Kindle Copyright Hacked

Hackers have always been successful in making our lives much more easier by hacking stuff that just keeps irritating its users. Finally, hackers have claimed success in cracking the copyright protection of Amazon's Kindle eReader. This will know allow everyone to export eBooks, stored on Kindle to other devices. The eBooks will be recognized as a PDF file, allowing it to be easily shared around the Kindle community and other other devices supporting the format.

The credits of this breakthrough goes to a hacker known as 'Labba' from Israel, who tooks up the challenge which was posted on www.hacking.org, which is a hacking forum. Another US hackers, 'i♥cabbages' has also cracked this by creating a programme called 'Unswindle' which converts books stored in the Kindle for PC app into a different file format for use elsewhere. Kindle for PC allows customers to buy books to read on their PCs without having to purchase a Kindle reader.

Amazon does'nt enforce Digital Rights Management (DRM) on the eBooks, but allows individual publishers to decide if they want to protect their eBook. Until now, the books where all in Amazon's proprietary format .azw, and it was impossible to view them on any other device. Kindle is one of the most popular devices in the USA after its release in 2007. It has reached many households and attracted a lot of publishers. Amazon has predicted that it will have sold a million devices by the end of this year. But, DRM on the Kindle has been contentious since its implementation, with rights holders arguing that its necessary to protect copyright, while consumers feel restricted with regards to how they can use the content.

This has happened with nearly all products in the past, copyright protection on DVDs was hacked back in 1999, and a few years later copyright protection on iTunes was also broken, leading Apple to start offering DRM-free tunes. Amazon's Kindle hacks are like the latest in DRM attacks.

After this, will hacked eBooks make you buy the Amazon's Kindle eReader?