Want to defeat the record comapnies? Just hit "Shift" . . .

This is a follow-up from an earlier post entitled "Music Industry . . . again." I have located the source document for the workaround to the copy protection features on the BMG CD's I referred to in that earlier post. The whole document can be found here. Essentially a generally intelligent person was able to defeat what is supposed to be a sophisticated copy protection scheme. Would a non-computer-savvy person have figured out this workaround? Probably not, although eventually someone would have. The thing that record companies and, to be fair, many companies forget is how globally connected information sharing is because of the Internet. The Internet: you know, record companies, that thing that enables people to steal your music and distribute it via peer-to-peer networks? Ironic that the copy protection was effectively defeated the the same backbone that enables exactly what the copy protection was supposed to protect against.

The manufacturer of the copy protection, SunnComm, initially was going to sue the gentleman that wrote the paper on the workaround. In fact, SunnComm was noted to say that, the paper was ". . . duplicitous and, at worst, a felony." Today, the SunnComm President has decided not to file litigation, as to why, no reason was given . . .