'Hero' hacker does it again

A young Norwegian who became a global hacker hero by writing and distributing a program to crack DVD security codes appears to have struck again, this time against Apple Computer’s Itunes online music service.

Jon Lech Johansen, 19, faces a new trial next week after prosecutors appealed his acquittal for violating Norway’s data break-in laws with his DeCSS program.

Now, a new security ripping program called QTFairUse was posted – along with the message So sue me – on an internet home page under Johansen’s name.

The new program circumvents Itune’s anti-copying program, MPEG-4 Advanced Audio Coding, by legally opening and playing a music file, but then, essentially, draining the music into a new and parallel file.

The newspaper said there are many other programs on the internet allowing Itune’s files to be copied, but that Johansen was the first to post his program as “open coding.”

By providing details of his program, Johansen makes it possible for other programmers to use it as a basis for other applications, the report said.

Johansen, also known as DVD-Jon, was 15 when he developed the program, DeCSS, to watch movies on a Linux-based computer without DVD-viewing software. He also posted it on the internet in 1999.

The program is just one of many that can break the film industry’s Content Scrambling System, which prevents illegal copying and blocks the use of legitimate copies on unauthorised equipment.