BREAKING FBI Searched Verance Former Employee Home

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#1

A Verance employee’s home was searched and all computers seized for investigation of alleged theft of Verance trade secret related to the Cienavia audio watermark technology used on BluRay discs. The person being invested is not arrested or indicted of anything at this point and has expressed willingness to fully cooperated with FBI. He was told he is not confined to discuss the investigation publicly. Thus he wishes to clarifying some basic facts and set the record straight.

As many people know, the Cienavia watermark has already been broken, by various person using various methods, with varied audio quality. Most notably Cienoway announced an extremely effective method with very high audio quality. The results were confirmed by several folks here. The Cienoway method has been further developed since, resulting in virtually no noticeable audio artifacts left. Since Cienoway claimed to have worked with Verance before fired, many people would naturally suspect that the method could be based on stolen Verance trade secret. Cienoway repeatedly reaffirmed that no Verance trade secret was leaked or used in developing his method. Cienoway claims that any reasonably smart person could have conceived the same or similar method.

I want to make some public statements that to my best knowledge is true and want the FBI agent to read here and make note what I say.

  1. I have never leaked any Verance trade secret and never will. I have never leaked any of their trade secret to any one, or retained or used any such trade secret myself. I took nothing but just some faded brain memory of working experience. Any little I still remember, does not assist one way or another in helping me to develop my method. Nothing I have done is illegal and I will never do anything illegal.

  2. The method I developed uses no Verance trade secret whatsoever and I have demonstrated such to Verance by showing them my computer code. They know full well that I assured them repeatedly that my method does not used their trade secret, it was purely my independent invention, aided by no one and no party’s trade secret, based on nothing but my ingenuity and public knowledge of the general science of audio watermark. Verance was also aware that other similar audio watermark technologies were also effectived defeated.

  3. Verance was shown to read my source code in its entirety, even just briefly. They should know full well that the program contains none of their scret, thus their accusation of stealing trade secret has absolutely no ground. The secret FBI agent also saw the program source code and saw it contains no secret of Verance, is extremely small and works very effective. They just refuse to accept a plain fact under their plain view. I denounce their refusal to accept such obvious fact and truth.

  4. As all evidences show, Cienavia and other similar similar audio watermark technology are extremely weak in security, can be easily broken by any reasonably intelligent engineer. As such, it is my express opinion that I believe current watermark technology has no value in any application that required security, including copyright protection. This is a conclusion that involved entities must accept, except that vested interest groups can not accept but would rather choose to seeks to silence me to prevent the truth from being spoken. I denounce any attempt to infringe on my first amendment of free speech and free science research.

  5. I have independently developed knowhows of how much more secure and thus much more useful watermark technology can be developed. My experience and expertise is extremely valuable. I intend to monetize my knowhow and experience in all legal ways possible. I am unemployed and need money soon. I have absolutely no intention to do anything illegal. But I have the constitutional right to pursue happiness and continue my science research in any field I desire. At some point Verance threat me NOT to conduct any research pertaining to watermark or computer audio ever in the future. I believe in the US first amendment rights.

  6. I welcome any comments, suggestions, help, offer of employment and other opportunities. I do not support any illegal activity, do not support anything that infringes on copyrights. But anything legal can be considered.

  7. My method is my intellectual property which is extremely valuable. I do not give out my property for free. I have not disclosed my method to any third party thus far and have no intention to release the method publicly and freely. I am still seeking proper way to disclose it legally and with my property right fully protected.

People wishing to contact me can privately message me, or indicate how I can contact them here. Please note my internet activity is being watched. I have done nothing illegal and I will NOT deprive my own first amendment right myself just because I am under survayrance. Once again I have no desire to carry any illegal activity whatsoever, but I will exercised every little bit of my constitutional rights.

#2

Nice to know you still have a pc to post your statement with good luck to you.:smiley:

#3

[QUOTE=ILLP;2722417]Nice to know you still have a pc to post your statement with good luck to you.:D[/QUOTE]
Can’t keep him out of the Library…

#4

[QUOTE=olyteddy;2722418]Can’t keep him out of the Library…[/QUOTE]

I urge Verance to face the fact and do the right thing.

The fact is, there is no trade secret leak. Their Cinavia technology simply does NOT work as a secure method to protect copyrights. It has been soundly defeated with little hope of remedy possible at the basis of current watermarking technology. It is defeated on the principle level. There needs to be a paradigm shift in whether watermark is a solution or not for copyright protection. Go back to the drawing board.

It is time for Verance to talk to their investors and customers and tell the truth, instead of brush the whole eposide away as simply a former employee leaked out trade secret. Secret leaking never happened, the science of watermarking itself is broken in terms of security. That is my stand. I have demostrated so to Verance and showed them my code.

