Wow. I just want to commend SunComm technologies for achieving the status of Biggest Idiots Ever. They're planning to sue Princeton grad student John Halderman for developing technology to thwart their incredibly advanced copy protection scheme. The technology: a rarely-used button, the "shift" key.

Mr Halderman found that SunnComm's MediaMax CD-3 software could be bypassed by simply holding down the shift key on a Windows PC when a copy-protected CD was inserted into a disc drive.

This temporarily disables the autorun function on Windows, stopping a anti-piracy program from installing itself on the computer.

Huh? They're probably just mad because their company lost $10 million in value since Halderman's report appeared on the web. My question is, with judgement as bad as theirs, who would've thought their company was worth that much money in the first place?

What are they going to do next, sue keyboard manufacturers for selling a device which illegally enables piracy under the DMCA?

Oh wait, they are:

German-based media giant Bertelsmann Group has launched a 400 million dollar lawsuit against major hardware manufacturers, alleging they traffic in banned circumvention devices that can be used to illegally copy their music CDs. It says that the Digital Millenium Copyright Act entitles it to protection from devices that can be used to circumvent its technological protections against piracy. Specifically, it demands compensation for the inclusion of "Shift" buttons on standard computer keyboards.

[edited to add: In a what alcoholics refer to as a "moment of sobriety", SunComm announced they wouldn't file charges. It's kind of disappointing, since the DMCA is a horrible law and needs these kind of tests for the general public to be shown how insane it is. The general public certainly needs incidents like these to be shown who the law is designed to benefit. ]