Cracked: MS' New Music Format
by Jennifer Sullivan and John Gartner
wired.com
1:45 p.m. 18.Aug.99.PDT
Talk about an inauspicious debut.
Just as Microsoft released its
much-anticipated digital music
technology, a cracker found a way to
circumvent its security restrictions -- and
put a nasty moniker on it.
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Microsoft launched the Windows Media
Audio (WMA) format as an alternative to
the popular MP3 technology on Tuesday.
WMA files can be encoded to restrict
playback to a single PC, time period, or
number of plays.
Almost instantly, cracking software that
removes all playback restrictions began
making its way around newsgroups and
IRC sessions.
The file, pointedly named unfuck.exe, was
first described on Dimension Music, a Web
site dedicated to the competing MP3
music format.
Wired News successfully stripped
restrictions from an audio file purchased
from Musicmaker.com using the utility.
The cracking file intercepts the audio
data stream as the file is being sent to an
output device -- such as a speaker --
according to Kevin Unangst, lead product
manager in the streaming media division
at Microsoft.
The utility functions similarly to cracking
programs Audiojacker and Totalrecorder,
intercepting the data and re-saving it
without the restrictions.
Being able to intercept the playback "is a
reality of the music and PC industry,"
Unangst said. "It's like buying a
pay-per-view movie and recording it on
your VCR. People will still rent movies and
buy CDs."
"We don't see this as a flaw," said Allen
Beckerdite, chief technology officer of
Reciprocal, a provider of digital rights
management services. "It is a concern,
and we'd like to investigate how it
happened."
Microsoft's security technology lets
content owners establish access rules
that are enforced wherever that file
travels. The file access rights include
pricing and usage, as well as such
functions as sampling and copying.
The music industry is grappling with how
to protect audio copyrights as it
transitions to online commerce. Microsoft
and Reciprocal are members of the
Secure Digital Music Initiative, a group of
technology companies and record labels
creating an open specification to secure
digital downloads.
In the past, cracks have been developed
for secure formats such as Liquid Audio
and AT&T's a2b music.
"It will take a while, if ever, to have
anything secure," said Angelo Sotira, who
runs Dimension Music. "Some guy will
create an easy-to-use [cracking]
application and send it out to the world
because they get a kick out of it."
Editor's note: This article has been
modified to correct an error. Wired News
originally reported that Microsoft's
security technology was licensed from
Reciprocal. We reget this inaccuracy. |
