Apple lawyers hand iPod hash cracking site a DMCA notice
Apple has served the "iPodhash" project with a DMCA takedown notice and is claiming that the project's attempts to reverse engineer the iTunesDB file found on iPods circumvents Apple's FairPlay DRM.Read More...
published on Friday, the 21. November 2008, ars-technica
Apple DMCAs iPodHash Project
TRS-80 writes "Apple has sent a DMCA takedown notice to the IpodHash project, claiming it circumvents their FairPlay DRM scheme. Some background: Apple first added a hash to the iTunesDB file in 6th-gen iPods, but it was quickly reverse-engineered. They changed it with the release of iPhone 2.0 and a project was started to reverse the new hash, but weren't successful yet. My guess is Apple used the same algorithm as FairPlay for the new hash, so Apple could use the DMCA to prevent competing apps like Songbird and Banshee from talking to iPods/iPhones. BTW, don't tell Apple, but the project uses a wiki, so the old page versions from before the takedown are still there."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
published on Thursday, the 20. November 2008, apple-slashdot
Norwegian Market Council case against Apple progressing
Apple and Norway's Market Council have been arguing back and forth about Apple's FairPlay DRM for a few years now, but now, the case looks to be moving ahead.Read More...
published on Thursday, the 6. November 2008, ars-technica
Norway and iTunes: The DRM War
Norway has taken their two-year fight against iTunes and Apple’s FairPlay DRM to its next step, and will now ask the government to force Apple to open their iTunes music to other devices besides the iPod. As background, this all began when Norway’s consumer ombudsman, Bjorn Erik Thon, ruled that Apple’s FairPlay DRM violated the country’s consumer rights [...]
published on Wednesday, the 8. October 2008, apple-blog
Norway gives Apple deadline to open up FairPlay DRM
Nobody likes DRM, especially not the Norwegian Consumer Council. Consumer Ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon is, after two years of requests and meetings, giving Apple until November to make FairPlay-protected content compatible with competing portable music players.Read More...
published on Monday, the 29. September 2008, ars-technica
First iPhone app cracked? Super Monkey Ball for all?
A group of hackers say they have cracked Apple's close Fairplay DRM on Sega's Super Monkey Balll for iPhone. A posting on Haklabs points to a download link for the pirated game. A number of users who commented on the site say they were succesfully able to run Super Monkey Ball on a jailbroken version 2.0 iPhone using SSH. Other users, however, sai...
published on Wednesday, the 23. July 2008, macintosh-news-network
Workaround lets iPhone users share apps
Developer Melvin Rivera has posted a workaround for sharing iPhone apps on his All Forces blog. The simple workaround takes advantage of Apple's Fairplay, which allows users to sync up to five computers with each iTunes account, along with unlimited iPhones and iPods. Although the process is initially time consuming -- and maybe a bit confusing --...
published on Wednesday, the 23. July 2008, macintosh-news-network
Apple Sends Cease-and-Desist To the Hymn Project
Troed writes "Tools for removing DRM from iTunes-purchased songs (myFairTunes7, QtFairUse6) have been available from the Hymn Project Web site for some time. These are legal in many countries. But on the 20th Apple sent a Cease and Desist note to Hymn's ISP, forcing the site admins to remove all download links. It is speculated that this is due to a new tool being created (Requiem) that attacks Apple's FairPlay DRM through cryptographic means instead of by copying the unprotected music from memory while it is being played. But since the tools are no longer available (after several days there are still no public mirrors), discussion around this topic has died out. Many users buy music from the iTunes store and rely on DRM removal to be able to play the content on their mobile phones. Apple may be on dangerous ground here, since those users might now start checking out competing services."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
published on Saturday, the 23. February 2008, apple-slashdot
'DVD Jon' Wipes Out iTunes DRM, Judge Shuts Down Wikileaks, Microsoft Embraces Open Source
Jon Lech Johansen was born to kill digital rights management technology. He started as a teen, adopting the handle DVD Jon. In addition to cracking open the technology used to encrypt DVDs, he's taken his hammer to Apple's FairPlay DRM. Recently, DVD Jon and partner Monique Farantzos founded DoubleTwist, a company that offers products designed to simplify the flow of media across devices and social networks.
published on Friday, the 22. February 2008, macnewsworld
BBC: iPlayer for Mac in 2008, but still needs Mac-native DRM
The BBC says that it's committed to bringing its iPlayer video service to the Mac this year, but is still limited by the lack of a Mac-native DRM scheme other than FairPlay. Read More...
published on Friday, the 8. February 2008, ars-technica