Perhaps emboldened by the innocent verdict in the ElcomSoft trial, a programmer has made the code available to crack the Microsoft Reader:
- Frustrated by the tight security and lack of interoperability of Microsoft Reader eBooks, a programmer named Dan Jackson obtained the source code for a command-line program called Convert Lit and made it available to the public. Convert Lit or “Clit.exe” is a command line utility that can downgrade the DRM5 security to DRM1. From there, the formerly encrypted Lit book can be converted to HTML, text, or any other format.
In a blatently open move, Mr. Jackson announced via his website a willingness to improve upon the original code of his program (that is reportedly less than 1 month old), in addition to providing more capabilities to the program itself. “I wish to provide an all-in-one solution for the recovery of data in the MS Reader .lit file format. If there is interest, I am also open to creating a .dll to make it possible for others to implement a LIT conversion utility from their ebook applications.”
Other Internet hackers have already captured this code and provided a Windows 9x front-end that elliminates the need to know and understand command-line functions. This addition is called cuntlits.exe and contains nude buttons and offensive language.
Pocket PC Addict obtained independent verification that these utilities do in fact remove the encryption and security from Microsoft Reader books.
No comment on the name of the program.