It’s not very often when you see a corporate PR flunky who knows more about technology than a tech journalist. But that’s exactly what happened over at Reuters. They published an article about how users had defeated the Digital Rights Management on Napster’s new service within “days” of its launch.

What the Reuters reporter didn’t realize is that the same technique has existed for decades and is not specific to any service. It’s called “the analog hole” and is ultimately the biggest problem in copyright protection (as Valenti always lamented). The PR flunky pointed this out when quoted in the article:

“The DRM (digital rights management) is intact. Basically, people are just recording off a sound card. This is nothing new and people could do this with any legitimate service if they want to use a sound card,” she said.