Slashdot Mirror
X-Box Hackers Trying to Blackmail Microsoft?
wumarkus420 writes "According to this article from CNet News, an anonymous X-Box security research team is threatening Microsoft: either release a digitally-signed official Linux bootloader or face the release of a new exploit that supposedly works without a modchip. While I doubt Microsoft 'negotiates with terrorists,' this should still turn out to be a good I-told-you-so if the exploit is verified." Sounds like a good way to end up in jail.
Does this legally qualify as blackmail? I can't think of any other laws that would apply here.
I'll bet they do. They're probably young kids. People who have the ability to learn the technical stuff, or who, as of yet, haven't developed a mature sense of how the world works. So they have the means, just no idea that it won't work.
Easier than what? Booting a game and picking a save file?
You only have to do it once, flash your bios, and that's that.
Unless they found a way to flash the bios without shorting the WE pads (ie; without opening the box), I wont be impressed. It's just a variation on a theme.
They come off like script kiddies. Threatening people with anothers skills/products.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Err, did they do anything actually illegal? Last time I checked, installing linux on your own property and helping others to do the same was legal, as was giving the hardware manufacturer the opportunity to make it easier for the public to do what they want.
Why should Microsoft allow running Linux on their Xbox?
XBox == Hardware, which means it's mine. If I want to flash the BIOS, that's my thing. Microsoft should allow a signed Linux bootloader so they can control what it actually boots (instead of botting pirated games.)
You want to run Linux on a $200 device? Buy an e-Machine and shut the fuck up. Linux on the Xbox serves no purpose except for "huh huh, Linux on a Microsoft machine, huh huh huhuhuhuh, I'm a super l33t geex0r!"
I can understand your point, but you have to look at the differences here:
XBox has a custom NV2X chip, designed for TV Output. It has a decent CPU, 64MB RAM, and a decent size hardware.
It's an appliance box, not a full computer. I would love to have Linux (Or some other flexible operating system) running on there for Jukebox/graphics capabilities.
Stuff like this is an embarrassment. I hope they get slapped silly with lawsuits.
It's a shame you feel that way, because they are doing the same things that made Slashdot a possibility. (Remember the altair, and if you don't, go rent some real documentaries.)
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
"Reveal your trade secrets Gates"
Well, they didn't REALLY ask for any trade secrets. All they want is a boot-loader that is digitally signed so it can run on the xbox WITHOUT A MOD CHIP. They didn't ask MS how to MAKE a bootloader.. There is no loss of trade secret... only loss of control for the XBOX...
I wonder what would happen in Microsoft released a LINUX kit for the XBOX, including a distro, and the works (a la Sony and the PS/2)... The loader could still be proprietary...
-- You can't idiot-proof anything, because they're always coming out with better idiots.
*Sigh*
Why is it that the first response of just about everyone is "who cares"? Are there really that few of you who just do things because they are challenging?
There are a fairly wide variety of reasons to want to do this. The single most interesting reason for me is the ability to play *any* media using this single console. DVDs, VCDs, CDs, Streamed content, networked files, internet radio, flash, movie trailers...Anything I can play using a standard PC, *plus* i already have it connected into my system to play "Halo", "Brute Force", "Outlaw Golf", and a whole host of other games. Also, I can play all my old favorites, using various emulators...pacman, galaga, rastan, etc, etc...
All of this in a console that I already own. Why the hell would I *not* want to do this? Particularly if all it takes is a one time investment of 10 minutes getting the $10 memory card setup. Crist, it's not even a *stretch* for me to make the choice.
You know what's even better? I worked on the filesystem code for the xbox-linux project early on, before the prizes were offered. I *still* got $4500 for that work. That paid for my time and all the consoles I'll want to buy for the next 10 years. Never has a paycheck been so gratifying.
So tell me how foolish I am, berate my hobby as pointless or shortsighted. Then you go buy an xbox *and* a pc, that's fine. I'll just sit back and laugh at you.
Actually, since they're asking for a signed bootloader, that would suggest that the X-Box uses cryptographic signatures to verify binaries. The whole point of that is that, while the bootloader binary itself could be copied and distributed freely, any modifications would immediately cause rejection, as the new binary wouldn't match its signature. For a modified bootloader, you'd need something like the exploit they're threatening to release, in order to circumvent the normal security checks.
Are we suggesting that everyone that threatens to release an exploit if a company doesn't patch a problem is a blackmailer?
They're suggesting that they'll toss away their info if Microsoft doesn't make it *required* to use such means to use Linux. In other words, the party "that he has reasonable grounds for making the demand", because the exploit is a *legal* way to do what they want, and they're asking for another legal means to do what they want, or else they will release theirs.
Luckily the DMCA does not exist outside the US, and I will gladly host information on how to install linux on an x-box. That's not illegal here (Denmark).
Remember the god ol days, when buying a product meant that you had some rights regarding how you used it?
How come if I buy, say, a tennis raquet, and use it instead to play squash, nobody f**king cares. But if I take an Xbox and decide to use it play an open-source squash simulator, the gestapo will throw me into the aforementioned "vile butt-slamming federal prison".
And for that matter, what's with all the "vile butt-slamming" in federal prisons? Can't we have some sort of 3 slaps law?
The real problem is not with the security checks per say. It is the loss of money that Microsoft will face. If they release a signed bootloader you could write games for the X-BOX without paying a fee to Big Bill.
You could put linux,SDL, and the game of your your own creation on a CD or DVD and Sell it to the masses with out paying MS a penny.
So what if some people steal your game. We all know some peope will do that anyway. Of course a Linux+usb keyboard/mouse/printer running Linux/Open Office/Mozilla could be the first "net applance" that really takes off. I wounder how long it would take Lindows before they offered a CD+Keyboard/mouse setup.
Oh this could be soo bad for Microsoft. They will never do it.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
It's only a DMCA violation if it is circumventing the protection in order to violate a copyright.
Clearly, they are trying to boot linux on the machine (that's what they're asking for from MS) a.k.a. reverse-engineering to develop compatible system, which is explicitly allowed by the DMCA even if they are circumventing copy protection.
I'd provide a link to the relevant section of the law which states this, but I'm pretty lazy and someone else can use the karma.