Shift key illegal !!!!

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2003-10-08 08:59pm

http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5087875.html?tag=st_pop

Hehe, technically violation of DMCA. Just like felt tip markers...

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-10-08 09:02pm

Shift key is too broad and importantly used nowdays for them to outlaw I think.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-08 09:10pm

No, because their primary purpose is not a mechanism to circumvent some sort of copy protection. Don't be stupid, and if you're going to post things like this go read the DMCA first.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2003-10-08 09:21pm

Um... it was sarcasm.[EDIT]Intent was sarcasm, but didn't know that it applied only to stuff designed to do such.

Hm... it allows reverse engineering to allow "interoperability". I suppose one could loosely interpret dvd encryption as "computer programs", to allow libdvdcss. Then again, MPAA hasn't really attacked this, as opposed to DeCSS... well they are, but not as much or as public ,and they are claiming "trade secret" violation.

namdoolb · Post by **namdoolb** » 2003-10-08 09:29pm

In order to fully prevent the antipiracy software from loading, a listener has to hold the Shift key down for a long period of time, at exactly the right time, every time they listen to the CD on a computer. Moreover, anyone who doesn't load the software won't get access to the second session tracks, which on future CDs will increasingly include videos and other bonus material, record company insiders say.

unless they've disabled the autorun feature anyway (as I imagine many intermediate/advanced computer users would do: I cannot be alone in how much autorun pisses me off sometimes.) then they won't even notice it.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2003-10-08 09:51pm

And then you have those who use MacOS or Linux.
Once more people hear of this, hehe...

And record company officials are lying- a few seconds isn't exactly a long period of time.

What a dumb idea to load DRM using autorun...

I don't really care, since I never get out of the house to buy anything (other than needed supplies, since I'm not allowed to buy "extraneous" stuff, except rarely- most are given to me), much less CDs. Anything I have <10-20 mp3s are the same songs heard on the radio, and quality doesn't matter, due to shit speakers, and me not really an audiophile like Aerius who complains about loss in quality due to electrical noise.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-10-08 11:12pm

Not to mention the sheer stupdity of it all. I'd like to see them try and prove that you used the shift key to bypass anything.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-10-09 12:35am

It's quite hilarious, really.

The company admitted it knew about the Shift key weakness. They did nothing about it. Were they hoping that no one would accidentally stumble upon it?

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2003-10-09 12:36am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:It's quite hilarious, really.

The company admitted it knew about the Shift key weakness. They did nothing about it. Were they hoping that no one would accidentally stumble upon it?

(Lack of)Security with obscurity.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-09 09:06am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:It's quite hilarious, really.

The company admitted it knew about the Shift key weakness. They did nothing about it. Were they hoping that no one would accidentally stumble upon it?

No, they also posted instructions that if it didn't run, you should install the stuff on it as well. Social engineering: those in the know will bypass it, but the majority of their users will not.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-10-09 12:39pm

Pu-239 wrote:http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5087875.html?tag=st_pop

Hehe, technically violation of DMCA. Just like felt tip markers...

Supposedly it works on Mac OS X, though I'm not sure how. I guess the partition with the audio tracks might not show up automatically, and then users are forced to click on some shitty player to listen to the music. On Windows, it loads its own device driver to interfere with ripping. On OS X, this doesn't seem likely. That would require root authentication because the driver is a kernel extension, something that I certainly won't give to a fucking audio CD. In either case, I'd consider some CD running an arbitrary device driver to interfere with my interaction with my property to be malicious code.

Supposedly it will also eject if you reject the license agreement, but you could always click "Yes" and then just unload the kernel extension, if that's how it works. If it just doesn't mount the audio track partition, I can simply mount it through Disk Utility or the command line. If a partition is there, Disk Utility will see it.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-09 04:39pm

You generally need administrative access to install such programs on Windows NT, but most people are too lazy to run themselves as User and do a 'run as' command.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2003-10-09 10:22pm

https://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/10/8/201119/758

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-09 10:26pm

Damnit, you had me for a second there until I realized how absurd it was.

