Simple People and Simple Ideas

Get this:

A company called SunComm develops a technology called “MediaMax CD-3″ that prevents CDs from being copied — using its copy protection, music companies can cut down on piracy. (SunComm is a public company.)

The recording industry likes it, and albums using MediaMax come out — Anthony Hamilton’s “Comin’ From Where I’m From,” for example.

Then a kid at Princeton figures out that all you have to do to circumvent the MediaMax protection is hold down the Shift key when you insert the CD. That’s it. He writes a paper about it and posts it on his Web site, along with an analysis of the technology.

In one fell swoop he wipes out all SunnComm’s work — pretty shoddy work if you ask me, if that’s all it takes to work around it. SunnComm claims it’s lost more than $10 million in value and is planning to sue the kid for telling people to hold down the Shift key.

I love this stuff.

* * *

Just in case the poor guy takes his paper down, here’s a copy.

* * *

This marks the third time an incredibly simple solution has wiped out a high-tech copy protection scheme.

First was DeCSS, a short piece of code (it was eventually printed on T-shirts) that cracked the copy protection on DVD disks.

Then came the revelation that Sony’s Key2Audio CD-protection technology could be circumvented with a magic marker.

And now the simple use of the Shift key. Neat.