Well, at least one of yesterday’s absurdities has been mitigated. SunnComm now says it won’t sue John “Alex” Halderman for publishing the “shift key” hole in their CD copy-protection system:
- SunnComm Technologies, Inc. announced yesterday morning it would sue first-year graduate student John Halderman over his recent critique of the company’s new CD copy-protection method, but by the end of the day SunnComm president and CEO Peter Jacobs said he changed his mind.
Jacobs said in an interview late last night that a successful lawsuit would do little to reverse the damage done by the paper Halderman published Monday about his research, and any suit would likely hurt the research community by making computer scientists think twice about researching copy-protection technology.
“I don’t want to be the guy that creates any kind of chilling effect on research,” Jacobs said.
SunnComm plans to make that announcement this morning.
Halderman’s paper hit SunnComm hard. Since Monday its stock value has dropped $10 million – one-third of the company’s total worth.
“I just thought about it and decided it was more important not to be one of those people. The harm’s been done . . . if I can’t accomplish anything [with a lawsuit] I don’t want to leave a wake,” he said. [Daily Princetonian]
Maybe there still is some sense left in the world.
Now about Tommy Chong’s nine-month sentence for selling bongs….