IP: An anonymous programmer has found a way to decrypt Microsoft Reader e-books,

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

[ I said this would happen djf]

> http://www.technologyreview.com/web/roush/roush083001.asp
>
> > Breaking Microsoft's e-Book Code
> > By Wade Roush
> > August 30, 2001
> >
> >
> > An anonymous programmer has found a way to decrypt Microsoft Reader 
> > e-books, spurring digital-rights debate.
> >
> > It's easy to load a small library of electronic books into your laptop or 
> > handheld organizer and carry it with you on the bus or to the beach. But 
> > try to make backup copies of those same e-books or loan one to a friend, 
> > and you'll run smack into the digital equivalent of an electrified fence. 
> > The problem is that once a literary work has been liberated from the 
> > printed page, it's potentially vulnerable to unlimited digital piracy-a 
> > danger that makes most e-book publishers insist on strict software 
> > controls to prevent anyone but the purchaser from opening an e-book file.
> >
> > Competing "digital rights management" systems offered by companies such 
> > as Adobe Systems, Microsoft, Reciprocal and ContentGuard allow publishers 
> > to outfit e-books and other forms of electronic content with customized 
> > usage rules. The companies naturally strive to make these systems as 
> > hacker-proof as possible. But Technology Review recently learned of a 
> > home-brewed decryption program that defeats the most advanced antipiracy 
> > features built into Microsoft Reader, a leading e-book program downloaded 
> > by over a million people since its debut in August 2000.
> >
> > Code Breaking
> >
> > The decryption program enables purchasers of "owner-exclusive" Microsoft 
> > Reader titles-Microsoft's most highly protected form of e-book-to convert 
> > these titles to unencrypted files viewable on any Web browser. The 
> > program's creator, a U.S. cryptography expert who asked not to be 
> > identified, says he wanted to circumvent the "two-persona" limit, a rule 
> > built into Microsoft Reader at the behest of publishers that allows 
> > purchasers to read the same e-book on up to two devices, but no more.
> >
> > Though the decryption program works on any Windows PC, the programmer 
> > hasn't released it, saying he developed it for his personal use. But the 
> > program's existence, together with decryption efforts directed against 
> > e-book formats from other companies, such as Adobe, illustrates the 
> > vulnerabilities in digital rights management schemes. It also promises to 
> > fuel the ongoing debate over the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 
> > under which it is legal in certain circumstances to use-but, 
> > paradoxically, not to make or distribute-software that circumvents 
> > technological copyright protections.


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