Return of DVD Jon
'DVD Jon' Takes Crack at ITunes
A young Norwegian who became a global hacker hero by writing and distributing a program to crack DVD security codes appears to have struck again, this time against Apple Computer's iTunes online music service.
Last Friday, a new security-cracking program called QTFairUse was posted -- along with the message "So sue me" -- on a website for which Johansen is listed as the registrant, or owner.
The new program circumvents iTunes' anticopying program, MPEG-4 Advanced Audio Coding, by legally opening and playing a protected music file in QuickTime, but then, essentially, draining the unprotected music data into a new and parallel file.
There are other programs that can circumvent copy protection schemes by capturing analog audio, though that typically causes a loss in quality.
The program on Johansen's site appears to capture unprotected digital data, which could be used to make perfect copies of an unlocked tune.