Here's an interesting paper. Better read it while it's still on-line. Analysis of SunnComm's MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~jhalderm/cd3/
This article at the Register reports on SunnComm's response: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/33322.html. SunnComm's Press Release http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&; newsId=20031009005573&newsLang=en&beanID=202776713&viewID=news_view Also, it should be noted that SunnComm is not in the best financial health: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=STEH.PK&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c Bottom Line: Penny-Stock Company SunnComm sues a Princeton PhD student for $10M because it "feels" the student's paper is wrong and based on incomplete information. Further, the company invokes DMCA against the student for demonstrating that the "Shift" key and "Windows CD AutoPlay" is a method of circumventing technical anti-piracy measures that - as confirmed by company executives this week - are not foolproof. They're suing him for using a feature built into Windows. WTF, over??? As if the situation wasn't hard enough to believe, SunnComm executives knew about this problem before they released the product to market, and, according to a News.Com article, made "a conscious decision to err on the side of playability and flexibility." In other words, rather than accept blame for their mistake in corporate judgement, they point fingers at a convienient fall-guy ... this student. I say again: Knowing how to do something illegal should not be criminalized. Actually doing something illegal should be. There's nothing criminal about knowing that a human being needs air to live, and that cutting off that air supply by any number of means could hurt or kill them. Knowing - and talking publicly about - these facts is perfectly legal. However, acting on that knowledge for malicious purposes, such as strangling someone, is a criminal act, and rightly so. SunnComm says its corporate reputation has been damaged by this report. Fine. They should take their penny-stock certificates and link up with Darl & Co. over at SCO -- I hear they're always looking for a good legal circus. If they're still feeling slighted, they can then go visit Lexmark and print out some nice new legal paperwork with some DMCA-compliant inkjet cartridges. That should make things peachy-keen in their little dream world of lawsuits, litigation, and FUD-filled public tirades. Assuming they can open their garage doors to leave their houses with anything other than a DMCA-compliant Universal Garage Door Opener from Chamberlain, that is. The lunatic depths that Corporate America will go to protect itself from its own stupidity and complacency will never cease to amaze me. -rick Infowarrior.org � 2003 by Richard Forno. Permission granted to reproduce this email in its entirety with this notice intact. -- You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org/list for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
