Shift of Heart
Academic hackers rejoice! Turns out, SunnComm has decided not to file a multimillion dollar lawsuit against John Halderman, the Princeton student who posted a paper debunking the companies’ copy protection technology, MediaMax CD3. SunComm’s chief executive, Peter Jacob, changed his mind, he says, after he “learned that… The long-term nature of the lawsuit and the emotional result of the lawsuit would obscure the issue, and it would develop a life of its own.” In other words, he realized that it would be a dumb, dumb move.
For the beleaguered music industry, this is just the latest in a long string of embarrassing retaliations from the flood of so-called ‘spoof’ MP3 files the industry unleashed on peer-to-peer networks to the recent lawsuits against alleged pirates, including a 12-year-old girl in housing project. If the music industry is really going to survive the digital age, it had better get to work on coding something most important: a new business model.
Keep Reading
Most Popular

These materials were meant to revolutionize the solar industry. Why hasn’t it happened?
Perovskites are promising, but real-world conditions have held them back.

Why China is still obsessed with disinfecting everything
Most public health bodies dealing with covid have long since moved on from the idea of surface transmission. China’s didn’t—and that helps it control the narrative about the disease’s origins and danger.

Anti-aging drugs are being tested as a way to treat covid
Drugs that rejuvenate our immune systems and make us biologically younger could help protect us from the disease’s worst effects.

A quick guide to the most important AI law you’ve never heard of
The European Union is planning new legislation aimed at curbing the worst harms associated with artificial intelligence.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.