September 14th, 2006
24 hours: The time it takes to crack the newest DRM from Microsoft or Apple
It was only a week ago that hackers proved that Microsoft may be unable to win the game of cat-n-mouse that it’s in with hackers who are determined to neutralize the software giant’s digital rights management (DRM) technology (a technology with a nasty side effect of keeping people from using legitimately acquired audio and video where they want, when they want, on the device they want).
Within 24 hours of Microsoft hustling a fix out the door that prevented the FairUse4WM "utility" from disabling the Redmond-based company’s DRM copy protection technology, FairUse4M "evolved," thus neutralizing the fix. But Microsoft isn’t the only DRM cat trying to keep after hacker mice. Yesterday, Apple released iTunes 7 which, amongst other things, closed a hole that hackers were exploiting in the DRM technology (known as FairPlay) found in iTunes6. Today, barely 24 hours later, the cat is once again after the mouse. According to Wired:
It’s only been a day since Apple updated iTunes to version 7, but the folks over at the Hymn project have already posted a new version of a program that can be used to remove the DRM from songs purchased from it. It’s an updated version of the recent release that worked with iTunes 6….I confirmed that the new 2.3 version of QTFairUse6 works fine for converting one iTunes 7 song at a time, although apparently the function for batch converting an entire library of purchased songs doesn’t work. In order to convert a single song, you’d just drag it from your iTunes Music folder onto the QTFairUse6.exe file and enter "Y" in the DOS command line interface that pops up.
I’m guessing the batch problem will get solved soon. Advantage: the Hackers.
