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Alexander Turcic · 12-25-2002, 09:08 PM

As you can read on my frontpage, someone has released a tiny little tool that enables everyone to extract all component files from a protected .LIT file.

So Microsoft's Digital Rights Management (5) has been defeated, and as an aftermath, all the books that are (and were) sold in the .LIT format can now easily be converted and freely copied to anyone's PDA or Computer without restrictions.

The whole thing reminds me very much of the Elcomsoft case. Adobe tried to pursuade us and book publishers that its PDF protection was reliable and save against misuse. But then some Russians released a tiny tool, the Advanced eBook Processor, that proved Adobe wrong. And bang! In 2001, Dmitry Sklyarov was arrested during the Las Vegas Defcon hackers conference after giving a speech about the cracking software. And finally, a few days ago, the jury acquitted him and his company of all charges.

And now Microsoft's DRM5.

I wonder how the book authors must feel. And their publishers. What will they do in future? Will they go back to solely support the good old paper book, or will they wait for an improved (yet again) version of DRM? Makes me really wonder. And will there ever be a *save* copyright protection mechanism for electronic media? I doubt it...

12-25-2002, 09:08 PM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,163 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	As you can read on my frontpage, someone has released a tiny little tool that enables everyone to extract all component files from a protected .LIT file. So Microsoft's Digital Rights Management (5) has been defeated, and as an aftermath, all the books that are (and were) sold in the .LIT format can now easily be converted and freely copied to anyone's PDA or Computer without restrictions. The whole thing reminds me very much of the Elcomsoft case. Adobe tried to pursuade us and book publishers that its PDF protection was reliable and save against misuse. But then some Russians released a tiny tool, the Advanced eBook Processor, that proved Adobe wrong. And bang! In 2001, Dmitry Sklyarov was arrested during the Las Vegas Defcon hackers conference after giving a speech about the cracking software. And finally, a few days ago, the jury acquitted him and his company of all charges. And now Microsoft's DRM5. I wonder how the book authors must feel. And their publishers. What will they do in future? Will they go back to solely support the good old paper book, or will they wait for an improved (yet again) version of DRM? Makes me really wonder. And will there ever be a save copyright protection mechanism for electronic media? I doubt it...