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| | | November 30, 2003
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Sunday, November 30, 2003 |
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Apple iTunes cracked by DeCSS programmer
The Norwegian teenage programmer who once vexed Hollywood with DeCSS, the first popular DVD copyright protection cracking software, has set his sights on Apple's iTunes Music Store. Jon Johansen, also known as DVD Jon, posted without comment the source code of a QuickTime memory dumper called QTFairUse, which may be used to circumvent the digital rights management (DRM) technology used by Apple to protect the copyrights of songs purchased from its music service.
The program requires significant technical expertise, but according to numerous reports it successfully captures and extracts into a raw file iTunes music. The file created by QTFairUse has to undergo further conversion in order to play with popular audio players like Winamp and Windows Media Player, but the open-source technology paves the way for the creation of more sophisticated and fully automated software tools, cracking Apple's DRM protection.
Neither Johansen, nor Apple returned calls for comment from various news outlets.
In January, Johansen was acquitted in the DeCSS trial after a Norwegian court ruled the teenager had a right to break the copyright protection of a DVD he purchased, in order to watch it under the Linux operating system. The prosecutors in case have filed an appeal.
More from: AP (via Wired News) | CNET News.com | MacCentral | The Register | Reuters | TechNewsWorld
OSDL: SCO's claims are 'desperate'
Open Source Development Labs Inc. (OSDL), a nonprofit organization funded by major Linux backers, launched a PR campaign to increase awareness on the Linux development process. OSDL also publicized a paper written by recognized authority Prof. Eben Moglen, blasting SCO's ongoing legal battle against the open-source community.
Moglen, a Columbia University law professor and general counsel for the Free Software Foundation, wrote SCO's claims contained 'inherent contradictions' and both legally and historically disputed the charges of the Utah-based software company. In recent time, Open Source Development Labs has defended Linux more aggressively, seeking ensure Linux customers and address their uncertainties by countering SCO's accusations.
Quite predictably, a spokesman for The SCO Group called the paper flawed.
More from: CNET News.com | Computerworld | eWeek | InternetNews.com 1 2 | LinuxWorld
'Extremely critical' holes in IE
Danish security firm Secunia warned this week of 'extremely critical' vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, but a patch from Microsoft is yet to be released. The five flaws were recently reported by Chinese researcher Liu Die Yu and according to various reports when exploited together they may lead to a takeover of a user's computer system.
A Microsoft representative said the software maker is investigating the reports and will issue an update as part of its monthly cumulative patch or an out-of-cycle patch, depending on the severity of the flaws. In the mean time, however, a 'proof-of-concept' exploit is circulating the Internet.
More from: CNET News.com | InfoWorld | InternetNews.com | NewsFactor | TechNewsWorld
In Other News...
 Andrew Morton, the maintainer for the development of the next Linux version, said Linux kernel 2.6 is expected to be released by the end of the year. The new version will bring significant improvements, most importantly on Linux's ability to run on multiprocessor systems. Linux kernel 2.4, which is currently being sold by major distributors like Red Hat and SuSE Linux, could handle four or eight-processor systems, while 2.6 may even be able to scale to 32, according to Morton.
The U.S. Senate approved the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM), the first federal anti-spam legislation, which is expected U.S. President George W. Bush to sign into a law in December. After failing to reach an agreement on junk mail for years, the U.S. Congress finally adopted legislation, which stipulates steep fines for big-time junk mailers.
A U.S. District Court judge has again delayed the lawsuit of software giant Microsoft against Lindows at least until March 1, 2004. Redmond is suing Lindows for violating its Windows trademark by using a similar name and is seeking a court order to close the company's web site, Lindows.com, which it claims is illegally misleading web users.
America Online has filed a lawsuit against two former executives for allegedly embezzling $100,000. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) is charging that Gregory Horton, former executive vice president for human resources, and Ruben Moreno, former vice president of human resources, stole the sum via an elaborate scheme.
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