Copyright Information

Copyright protection is actually the monopoly of the author or creator of a work, giving him unlimited rights over his own work and intellectual property. But commonly copyright protection as a term is being used to describe the actual copy protection. Nowadays all commercial recorded media is somehow "copyright protected". DVDs have CSS, Macrovision and region code protections, CDs have some protection, mostly not serious, except for the short lived Sony BMG copy prevention EXP, or Extended Copy Protection, together with the MediaMax CD-3 software which ended in a scandal, because the software would open the operating system for viruses to break in, among other problems. It was deemed malware, even a Trojan horse. The system got abandoned after many people decided to sue Sony BMG. The DVD protection has been very much made obsolete by such programs like AnyDVD and DVD Decrypter. As a bonus, the AnyDVD software removes any Audio CD protections as well. Interestingly enough, Sony, which really insisted on pursuing tougher Audio CD protection implementations, distributes a program called Sound Forge, a professional audio editing program, which has a CD ripping function thrown in as a bonus. Computer software and computer games seem to get the most deliberate protection widgets developed. In the last ten years the copy protection implementation seemed to have changed bi-yearly. The old fashioned serial number protection seems to have been abandoned as the primary protection vessel, many programs and games still require them, but they seem to be just an added bonus, in order to annoy paying customers. One of the main "copyright protection" systems of expensive programs seems to be the dongle. Usually a USB stick, similar to the RAM modules, bearing an electronic serial number or even a short code has to be plugged in at all times, in order to allow the software to work. Companies Synchrosoft and iLok are the most popular providers of protection schemes featuring the USB dongle. An elaborate copyright protection, developed among others by Microsoft, is the "call home" protection, where the software logs onto the manufacturer's servers and makes sure that the software installed is originally purchased and used software. It uses furthermore a generated machine code to identify the machine it's been installed on, which prompted complaints regarding privacy protection. Be it what may, all of the copyright protection schemes have been circumvented and/or cracked, whereby any new scheme poses a challenge to the cracking groups and additional underground fame is attributed to the "heroes" who manage to crack any new protection scheme invented by the manufacturers.