Kindle DRM cracked
posted Dec 24th 2009 4:03pm by Mike Szczysfiled under: security hacks
Ding-dong, the DRM is gone. But not in the way we really want. The copy protection scheme that is used for most Kindle books has been cracked. We’d much prefer it hadn’t been there in the first place but then there’d be no challenge for security hackers.
Giving credit for the advancement gets a little messy. Apparently two folks figured this out at approximately the same time. [Labba] posted about his discoveries while [I (heart) Cabbages] wrote about his exploits in a blog entry. Either way, you can now strip the protection and use your legally-purchased books on any device you choose by using this Python script.
This means that both Kindle and Nook have had their DRM broken. Are these companies really trying to prevent copying (fair use) or do they just want to be able to tell the publishers that there are copy protections while turning a blind eye to what happens in the privacy of your personal computer?
[Thanks Sanchoooo via Slashdot]
Yeah, it’s probably that. They want to say to publishers that their platform is secure.
That said, if the product sells to the intended demographic (as opposed to just geeks), the vast majority of buyers will never even really know that they can hack it. So the gadget stays secure for the part of the market they care about and people will still be paying for books.
I liken it to the iPod. What percentage has installed RockBox? What percentage has used an alternative to iTunes? I’ll bet both figures are pretty small.