Slashdot Mirror
Phoenix Bios to Incorporate DRM
defishguy writes "Extreme Tech is reporting that Phoenix Technologies is shopping a DRM-capable BIOS to OEMS. Reportedly the BIOS with DRM enabled allows for software to be tracked and traced from one PC to another." See also this older story about AMI.
If not, the name was inappropriate.
I guess this means goodbye to BIOS flashing?
do() || do_not();
how long before someone comes up with a 'workaround'? As long as there are security measures, there are people with no goals in life but to circumvent those measures.
[ Don't reply to this ]
Looks like we've gotten a heads up on whose equipment not to buy anymore.
Thanks a lot.
Ah, something else to disable in the BIOS the first time I boot up.
Ah, but will we be able to use it to track Virus writers, spammers and other unpleasant people?
:)
If so.. its probably a good thing. Just make sure you don't steal anything, and if you do, use a mate's PC
Could this kill Linux or even Windows XP if it doesn't have the ability to work with the bios?
Slashdot, home of supporters of free software, free music, and free speech.Except for Moderators that disagree with you.
Why would OEMs buy something that would piss off their customers? I can see Sony doing it to their VAIOs but would Dell?
If something like this sells, it just makes custom building of PCs more attractive IMO.
There is nothing inherently safe about liberty. That's why so many people died protecting it.
An OEM will also have to decide whether or not to allow an end user to turn the DRM feature off, Eades said.
This option is most likely be available for a while. You will have the option to turn off the default enabled DRM system in your computer. As more and more people become comfortable (and ignorant) of the fact that DRM is enabled (and more and more companies start enforcing restrictions via the DRM'd BIOS) we will have less and less choice but to have it enabled.
This *IS* scary. DRM in Word is *NOT*. Just to clear that up.
A few questions..
1) Are there any?
2) How much bios code is reusable between completely different motherboards?
3) Will we always need a bios?
I'm just begining to wonder how LinuxBIOS is getting on. That project could prove prophetically useful, soon.
Until no one sells one without DRM.
That's why opposition must be raised now.
The DRM software will be shipped as a default option inside the cME package. "It's up to the OEM whether or not to insert it on the machine," he said. "We are offering it as a default option and it's up to them to remove it."
An OEM will also have to decide whether or not to allow an end user to turn the DRM feature off, Eades said.
Since when does these schmucks start thinking that I as a consumer doesnt have the right to take apart, enable/disable features, and smash to smithreens whatever shit I buy from them?
Every other product or service that we are seeing these days for sale are increasingly tipping the balance in favor of the seller. Let buyer go to hell, be the new motto.
I can understand the importance of having digitally signed code and safe code, but tracking software across PC's sound a lot like 1984 than 2004.
Rapid Nirvana
Don't do it, you're pretty easy to replace.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
Apple is looking better and better every day.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
... if it's ignored on another level. Remember, even if there is DRM capability, if it's not implemented *cough*linux*cough* then it doesn't matter.
Remember, Intel's Processor ID was supposed to do this too, and everyone that I know turned it off. And if this Phoenix BIOS DRM technology prevents large-scale installations from repairing computers by swapping out bad hardware, like motherboards, corporate IT won't buy it.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
So what? don't most OSes bypass most of the BIOS code anyway?
...Apple becomes the only computer maker with its hands clean.
Think about it: most PC enthusiasts around here build their own computers. However, now they will be faced with DRM at the motherboard layer. No matter of software liberation, from Linux to FreeBSD, will be able to cleanse motherboards of this impurity. Apple, on the other hand, has never incorporated any form of DRM into their basic system. Sure, there's iTunes music store, but its DRM is limited to the application level. I boycott iTunes because I care about the Right of First Sale, for example.
I know that it hurts to pay an additional $2,000 for the convenience of a computer company that respects your Freedom, but trust me: once you go Mac, you don't go black, Jack!
I'm not Seth Finkelstein. I still speak the truth.
Oh, glorious day. I was so concerned that our new entertainment industry overlords would be displeased.
...Looks like the next time I upgrade, I'm trading in my P4 2.4c for a new G5 instead of a new P5. Perhaps someday Mac might be the majority not due to their software or design, but the fact that they like to have customers...
Quick, flash your PHOENIX with SCO.EXE and maybe we can get Darl to claim its thier IP and destroy it from the inside.
/* * pope1 */
This is going to be a big bitch and complain session about liberties and what not, and I agree. However complaining never solves anything. The simple and most effective solution is to *not* buy boards with these chipsets.
Also don't think that your purchase won't make a difference.
E.
Never rub another man's rhubarb - The Joker
If I was Jack or Hillary, I would have already gone through 3 pairs of underwear today.