I intend to fully cooperate with FBI and explain all details how I developed my method and exactly how it works. I only post here as they told me I can publicly discuss the ongoing investigation and I still have my freedom to express my opinion.

#5

Cienoway, you present this as if it appeared on the news, but it seems it isn’t. Would you be able to present me with any proof of this? Of course I’ll keep it confidential. I’m not saying that I doubt you perse, but proof greatly improves the story as I can remove words like ‘He claims’, ‘could be’ etc…

#6

[QUOTE=DoMiN8ToR;2722423]Cienoway, you present this as if it appeared on the news, but it seems it isn’t. Would you be able to present me with any proof of this? Of course I’ll keep it confidential. I’m not saying that I doubt you perse, but proof greatly improves the story as I can remove words like ‘He claims’, ‘could be’ etc…[/QUOTE]

This has not been reported in any headline news because no reporter has become aware of this fact. I just stated what happened and

#7

We’ve now posted about it: http://www.myce.com/news/mysterious-cienoway-fbi-searched-my-house-for-cinavia-method-70856/

#8

[QUOTE=DoMiN8ToR;2722433]We’ve now posted about it: http://www.myce.com/news/mysterious-cienoway-fbi-searched-my-house-for-cinavia-method-70856/[/QUOTE]

I do not know what Verance want to accomplish here, getting FBI to search for alleged evidence of trade secret leaks when I repeatedly showed them there is none, and my method does not need to rely on any of their secret, and my method practically defeat other audio water solutions from their competitors as well. I twice demonstrated my method to them, showing them my computer code over the shoulder, reassured them there is none of their secrets contained in the code, compiled the code with their watch, and then shown that the program works to produce excellent audio quality.

After all these and they still accuse me of stealing their secrets and used them to come up with my method? They are in deny and simply refuse to accept the plain fact that their technology is now broken for good. They needed an alternative story to cover their own arses. Spending nearly 100 million dollars of investor money to develop a technology that just seems to gain market success and then suddenly it is broken by a small program? And the program defeats other known audio watermarks as well? That is EPIC FAILURE. They needed a scape goat and blame the whole thing as leaked trade secret by a former employee. No it is failed technology. Did not doctor Edward Felten warned them 14 years ago the technology simply can not be developed into a copyright protection product because it inherently is lacking in security? They have been warned but refused to listen to the scientist.

It is a good thing that they do such a thing to me. This is for them to admit publicly that my method is successful and that Cienavia has failed. The method is purely the result of my own scientific research. They should be thankful that thus far the method has not been released publicly. But the more they push, the more people will become interested and it will not take long before pretty much every one can figure it out, on their own, how my method works. The truth is contageous, you know.

I have no desire to release the method publicly any time soon. But I have no desire to shut up and keep quiet either when I am treated wrongfully.

#9

I have not talked to a news reporter thus far because thus far I have not been charged or indicted of anything. So I guess this could probably be just an intimidation which goes no where. I guess some FBI agent is now looking at my small program and be amazed how such a small, no, tiny program does such a miracle thing, with no secret embedded. I can see they shake their heads in disbelief and amazement.

#10

Fascinating stuff cienoway and thanks for sharing all this.

[B]Wombler[/B]

#11

I really hope that you get an employment offer from an interested company.
That way,you can monetize your solution,get even and scare the cr*p out of the bullies…
And the rest of us can show our middlefinger to them…:bigsmile:

#12

[QUOTE=Wombler;2722473]Fascinating stuff cienoway and thanks for sharing all this.

[B]Wombler[/B][/QUOTE]

I still do not know what exactly do they want to accomplish by invoking FBI here. The FBI seized a tiny C program of an insultingly tiny size, which contains no secret whatsoever and can be explained to any one how it works in five minutes. They can compiled it and see that it works. So that pretty much defeats any claim that my program was based on stolen secret. They know full well that I come up with my idea, after my first idea does not quite work. They know I improved it over time.

It is as if two people communicate secretly using some secret encroption key. How do you stop them? How do you steal their key so that they can not use the key to talk any more? The answer is you don’t. You simply grab a scissor and cut the phone line. Pause here. To the secret FBI agent reading here, I have just leaked a Verance trade secret because they thought no one in the world knows that you can stop a secret phone call by just use a scissor to cut a phone line, and now I tell the whole world to leak out the secret that a scissor can be used to cut phone lines. What a federal offense that is!

