Yesterday, I expressed doubts about the efficacy of Apple's iTunes AAC DRM solution. Here's what one Mac user (clearly not a l33t h4x0r) did to bypass the DRM.

The only other Mac player I can find that claims to play AAC is only for Mac OS v9, and does not appear to recognize the [iTunes] bought file, so no help there. I do however have an app that hijacks the audio stream before the speakers and allows you to play with equalizers, balance, etc. Oh, and it lets you save the result as an MP3 as well as playing it through the speakers.

I fire it up and a few minutes later I have an MP3 that I can't tell from the AAC. So much for that definition of protection [Slashdot].

I'm sure there is an easier way than this, but it seems Apple's DRM is just enough to keep the industry happy without actually providing any significant level of protection. 12:44:21 PM    comment []  

Government is one place where the choice of using open-source software (OSS) is motivated, not only be cost and productivity, but also by issues such as public transparency and continued access to data into the future. These requirements are a result of the fact that the government works on behalf of the people in this country.

Governments are special entities and their functions and operations can be at odds with proprietary software applications that are developed for multiple purposes. Governments have special obligations to protect the integrity, confidentiality and accessibility of public information throughout time like no other entity in society. Therefore, storing and retrieving government data through secret and proprietary data formats tied to a single provider is especially problematic, since the usability, maintenance and permanence of government data should not depend on the goodwill or financial viability of commercial suppliers.

Furthermore, citizens have a right to transparency in public acts, which may be hampered by secret, proprietary software. A clear example of this is e-voting software. I expect no one would seriously defend the right of proprietary software companies to prevent political candidates from inspecting the software that tallies the votes in elections. There are many other public acts that fall into the same category. So many, in fact, that the onus should rightly be placed on companies to justify the use of proprietary software in purely governmental settings [Newsforge].

Now, the City of New York is meeting on these issues. OSS advocates as well as commercial software representatives will be there to present the various points of view. 12:28:12 PM    comment []