[thelist] You can play a song but you can't download it

[Ken Schaefer]

The reason I mentioned the tape recorder was that I was trying to make a
distinction here. There is a very important distinction between digital
duplication methods (which can be automated, and performed at very high
speeds), and analogue methods (which can be automated to an extent, but tend
to be very much slower).

It's very quick to copy a bunch of mp3 files from your hard disk to an
external USB or Firewire device, and then give copies to all your friends.

But it's much slower having to play each and every song at normal speed, and
then record them (at inferior quality) using some analogue means. For some
people, the extra hassle involved means that the effort isn't worth it.

For dedicated attackers, like any security or protection system, nothing will
stop them from ultimately achieving their goal. It's all about working out
how many people you want to stop.

Cheers
Ken

: -----Original Message-----
: From: thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org [mailto:thelist-
: bounces at lists.evolt.org] On Behalf Of Dan CRACIUN
: Sent: Friday, 4 March 2005 10:11 PM
: To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
: Subject: Re: [thelist] You can play a song but you can't download it
: 
: Why bother with the tape recorder sticked to the speakers? You can
: simply use the speaker's exit and plug it to whatever recording device
: you have. Or you can do it the smart way and use a software like
: soundforge to directly record the stream. Both ways will lead to perfect
: copies.
: The point is there's nothing you can do to stop a user from making a
: copy of your song once it is on his computer (and it has to be on his
: computer so he can listen to it), if that user really wants to make a
: copy.
: 
: Cheers,
: Dan
: 
: Ken Schaefer wrote:
: 
: >Stephen is both right and wrong. Using current DRM technology, one can
: >certainly stop users from making digital copies of documents (including
: >music). Without the appropriate license key, the music can't be
: decrypted.
: >Whether or not the content can be intercepted between server and player
: is
: >mostly irrelevant - it isn't useful to anyone.
: >
: >However there is nothing to stop analogue attacks - you can always copy a
: >document down by hand, or snap a picture using a camera. Likewise you can
: >hold a tape recorder up to the computer speakers and make a copy that
: way.
: >
: >Cheers
: >Ken