10-10-2003 16:17									#1
	this is why the DCMA is broken. Inflate your Upload Space

http://home.businesswire.com/portal...iewID=news_view

quote: SunnComm CEO Says Princeton Report Critical of its MediaMax CD Copy Management Technology Contains Erroneous Assumptions and Conclusions PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 9, 2003-- In evaluating the alleged objectivity of Alex Halderman's report titled "Analysis of the MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System," it should be noted that Halderman has stated in writing that he believes that his alleged "... discovery will compel the music industry to abandon their copy-resistant efforts." SunnComm Technologies Inc. (OTC: STEH), a leader in digital content security and enhancement for optical media, announced today that it intends to take legal action against the writer of a critical report titled: "Analysis of the MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System." According to Peter Jacobs, SunnComm's CEO, "The conclusions contained in the Princeton University grad student's report issued last Monday were derived from incorrect assumptions by its author. The author did not ask for, or receive, SunnComm's MediaMax 'white paper' documentation available on the technology prior to concluding that 'MediaMax and similar copy-prevention systems are irreparably flawed ...'" SunnComm believes that by making erroneous assumptions in putting together his critical review of the MediaMax CD-3 technology, Halderman came to false conclusions concerning the robustness and efficacy of SunnComm's MediaMax technology. Based on several of these incorrect assumptions, Halderman and Princeton University have significantly damaged SunnComm's reputation and caused the market value of SunnComm to drop by more than $10 million. In addition, SunnComm believes that Halderman has violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by disclosing unpublished MediaMax management files placed on a user's computer after user approval is granted. Once the file is found and deleted according to the instructions given in the Princeton grad student's report, the MediaMax copy management system can be bypassed resulting in the copyright protected music being converted or misappropriated for potentially unauthorized and/or illegal use. SunnComm intends to refer this possible felony to authorities having jurisdiction over these matters because: 1. The author admits that he disabled the driver in order to make an unprotected copy of the disc's contents, and 2. SunnComm believes that the author's report was "disseminated in a manner which facilitates infringement" in violation of the DMCA or other applicable law. Concluded Jacobs, "This cat-and-mouse game that hackers and others like to play with owners of digital property is over. No matter what their credentials or rationale, it is wrong to use one's knowledge and the cover of academia to facilitate piracy and theft of digital property. SunnComm is taking a stand here because we believe that those who own property, whether physical or digital, have the ultimate authority over how their property is used. Owning copying technology is not an unconditional 'free pass' to replicate or distribute protected work." Critical reviews written in part as an attempt to pressure the record industry into abandoning further development of technically protected audio CDs are ethically suspect when based on inaccurate assumptions. The act of publishing instructions under the cloak of "academic research" showing how to defeat MediaMax such as those instructions found in Halderman's report is, at best, duplicitous and, at worst, a felony. Today's news comes on the heels of BMG's successful release last month of the music giant's first commercial MediaMax CD in the United States -- "Comin' From Where I'm From," by singer-songwriter Anthony Hamilton and released on Arista Records. In 2001, SunnComm commercially released America's first audio CD containing a copy management system -- "Charley Pride -- A Tribute to Jim Reeves" released by Music City Records. MediaMax CD-3 is a collection of technologies that provides copy management for optical media, while simultaneously enhancing and expanding the consumer's experience. MediaMax CD-3 is tightly integrated with Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Media Platform and the Digital Rights Management capabilities associated with the latest Windows Media Platforms. SunnComm licenses and uses Windows Media Audio DRM capabilities from Microsoft Corp. as the security feature for music files which end up residing on the consumer's computer. About SunnComm SunnComm Technologies Inc. became the first company to commercially release a content-protected audio CD utilizing an early version of the Windows Media Data Session Toolkit. SunnComm's copy-management technology was commercially released by Music City records in 2001, which became America's first copy-protected audio CD. It has become a leader in digital content enhancement and security technology for optical media with its MediaMax CD-3 suite of products. SunnComm's MediaMax CD-3 Suite of Digital Content Enhancement technologies are built using Microsoft Windows Media 9 Series, but operates on both Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Windows-based systems. For more detailed information about the company, its vision or philosophy, personnel, partners and customers, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.sunncomm.com, or call the company directly at 602-267-7500, and ask for shareholder relations. MediaMax Digital Content Cloaking Technology, DC2, PromoPlay and SunnComm are registered and/or trademarks of SunnComm Technologies Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Notes about Forward-Looking Statements Statements contained in this release, which are not historical facts, may be considered "forward-looking statements" under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and the current economic environment. We caution the reader that such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Unknown risk, uncertainties as well as other uncontrollable or unknown factors could cause actual results to materially differ from the results, performance or expectations expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

this isn't a thread about whether piracy is wrong or not.

it is. get over it.

this is a thread explaining why the DCMA is irreparably broken. these *******s, upon learning that their vaunted "copy-protection" scheme is utter shite, have decided to sue the messenger rather than trying to improve their own technology.

ridiculous--especially because they just might win.

so you hold down a shift key, and/or disable autorun. or you delete a single file. if their scheme is as simple as that, then they ought to get sued by the company that uses their product, because it's utter shite--even more easily bypassed than sony's draw-on-the-cd-with-a-magic-marker scheme.

except no, suncomm's going to sue the grad student who pointed out that their product doesn't work.

what's next? chilling effects is starting to get a lot colder...

	10-10-2003 17:00									#2
	Remove this text

Yeah, its shite. The only thing to do is to never give in!

	10-10-2003 17:23									#3
	Support Apolyton

I think double thread. (But the old one was about the flaw, dunno if the suit was posted there)

They claimed they already knew about the bug, though. Kinda makes their case a little harder.

