Silence vs DRM
p2pnet.net News:- “In the latest entry in the battle over Digital Rights Management, a fellow has blatantly ripped off a ‘tune’ from the iTunes Store,” writes jc42 on /.
The post goes on, ” ‘Tune’ is 1 minute 3 seconds of silence. To compound his crime, he has posted the tune on his web site for anyone to download. I downloaded it to iTunes, and it played just fine (but now I suppose I’m a criminal, too). I wonder what John Cage and Mike Batt would have to say about this? Will lawyers for Apple or Ciccone Youth send a C&D letter? If I were to make my own MP3 silent tune of exactly the same length and put it online, would I be infringing their copyright?”
The site in question is plasticbugs.
Or it was, rather. Both times we went to check it out it was down – “Your account has been suspended. We have sent you an email explaining why. This email should also contain information on how you can unsuspend your account.” Says a comment post below, “he exceeeded the bandwidth…nothing more as of yet…”
Fortunately, however, Google has a cache.
And it goes (went?) like this >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I’m gonna preface this by saying that I love Apple and their products and I hate the RIAA and their shortsightedness. My only complaint with Apple is the restrictive DRM built into iTunes Music Store songs (also, those new G5s could be a little cheaper).
In protest, I’ve committed a real crime and documented the entire process. But it shouldn’t be that way and that’s why I’ve done it. Come and get me, Apple! Come and get me, RIAA!
It all started with a free song code from the Pepsi iTunes promotion. I tilted several Pepsi bottles at the local Ralphs (just look for random letters under the cap), found me a winner and scored a free song.
You may not know this, but there are several tracks that you can buy from that iTunes Music Store that consist of nothing more than total silence.
Here’s one from Ciccone Youth (a Sonic Youth side project):
So I bought it.
Then, I wanted to play this song on another device other than my iPod (I own a Creative MuVo TX MP3 Player). No go. The Digital Rights Management (DRM) makes it impossible to transfer the song to my other MP3 player unless I go through some ridiculous steps which involve burning the purchased song to a CD and then ripping it. This causes a noticeable loss of sound quality due to the song being recompressed. Totally unacceptable. I want pure silence.
So I stripped the DRM using JHymn, a cross-platform application that unlocks your DRM’ed songs and keeps the original’s sound quality. This is absolutely, positively illegal according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
One law broken, one to go.
One file is legal, the other one is definitely not. Can you spot the one that’ll get me in trouble? I’ll give you a hint: it’s the one without the little lock over its icon.
There’s just one law left to break. I’m offering this very file for download here on my website. So go ahead, download it (1.1 MB) and break the law with me. Right click, save as, and crank it up on your favorite portable electronic music player.
If this little stunt gets me in trouble, you’ll be the first to know.
You can help stop the RIAA and their nonsense at Downhill Battle.
Find out more about protecting your digital rights online at the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s website.
Silence is golden. Get involved.
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(Thanks, Cam )
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet..net
February 25th, 2005 at 1:08 am
he exceeeded the bandwidth…nothing more as of yet….
February 25th, 2005 at 7:38 am
Anybody got a torrent?
February 25th, 2005 at 9:46 am
Of a 1.1MB file?
Containing nothing but silence?
You’re kidding, right?
February 25th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
I hereby find the RIAA guilty of extortion for its threatening to sue its customers. I hereby impose a fine of $64.00. Since the RIAA refuses to pay the fine, I hereby impose a 100% garnishmnet on the revenues for the next 4 purchases of CD’s. Further lawsuits or threats of lawsuits will result in stiffer fines.
Infraction…………………………………Maximum Fine (per victim)
Threat of frivoulous………………….$128.00
lawsuit.
Launch of frivoulous…………………$10,000.00
notice of lawsuit.
Actual Filing of…………………………$8,000,000.00
frivoulous lawsuit
You can fine the RIAA and MPAA. Just like the government court system, you have the equipment to back up your punishment. I would like to encourage everyone to snailmail a notice of violation to the RIAA and MPAA whenever they announce another round of lawsuits. Instead of police goons, guns, and such, your weapon of choice is your computer, p2p software, newsreader, and webbrowser. It is time to use them! Notice should be anonymous (none of your fingerprints either) like their Jane Doe lawsuits and should say something like this.
If anyone has the Street address of the RIAA, Please post it, because it seems that the RIAA are too cowardly to post it on their website.
—————————————————————————–
Offices of Joe & Jane Public
777 Anystreet, AnyCity, US
It has been brought to the attention of the music consumers of America that you have engaged in the tortuous activity of extortion by use of frivious lawsuits in contradiction of Fair Use Provision of Title 17, U.S.C. Section 107. You are hereby informed that you are subect to fines as listed below:
Infraction…………………………………Maximum Fine (per victim)
Threat of frivoulous………………….$128.00
lawsuit.
Launch of frivoulous…………………$10,000.00
notice of lawsuit.
Actual Filing of…………………………$8,000,000.00
frivoulous lawsuit
You will hereby apologize at (http://www.p2pnet.net or any other well known P2P newssite) and cease any pending frivoulous action against any person who is your customer. Failure to do so will result in fines up to and including the maximum listed above for each violation. Failure to pay any imposed fine will result in deduction from monies earned via sales. This notice is backed by p2p sofware and underground networks.
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Now, we need a way to strike back at the RIAA’s courtroom buddies (Judges) and politicians. They also need to be held accountable for their actions. Anybody have any ideas?