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September 26, 2006 4:19 PM PDT
Microsoft sues over source code theft
Last modified: September 27, 2006 3:02 AM PDT
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For more than a month, the Redmond, Wash., company has been combating a program released online called FairUse4WM, which successfully stripped anticopying guards from songs downloaded through subscription media services such as Napster or Yahoo Music.
Microsoft has released two successive patches aimed at disabling the tool. The first worked--but the hacker, known only by the pseudonym "Viodentia," quickly found a way around the update, the company alleges. Now the company says this was because the hacker had apparently gained access to copyrighted source code unavailable to previous generations of would-be crackers.
"Our own intellectual property was stolen from us and used to create this tool," said Bonnie MacNaughton, a senior attorney in Microsoft's legal and corporate affairs division. "They obviously had a leg up on any of the other hackers that might be creating circumvention tools from scratch."
In a Web posting early Wednesday morning, Viodentia denied using any copyrighted Microsoft code, and released yet another version of his tool.
"FairUse4WM has been my own creation, and has never involved Microsoft source code," the developer wrote. "I link with Microsoft's static libraries provided with the compiler and various platform SDK (software development kit) files."
This latest round of copy-protection headaches comes at a delicate time for Microsoft. In a few months, the company plans to launch its own digital music subscription service, called "Zune," paired with an iPod device rival of the same name. The package will compete with services from Microsoft's traditional partners, such as Napster and Yahoo.
The Zune service and device will use their own flavor of digital rights management, and this will not be directly compatible with Microsoft's partners' products, despite being based on the same Windows Media technology. The company is taking great pains to assure its partners that their PlaysForSure-branded products are still state of the art.
Two-pronged approach
At the moment, Microsoft is taking a two-pronged technical and legal approach to FairUse4WM that goes beyond the scope of its earlier DRM battles.
On the technical side, it is pursuing much the same strategy as in the past: studying the hacker's tool and trying to update its Windows Media technology to block it.
Indeed, the company's Windows Media copy protection technology was designed from the start to support swift updates that would address inevitable cracks. That has long been part of the technology's draw for record labels and movie studios, which are fearful that content protection flaws will lead to films and music being swapped freely online.
Microsoft's copy protection has been cracked before and then quickly fixed. Company representatives said that the FairUse4WM tool, despite its developer's success in breaking through the company's first patch, is simply triggering the same kind of security review that has happened in the past.
"This particular circumvention doesn't change that reality at all, or affect the underpinnings of the system," said Marcus Matthias, a senior product manager at Microsoft. "This is not quite as 'cat and mouse' as some people might have you believe."
The crack's unusual longevity has caused ripples of worry inside the digital media community, however. One service provider, the British network BSkyB, even temporarily canceled movie downloads.
Representatives from other services say Microsoft's previous rights-management security updates have been successful and expect this effort ultimately to be no different.
"One of the great features of the Windows Media DRM is its renewability," said Bill Pence, chief technical officer at Napster. "When the DRM system is compromised, we can incorporate updates with minimal impact on users, and we expect to do the same with the current patch."
Using courts to track a cracker
However, the federal "John Doe" lawsuit, along with "dozens" of legal letters sent to Internet sites that are hosting the allegedly copyright-infringing tool, is a decidedly different tack for Microsoft.
The copyright lawsuit was filed in Seattle federal court last Friday, without a name attached. Just as in the recording industry's many lawsuits against accused file swappers, it targets an unknown individual or individuals, whose true identity will be sought in the course of the case.
For now, that means going to the Internet service providers for Web sites where the original FairUse4WM tool was released, in hopes of tracking down an IP address or other digital traces that might lead to the developer, MacNaughton said.
Microsoft is also contacting other Web sites that have posted the FairUse4WM tool, asking them to remove the software, on the grounds that it contains copyrighted company code.
Company representatives declined to speculate on exactly how "Viodentia" gained access to copyrighted source code. The code in question is part of a Windows Media software development kit, but is not easily accessible to anyone with a copy of that toolkit, Microsoft said.
So far, little is known about the developer, who has used the pseudonym "Viodentia" in several online postings at a site called Doom9.org. "Viodentia" could not immediately be reached for comment.
After spending an unaccustomed month of grappling with the problem, Microsoft representatives stopped short of promising their latest Windows Media update will be impregnable--although certainly, the hope is that a third patch won't be needed. Viodentia's newest release, posted online Wednesday, will test the strength of the company's latest approach.
"Any time we put out an update, it is our hope that it will be as efficacious as possible," Matthias said. "It is our hope that the technical mitigations that we've put in place will do something to impede this circumvention."
Analysts say that "Viodentia" hasn't proved that Microsoft's DRM tools are fundamentally flawed, but has shown that the business of keeping it, or any rights management system, secure is increasingly becoming a full-time job.