I have the constitutional right to conduct any science research freely, and publish and or transfer my research result as I see fit. Some how I got the impression that they want me to stop all audio watermark research altogether in my future and just walk away from this field, because they fear what else I can come up next if I continue my research. To me, for any one to tell me to stop any research in any field is to infringe on my first amendment right, and is not acceptable. Let me make it clear, I do not support any effort to infringe on other people’s copyright or intellectual property. I support the industry’s effort to develop better copyright protection methods. This is why it is important to discuss and identify inherent weaknesses of certain methods and exposed them as weak and ineffective, so other stronger and better methods can be developed to replace the inferior methods.

I believe that my research has shown that Cinavia has failed Epically in a huge disgrace as it is defeated by a simple program of three hundred some lines of C code, which looks nothing unusual and can be explained in a few simple English sentences.

There is a danger that this FBI investigation could turn around and probe what Verance is trying to do amid the clear knowledge that Cinavia has been soundly defeated. As producers of a commercial product, they have the legal obligation to disclose that discovery to customers and shareholders promptly, and immediately begin to work on a solution. Are they trying to harass me to shut up, are they trying to cover it up?

Life is too short. I want to spend the rest of my life doing something useful and leave some good legacy to my kids. A federal lawsuit is extremely costly in terms of time, energy and money to an individual, regardless of the outcome or how groundless the case is. The FBI now has my program. I hope Verance cooperate with FBI and provide truthful and ethical expert opinion what the program looks like, what it contains or does not contain. There are only 300+ lines of code which does hide any secret. It does not take five years or ten years to determine that it contains no trade secret of Verance. FBI can draw a quick conclusion to clear me, and I can move on, and they do not need to waste million dollars of tax payer money scrutinizing 300+ lines of innocent computer code.

Not all hope is lost in the watermark industry. At the same time I identified how easily current generation of watermark technology can be easily defeated, rendering thousands of existing patents worthless, there is hope. There is solution of a radically different approach of watermarking possible and I have identified one possible approach already. It can tremendously enhance security of audio watermarks so it has extreme value. At this point I have no desire to sell it to Verance though.

#13

[QUOTE=roadworker;2722481]I really hope that you get an employment offer from an interested company.
That way,you can monetize your solution,get even and scare the cr*p out of the bullies…
And the rest of us can show our middlefinger to them…:bigsmile:[/QUOTE]

Yes, thank you for that post.

I am openly soliciting employment offers here. I need money soon.

A guy like me who can come up with a simple and effect method that soundly defeat all existing commercial audio watermark solutions, rendering thousands of existing watermark patents useless, yet the program is simple, elegant, contains no secret and just 300 lines of code. I guess my intellectual mind can be extremely valuable to a potential employer who can appreciate its value.

Yup, that is true. My program contains nothing but a scissor. Any scissor can cut any phone line. But nobody knew that. Everyone in the world thought you must have a specially ordered and precisely fabricated scissor to cut a phone line. They need to fit precisely, otherwise they won’t cut. I am the first guy in the world who discovered that a scissor can be a general purpose cutting tool and does not need to fit to cut a wire. An intelligent mind that comes up with the idea is priceless.

I am even willing to take up a job offer from FBI, to agent X reading this.

#14

[QUOTE=Cienoway;2722416] Please note my internet activity is being watched. I have done nothing illegal and I will NOT deprive my own first amendment right myself just because I am under survayrance.[/QUOTE]

//youtu.be/o_UOHrQNTwE

#15

[QUOTE=Cienoway;2722487]Yes, thank you for that post.

I am openly soliciting employment offers here. I need money soon.

A guy like me who can come up with a simple and effect method that soundly defeat all existing commercial audio watermark solutions, rendering thousands of existing watermark patents useless, yet the program is simple, elegant, contains no secret and just 300 lines of code. I guess my intellectual mind can be extremely valuable to a potential employer who can appreciate its value.

Yup, that is true. My program contains nothing but a scissor. Any scissor can cut any phone line. But nobody knew that. Everyone in the world thought you must have a specially ordered and precisely fabricated scissor to cut a phone line. They need to fit precisely, otherwise they won’t cut. I am the first guy in the world who discovered that a scissor can be a general purpose cutting tool and does not need to fit to cut a wire. An intelligent mind that comes up with the idea is priceless.

I am even willing to take up a job offer from FBI, to agent X reading this.[/QUOTE]

Come to think about it, I am serious in advising FBI to consider the extreme value of my magic scissor. They may want to have it.

Think about this hypothetical scenario, two terrorists communicate secretly by phone calls. You know they are terrorists and want to stop their talk. You have secret agent who understand their language, but the chat seem nothing unusually. Comes out the secret message is delivered using audio watermark similar but different to known audio watermarks. What do you do? You use my scissor to cut the watermark. The two terrorists can still talk about the weather but found their real secret message could not go through and they have no idea and no suspicion but blame poor signal.

Yes a scissor can be very useful.

#16

[QUOTE=Cienoway;2722487]Yes, thank you for that post.

