From The Register
Realizing it had little to gain through legal action, SunnComm has backed down from threatening to sue a Princeton student who broke the company's CD copy protection technology simply by holding down the Shift key.
SunnComm issued a statement long on denouncing researcher Alex Halderman's critique of the MediaMax CD3 technology and short on saying why it won't sue. But nonetheless, the company has retreated from its promise to use the DMCA against Halderman.
"I don't want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research," SunnComm CEO Peter Jacobs told The Daily Princetonian less than twenty-four hours after wanting to be that guy. "I just thought about it and decided it was more important not to be one of those people. The harm's been done . . . if I can't accomplish anything [with a lawsuit] I don't want to leave a wake."
Jacobs' change of heart comes after seeing his company's market value drop by more than $10 million. In addition, SunnComm's approach to DRM endured widespread public ridicule at the hands of Halderman.
The Princeton student showed that holding down the Shift key would disable Windows' Autorun function and leave MediaMax CD3 rather ineffective.
Sunncomm, whose slogan is "light years beyond encryption," said that Halderman has missed the point when he exposed weaknesses with the MediaMax technology.
"MediaMax performs EXACTLY as "advertised" to the companies who purchased it," Jacobs said in the statement.
“We realize now that Mr. Halderman had mistakenly expected to be researching an 'extremely hack resistant' copy protection product when he evaluated MediaMax -Version1."
Extremely hack resistant apparently meaning something not done in by the Shift key.
All in all SunnComm made the right choice by backing down from what would have been a most liberal use of the DMCA. The company will be better off focusing its efforts on the MediaMax technology and also, with any luck, its Web site.
Posted by Muddy at October 13, 2003 12:45 AM | TrackBackMaybe they backed down because when you switch on the light to see who is there, they can see you too.
SunnComm accused Halderman of wrongdoing for exposing their weak copy protection. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". Is SunnComm without sin?
In December 2000, SunnComm announced a $20M deal with Will-Shown, who they described as a major Pacific Rim CD Manufacturer.
SunnComm Inks $20+ Million Copy Protection Deal With Major Pacific Rim CD Manufacturer
http://cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/news/0012/sunncomm_cd_protect.shtml
People are asking who is the Will-Shown Technology Company. Why would a CD manufacturer license copy protection? It is not a record label. Why would it commit so much to an untested product by a penny stock with no track record? How could a major Pacific Rim CD manufacturer not have a web site? How come it is not even mentioned on the web by anyone else? The stock price tripled in the days after the announcement. Who can find Will-Shown and clear up the mystery? A major Pacific Rim CD Manufacturer couldn't just vanish like that, could it?
SunnComm was previously named Desert Winds Entertainment. The SEC found a little problem with them: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/complr17462.htm
Paloma appointed Jacobs as president and Jacobs, who accused Halderman of wrong doing, was the person responsible for the Will-Shown press release.
Nice Ataboy, good research man.
I read both links you posted. That is some quality stuff you found.
I would like to see all the nasty things companies have done to lie to the public shown and let's end this game of deceit as the norm.
of course I'd like to see the government do the same... :-/
Posted by: muddy at October 17, 2003 11:04 AM