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SDMI Crack Silenced?
Word has it that Princeton University computer science professor Edward Felten, who recently participated in a group which claims to have cracked SMDI (the Secure Digital Music Initiative), is now being silenced over fear of litigation.
But who and what is Professor Felton exactly afraid of? After all, the group working with the professor flat our refused to participate in the recent "Hack SDMI Challenge" so it would be able to talk publicly about its results, and not be locked in a non disclosure agreement. It seems that even considering this, there still could be potential problems if the professor goes public with his results.
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act established in 1998 the companies backing the Secure Digital Music Initiative may very well be able to go after him and his team if he publishes his results to the public.
For now, following the advise of his legal counsel, Professor Felten stays silent. But the question remains, should corporate powers be able to place fear in educators who wish to publish their finding for the greater gain of academic knowledge? Is this a growing sign that existing corporate powers are gaining too much control and are causing injustice to our greater knowledge as a community as a whole? Let us know your thoughts in the guided discussion.
User Comments
(These do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of this site)
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iansir
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 8:04 AM
It was only a matter of time... |
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thesb
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 9:53 AM
The DMCA will go after anyone that breathes anything of it.. just like DeCSS.
... the DMCA SUCK! |
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thesb
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 10:02 AM
Yah,, im a big frickin moron dope...
I totally wasnt thinking DMCA. obviously.
please don't flame me : )
*hides in the corner*
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Anonymous
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 10:05 AM
Big corporations bought their way into the White House. You do not think that your backyard is next? |
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Anonymous
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 10:16 AM
When corporations start controlling what we can and can't talk about, isn't this a violation of our first amendment rights? This is the very thing that this country was founded upon..
If this keeps up, five years from now people will be thrown in jail for figuring out how ot fix their PC's and Home Stereos without paying the company that made them a fee. If the DCMA can stand, others will use it as a "example" and other "acts" will arise that will slowly but surely take away any freedom of information left.
This is total bullshit, and I can't beleive it has gotten this far already. |
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babyraven
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 11:05 AM
If one group cracked it, another will too. Give it time, and eventually it'll leak.
I don't blame him for being scared, either. |
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tetsuo
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 11:37 AM
no why don't you stop and think for a while about the corporations losses once the SDMi crack is open for public?
there is no "good side" or "bad side" here, both the corp and the prof. are right in some way or another.
somehow people never pay attention to other people achievements and hardships, and most of the time the corporation is wrong - why is that?
The SDMI is a tool to secure licenses and profits of the rightful owners. try thinking somebody made a crack which allowed your copyrighted material to be in heavy public use?
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Anonymous
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 1:35 PM
Yep - that would be Napster ;) lol |
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tetsuo
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 1:53 PM
lol 8]
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Q-Logic
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 2:07 PM
DMCA is unconstitutional. It violates his right to publish what he discovered. (1st Amendment). He should be able to publish it if he wishes and if somebody has not copyrighted the procedure on what he just did (another argument of its own, lol). I refused to follow any of these new electronic laws or copyright laws because those laws violate infringe upon my freedom. As one of the founding fathers puts it, if any gov't infringes on any citizen's right to freedom, he has the right to revolt. And that is what I will do. :) |
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doobybrain
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 2:51 PM
he should release it and say somebody stole it from him secretly and posted it on the web.
actually, he shouldnt. i wouldnt want a huge company on my ass.
[doobybrain] |
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amv
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 4:38 PM
no. imagine their losses if the crack doesn't go public now... it'll surface some time in the ug scene, and then it'll be too late for the SDMI to do anything about it... either way, capitalism can can kiss my @#$. what was that quote? oh yeah... power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely... damn, the dmca was such a big mistake...
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Anonymous
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 5:56 PM
a bigger joke, others cracked sdmi too... |
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jon-
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 7:52 PM
Everyone should stop and think for a minute.
What if you worked long and hard every day on something then you didn't get paid for your work? That would piss you off right? Well these copyright laws are made to make sure that people's artistic creations are not stolen from them and that they get compensated for the hard work that they've done.
Like tetsuo said, both sides in this disagreement are right in some ways and wrong in some ways , but everyone should still think that these laws are being made to protect people's work. If you had talent and the chance to make a living off that talent you wouldn't want people to take your work and leave you hungry. |
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l3vi
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 9:54 PM
This is also proves that their is no code that someone can't crack.
He should be able to publish his results since no one is going to use the SDMI format. Mp3 is here to stay, and no other format is going to but its way into our lives (especially when it doesn't sound as good as mp3, compress as well as mp3, and songs are easily tracked by companies.)
- L3Vi - |
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Exxtreme
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Date: January 16, 2001 @ 10:38 PM
hmm... so he can't publish it right... hmmm let's see...
Wasn't THAT the main reason why FREENET was created? Why don't he through the stuff there? There's no way (the author says it) someone can trace back who published the file... and it'll be on the freenet network with a unique ID... so he could just publish this ID and everyone could easily download the info about the hack.... =) |
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