I am openly soliciting employment offers here. I need money soon.

A guy like me who can come up with a simple and effect method that soundly defeat all existing commercial audio watermark solutions, rendering thousands of existing watermark patents useless, yet the program is simple, elegant, contains no secret and just 300 lines of code. I guess my intellectual mind can be extremely valuable to a potential employer who can appreciate its value.

Yup, that is true. My program contains nothing but a scissor. Any scissor can cut any phone line. But nobody knew that. Everyone in the world thought you must have a specially ordered and precisely fabricated scissor to cut a phone line. They need to fit precisely, otherwise they won’t cut. I am the first guy in the world who discovered that a scissor can be a general purpose cutting tool and does not need to fit to cut a wire. An intelligent mind that comes up with the idea is priceless.

[B] I am even willing to take up a job offer from FBI, to agent X reading this[/B].[/QUOTE]

Agent X does not do the recruiting, Agent A does that at Langley Va. :wink:

#17

Neither do I,but I support fair use,and when I buy something,it’s MINE,and I should be allowed to do what I please with it,as long as I don’t hurt the seller’s/developer’s business…

See above…I don’t support the industry’s efford at all,as long as there’s no decent solution for an end-user to create a Mandatory Managed Copy.I strongly disagree with the mentality of the big corporations saying “if you want a backup,buy a second copy” :Z
In my country we already pay an extra fee on every empty media carryer for author’s royalties…

And I truly hope you won’t change your mind about selling your enhanced watermark solution.While I can understand that people need money to feed their family,I think there are better ways to earn money than licking the feet of those who try to destroy you…

People who can efford your services,should jump in as fast as possible,and I sincerely hope that you’ll be part of “the good side” which defends fair use.

Then better be self-employed or sell your code to the highest bidder and move on with your life…:bigsmile:

#18

[QUOTE=roadworker;2722510]Neither do I,but I support fair use,and when I buy something,it’s MINE,and I should be allowed to do what I please with it,as long as I don’t hurt the seller’s/developer’s business…

See above…I don’t support the industry’s efford at all,as long as there’s no decent solution for an end-user to create a Mandatory Managed Copy.I strongly disagree with the mentality of the big corporations saying “if you want a backup,buy a second copy” :Z
In my country we already pay an extra fee on every empty media carryer for author’s royalties…

And I truly hope you won’t change your mind about selling your enhanced watermark solution.While I can understand that people need money to feed their family,I think there are better ways to earn money than licking the feet of those who try to destroy you…

People who can efford your services,should jump in as fast as possible,and I sincerely hope that you’ll be part of “the good side” which defends fair use.

Then better be self-employed or sell your code to the highest bidder and move on with your life…:bigsmile:[/QUOTE]

Exactly. It is purely my creation of ingenuity and I have the full legal right to sell my own stuff to the highest bidder as I see fit. I think I may sue to allow the judge to look at my code and make a ruling that I did not steal any one’s trade secret to develop it.

#19

[QUOTE=Cienoway;2722513] It is purely my creation of ingenuity and I have the full legal right to sell my own stuff to the highest bidder as I see fit.[/QUOTE]

That’s what the international free market promotes…:iagree:

[QUOTE=Cienoway;2722513]I think I may sue to allow the judge to look at my code and make a ruling that I did not steal any one’s trade secret to develop it.[/QUOTE]

Exactly!!:iagree:
As long as you didn’t reverse engineer Verance’s code,I doubt that there’s anything they can do in court,but only IF you can find an objective judge who isn’t prejudiced because he can get a Malibu beach house for his ruling…:bigsmile:

#20

[QUOTE=roadworker;2722514]That’s what the international free market promotes…:iagree:

Exactly!!:iagree:
As long as you didn’t reverse engineer Verance’s code,I doubt that there’s anything they can do in court,but only IF you can find an objective judge who isn’t prejudiced because he can get a Malibu beach house for his ruling…:bigsmile:[/QUOTE]

No I did not even bothered once to waste time to reverse engineer Verance’s code. Why even bother? Think about how a paper threader works. Does a paper threader pause for a moment to reverse engineer the meaning of words on the documents before threading them? No it just cut everything that passes through. It’s that simple. I simply invented an audio equivalent of paper threader. How could Verance claim I steal their secret? It’s rather ridiculous to suggest that you need to know the secret of their watermark to erase them. When you use a sponge to wipe a table clean, do you have to carefully exam the table to pin point exactly where the germs are hiding, before you wipe the table? No you just wipe and you do not know how many millions of germs you just killed, but you killed all the germs nevertheless. It’s that simple, really. The FBI agent himself saw that 300+ lines code program did its magic by his own eyes. No kidding.