[Infowarrior] - Testimony: Apple's security patches 'blew up' Real Music libraries

[Richard Forno]

Testimony: Apple's security patches 'blew up' Real Music libraries
updated 07:55 am EST, Thu December 4, 2014

http://www.electronista.com/articles/14/12/04/user.content.such.as.mp3s.ripped.from.cds.never.at.risk/

User content, such as MP3s ripped from CDs, never at risk

Day two of the Real versus Apple trial over Apple's FairPlay DRM and anti-trust actions potentially taken by the Cupertino manufactured ended somewhat yesterday, after hyperbole from both legal teams. Real's attorney Patrick Coughlin claimed that Apple gave users the "worst possible experience" and would "blow up" music stored in unauthorized stores when iTunes users to restore to factory settings when it detected content from the Real Music store. Apple defended itself, saying that the obtuse warning that iTunes gave when detecting hacked files didn't need to be more specific, and it was only protecting users from an array of attacks plaguing the device.

Coughlin claimed that Apple specifically coded iTunes to "not to tell users the problem" regarding the error message due to the Real Music installation. As a result of the restore, the unauthorized store was purged, and any content associated with it was deleted. Music files "ripped" by users were kept intact, as were purchases made from the iTunes Music store, a fact which was seemingly ignored in court.

Apple defended itself, saying that the deletion was a side effect of security measures taken by the company. Apple security director Augustin Farrugia claimed on the stand that the company didn't give a more detailed warning prior to deletion, as "we don't need to give users too much information. We don't want to confuse users." 

Farrugia claimed that other hack efforts laid bare Apple's security efforts, and the deletion of the music files wasn't intended to hurt consumers or Real. Instead, the measures were intended to protect users from a wide array of exploits available beyond just Real's, as "the system was totally hacked."

This trial, the plaintiff's last chance, comes after a 2006 shift in iOS device management which disabled a Real Networks music store that it had figured out how to shoehorn on Apple's music player. Real had reverse-engineered Apple's DRM on iPods and used that information to create the Harmony DRM wrapper tool, which allowed music purchased from the Real Music store temporarily to be compatible with Apple's ubiquitous device. A software patch to the iPod broke that functionality. Apple has since shifted its own store to DRM-free music. The day's testimony focused on the nature of the firmware update that destroyed the Real Music store's ability to install music on the hard-drive based iPods.

Apple claims that is has every right to improve its devices, as well as protect them from security threats, which is what Jobs was alluding to with his "ethics of a hacker" remark. The flaw that allowed the RealPlayer software to work "posed a danger to the consumer experience and to the quality of the product," according to Apple counsel William Isaacson.

Apple executives Eddy Cue and Phil Shiller are expected to testify today or tomorrow. Additionally, more video testimony recorded in 2011 from Steve Jobs is to be shown.

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