Hacker Cracks iPod Restrictions

A story garnering a lot of press attention lately is about a hacker who has reverse-engineered FairPlay. Currently, FairPlay-protected iTunes tracks won't play on any other digital music players, and tracks purchased from other online music stores won't play on iPods.

Forbes interviewed Jon Lech Johansen about his latest program, which would make it possible for anyone to sell content for the iPod. His inspiration is a 2002 quote by Steve Jobs he has posted up on his office wall, "If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own."

Jon's company, DoubleTwist Ventures, plans to license the program to anyone who wants to sell songs or movies to iPod users, and it appears Jon may already have a customer—although he's not giving up names yet. Johansen tells Forbes his program will "wrap songs with code that functions much like FairPlay. So we'll actually add copy protection, whereas the DMCA prohibits removing it."

Forbes goes on to say that "Helping other devices play iTunes songs could be harder to justify legally, but he cites the DMCA clause that permits users, in some circumstances, to reverse-engineer programs to ensure "interoperability."

Apple wouldn't comment on Jon's program, which means the iPod maker is obviously getting ready to defend its encryption technology, or update iTunes, making it impossible for this hack to work. If Jon succeeds, this could mean a huge win for iPod owners and Apple rivals alike. It will be an interesting case to watch.

But who are we kidding? This is a fight Apple will most likely win. What do you think?