Warning! Copy Controlled Cds On The Loose

[Switeck]

Originally posted by Jibbler+25 September 2003 - 22:05--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Jibbler &#064; 25 September 2003 - 22:05)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-Switeck@25 September 2003 - 16:59
It doesn&#39;t do this:
"This data track includes a command line which tells your computer that the disk is copyrighted."

There is no &#39;command line&#39; at the CD-rom level or the basic hardware drivers level for CD-roms in Windows.

And in fact it&#39;s the AUDIO CD tracks that were &#39;unreadable&#39; on the PCs, the (main) data track was readable just fine.

Perhaps you&#39;re confusing this with Windows CD autoboot? ...which ANYONE who has any sense disables to prevent this shit.

I was paraphrasing, or trying to explain the facts of the article. However, if you read it closely, you would have seen this: In CD players, the disc plays normally. When put into a Macintosh or Windows PC, the disc installs software to keep the music secure, and an interactive menu pops up with several links, including one to copy some or all of the Windows Media tracks to your hard drive.

It can&#39;t get much clearer than that. If you put the disk in, you cannot play it without first installing the software which allows the WMA version of the file to be read. Are you reading the same article that I am? Disabling the "autoboot" won&#39;t allow the disk to be copied. Some sort of command line or code had to be written for the disk to do that. [/b][/quote]Yes, that *IS* CD autoboot. And that can be disabled. It&#39;s sort of a &#39;command line&#39; but doesn&#39;t (to my knowledge...) contain more functionality than the ability to load and run 1 file on the CD when the CD is first put in the drive. The autoboot function itself contains nothing about copyrighted/preventing access to the CD. However, the exe (or whatever) file the autoboot tells Windows to launch may contain DRM support to make the WMA files work and/or act just like the &#39;regular&#39; CD copyprotection schemes (like SafeDisc 2).

It&#39;s true that disabling the "autoboot" won&#39;t let the data be copied in the proscribed manner they allow, but if all you&#39;re wanting to grab is the audio tracks then the &#39;protection&#39; method may not work. Also, if you can read the data track which contains the cd autoboot, you can manually launch the autoboot-ed program/s for the same results as you would get if you had autoboot enabled. (...except it&#39;s doing it at your request instead of EVERY time you put that CD in the drive.)

The files may be marked as &#39;protected by DRM&#39;, but the disk itself isn&#39;t. THEY say you cannot play the CD without first installing the software which allows the WMA files to be read, however the audio tracks are probably vulnerable to a bitwise copy attempt -- unless the CD is just covered with bad sectors.

It&#39;s only a matter of finding/using the appropriate existing hacking tool to make the audio tracks extractable -- then it becomes almost a trivial matter to burn them to a new CD.

It could be the case that only a Philips CD burner can read the audio tracks even with appropriate hacking tools due to the CD having many specially-placed bad sectors.

[james_bond_rulez]

Originally posted by Jackco@21 September 2003 - 23:32

NEXT TIME YOU BUY A CD, REMEMBER TO ASK:
"Will this CD really play on my equipment?"
Why? Because the record manufacturers are secretly introducing new slightly modified CDs into the shops. Some of these corrupt CDs won&#39;t play on computers, PS2 and DVD machines, and others have lower quality sound and won&#39;t last as long as normal CDs. Not only that, but the new CDs make it impossible for people to copy CDs onto their computers and make MP3s.

The new CDs might play fine to start with, but underneath, the sounds have been subtly corrupted. Your CD player has to work much harder to play the music correctly, so after a few scratches, you&#39;ll have tracks going wrong MUCH SOONER than with normal CDs. In truth, these CDs are not as good quality as normal CDs.

DON&#39;T LET THE MANUFACTURERS GET AWAY WITH THIS. They can only do this if we let them. REFUSE TO BUY A CD that has been altered in this way. They are doing this to try and stop illegal copying, but these CDs cause so many other problems that they should come with big red warning stickers and cost a fraction of the price.

How do I tell? There is no way to tell by looking at the CD itself, but corrupt CDs have already been found in the UK, and the manufacturers plan to release millions of them through all the normal outlets. YOU HAVE TO ASK. If Virgin or HMV or Tower can&#39;t give you a straight answer, get a written assurance from them saying that you can have your money back if the CD you&#39;re buying turns out to be one of these new subtly corrupted `copy-protected&#39; CDs.

What can I do? If you have a CD which has gone wrong much sooner than you expected, then please TAKE IT BACK. We need to make it clear to the manufacturers that we are not going to let them charge us good money for sub-standard CDs that are in fact less useful than normal CDs. Eventually they hope that all CDs will be like this, and then they can sell us CD players that will make our lives even harder, stopping us doing all the things we&#39;d like to do with our CDs.

