Young DRM hacker upsets Apple cart

By Stan Beer
Tuesday, 03 October 2006 16:42

Home IT

Famous young hacker Jon Lech Johansen, better known as DVD Jon, has reverse-engineered Fairplay, the digital rights management system used on Apple iPod music players, enabling content from sources other than iTunes to play on iPod.

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Norwegian-born Johansen, who seven years ago at the age of 15, made his name by breaking the DRM of DVDs so that they could play on Linux, believes that what he has done this time is perfectly legal. The reason is that he has not broken the Fairplay DRM but replicated it.

So far, there has not been any word of legal action from Apple, possibly because the company is not sure how to take the news.

On the one hand, replication of Fairplay is not good for iTunes because one of its selling points is that it is the only online music and video store compatible with iPod.

On the other hand, Apple doesn't make much money from iTunes but rakes it in from iPod sales, which could be helped considerably by a Fairplay DRM replication system allowing music from other online stores to be played on iPod.

So far, Apple appears to have turned a blind eye toward the activities of DVD Jon and his new company DoubleTwist Ventures. Possibly the music player kingpin may wait until after the holiday season until taking action.

Some pundits believe that Apple may continue to ignore Johansen's Fairplay replication, but it's not likely. The symbiosis between iTunes and iPod is a delicate one and it is not likely that the Cupertino company is going to allow some young hacker upstart to upset the Apple cart.