Lasse Penttinen
27 May 2002 10:02
Key2Audio and audio CD protection gimmicks have been a hot topic recently. The copy protection industry was humiliated by the so called felt pen trick which so easily defeats their state of the art protections. Now Macrovision (SafeDisc, SafeAudio) has published an annoncement regarding the felt-tip pen trick.
The felt-tip pen hack may work on audio copy protection products that rely on the single data index copy protection technique. Macrovision’s SAFEAUDIO™ V3 is resistant to this hack approach because we have implemented a tunable multi-layer security solution, which is based upon multiple patent-pending technologies.
It should be noted that using ink of any sort on the playing surface of the CD can cause loss of the entire contents of the CD. Introducing ink or foreign materials on the playing surface of a CD can also damage the CD player reading device. Consumers should be aware that any damaged media or corrupted media files caused by this hack may void any warranties for such media, the content contained thereon, or the playback or recording device.
Attempted use of this hack is also likely to prevent access to entertainment content (such as videos, photographs, lyrics, pre-compressed audio tracks for export to PCs and portable players, etc.) stored on the “second session” of multi-session CDs and protected by Macrovision’s SAFEAUTHENTICATE™ product. Macrovision strongly discourages consumers from attempting this hack on any CDs enabled by SAFEAUDIO and SAFEAUTHENTICATE.
Multiple patent pending technologies? That sounds like something out of the TV-Shop!
Macrovision.com
Related article: Key2Audio tested on 27 drives