple, and we hope to have a solution soon," he said.

The "solution" he wants will lock Apple's customers into the music cartel's own brand of DRM. How is that solving anything for the consumer? Fucking prick.

ok...

[Chewbacon]

So if you complain about it, they'll tell you how to get around it? Why bother hindering at all?

Interesting...

[caluml]

Is it a:, so they have a nice list of people who know about the backdoor, or b:, so they can use the DMCA if someone reverses it without being told (i.e. given permission) by Sony?

The sad part...

[CyberSnyder]

...is that while the copy protection sucks, we're paying for it in the form of passed on costs from Sony.

Re:Interesting...

[pioneerX]

If it is simple enough that even thundering idiots can get round it, they will have easier targets to prosecute.

Media company bisiness plan:

[Anonymous Coward]

1: Find great singers & musicians
2: Record them
3: Sell recordings
4: Profit!

Seriously, the problem with record sales isn't "piracy [talklikeapirate.com]", but a shortage of stuff worth buying.

Lawsuit shortlist?

[seanmcelroy]

It's actually not such a bad idea, because it's more hassle than most casual music pirates are willing to tolerate. Anyone serious will just Google the workaround and be done with it.

The scary part to me is the e-mail address... now they can start getting a shortlist of people to look at closer for copyright violation issues. I know I'll let someone else ask for the hack and Google it myself...

Sony Assumes too Much

[izznop]

I don't get it, whether or not it is easily crackable shouldn't matter. The fact of the matter is that the Music Industry has now decided that all of their customers are criminals.

I'm waiting for game developers to do this...

[HerculesMO]

Logically, it makes sense. The path of least resistance is going to be the one that followed. So when games like Half Life 2 or Counterstrike: Source have 'hacks' like aimbots etc made for them, if they are easy games to hack, the hack comes out, you simply ban that individual hack. Since you are still allowing the same method, people will create the hack using the same parameters and you ban each hack because you know exactly how and where to detect it -- and ban all the players with it.

I know it's totally irrelevant, but given the Sony 'initiative' and the fact they publish games... I'm waiting for this to happen too :)

What about Sony / BMG's existing DRM?

[linicks]

I usually buy about 50 - 70 albums per year. I listen to 75% of my music on an iPod at work, an additional 15% listening to these CDs in my car, and 10% listening to my legally ripped collection of mp3 files on my home PC.

Sony / BMG are making CDs using SunnComm's MediaMaxx that require a software end user licence agreement (EULA) to listen to on a computer, and they can not be ripped into an MP3 or an AAC file. Hence I have no way to listen to these albums on my iPod. I don't believe in agreeing to a EULA to listen to these songs on my home PC, so I can't use these CDs on my PC. And to pay $12-$15 for a CD that I can only listen for twenty minutes on the way to work or doing errands is crazy.

Why is the industry shooting itself in the foot by driving away loyal customers? I want to give bands like Velvet Revolver, Kings of Leon, and the Foo Fighters my hard earned money, but their record labels are not giving me a product that I find acceptable... A good old fashioned compact disk.

its a trojan horse

[vingilot]

They want people to accept DRM, this time its easy to crack-- first hit is free. Next time though...

call me paranoid

Jonathan

Re:The sad part...

[CSMastermind]

All ready got you covered there. In fact if a company were to come out and say, look we don't believe in DRM and we're going to not enforce it at all, then they would have my business hands down.

Hold Shift?

[SupremeChalupa]

If this is DRM based for music CDs then I'm guessing ... guessing mind you. That it's auto-run based. So disabling auto-run, or holding shift when the disc is inserted will fix it right up. Same reason Macs are unfettered, auo-run Windows code isn't exactly going to affect them now is it?

Re:Interesting...

[It doesn't come easy]

RIAA suddenly has many more viable targets

Hey TMM, good to hear from ya. Could be a concern. If you are going to rip a song and distribute it to friends, you certainly don't want to advertize the fact even if it was easy to do.

Personally, I don't believe in distributing -- I think copyright should be honored within the bounds of fair use. To that end, I routinely strip out any encumbrance that interferes with my fair use rights, mostly because I don't want to have to keep up with some technology for years to come just to listen to my legally obtained songs. So anytime I get a copy protected CD, I always save the songs to my computer for backup in 320k bit format, then remaster the CD to play the way I want it to. And keep the original CD for proof of ownership. Same goes for DVDs (plus, I dump the unable to skip advertisements MPAA thinks everyone wants to watch every time they watch a DVD). But that's just me.

Sony's Next DRM innovation

[brotherscrim]

Sony is gearing up for the next big wave in DRM:

The revolutionary "imaginary" copy protection. Prominently featured on every product, a sharp and stylish sticker heralding the state-of-the-art "Sony Super-Fantastic Copy Protection 5000," a technology so advanced, it can't even be detected! Customers thinking of trying to subvert this new DRM can call an 800 number, where a helpful, sweet-sounding old lady will gently encourage them to do the right thing, so as not to disappoint their mothers and grandmothers.

Re:The sad part...

[nkh]

You're buying for it if you're still buying copy-protected CDs. I never bought any copy-protected thing in my life and I never will. You still have the choice as a customer.

WARNING it's a trap!

[argoff]

This is Sony's way of lewering people into using DRM technologies, once you're hooked in, the noose will slowly tighten.

