Norwegian Hacker Beats Apple's iTunes DVD Code

Paknews ^ | Nov 27, 2003

[demlosers]

SAN FRANCISCO: Nov 27, 2003 (PNS) - Jon Lech Johansen, 19, a young Norwegian has created a program called QTFairUse which circumvents Apple Computer's ITunes' anti-copying program MPEG-4 Advanced Audio Coding.

Johansen is also known as DVD Jon because when he was 15 he developed DeCSS to view movies on Linux-based computers without DVD-viewing software and posting on the internet in 1999.

DVD Copy Control Association is suing him again. Last January 7 he was acquitted by court on other hacking charges.

The End.

[Glenn]

Naughty boy.

[Gorzaloon]

Coffee all over keyboard and monitor Alert!

Thanks for the morning laugh.

[longtermmemmory]

When brains are outlawed only outlaws will have brains.

[demlosers]

Cyber-pirate back to harass Hollywood
November 29, 2003

A hacker famed for defeating Hollywood in a cyber-piracy trial has rejected allegations he has illegally unlocked a code that enables unauthorised copying of music files from the internet.

Jon Johansen, a 20-year-old Norwegian computer programmer who was cleared of piracy charges in January, has developed a source code for copying music and posted it on the internet less than a week before he is due to appear in an Oslo appeals court.

Johansen's code allows users of Apple Computer Inc's new iTunes online music store to break digital rights management (DRM) technology that prevents people copying files downloaded from the service.

On an internet site named "So Sue Me", Johansen said critics had "failed to understand that by buying into DRM they have given the seller complete control over the product after it's been sold", calling them "clueless about copyright law".

The new program circumvents iTunes' anti-copying program, MPEG-4 Advanced Audio Coding, by legally opening and playing a protected music file in QuickTime, but then, essentially, draining the unprotected music data into a new and parallel file.

There are other programs that can circumvent copy protection schemes by capturing analog audio, though that typically causes a loss in quality. The program on Johansen's site appears to capture unprotected digital data, which could be used to make perfect copies of an unlocked tune.

The Oslo district court ruled in January that prosecutors had failed to prove that Johansen's program - called DeCSS - had been used for illegal copying of DVDs and said he was entitled to copy legally bought DVDs.

The Motion Picture Association of America, representing Hollywood studios such as Walt Disney, Universal Studios and Warner Bros, filed the original complaint at Norway's Economic Crime Unit. Since the case was the first of its kind in Norway, and a key test in determining how far existing laws protect copyright holders, prosecutors used their right to appeal to a higher court.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/28/1069825994927.html

Reuters, Associated Press

[lormand]

"When brains are outlawed only outlaws will have brains. "

Good one!

[agitator]

ping

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

DVD Jon cracks iTunes DRM
by Geoff Gasior - 12:53 pm, November 25, 2003

Jon Johansen, the same Norwegian programmer responsible for cracking DVD copy protection, has turned his attention to the QuickTime audio format Apple is using in its iTunes Music Store. Johansen has released a program called QTFairUse, which allows users to dump the output of a QuickTime audio stream to memory.
Since QTFairUse relies on a QuickTime stream, it's really only useful for circumventing the copy protection of streaming content or downloaded tracks. QTFairUse won't let users steal content from the iTunes Music Store without first paying for the download, so this isn't as bad for Apple as it could be. Right now, all QTFairUse creates is a raw memory dump, but because Johansen is providing the full source to QTFairUse, it's probably only a matter of time before someone releases a program that converts Apple's iTunes music downloads directly to DRM-less MP3s.

http://www.tech-report.com/sendto_friend.x/5922/

[yevgenie]

I can't believe all the hubbub about this. My buddy created a program to do this 2 weeks ago.

[yevgenie]

He wrote a simple little program that just utilizes the entry points to the .dlls directly, thus bypassing (or using, however you want to see it) all the stupid DRM security. Beautiful.

[Bush2000]

What a jerk.

[JudgemAll]

When brains are outlawed only outlaws will have brains.

Actualy, Hollywood material can be considered proselytism and thus accessible and archivable for free by the individual. How can we defend against the Hollywood message if we have to pay first to study and counter it? It's a free press, and once info is on the public, it cannot be charged.

[duckandcover]

What's this guy's email and address?

Might want to hire him to further enhance our low latency streaming software.

Will he work for food and a Porsche?

[demlosers]

I think he has a web site called 'so sue me' or something close like that.