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iBooks DRM has been cracked.

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Re: iBooks DRM has been cracked.

#21

Post by Retric »

tptacek wrote: post #18
mikeash wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is what shows that DRM really is hopeless. For DRM to work, it has to work every time. For DRM to be broken, it only needs to fail once. After one guy has extracted the media, it can then be distributed to the world even if nobody else can break the DRM.

Not really. The content providers only have to hold the line (a) on high-quality and (b) during the new-release window. It's true that eventual failure is inevitable, but the economic case for DRM doesn't rely on permanent protection.

Considering it rarely takes a week for a popular games DRM to be broken the window between copy protection and the lack there of does not necessarily mean much. What many people forget is there will always be leechers out there but there are also people who will make the moral choice and buy the content.

PS: I will torrent a show I my DVR fills up or something. But, I don't cancel cable and download everything and I still pay to see movies in the theater. Why? Because there is no penalty for downloading it just becomes a moral choice and that's where I draw the line.

Re: iBooks DRM has been cracked.

#22

Post by krig »

rmc wrote: post #20
krig wrote: post #2

I can confirm that yes, it has been cracked. Happily it is (as far as I know) not yet illegal for me to remove DRM protection from books I've purchased, although I'm sure that will change soon.

I think in the USA, the DMCA has made it illegal to break the copy protection on copyrighted work? It may or may not be against the iBook EULA, which might make you in breech of contract, or make you guilty of using a computer system without agreement.

I am not in the USA, but yes, I think you are correct about the DMCA.

Unfortunately, after looking into things it seems that the law in Sweden also prohibits breaking DRM. There is a provision that if I am unable to otherwise use the content, I am allowed to break the copy protection. However, the law also prohibits making and spreading software that is capable of breaking copy protection, so that sort of contradicts that escape route (since they can just say that the illegal act was figuring out how to break the copy protection, not the actual breakage).

In swedish, from the swedish government: http://www.sweden.gov.se/content/1/c6/05/07/29/96c6bfb1.pdf

It's a sad state of affairs. :(

Re: iBooks DRM has been cracked.

#23

Post by vibrunazo »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #16
jonny_eh wrote: post #8

Great, now I honestly feel safe about buying from the iBookstore! This can only lead to an increase in sales. Did they not learn anything from the music industry? Sales have only gone up since they scrapped DRM! (citation needed)

I'm interested to see if this will be true for books as well. Taken in a continuum of attention required, you start with music, then to movies,and finally to books. As a result my ability to consume books is one to two orders of magnitude lower than music. That seems like it could impact the economics of discover-then-purchase that music "piracy"/"free marketing" has wrought. Regardless, I think it will always be goo…

According to best-selling author Paulo Coelho, piracy's free marketing has increased his sales: http://thenextweb.com/2008/12/09/author-paulo-coelho-support...

Re: iBooks DRM has been cracked.

#24

Post by Karunamon »

Retric wrote: post #21
tptacek wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. The content providers only have to hold the line (a) on high-quality and (b) during the new-release window. It's true that eventual failure is inevitable, but the economic case for DRM doesn't rely on permanent protection.

Considering it rarely takes a week for a popular games DRM to be broken the window between copy protection and the lack there of does not necessarily mean much. What many people forget is there will always be leechers out there but there are also people who will make the moral choice and buy the content. PS: I will torrent a show I my DVR fills up or something. But, I don't cancel cable and download everything and I…

Equating the downloading of a file with "morals" is silly.

Re: iBooks DRM has been cracked.

#25

Post by Natsu »

tptacek wrote: post #18
mikeash wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is what shows that DRM really is hopeless. For DRM to work, it has to work every time. For DRM to be broken, it only needs to fail once. After one guy has extracted the media, it can then be distributed to the world even if nobody else can break the DRM.

Not really. The content providers only have to hold the line (a) on high-quality and (b) during the new-release window. It's true that eventual failure is inevitable, but the economic case for DRM doesn't rely on permanent protection.

In other words, they only have to fool themselves into thinking it's doing them any good?

Re: iBooks DRM has been cracked.

#26

Post by ugh »

Karunamon wrote: post #24
Retric wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering it rarely takes a week for a popular games DRM to be broken the window between copy protection and the lack there of does not necessarily mean much. What many people forget is there will always be leechers out there but there are also people who will make the moral choice and buy the content. PS: I will torrent a show I my DVR fills up or something. But, I don't cancel cable and download everything and I…

Equating the downloading of a file with "morals" is silly.

Morals aren’t just for when you decide that killing people is a bad idea.

I think it’s morally right to not jaywalk when there are children around. That’s even less harmless than downloading files, but it’s still a moral question.

Re: iBooks DRM has been cracked.

#27

Post by teamonkey »

Retric wrote: post #21
tptacek wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. The content providers only have to hold the line (a) on high-quality and (b) during the new-release window. It's true that eventual failure is inevitable, but the economic case for DRM doesn't rely on permanent protection.

Considering it rarely takes a week for a popular games DRM to be broken the window between copy protection and the lack there of does not necessarily mean much. What many people forget is there will always be leechers out there but there are also people who will make the moral choice and buy the content. PS: I will torrent a show I my DVR fills up or something. But, I don't cancel cable and download everything and I…

> Considering it rarely takes a week for a popular games DRM to be broken the window between copy protection and the lack there of does not necessarily mean much.

It means a lot because the majority of a game's total sales will be in the first 3 weeks. After one month, you're more or less done. Very few games have any sort of tail, let alone a long one. [EDIT: I'm speaking in general for high-profile retail games]

Assuming that even a small percentage (say 1%) of pirates will try piracy first but will resort to paying if the piracy option fails, then having DRM that is unbroken for the first week could mean the difference of $millions in revenue.

Re: iBooks DRM has been cracked.

#28

Post by tptacek »

Natsu wrote: post #25
tptacek wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. The content providers only have to hold the line (a) on high-quality and (b) during the new-release window. It's true that eventual failure is inevitable, but the economic case for DRM doesn't rely on permanent protection.

In other words, they only have to fool themselves into thinking it's doing them any good?

I'm not sure what this comment is supposed to mean. Maybe if you rephrased it?

Re: iBooks DRM has been cracked.

#29

Post by tptacek »

teamonkey wrote: post #27
Retric wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering it rarely takes a week for a popular games DRM to be broken the window between copy protection and the lack there of does not necessarily mean much. What many people forget is there will always be leechers out there but there are also people who will make the moral choice and buy the content. PS: I will torrent a show I my DVR fills up or something. But, I don't cancel cable and download everything and I…

> Considering it rarely takes a week for a popular games DRM to be broken the window between copy protection and the lack there of does not necessarily mean much. It means a lot because the majority of a game's total sales will be in the first 3 weeks. After one month, you're more or less done. Very few games have any sort of tail, let alone a long one. [EDIT: I'm speaking in general for high-profile retail games] As…

Based on my understanding of the market from friends who work in this space, this is exactly correct.

Re: iBooks DRM has been cracked.

#30

Post by dripton »

rmc wrote: post #20
krig wrote: post #2

I can confirm that yes, it has been cracked. Happily it is (as far as I know) not yet illegal for me to remove DRM protection from books I've purchased, although I'm sure that will change soon.

I think in the USA, the DMCA has made it illegal to break the copy protection on copyrighted work? It may or may not be against the iBook EULA, which might make you in breech of contract, or make you guilty of using a computer system without agreement.

I am not a lawyer, but the DMCA makes an exception for compatibility. So I believe you have the right to break the DRM on a Kindle book so that you can read it on Linux.
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