Do Apple and Linux computers have autorun? If they don't, SunnComm should sue Apple and ...some Linux nerd for breaking their protection

	10-10-2003 17:58									#4
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

seriously, the dcma is being used to stifle competition (lexmark v. 3rd party ink/toner suppliers), destroy quality control and security (as in this case, and one other case where id card manufacturuers sued someone who pointed out flaws in their security system)...

it's broken. either serious revisions need to be done, because currently it's too broad and gives no incentive for the copyright holder to improve, or it needs to be repealed and replaced wholesale bay a bill that will, this time, actually accept the input of techies who are the ones who are most affected byt his.

	10-10-2003 20:01									#5
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

IIRC, there's a case going through the legal system that the naysayers hope to get the courts to strike down DMCA on constitutional grounds. Mainly the effects on free speech I think.

	10-10-2003 20:26									#6
	Increase the size of your Attachments

update:
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/ar...news/8797.shtml

quote: Threat of lawsuit passes for student SunnComm backs down from lawsuit against a computer science grad student Josh Brodie Princetonian Staff Writer SunnComm Technologies, Inc. announced yesterday morning it would sue first-year graduate student John Halderman over his recent critique of the company's new CD copy-protection method, but by the end of the day SunnComm president and CEO Peter Jacobs said he changed his mind. Jacobs said in an interview late last night that a successful lawsuit would do little to reverse the damage done by the paper Halderman published Monday about his research, and any suit would likely hurt the research community by making computer scientists think twice about researching copy-protection technology. "I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research," Jacobs said. SunnComm plans to make that announcement this morning. Halderman's paper hit SunnComm hard. Since Monday its stock value has dropped $10 million — one-third of the company's total worth. "I just thought about it and decided it was more important not to be one of those people. The harm's been done . . . if I can't accomplish anything [with a lawsuit] I don't want to leave a wake," he said. 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. "I think it's a sensible decision given the situation, given that what [Halderman] was doing was perfectly legitimate," said computer science professor Edward Felten. "[Jacobs is] to be commended for not wanting to interfere with research." Felten and some of his colleagues had been in a similar situation in 2001 when the Recording Industry Association of America — the same group that sued Dan Peng '05 last semester for running a campus file-sharing website — strongly urged the research group not to publish their work on another copy-protection technology. The RIAA said publishing the work would violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. SunnComm's press release threatened to use the same law against Halderman. SunnComm had also initiatially decided to sue Halderman because the company thought he had unfairly critiqued their product after misunderstanding their intent in designing it. Throughout its development, the company's software, MediaMax, was designed to be a step toward curbing casual copying rather than a silver bullet, Jacobs said. However, Halderman claimed the company's allegations of "incredible security" were overstated. As he pointed out, the system would not have worked on any computer where autorun — the feature in Microsoft Windows that automatically launches a program when a CD is inserted — was disabled. When The Daily Princetonian informed Halderman that the suit was not going to proceed, he was relieved. "I think that's a horrible precedent," he said. "A large amount of security research is critiques of existing security systems . . . The worst thing in the world is a false sense of security." Last November Halderman said he was concerned about presenting his junior paper research to an audience of scientists for fear of being sued under the DMCA. He said at the time the existence of the DMCA forced him to carefully word his research so as to avoid a lawsuit. Halderman plans to continue his research toward a doctorate and hopes to pursue a career in computer security afterwards. Even before Halderman published his paper, SunnComm had planned to release a new version of its software that addresses many of the same concerns Halderman raised. "I don't want to be the people my parents warned me to stay away from," said Jacobs of his decision. "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."

but the point remains. dcma == broken.

	10-10-2003 22:49									#7
	Illogical Enter the AD-FREE zone

SunnComm claims that Halderman made erroneous assumptions about their product that led to his conclusions about their product's weaknesses. However, Halderman was able to break their protection and make a copy. The point is, the product can be easily defeated. Halderman proved that by defeating it. What more needs to be said? If Halderman was substantially wrong about SunnComm's product, he should not have been able to defeat it.

	10-10-2003 23:43									#8
	Inflate your Upload Space

I think the use of the DCMA to pursue publishers of information will be declared, eventually, a violation of the 1st Amendment. Perhaps this will result in the act itself being declared unconstitutional.

I wonder where the ACLU is when you really need them?

	11-10-2003 00:08									#9
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

quote: But the old one was about the flaw, dunno if the suit was posted there

I started the last thread on this, and it was about the flaw as no suite was filed yet... It is still a bunch of bull. These idiots create something to protect copywrites, it doesn't, some one points it out, so they sue him... Sounds to me like this SunComm has sheit for brains in all fields but their law department, so they are going to use them... Sheity goods result in sheity reputations.

quote: "I think that's a horrible precedent," he said. "A large amount of security research is critiques of existing security systems . . . The worst thing in the world is a false sense of security."

What an idiot. Security or the feeling of security is always false... There is no such thing!!! Moron!

	11-10-2003 00:21									#10
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Jacobs must have finally realised that he'd become the laughing stock of the internet world for a day at least. Good that the kid won't have any more troubles.

But there really needs to be a case that gets the DMCA struck down. Urban, what case is the one you're talking about?

	11-10-2003 06:40									#11
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

How many lawyers are there that actually understand how computer software work? Law and programming are both complex things and I doubt that many have studied both extensively.

	11-10-2003 09:36									#12
	Re: Illogical Increase the size of your Attachments

quote: Originally posted by pchang Halderman proved that by defeating it.

Exactly.