Don&#39;t believe us? The BBC and the New Scientist have already featured several articles on this, as have some of the newspapers. For more information, check out this web page: http://ukcdr.org/issues/cd/

WHAT THE **** ARE THESE MANUFACTURERS TRYING TO DO?
These actions are part of a very disturbing trend that has started to emerge. It started with region locked DVDs. Next came the DMCA laws in the USA, and the up-coming EUCD laws in Europe, which make it illegal to tell someone else how to play a CD or DVD in a way the manufacturer didn&#39;t intend (such as in a different region, or on a computer they don&#39;t want you to use). You could go to jail for this. They want to stop the equivalent of multi-region DVD players FOREVER.

In actual fact, a Russian researcher is currently on trial in America for breaking the protection on electronic books. The software he helped to develop allows legitimate owners of eBooks to print them out or put them on another computer. For blind people it is the only way of accessing an eBook.

"But if I bought it, it&#39;s mine to do what I want with, isn&#39;t it?". Not according to the manufacturers. We are used to buying a CD or a DVD or a book and being able to play it on any CD/DVD player, or to read it on the bus, or lend it to friends, or sell it when we&#39;ve finished with it. They want to take away all of these rights.

An eBook can&#39;t even be used when you upgrade your computer without asking special permission&#33; What would you think if your new CD only worked on one CD player? That&#39;s crazy, isn&#39;t it? But that&#39;s the kind of thing they&#39;re trying to do.

WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS PROBLEM?
The first thing is to keep asking questions. As mentioned above, try to get a written assurance from the record shop to say you can have a refund if your new CD turns out to be one of these new subtly modified `copy-protected&#39; CDs. If you&#39;ve already bought one of the CDs, and no-one told you clearly that it wasn&#39;t a full-quality CD, then you may be entitled to a refund by law. Don&#39;t let them get away with it&#33;

If you feel strongly about these issues, please consider writing to your MP to show your concern about the situation with CDs and the up-coming EUCD laws. The EUCD (European Copyright Directive) is not law yet, and there is still a chance that it can be fixed. If you&#39;d like more information, check out this web-site: http://ukcdr.org/

NOTE: This leaflet intentionally explains things simply in layman&#39;s terms. However, we are not exaggerating&#33; If you want to check all this for yourself and get to understand the technical issues in depth, please follow the links on the web pages.

SAY NO

geez let me think: when was the last time I bought a CD?

oh wait, I only buy blank CD&#39;s

[Jibbler]

Either way Switeck, I see your point now. Though the article wasn&#39;t clear about the WMA files. I wonder what bitrate they are, 128, 192, or less maybe? And another thing... how is a WMA file going to play on an Apple? Its a propritory Windows format.

[Switeck]

Originally posted by Jibbler@26 September 2003 - 19:36
Either way Switeck, I see your point now. Though the article wasn&#39;t clear about the WMA files. I wonder what bitrate they are, 128, 192, or less maybe? And another thing... how is a WMA file going to play on an Apple? Its a propritory Windows format.

Apple may have its own proprietary format as well on the CD -- which makes me wonder just how much SPACE is used for the regular audio tracks and if it&#39;s an &#39;overburned&#39; CD which contains more than 703 MB.

If what they&#39;re doing doesn&#39;t piss off the remaining loyal customers, I don&#39;t know what will.

And the serious hackers/crackers/people who just want to listen to the CD in a high-quality format on their computer... they&#39;ll either rip the audio tracks themselves or download them off some p2p program.

[Phoenix_1]

Copy protection is bull, taking the image of a CD and then extracting the information will always work - and we&#39;ll probably not have to even go through that effort to rip &#39;em. When the ripping of CD images came about, all hope for copy protection was lost. End of story.

[Gre1]

I totally agree, but I think they will eventually do something that will be very hard to get by, we will get by but it will be hard.

[Switeck]

Originally posted by Gre1@27 September 2003 - 16:08
I totally agree, but I think they will eventually do something that will be very hard to get by, we will get by but it will be hard.

At that point, hackers and crackers will start doing it not because they like the music/game but because they like the CHALLENGE.

Also, it only takes 1 cracked copy lose on a GOOD p2p network (and unfortunately due to how easy it is to corrupt MP3s/movies/ISOs/EXEs/etc, Kazaa is NOT a good network...) and many people can reap the benefits of 1 person&#39;s hacking efforts.

[Gre1]

Yup, I know.

[bryanskrantz]

aint it great?&#33; hehe.

[Switeck]

See also this follow-up thread:
http://www.klboard.ath.cx/index.php?showtopic=73021