Reports are claiming that an Israeli, only known as Labba, has managed to hack the copyright protection on Amazon’s Kindle device, making the way for e-books to be shared all over the web. Responding to a challenge posted in hacking forum, hacking.org, e-books are reported to be converted to .pdf files, allowing them to be transferred to any other device.
Hugely successful since launch in 2007, Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader is expected to have sold more than a million items before the end of year. Currently e-books held within its devices take an .azw format, resulting in that they cannot be transferred to any other device without becoming corrupt. Leaving the choice to its publishers whether they wish to apply DRM to their products, it is expected that Amazon will attempt to cover the hack by applying a DRM patch to all devices.
However, many agree that the controversial DRM process is not effective. A crucial part of implementing copyright protection for rights holders, DRM limits the uses of contents for consumers. Cory Doctorow, co-editor of Boing Boing and novelist explained “DRM is not an effective way of preventing copying nor is it a good way of making sales. There isn’t a customer out there saying ‘what I need is an electronic book that does less’.”
The latest hack adds to the many, high profile cases of the past. In 1999, Jon Lech Johansen cracked DVD’s, before later going on to reverse engineer iTunes.
