ping898
10-23-2006, 03:47 PM
This is a interesting article about some of the thought process behind an iTunes hack that, Jon Lech Johansen, better known as DVD Jon for breaking the DVD encryption a while back (DeCSS), has done and why he thinks it is legal, at least according to the letter of the law if not the spirit of the law
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391726/index.htm?postversion=2006102312
If you want to be specific - and for legal reasons, he does - Johansen has reverse-engineered FairPlay, the encryption technology Apple uses to make the iPod a closed system. Right now, thanks to FairPlay, the songs Apple sells at its iTunes store cannot easily be played on other devices, and copy-protected songs purchased from other sites will not play on the iPod.
Johansen has written programs that get around those restrictions: one that would let other companies sell copy-protected songs that play on the iPod, and another that would let other devices play iTunes songs.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391726/index.htm?postversion=2006102312
If you want to be specific - and for legal reasons, he does - Johansen has reverse-engineered FairPlay, the encryption technology Apple uses to make the iPod a closed system. Right now, thanks to FairPlay, the songs Apple sells at its iTunes store cannot easily be played on other devices, and copy-protected songs purchased from other sites will not play on the iPod.
Johansen has written programs that get around those restrictions: one that would let other companies sell copy-protected songs that play on the iPod, and another that would let other devices play iTunes songs.