[free-sklyarov] Does Adobe's EBook reader actually prevent copying?

[Karsten M. Self]

on Mon, Aug 06, 2001 at 11:19:45AM +0200, David Haworth (david.haworth at altavista.net) wrote:
> Can someone with more knowledge than I have confirm or deny this?
> 
> I suggest that Adobe's ebook reader doesn't actually prevent copying.
> If you install a (legally bought) copy of Windows in a vmware virtual
> machine, install the ebook reader on that virtual machine and then buy
> one or more ebooks keyed to that virtual machine - what happens if
> you transfer the entire virtual drive (just a file to the host OS)
> to another machine that runs vmware? Does it work?

This is the case with most access prevention devices, particularly as
implemented in softwarer.  Hardware may pose other problems.

The point is that it's almost always possible to replicate the encrypted
data directly.  Note, however, that this generally doesn't involve
circumvention of the access prevention system itself.  Thus, it's not
copying, per se, but *access*, which is prohibited by such devices.
This is a point raised in the 2600 case, Kaplan's to date been unmoved
AFAIK.

-- 
Karsten M. Self <kmself at ix.netcom.com>          http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
 What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?             There is no K5 cabal
  http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/               http://www.kuro5hin.org
   Free Dmitry! Boycott Adobe! Repeal the DMCA!    http://www.freesklyarov.org
Geek for Hire                        http://kmself.home.netcom.com/resume.html
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 232 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://frotz.zork.net/pipermail/free-sklyarov/attachments/20010806/c01e9d05/attachment.pgp