Student faces suit over key to CD locks

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Originally posted here by r8devil
they just realised that they are not gonna make any $ from this so they try to sue a student who is showing the flaws of the protection.
They already conned BMG into using their method and BMG probably paid for it. they were thinking that more record companies will pay them and then someone showed the flaws on the system and they are pissed.

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Thier stock has dropped by 20%, according to slashdot. CNET said this:

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The damage to SunnComm's reputation, while not necessarily permanent, was quickly seen in a drop in its markt value, totaling close to $10 million over several days,

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So yes, they have a legal right to sue. One line from this guy was all it took to make this happen. Granted, they made a shitty product, but they can still sue when someone does them damage like that. Whether or not they win depends on whether or not it's a product flaw or this guy's fault. And that's for a judge to decide. But the fact is that they lost $10 million in 5 days because of him.

Striek: I see what you are saying.

But the truth of the matter is... anyone with half of a brain could have figured that one out!
BMG and SunnComm said they KNEW that their product could be bypassed by this method. If they knew that... then why would they use it?

A simple product like http://www.xteq.com/ has the option to disable the autorun, or it can be done with a simple registry tweak. Not to mention the shift key.
So... anyone who has a product or information on how to disable the autorun feature can be sued!? That includes www.registryguides.com www.microsoft.com www.xteq.com and I'm sure quite a few more too!

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<(bearly) sarcasm>
In other news, all keyboard and computer makers will be sued for making and shipping computers with a shift key as well as microsoft for making it possible to turn off the auto-run feature. Other operating system makers that do not have a auto-run feature or is not enabled by default will also be sued...
</(bearly) sarcasm>

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Don't give them any ideas... :p

Did they really think that it was going to stay private? That is a HUGE gamble... they lost.

You wouldn't go to the racetrack and put 10 Million on a horse that you know could break its leg mid race!

this is such a sad case of corporate stupidity. they made an absolutely CRAPPY product that they knew could be broken easily and now they want to sue a student for writing a paper on it. not all systems have the auto-run feature so are they going to sue all of the OS vendors that do not implement this....f'ing ridiculous. did they lose $$$ due to this paper, YES, but they released a flawed product knowingly. if anything, BMG should sue SunnComm, course supposedly BMG knew that the product was flawed also, so that probably won't fly.

i wonder what impact this crap will have on the acadamic coummunity and innovation from within it?

Ah, better yet. They thought better of suing this student...

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Sunncomm backs down from shift key prosecution

Mescalin wears off...

By INQUIRER staff: Friday 10 October 2003, 15:38

IT SEEMS that Sunncomm, which wanted to throw the book at a student for describing a method using the SHIFT key to circumvent its copy protection, has backed off, probably sensing the full blown mess of a PR Catastrophe.
See Software company to sue student over using shift key.

John Halderman published his findings on Sunncomm's Media Max software and was threatened with prosecution under DMCA legislation, but according to Broadband Reports, pointing to Professor Edward Felten's blog, here, Sunncomm has seen sense and decided not to sue the chap instead.

So all is well that ends well, except for Sunncomm, which complains it's lost $10 million or so since the big hullabaloo hullabalooed earlier this week. µ

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Source

good thing they backed off, they would have lost even with the DCMA. The DCMA explicitly states a robust security infrustructure, if something can be bypased y holding down one key it is not robust.

Crazy...

LMAO, I don't care what they do, no matter how many security measures the make and try, someone is going to figure a way around it! It's always going to happen and all they can do is scare you with a lawsuit. Still it's going to be done. The only surefire way to keep people from breaking copyright laws would be to ship an armed guard with every CD to stand watch. You would have feed and shelter this guard, and if you tryed to break the security measures he would flog you. That's the only way. ;)

lol @ "nate_k9" post ....... it mad me lol....... alot....... well he is right... ther is always a way......and any way....... the couldnt win the case anyway...... coz they said they knew that there was a flaw...... so they gave it up... before is started........ it is kinda crazy...... :Dlol;)