The hacker popularly known as DVD Jon is having another
go at Apple’s digital rights management (DRM) technology, this time
by commercialising code that enables users to play iTunes on any
MP3 player.
Purchasers of iTunes are not officially allowed to play their
songs on any player other than an iPod, but Jon Lech Johansen,
thinks this isn’t fair.
Johansen’s company DoubleTwist now plans to license its Apple
DRM-breaking code to other MP3 player makers, to allow them to let
their customers play iTunes files on their devices.
The use of DRM on the web is a hot issue in the industry as it
controls the distribution of content and is seen by content
providers to protect their copyright.
Google for instance, is now under pressure from content
providers to tighten up the DRM on the YouTube site, after recently
buying the company, as content distributed by users on the site
sometimes breaks commercial copyright.
Apple so far hasn’t reacted to the news, but it isn’t the first
time the company’s DRM system has been tackled by the hacker.
Johansen first released a product to circumnavigate the DRM in
2003, and several updates have been released for free on the web
since then, but users have found it difficult to load the code onto
their machines.
Johansen believes that going straight to the MP3 player makers
will open up the digital music market more quickly, although no
industry users have so far been announced by DoubleTwist.
Apple currently sells around 60% of the MP3 players in the
global market and controls almost 90% of legal digital music
sales.
Johansen became known as DVD Jon after he introduced a
code-breaking program to open up the DRM in DVD films, to allow him
to play films on his Linux computer.
The film industry took action against him, but a Norwegian court
threw out the case.