Sunncomm to take action against Halderman

John Halderman's critical analysis of SunnComm Technologies' MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System "caused the market value of SunnComm to drop by more than $10 million," says Sunncomm in a press statement. Moreover, Halderman violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, claims the company.

It now plans to take legal action against Halderman because, "The conclusions contained in the Princeton University grad student's report issued last Monday were derived from incorrect assumptions by its author. The author did not ask for, or receive, SunnComm's MediaMax 'white paper' documentation available on the technology prior to concluding that 'MediaMax and similar copy-prevention systems are irreparably flawed ...' "

Sunncomm, which has just announced testing of another anti-piracy product, says that by, "making erroneous assumptions", Halderman came to, "false conclusions concerning the robustness and efficacy of SunnComm's MediaMax technology, continuing:

"Based on several of these incorrect assumptions, Halderman and Princeton University have significantly damaged SunnComm's reputation and caused the market value of SunnComm to drop by more than $10 million."

In addition, Halderman violated the DMCA by disclosing unpublished MediaMax management files placed on a user's computer after user approval is granted," says Sunncomm. "Once the file is found and deleted according to the instructions given in the Princeton grad student's report, the MediaMax copy management system can be bypassed resulting in the copyright protected music being converted or misappropriated for potentially unauthorized and/or illegal use.

"SunnComm intends to refer this possible felony to authorities having jurisdiction over these matters because: 1. The author admits that he disabled the driver in order to make an unprotected copy of the disc's contents, and 2. SunnComm believes that the author's report was 'disseminated in a manner which facilitates infringement' in violation of the DMCA or other applicable law."

Added Sunncomm ceo Peter H. Jacobs, "This cat-and-mouse game that hackers and others like to play with owners of digital property is over. No matter what their credentials or rationale, it is wrong to use one's knowledge and the cover of academia to facilitate piracy and theft of digital property. SunnComm is taking a stand here because we believe that those who own property, whether physical or digital, have the ultimate authority over how their property is used. Owning copying technology is not an unconditional 'free pass' to replicate or distribute protected work."

Critical reviews written in part as an attempt to pressure the record industry into abandoning further development of technically protected audio CDs are ethically suspect when based on inaccurate assumptions. The act of publishing instructions under the cloak of "academic research" showing how to defeat MediaMax such as those instructions found in Halderman's report is, at best, duplicitous and, at worst, a felony.

"We caution the reader that such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance," says Sunncomm at the end of its press statement. "Unknown risk, uncertainties as well as other uncontrollable or unknown factors could cause actual results to materially differ from the results, performance or expectations expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements."