The Letter of the Day is was "F".

"F" is for Furtive. Installing malware on people's computers as part of your anti-piracy effort is bad enough. When you do it without their permission you are being furtive.

the SunnComm technique relies on installing antipiracy software directly from the protected CD itself.

"F" is for Fool. When your anti-piracy technique can be completely circumvented with a basic Windows function you are quite a fool.

However, this can be prevented by stopping Microsoft Windows' "auto-run" feature. That can be done simply by pushing the Shift key as the CD loads.

"F" is also for Farcical. When you sue a guy for showing people how to use a basic Windows function to defeat your malware the entire thing has a farcical air.

"This is completely outrageous," said Fred von Lohmann, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that has previously represented computer academics concerned that copyright law would impair their ability to publish. "This is not black hat (hackers') exploits he's revealing. This is Windows 101...It is relatively hard to imagine any better example of how the DMCA has been misused since it was passed five years ago."

"F" is for Fair. When exposure of your easily defeated anti-piracy malware results in severe repercussions to your company, that's fair.

The damage to SunnComm's reputation, while not necessarily permanent, was quickly seen in a drop in its market value, totaling close to $10 million over several days, Jacobs said. No final decisions about legal action have been made, he added.

Lastly, "F" is for Freedom. Here in the USA we have certain protected freedoms. One of them is about speech.

Halderman said he's not overly worried about the legal threat. The EFF represented his advisor, Princeton professor Edward Felten, in a lawsuit dealing with academic freedom to publish computer security information, and Princeton University supported Felten in that case.

"I expect I will be well-represented in the case of a lawsuit," Halderman said. "If pressing the Shift key is a violation of the DMCA, then the law needs to be changed."

(Hat tip to G)