LinuxPR: Controversial Research to be Presented at USENIX Security Symposium

"The USENIX Association today confirmed the inclusion of a controversial research paper to its Security Symposium to be held in Washington, DC next month. The paper reveals inherent security risks with the recording industry's digital music access-control technologies. Dr. Edward Felten, the Princeton University scientist who was a key member of the research team, will also participate in a panel discussion about the paper's recent legal wrangles.

The paper first came under fire from the recording industry in April 2001, when Felten and other scientists from Princeton and Rice Universities were prevented from presenting the paper at the 4th International Information Hiding Workshop. By June 2001, the research team, USENIX, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) jointly asked a federal court for First Amendment protections for the researchers and the paper. Although, RIAA, SDMI, and Verance have since filed motions to dismiss and claim there was never a real threat of litigation, the EFF continues to seek protection for all private defendants and their ability to produce and publish future work based on their research.

The paper, "Reading Between the Lines: Lessons from the SDMI Challenge," is now scheduled to be presented on the evening of August 15, 2001. Dr. Felten, EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn, and Peter Jaszi of the American University will be analyzing the paper's progress through the legal system in a panel discussion immediately following the paper presentation.

Press Release