Digital rights management is Microsoft's Trojan horse

The digital rights management software Microsoft ships with new multimedia programs could allow the company unprecedented control over content, says guest columnist Curtis Karnow.

By Curtis Karnow

April 18, 2002 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld -

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A few weeks ago, I installed Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2002. Finally, I would be able to fly a Boeing 747 under the Golden Gate bridge, a pleasure denied me under FAA regulations. The installation procedure purported to provide me with a series of choices about which of the many programs on the three CD-ROMs I could install.

In truth, there were few choices. I was compelled to install a variety of files, including all that pertained to Microsoft's digital rights management (DRM) system. I was compelled in the sense that the game required those files to operate. I dutifully installed them.

The game is terrific -- I save at least $10,000 every hour I fly the 747 on the computer.


Curtis Karnow, a partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal

But I and the many thousands of others who use this leading flight simulator have installed Microsoft's DRM system on our hard drives. And looking into this quiet distribution, I found it was the tip of an iceberg: For well over a year, Microsoft has been building DRM directly into Windows. It has inextricably linked the operation and distribution of its propriety DRM system and its multimedia technology, called Windows Media.

"We see [Microsoft's DRM] as a core service in the operating system -- this is going to be a core technology for anything that's distributed across the Web," said Microsoft's Michael Aldridge, lead project manager for the digital media division, in a CNET story.

Because older audio encryption systems can be avoided by simply tapping into the sound path just before it hits the speakers (by which time it has been decrypted), Microsoft is also building Secure Audio Path into the operating system. Secure Audio Path scrambles output from the computer sound card to the speakers. Of course, only certain speakers compatible with Security Audio Path will work with that input. Microsoft has also thoughtfully provided an audio file converter that translates ubiquitous MP3 files to the Windows Media Audio (WMA) format. With DRM, WMA music files can be programmed not to play after, say, 10 days, or DRM can prevent the files from being transferred to a CD-ROM (see Microsoft 'tunes' up Windows XP).

The audio DRM system was broken last October by a hacker using the alias Beale Screamer, who detailed Microsoft's encryption scheme and released a program to strip audio files of their protection. Beale suggests, in an open letter to the Justice Department that accompanies his files,

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