As reported in today's Wall Street Journal, Technology Review, MIT's Magazine
of Innovation, reports that an anonymous programmer has found a way to decrypt
Microsoft Reader e-books, adding fuel to the already hot digital rights debate.
In a feature story, ``Breaking Microsoft's e-Book Code,'' published today on the
magazine's website (www.technologyreview.com)
author Wade Roush says that the decryption program enables purchasers of
``owner-exclusive'' Microsoft Reader titles - Microsoft's most highly protected
form of e-book--to convert these titles to unencrypted files viewable on any Web
browser. The program's creator, a U. S. cryptography expert who asked not to be
identified, says he wanted to circumvent the ``two-persona'' limit, a rule built
into Microsoft Reader at the behest of publishers that allows purchasers to read
the same e-book on no more than two devices.
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