Filed under: iTS, Internet Tools, iTunes, Apple
FairPlay for sale, and not by Apple
You may know Jon Lech Johansen as 'DVD Jon,' a name he acquired after he wrote DeCSS, which unscrambles the content on DVDs to make copying possible. He isn't a fan of DRM, as you can imagine, and has set his sights on Apple in the past. He has reverse engineered a previous version ofFairPlay, Apple's propriety DRM that comes along (for free!) on any item purchased from the iTunes Store. The iPod is the only device that is officially capable of playing FairPlay DRM'ed files, and the iTunes Store is the only store that sells FairPlay tracks and movies.That is, until now. It seems that Jon wants to license his version of FairPlay to any company that might want to have their content play securely on an iPod. Now, he doesn't seem to think that this is illegal since he hasn't reverse engineered FairPlay. Instead, he created something new that acts just like it. I wonder what Apple legal will think of that.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Joe said 12:43PM on 10-02-2006
I don't get it. Earlier in the post it says that he reverse engineered FairPlay. Then, later in the post it says that he didn't. Which is it?
Reply
Joe said 12:45PM on 10-02-2006
Wait, it says an earlier version. Please forgive my too fast reading and even more too fast posting :) (and my too bad grammar)
Reply
Jack said 12:50PM on 10-02-2006
Woah, Jon's already been arrested for his earlier DVD Hijinks, I wonder if this is truly stepping over the line in terms of challenging DRM restrictions.
Reply
Nabster said 12:50PM on 10-02-2006
good, i hope Apple Legal can't shut him down. I mean DVDJon must be pretty confident to move to the SF and start up a business based on a very risky tactic. So i hope he suceeds, cuz Apple needs some competition. And competition over who gets to sell you more music to fill ur ipod will only drive content prices down.
Reply
Bill I said 12:53PM on 10-02-2006
I'm curious if Apple will come down on him for this, really.
On the one hand, he's selling something that could be seen as their IP. I know he didn't reverse engineer the current incarnation of FairPlay, but he has in the past, so who's to say some of that didn't end up in the version he's selling? This sound very gray to me.
However, on the flip side....this "opening" of FairPlay could have Apple selling alot more hardware, which is where Apple really makes their money.
....this could be interesting.
Reply
Ed said 12:57PM on 10-02-2006
If Apple have patents covering FairPlay (which seems likely) they can get him. I don't think they can get him under the DMCA though.
Reply
Liquidmark said 1:01PM on 10-02-2006
What the? Apple has PLENTY of competition.
God, DRM's are a neccessary evil. I hope they lock this kid up and throw away the key. This one person can ruin the entire digital music industry. I LIKE being able to BUY my music on iTunes. The prices work out great for me and making a purchase is simple and easy. DRM is no hassle for me. I still wonder why people are still whining that they can't have music for free. It has value, it MUST be protected.
Reply
nezromatron said 1:05PM on 10-02-2006
LiquidMark,
What is the value of DRM'ed music? The ones you can get for free from any other source has higher quality and no restrictions on usage. So yeah, the pirates are (again) the only ones not affected by DRM and paying customers are treated like thieves.
No thanks, the iTunes store hasn't gotten a cent from me yet, and won't until they get rid of their useless 'protection'.
Reply
Mitchell said 1:13PM on 10-02-2006
He's just trying to be the next Kevin. Whoo hoo, you cracked it; good job.............. now what?
Making a business out of other peoples business is not business.
Reply
Colin said 1:52PM on 10-02-2006
It says in the article that he replicated Fairplay. So even if this turns out to be legal, what's to stop Apple from making changes to Fairplay and iPod firmware to make files with his DRM unusable? In other words, how is this different than what Real did a couple years ago? Maybe I just don't understand.
Reply
SubGenius said 1:17PM on 10-02-2006
He better watch out for the black helicopters!
Yes, Yes, We all know the black helicopters are just white helicopters with a different paint job and a higher price tag.
Reply
JulianBC said 1:48PM on 10-02-2006
Isn't this like when Compaq (I think it was them), made a BIOS that acted exactly like IBM's?
That allowed them to make IBM compatible computers, which, in time, ended IBM`s monopoly. Who ended up winning? The consumers.
Any monopoly is bad. So I´m all for this guy.
Reply
thefireguy said 4:49PM on 10-09-2006
Here’s a heads up for Apple’s Legal Department...
OK GUYS...
ONE TWO THREE
GO GET HIM BOYS!
Reply
Jim said 3:56PM on 10-02-2006
It will be interesting to see where this leads.
Someone mentioned maybe seeing more devices? I'm not sure that is a good thing. With the industry still getting off the ground I would guess we would see alot of no name or smaller companies putting stuff out there that would be full of alot of plastic. In other words...cheap!
I think this opens more up to there being audio sources other than Apple. I doubt any of the big boys are going to be interested but there is always Real. They've been getting pushed out and have tried to break into the Fairplay stranglehold before.
All in all I doubt this is going to go anywhere as also these other companies may very well be afraid of Apple's control. I would guess a simple firmware update will disable audio from other locations than itunes that uses Fairplay.
Reply
MacWebHosting said 1:47PM on 10-02-2006
I would imagine he has balls the size of coconuts!!!! ;)
Reply
Ryan said 2:04PM on 10-02-2006
Kinda interesting, to get into the DRM business even though you have spent most of your recent years trying to break DRM, and vocalizing that you hate it...
Reply
michael said 2:18PM on 10-02-2006
Colin,
An iPod update that breaks old FairPlay would cause my legally-purchased iTMS content to cease to play on my iPod. Sure, Apple could issue new keys and force re-downloads of protected content, but that would be a HUGE undertaking resulting in some percentage of failed updates (and pissed off users).
Reply
Erik J. Barzeski said 3:04PM on 10-02-2006
Michael, that's not necessarily true. I didn't have to re-download content after REAL hacked their way into FairPlay. Granted, DVD Jon has taken a different, better approach (REAL's was pretty simplistic), which likely would force downloads if Apple wanted to change things up, but that's not what happened before.
Reply
Farhan said 3:03PM on 10-02-2006
Not really Michael (#15). Apple can update the the iPod/iTunes and when the user applies the update and restarts iTunes they will update the DRM on all purchased items in the user's Library.
I believe this is their standard practice. All your purchased items should be updated to use the latest version of the DRM auto-magically; but don't quote me on this.
Reply
Doug said 3:04PM on 10-02-2006
I dont get it. He doesnt like DRM, but is selling software to *add* DRM to files. Isn't it better to *strip* the DRM from files?
Reply