Those cute little geeks over at Engadget received a tip about a crack utility for Windows Media DRM. According to Ryan Block, the utility functions and effectively removed DRM from a Napster subscription service DRM protected file.
The implications of this are pretty heavy. First, if this can't be fixed quickly and accurately, this may spell the beginning of the end for subscription based services. Second, it only further proves what we here at TDMW have been saying for ages...
DRM doesn't protect content in any meaningful way. DRM does however present an encumbrance to legal uses of media purchased by legitimate customers.
The program's cheeky author has dubbed the utility "FairUse4WM".
You probably shouldn't go here, here, or here to download FairUse4WM
[via Engadget]
Update: A clarification. FairUse4WM breaks PlaysForSure, Microsoft's latest DRM used in Windows Media 10 and 11, but doesn't work on Microsoft's earlier scheme, used in Windows Media 9.
1. I reported this last night, along with analysis
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cmusings/2006/08/25#a1889
In short, "While interesting news, it's rather irrelevant to online media services using WM DRM. Most users won't care about these decryption tools, not because the DRM is "consumer-friendly," but rather because there are already readily-accessible alternatives to acquire unencrypted copies and thus get around the DRM's unfriendly limits."
Posted at 3:10PM on Aug 25th 2006 by Derek Slater