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DRM Removal Tool Made Available
Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
2006-08-29
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Someone has figured out how to "remove Microsoft's DRM from individualized media files," and the tool that does it has been made available on a public forum. Called FairUse4WM, "this program is ONLY designed and intended to enable fair-use rights to PURCHASED media," but there is a considerable potential for abuse.
As described on Wikipedia, Digital Rights Management (DRM) is used "to control access to digital data (such as software, music, movies) and hardware, handling usage restrictions associated with a specific instance of a digital work." As such, Microsoft is undoubtedly working to counteract the effects of FairUse4WM.
A user with the screen name "viodentia" is behind the release of the tool on the doom9.org forum. He (or she) appears to have taken some precautions. "While I haven't been able to support license expiration/rental detection," viodentia wrote, "please don't use this to abuse rental license. This code does NOT allow import of KID/SID pairs to preclude its use for piracy."
A BBC article explained the implications of the breach. "Some internet music sites, including Napster, offer monthly subscription services where users can download an unlimited amount of music. This is controlled by DRM technology, so if a payment is missed, the user can no longer listen to any of their songs. But by removing DRM protection from the files, users could potentially download and keep many files."
Another quote from the BBC piece downplayed the issue. "I'm not sure this means a massive amount - this sort of stuff goes on all the time," said Mark Mulligan, a Jupiter Research analyst. "I think Microsoft will be putting tools into place to close the hole - they are the big gorilla of the digital media space . . ."
Tag: FairUse4WM, DRM
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About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for SecurityProNews, InternetFinancialNews, SearchNewz, and WebProNews.
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