Simplicity Wins Again - Tape Defeats Sony DRM

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

How much money did Sony BMG spend on first licensing the XCP DRM software, and then again for the PR efforts once the fiasco began? And how much is it spending for the recall and exchange? All for copy protection which, the Gartner Group has found, can be defeated by a simple piece of tape.

What makes the Sony BMG incident even more unfortunate is that the DRM technology can be defeated easily. Gartner has identified one simple technique: The user simply applies a fingernail-sized piece of opaque tape to the outer edge of the disc, rendering session 2 — which contains the self-loading DRM software — unreadable. The PC then treats the CD as an ordinary single-session music CD, and the commonly used CD “rip” programs continue to work as usual. (Note: Gartner does not recommend or endorse this technique.) Moreover, even without the tape, common CD-copying programs readily duplicate the copy-protected disc in its entirety.

For these reasons, Sony BMG’s DRM technology will prevent neither informed casual copiers nor high-volume “pirates” from doing whatever they like with the content the disc. It does, however, load “stealth” software — software that has been demonstrated to have suspect effects — on uninformed users’ machines. The bottom line: Sony BMG has created serious public-relations and legal issues for itself, and for no good reason.

After more than five years of trying, the recording industry has not yet demonstrated a workable DRM scheme for music CDs. Gartner believes that it will never achieve this goal as long as CDs must be playable by stand-alone CD players. The industry may now refocus its attention on seeking legislation requiring the PC industry to include DRM technology in its products. Gartner believes the industry would be better-served by efforts to develop solutions that use DRM as an accounting/tracking tool, rather than as a lock. This approach would enable them to move to play-based business models not tied to hardware, and to track their digital assets without complicating users’ ability to move legitimately acquired content to whatever devices they choose. Source: The Gartner Group

We Say: I should have thought of the tape trick myself. It’s not new. In fact, I had seen it earlier. For example, there is an old post on this page at MacOSXHints from 2003 (search for “Tape and Marker”) where a Mac user used a similar trick to allow his Mac to play a legally purchased CD. I’m encouraged by Gartner’s chastisement of Sony BMG, as well as it’s opinion of the industry’s efforts so far. In my mind, I think it’s time for the industry to admit a) you’re not going to stop people who really want to crack something, b) most people legally buy stuff … so they should stop assuming people will steal from the start.