YNOT – In another blow to Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies, hackers from Israel and the United States have cracked the code for Amazon.com’s eBook reader Kindle. That means it’s now possible for eBooks that are coded in Amazon’s proprietary format to be converted to the open Mobi format for viewing on other devices.The hack appears to have come as a result of a challenge posted on a hacker forum. The challenge called for participants to find a way to make Kindle eBooks display on rival readers. Two hackers responded with a piece of software that does just that, an application they called “Unswindle.”
Many tech enthusiasts have responded to the news by claiming DRM does more harm than good.
“The hack is the latest to show the futility of digital rights management schemes, which more often than not inconvenience paying customers more than they prevent unauthorized copying,” wrote Dan Goodin for The Register.
Goodin went on to point out that Apple’s foray into DRM made it difficult for honest consumers to move around their bought files from one PC to another, while doing nothing to stop pirates from trading music online.
A message on Dvice.com seemed to come from one of the hackers who broke the Kindle code.
“Now that anyone who wants to decrypt an Amazon e-book can do so, will all you content ‘protectors’ please finally realize that these DRM schemes do nothing to stop real pirates,” the message read. “All they do is make things inconvenient for paying customers. Which are the majority, by the way – most people are actually honest and willing to pay for their media, even if free pirated copies are available. iTunes ditched DRM awhile back, and it’s not like everyone stopped buying music there and headed to the Pirate Bay. Get the message: DRM is stupid. Kill it now.”