Sony BMG will send them the back door

[It doesn't come easy]

Sony BMG will send them an email with a "back door" measure on how to work around the copy protection

Note: This was in the context of copying a Sony DRM protected song to your iPod...

This is a tacit admission by Sony that copying the song from the CD to another device falls within the realm of fair use (meaning you don't need Sony's permission to copy it yourself). Obviously most informed consumers believe that but some testamony in recent lawsuits have been arguing against it. It also means that Sony may have a difficult time suing anyone for breaking the new DRM if they plan to tell you how to do so themselves. It, however, could be a problem with the DMCA, as Sony might be telling you how to circumvent Apple's DRM. Should be interesting to see if Apple responds.

When will they learn?

[RealProgrammer]

1. Unsanctioned copies help sell your product by exposing it to a wider audience.
2. You can't stop people from making copies, law or no law.
3. Copy protection makes your product more difficult to use and so discourages its use. If people are discouraged from using your product they've bought, they tend not to buy anything else from you.
4. Trying to use lawywers to stop copying wastes everyone's time and money.
5. Trying to stop copying through technical obstacles wastes your time and money, but it also hinders technical development that could add real value to your product.

I've got over 1,500 vinyl albums of music of all types, over 1,000 of which I've never played. I've bought them at garage sales and auctions for maybe $100 total. I'm going through and listening, digitizing the ones I like.

So to the Inferno with you, Sony, and may your cash registers melt in the flames of your corporate soul.

Re:Sony Assumes too Much

[tuffy]

Do you feel the same way about security tags in shops?

I would if I had to keep the tag on even after I've bought the item.

Re:Interesting...

[thogard]

Considering how many school girls bought the spice singles to put them in the #1 spot so many times, I'm guessing that school yard copies are hurting sales.

I'm also guessing that many fewer people are going out to buy the new track when they can find out it sucks from a friend 1st.

Re:ok...

[BaudKarma]

I figured a list of people who requested the workaround would somehow find its way into the hands of the RIAA. Then a few months later, we'll find out that this guy who the RIAA sued for illegal P2Ping was *also* copying CD's and giving them to friends and family and coworkers. "See, folks? Sony trusted this customer and gave him a workaround for the copy protection scheme, and this lowlife ABUSED that trust! You see what we're up against? You see why we need severe penalties for music pirates and totally impenetrable copy protection?"

Re:The sad part...

[waynelorentz]

Do you have cable? Or Dish Network/DirecTV/whatever? All of those distribution channels are encrypted and copy protected, just like the distribution channel of a copy-protected CD. Even over-the-air television networks (in the United States) are copy protected as they travel from the network to the satellite, and back to the station for transmission to you.

Have you ever been to the movies? Some theaters have infrared lights behind the screen to thward movie copying. Thus, you've bought a copy-protected product.

Do you own a car? Go ahead and try to reverse-engineer the electronics and you'll find out what many mom-and-pop repair shops already know -- it's copy protected.

Ever read a newspaper? Copyright protection there, which some people see as copy protection. And if you go along with that line of thinking, then look at the bottom of your screen where it says "© 1997-2005 OSTG." That's right -- Slashdot is protected by copyright, and thus, laws against copying its content. In other words --copy protection.

There's no point in fighting the war. You've already lost.

Bad copy protection

[m85476585]

Once I bought a CD with really bad copy protection. It wouldn't even play in a regular CD player... Until I burned a copy of it!

"Casual" piracy?

[MrAtoz]

The most insidious thing about this is the way that Sony/BMG is using this to reframe the dialog about ripping/burning. When I buy a CD and rip some tracks to put on my MP3 player, or to make a backup copy of the CD, I call this "fair use". They call it "casual piracy". JD Lasica has an insightful item [freedom-to-tinker.com] on Edward Felten's site [freedom-to-tinker.com] about exactly this issue.

Re:Soft Security, Guide Posts: right on!

[Anita Coney]

You're wrong because your analogy assumes you have no right to cross the line. In the US, at least, the Home Recording Act and fair use allows us to make copies of our music and share them with friends and family. Any hindrance to that should not be allowed. Simply put, ripping a CD you legally bought is perfectly legal.

Under your analogy, it'd be perfectly reasonable for someone to put a barrier keeping you from entering your own property. Under property law that'd be a nuisance and would clearly be illegal.

Re:The sad part...

[diamondsw]

There is definitely a difference between copyright, which provides for your fair use, and copy protection, which prevents it. Copyrighted works are not part of anyone's "war" but your own - they're perfectly valid (the Congressional extensions, that's another matter).

Furthermore, the auto electronics do prevent reverse engineering and diagnostics, but they aren't "copy protection". Your mechanic is not trying to make a copy of the engine, he's trying to figure out what's wrong to fix it.

Infrared lights in theaters? Cable signals? Yup, that is copy protection. The others are not.

Re:Soft Security, Guide Posts: right on!

[Bored Huge Krill]

Anita, I disagree - I think parent post is exactly correct - and notes exactly what you say, that is, that in some cases you do have the right to cross the line. I believe that was exactly the parent posts' point: it's a speed bump to tell you to think about it - but if you've thought about it, and still decide that you have the right to proceed, you actually can Makes total sense to me

Re:Let's just hope....

[AlysseumWarrior]

You are forgetting an importiant part.... Assholes cant fuck pussies, but they can SHIT all over EVERYTHING