JodoForce · Post by **JodoForce** » 2003-10-09 10:53pm

LMAO, now where on that article does it say it's a hoax?

Truth Stranger than Fiction (none / 0) (#76)
by Wah on Thu Oct 9th, 2003 at 09:52:11 PM EST
(SPAMwah@quantumphilosophy.netDAM) http://www.quantumphilosophy.net

Right action, wrong entity. It's the maker of the software that is suing.
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.

Turns out there are repercussions for pointing out an emperor has no clothes.

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.

Is THIS one for real then?

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-10-10 12:12am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:It's quite hilarious, really.

The company admitted it knew about the Shift key weakness. They did nothing about it. Were they hoping that no one would accidentally stumble upon it?

Theres nothing they COULD do about it. Its a function of the OS, just like turning off Autorun to begin with.

JodoForce · Post by **JodoForce** » 2003-10-10 01:35am

They could do something about it by not using the autorun function. Surely even that autoplay track that you had to disable by using a marker is more protection than this??

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-10-10 04:53am

namdoolb wrote:
In order to fully prevent the antipiracy software from loading, a listener has to hold the Shift key down for a long period of time, at exactly the right time, every time they listen to the CD on a computer. Moreover, anyone who doesn't load the software won't get access to the second session tracks, which on future CDs will increasingly include videos and other bonus material, record company insiders say.
unless they've disabled the autorun feature anyway (as I imagine many intermediate/advanced computer users would do: I cannot be alone in how much autorun pisses me off sometimes.) then they won't even notice it.

I HATE auto load screens. I disabled mine on general principle and when I upgraded to Win XP I kept it off, just like I turned off all HTML on my Email and a few other things.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-10-10 07:30am

Honestly, I prefer it that everything not happen automatically. No autorun, no prerendered HTML in my email, no automatic installs, none of it. I'm not saying I don't like when a program tells me there are updates available, I just don't like things that autoexecute...

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-10 11:19am

Anyways, yes, there is a lawsuit, but it's likely to fail. SunComm argues that this allows a user to delete the file that allows copy protection, but no such file is deleted. It merely disables or ignores this protection scheme.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2003-10-10 02:04pm

They've since decided that there shall not be a lawsuit.

Preumably because it would make them look stupid.

CelesKnight · Post by **CelesKnight** » 2003-10-10 03:29pm

Uh-oh. I just remapped my capslock key to a third shift key a few days ago. (Cause capslock sucks--I think that all keyboards should have it disabled, and the user forced to take an IQ test to enable it.) Guess I'm in extra trouble now.

CelesKnight · Post by **CelesKnight** » 2003-10-10 03:31pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:
namdoolb wrote:
In order to fully prevent the antipiracy software from loading, a listener has to hold the Shift key down for a long period of time, at exactly the right time, every time they listen to the CD on a computer. Moreover, anyone who doesn't load the software won't get access to the second session tracks, which on future CDs will increasingly include videos and other bonus material, record company insiders say.
unless they've disabled the autorun feature anyway (as I imagine many intermediate/advanced computer users would do: I cannot be alone in how much autorun pisses me off sometimes.) then they won't even notice it.
I HATE auto load screens. I disabled mine on general principle and when I upgraded to Win XP I kept it off, just like I turned off all HTML on my Email and a few other things.

I hate autoload screens, but disabeling autorun fricks up my CD burner in XP. I have no idea why.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-10-10 03:50pm

So THAT's why the CD burner wouldn't work....

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2003-10-11 12:04am

LOL!!!
First felt tip markers ruin months of software anti piracy, then the shift key. Stupidity ought to be harnessed for sheer ability to crumble. A new front end for volvos.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Shift key illegal !!!!

Shift key illegal !!!!

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