"Any DRM out there is going to be cracked," GartnerG2 analyst Michael McGuire said. "More important is how the technology service reacts. Someone has to be keeping an eye online all the time now, looking for the next time."
See more CNET content tagged:
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Napster Inc.
allegations and no proof that what they are saying is true. Anyone
want to bet we never see the proof?
Let's face it, it would be very embarrassing to MS if the guy really
was doing this on his own. I would not put it past MS to outright
lie about it to protect their interests.
"Your honor, we believe we can show Zune was illegally... On behalf of Zune... At this time we?d like to Zune to the stand..."
The judge, "Excuse me counselor ? what the hell is a Zune?"
MS should loose the law suit simply on the fact they were dumb enough to call a product Zune!
Gotta Zune now... stay Zuned for details... What the Zune!
Whatz your favorite Zune phrase?
It a loosing battle and Microsoft and the Studio are on the loosing side, if they continue to punish the people who pay. It just a slap in the face to do the right thing and be treated like crap.
How many Lawsuits will they file, stop doing that and concentrate on developing good tools first, You are a software company NOT a legal company do what you can do best and then only you will survive.
Bottom line -- Microsoft sucks
Microsoft has a well deserved reputation as a patent pirate in our community. They are also infamous for doing whatever it takes, including committing fraud on the court (Eolas). They are brutal and desperately need training in ethics and morality.
As soon as Microsoft starts respecting other's intellectual property rights I will start rooting for the protection of their rights.
Ronald J Riley, President
Professional Inventors Alliance
www.PIAUSA.org
RJR"at"PIAUSA.org
Change "at" to @
RJR Direct # (202) 318-1595
Aspiring inventors should visit www.InventorEd.org
A bigger issue is that the PlaysForSure DRM technology is incompatible to Microsoft's premier music DRM available only in their Zune platform. The DRM that has been cracked by Viodentia is soon to be an orphaned technology. Microsoft is going to leave their PlaysForSure partners out to dry on this one.
Roberto
All I have left is....
WHERE DO I SIGN UP FOR HIS LEGAL DEFENSE/FUGITIVE FUND??????
Yet MS is doing exactly the same thing by "studying" the FairUse4WM code to develope a way to bypass it's bypassing features.
If I was dude, I would have copyrighted my code and then sued MS for violating the DCMA :]
"The code in question is part of a Windows Media software development kit, but is not easily accessible to anyone with a copy of that toolkit, Microsoft said."
Meaning= we don't want to admit anyone who knows how to decompile code or how to use a hex editor can figure this out...
LOL
Let's admit there is a way better solution: just WATERMARK media files.So user's rights are not restricted but it is still possible to track pirates.Watermarks could be so hard to eliminate that anyone who did pirated could be held responsible even if converted\slightly changed copy leaks.
I can't even imagine what would happen if xp source code was somehow leaked in its entirety. You might as well post everything you have on your computer on the net, and while your at it uninstall yoru antivirus and start downloading and installing every virus you can get your hands on. It would have the same effect.
it's sad embarrassing things like this happen to them on a regular basis. They just don't have code good enough for there success and thanks to them starving the rest of the industry from cash they will remain where they are today.
understands that the source code wasn't needed
to implement the approach used by FairUse4WM.
The point of the suit is not to prosecute
infringement, but rather to get far enough in
the process to start discovery. With that, they
can force the identity of the accused to be made
known. It also has the effect of costing him
time, money, causing anxiety, and sending a
message to other DRM-activist software
developers: "we'll make you poor!"
Discovery alone will cost the guy thousands and
ought to be plenty intimidating. Then, MS can
back out of the case when they "find out"
there's no evidence of the source being used.
After that, they can tell the guy that not only
do they know who he is, but also have enough
evidence to prove that he violated the DMCA by
developing the software, then force him to do
what they want or face criminal prosecution.
MS doesn't want to make a DMCA claim against the
guy up-front because they suspect it might not
stand up in court and it's not worth the risk of
being struck down even in part as
unconstitutional. The DMCA is part of the
value-proposition of the DRM in the first place
and they cannot undermine that. The whole idea
of DRM is to use it as a means to bleed money
off a gullible media industry.
- Those at MS aren't too bright
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by philologos
September 28, 2006 11:56 AM PDT
- As other comments have pointed out, one doesn't need source code in order to know how a program works, or how to change it. If you have a program that runs, you also have access to the binary code of the program. AND, when changes are made to "fix a bug" or "close a loophole", the revised binary code can easily be compared with the earlier version, thus highlighting where, how and why the changes were made!! Either those at MS don't know this, or, they are being disingenuous when they accuse someone of stealing their source code (I think the latter). In fact, source code would certainly get in the way of someone who wanted to know what changes MS was making.
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See all 90 Comments >>These comments apply to all the releases and patches MS makes, not just DRM code.
philologos