We’ve already reported how Jon Johansen, better known as DVD Jon, became immortal only 15 years old when he cracked the copy protection for the DVD format. His latest project is a bit more commercial and targets Apple’s handling of music and multimedia in its iTunes software. DVD Jon has managed to create a version of his own of iTunes’ copy protection FairPlay, which locks all of Apple’s music to its own hardware and software. DVD Jon’s next step is to license its own version of FairPlay to other companies who wants to distribute music and for Apple’s iPod. But as the company name reveals this is just one out of two twists it offers.
The second program DVD Jon has created is namely for making FairPlay-protected music to work with other players. More or less completely undermining Apple’s DRM protection, something Steve Jobs most likely will not be happy about. At CNN they’ve published an article about DVD Jon and his new company where they discuss Apple and its FairPlay technology but also DVD Jon, his background and how DoubleTwist is going for quite controversial software solutions. Jon Johansen says that he is simply working by one of Steve Jobs’ own, although earlier, opinions about legally downloaded music. An opinion which Steve Jobs seems to have left behind with the development of FairPlay.
“As he and Farantzos explain DoubleTwist in a conference room they share with several other companies, he points to a sheet of printer paper tacked on the wall that has a typed quote Jobs gave the Wall Street Journal in 2002: “If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own.”
