Stopping copy protection with tape?

According to the Gartner Group research firm, Sony BMG's recent controversial CD copy protection is not only a security risk, it's simple to defeat. Analysts wrote that they were able to make a copy-protected disc act like a regular, rippable CD simply by putting a "fingernail-sized" piece of opaque tape over the outer edge of one of the CDs.

I couldn't make this work myself using a ripped-up piece of Post-it note on the latest Our Lady Peace CD, but I didn't push too far. I've already had run-ins with my IT department over rash experimentations with my computer.

The analysts argue that the nearly nonexistent protection provided by the copy protection (if the tape-hack does work) simply isn't worth the massive headaches now faced by Sony in the form of consumer backlash and legal actions based on its software. The industry would be better served by using rights-management as an accounting and tracking tool, rather than as a "lock" against copying, the analysts say.