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Re: [News] DRM Cracked (Reverse-Engineered) Again


"Mark Kent" <mark.kent@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:r87mt3-5v3.ln1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
begin  oe_protect.scr
Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
QTFairUse6 Updated Hours After iTunes7 Release

,----[ Quote ]
| "Mere hours after iTunes 7's release, QTFairUse6 has received an update
| which enables it to continue stripping iTunes songs of their 'FairPlay'
| DRM. Some features are experimental but at least it's proof that the
| concept still works."
`----

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/13/1354252&from=rss

It's clear that people loathe DRM, no matter how secretly you shove it in
their faces.

One of the first slash postings raises an issue I've thought about many times, which is that if something's been broadcast, you missed it, wanted to watch it, so take a copy from online or from a friend, how can you have done anything wrong? Timeshifting is accepted usage, and this is merely timeshifting. It's an interesting conundrum, isn't it?

Depends on your definition of "wrong". There's legal wrongdoing and ethical wrongdoing, and the two don't always coincide.


As an example of when timeshifting might be ethically wrong: Your best friend occasionally does private broadcasts of a show (perhaps where he rates books he's read). You ask him for a login to his private server, so that you can view his show as well. He agrees, but on one condition: He asks that you please, please, PLEASE, do not timeshift his shows. When asked why, he says it's for religious reasons (he's quite an eccentric friend). So you agree, and he gives you a password and login, and you timeshift it anyway. In this specific scenario, I'd say what you did was ethically wrong. Now replace "Your best friend" with "HBO" or some other major broadcast network. Even if you *LEGALLY* have the right to timeshift (under fair use doctrines, or whatever), does that mean you are ethically right too? If so, what changed between HBO and your friend? Just that HBO is rich? What if your eccentric friend happened to be a multibillionaire?

I've downloaded episodes of TV shows before. They're primarily shows that were broadcast in Japan. Is what I'm doing illegal? I'm not sure, but I'm leaning towards "Yes". Is what I'm doing morally wrong? I don't know. If it's a "moral crime", it certainly seems to be victimless as far as I can see.

- Oliver


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