(Note: not because of bowel control problems - that's reserved for Steve Jobs)
I found their email address, contact them and tell them how much this sucks.
investor_relations@phoenix.com
how exactly can the BIOS track the software on the machine? Seeing as to how the type of file system used is bios independant.... can they see my .mp3 files if the drive is formatted as a novell partition, or an os2 partition?
I dont really see how the BIOS can have anything to do with DRM. and no, I didnt rtfa.
It's not only possible and likely, it has been done. Look at the cromwell bios for xbox (open source bios to boot linux)
Linux doesnt really use the bios anyways, once it boots it reconfigures the system and pretty much ignores the bios. You only need enough bios to find the boot block and load the OS.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
In the article on Extreme Tech, guess which industry has given their approval, on the last line yet?
"'Initial customer feedback from the entertainment industry in general has been very favorable,' Eades added."
It is obvious who they are playing to.
"I want to know God's thoughts...The rest are details." Albert Einstein
If the BIOS hooks are there, but the software is trusted (free) and known not to use them, can the feature effectively be therefore disabled?
who are those slashdot people? they swept over like Mongol-Tartars.
p3-700? Serial Number Disabled of course? I see no difference in DRM and the despised SN Intel chose to put in its procs.
Now that you are supplying DRM Bios's I will no longer consider products containing your Bios's in any form Yours
Phoenix is OBVIOUSLY in bed with SCO on this one so they can find all the nasty people running Linux without a license. Very sneaky! Keel SCO!
-What have you contributed lately?
The best opposition to this would be and Open Source BIOS. I've no idea if this is possible, likely, or already being done. It simply seems like the best response to DRM enabled BIOS.
The OpenBios project has been in the works for a while now.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
"Initial customer feedback from the entertainment industry in general has been very favorable," Eades added.
Apparently Phoenix and their OEMs need to be re-educated about who their customers are.
I've never owned an OEM PC, but have been considering Dell for my next box. If I find Dell is using a DRM'd BIOS that I can't turn off, the box will return to Dell.
Optimisticly speaking, this development has a number of potentially positive outcomes for us:
A. Pheonix & OEMS again re-educated about the fact that customers value their privacy.
B. Hackers paying more attenting to contents and modification of BIOS.
C. Motivation for additional development of OpenBIOS projects.
D. A court case regarding the rights of customers who purchase PCs and produce content with them. (OK, this one is a long shot...)
It it routine for various motherboards to have hacked BIOS developed for them (usually to turn on hidden features). This won't be any different, within a few weeks of a motherboard's release there will be versions of the bios released that will disable the DRM, exactly like how DVD drives have region free firmware released (I usually flash my drive before first use). So the only people this will be relevant to are those who are uneasy flashing their bios.
The best opposition to this would be and Open Source BIOS. I've no idea if this is possible, likely, or already being done. It simply seems like the best response to DRM enabled BIOS.
Well, DRM and open-source technology aren't mutually exclusive. Indeed, any protection of this scope (e.g., relying on a flawless interaction between the CPU, the hardware devices and drivers, and the OS) really should be so securely implemented that publishing the details doesn't weaken it - i.e., "obscurity isn't security."
(Whether or not this level of coordination is achievable is an interesting point to consider. The fact that Microsoft's implementation of DRM is breakable by a routine, authorized use of their DirectX processing-filter functions is striking.)
- David Stein
Computer over. Virus = very yes.
I'm reminded of one of the only TV commercials ever published by 3dfx. An engineer introduces his new chipset, capable of billions of calculations per second. With pride and courage in his voice, he speaks of how this chip will allow them to revolutionize medicine and scientific research, saving billions of lives. An interruption over the intercom says, "Excuse me people, we changed our minds; we're going to use it to play video games."
We have remarkable technology at hand, capable of verifying the source and integrity of data transmissions, communications, financial records, all manner of irreplacable information. We're going to use it to keep people from listening to music. Irrespective of copyright and how poor and hungry Metallica and Dr Dre are right now... that's a totally different issue. We're going to use it to keep people from listening to music. I hope somebody's proud.
-j
I'm not so opposed to DRM as long as, like you say, I can go buy a non-DRM motherboard somewhere else.
Think about it. Putting aside copying issues, trusted computing is about designing hardware that everyone else can trust to behave responsibly.
As I cleaned a few hundred infected e-mails out of my inbox for the nth time, I have to admit that my trust in the average computer user to act responsibly is diminishing. For the average joe/jane who buys a computer from Dell, I'm all in favor of DRM if it means that he/she will be forced to operate that computer responsibly. Do these people need root access? Is it even safe to give it to them? I am forced to think that the answer is no. These are people who treat the computer like an appliance; after all, they don't need the schematics of their TV or toaster to use it properly.
In a lot of cases, putting your faith in the goodwill of the average, non-technically-literate person to keep their OS updated and virus-free is an absurd proposition. As long as I can have my linux, I say: bring on the DRM.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
Pre-DRM enabled motherboards. I have quite a few Asus boards here, good up to (IIRC) Athlon 3000s. Should be good enough for a long time to come for the average customer.
What concerns me, is the addition of DRM into, say, the next generation video cards. It's all well and good to "merely" have an Intel P4 3.0 Ghz, or Amd Athlon 3000+, but what happens when Doom3 or beyond comes out and a new video card is needed? What is said new card has DRM on it, and decides not to play any videos you happen to own?
In short, where do we draw the line? Corps have finally started to get wise on the old adage about a frog and boiling water, it's high time Joe Generic does as well.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
When did a better user experience get lost? Even BIOS used to get better over time (more flexible boot options, software jumper settings, etc).
Now it seems the "magic money" isn't in making it better, but in making it more crippled. Unfortunately I can think of a lot more things that should be done before that one.
Right, but the problem is that as DRM becomes an accepted technology, your non-DRM compliant computer will go the way of the personal check. It will be one large pain in the ass to buy something online from major distributors. You'll "need" DRM. Then of course there is even the possibility of further legislation in this arena that requires computers connected to the internet to have signed OSs that booted from valid BIOSs.
But thats not going to happen. There is no government agency that can legislate "only signed OS's can use the internet". There are no hardware manufacturers willing to piss away billions of dollars in revenue so the entertainment industry can make a paltry couple of extra million.
I don't do the conspiracy thing. This technology seems directly targetted at the office workstations of the world, and is a feature that PC's have been sorely lacking for much too long.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
...this is different than Intel's rather public gaffe in touting the processor serial number? Won't it face exactly the same customer outrage?
Crippled CDs
BIOS
motherboards
Hard Drives
Consumer Audio (Minidisk, MP3 players)
Music (Buymusic.com - I have a special grudge against these guys, see my journal.)Itunes (gotta be fair, eh?)
Video Players
ect. ect. (Don't forget MS!)
This would be an excellent way for others to be educated on the general poo that is DRM, and also give regular joes a list of stuff *NOT* to buy. Perhaps a forum reviews and on breaking/ circumventing/ turning DRM back upon its evil creators would be in order as well.
Sadly, the only way to vote and be heard is with $$$, these days.
Sorry about that: We're running a bit behind schedule. We apologize to our consumers for these delays. We promise we're going to release BigBrother 1.0 very soon now. Thank you for your continued patience.
Your friends at CIA/NSA/FBI/RIAA/MPAA.
Embedding DRM in hardware is great news - it ensures that DRM will die a huge, flaming death.
Any protection mechanism of this scope - designed to work on many kinds of media, on all kinds of hardware, and on a host of operating systems - is bound to be full of holes when it's first released. Even Microsoft's audio-processing filters can be used to strip out DRM (i.e., to transform a locked sound file into an unprotected stream.)
Since this is known, the only really sensible way to implement an encryption method like this is to engage in an arms race with hackers. Release a first version, let hackers rip it to shreds, then release DRM v2.0 with those holes patched. Lather, rinse, repeat. If your encryption system has a sound basis and you're patching it in a smart, sensible way, the hacks will have to get more and more creative. Soon users will have to go to great lengths to defeat the scheme - mod chips, soldering connections onto circuit boards - so you've essentially made it tight enough that casual users won't bother. You can then crack down on the big sources of hacked media (e.g., large file-sharers on Kazaa), and voila, your scheme is fine.
But here's the key: Inherent in this arms race is the ability of the protection scheme to evolve in a robust way to patch holes. You can't do that if you create a hardware platform. Every new generation of DRM will (a) have to be backwards-compatible, in which case it can be broken on hardware running the older (unsecured) version; or (b) not be backwards-compatible, in which case you're breaking all of the old hardware.
Practical example: Look at today's media players - Quicktime Player, WMP, RealPlayer, DivX player. When new encoding mechanisms are invented for them, users have to grab a new version of the player, or at least download new codecs, to interpret files encoded under the new scheme. The new media won't play on the new players. This is greatly annoying, but users put up with it because it's software and it's easy to update.
Hardware is no such thing. Every time you release DRM version x+1, users have to download new drivers for their video card, sound card, hard drive, and bus and flash-update the ROMs on each device. Forget it. Users aren't going to put up with having to update their hardware devices every six weeks.
So, be happy: embedding DRM in hardware ensures the grand defeat of the whole thing.
- David Stein
Computer over. Virus = very yes.
Is there any real benefit to the user with the inclusion of this technology. I know the article claims "rovides an enhanced BIOS that allows greater interaction with the operating system"; but does this affect the users experience? Or is this simply a move to force DRM down our throats? I'm not trolling; I just wonder if there is an upside to the consumer.
"Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs" - George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
The truly big problem will be the need to repurchase your huge software investment each time you upgrade to a new machine. This will put momentum AWAY from buying new hardware. It seems the hardware OEMs will be shooting themselves in both feet if they use this.
When you have to register your unique computer ID with the police by law then it's game over. Won't that be fun? And it WILL happen, it's inevitable in my opinion. Not trolling, just pointing out how human affairs go. Wonder what the end game in all of this is?
: The New American Corporate Soviet
Loss of Control and Backdoors
Read Microsoft Aims for Protection--From Users
NGSCB + RIAA = NSA + KGB + CIA. ( R -> K )
From the Transcript of Internet Caucus Panel Discussion. Re: Administration's new encryption policy. Rep. Curt Weldon's statement
Read all of Curt Weldon's statement.Consider that as of 26 August 2003:, There are currently 22 unpatched vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Internet Explorer - many of the serous vulnerabilities Microsoft has not provide a fix to patch the hole in years!
Attestation Monopoly
Microsoft's NGSCB model for DRM content management grants Microsoft effective root digital certificate control over both software and content. It would be a monopoly even stronger than Microsoft's existing desktop dominance. Just as with Microsoft's proprietary file formats and protocols, the network effect would result in any non-dominate player or vendor facing too great a barrier to provide effective monopoly negating free-market competition.
Loss of Fair Use Rights and doctrine of First Sale
Microsoft's NGSCB DRM model also grants content providers far too much restrictive power. For example, in the USA and in most of the world, you are legally allowed to tape broadcast content for later replay ( timeshifting ), gathering evidence for making a complaint, or legitmate research. The DRM model can be used by content providers to circumvent these legal rights. Also if Microsoft or the Codec developer drops support for a format or even a particular digital key, all that content "protected" by that methord or key becomes unreadable.
The DRM model circumvents the Doctrine of First Sale, by side shifting content from being "goods" into a so-called service. When I purchase a DVD, I own that particular physical instance of that DVD and the right to view the content on it. I expect to be able to play that DVD in any DVD player I choose to, including the DVD drive in my Linux system. Also when I have finished viewing that DVD, I expect to be able to pass or even resell that DVD to any party I choose. I might even give that DVD to my local library, and I am legally entitled to do so. As DMCA protected CSS DVDs already limits what you can do with a DVD, Microsoft's plans f
Do you see that on any P4 motherboards? Of course not. Will we buy the crap MB's that ship with the DRM crap? Of course not.
Will that stop RIAA & MPAA from trying to grease the pockets of MB manufactures into accepting this? At first no. But it will become too expensive for them and be considered a loss soon enough.
~~I went to battle M.C. Escher, but drew a blank...~~
I bought a new Toshiba notebook (Satellite A15-S127) recently, and I found C-dilla DRM software by the Macrovision people running in the preinstall of WinXP. I must say I was rather offended :(. But I had no problem uninstalling it, along with all the other "trial version" and "sign up for internet" crap on there. I bet it's still running on as many clueless users machines as Gator :(
By the way, no, I would not have rather installed Linux, even if it did clean out C-dilla faster :P
But thats not going to happen. There is no government agency that can legislate "only signed OS's can use the internet". There are no hardware manufacturers willing to piss away billions of dollars in revenue so the entertainment industry can make a paltry couple of extra million.
You're vastly underestimating the momentum behind this thing.
You know the *AAs' current actions? Suing Napster, cracking down on Kazaa users, non-rippable audio CDs? Why do we think they're foolish? That's right, because they're a whole lot of effort for not much copyright enforcement.
The *AAs know this, too. These are really just treading-water exercises - making an attempt to squelch the big offenders, and plant the idea in peoples' minds that piracy = theft. It's all they can do, and everyone knows it.
Their long-term strategy has to focus on making media completely non-rippable. Digital encryption will be how digital media is distributed in the future. By digital media, I mean all digital media that big corporations want to protect - music, movies, streamed video (i.e., all TV shows), electronic texts, you name it. It's the big gun that media producers intend to wield in the future.
This isn't conspiracy-theory stuff. It's sound business sense. Just look at the trends and listen to the *AAs talk about the future of distribution - it's obvious.
- David Stein
Computer over. Virus = very yes.
Until no one sells one without DRM.
Nice theory but since profit margins on PC hardware is razor thin the manufactures are looking for anything to give them an edge. If DRM in the BIOS becomes common then there will be motherboards made, most likley in places like Korea, that do not have this "feature".
Another day closer to redwood heaven
Last week, despite the fact that finances are tight for me at the moment, I had this odd urge to go and buy the motherboard/CPU/memory combo for my next computer (I always build my own).
As I was contemplating 'why,' considering that my current system does pretty well, I realized that one big reason was that I wanted to get something that was (1), somewhat future-proof; and (2), that did not currently implement DRM ANYwhere in the mom-board's hardware, all because I hate the idea of a bunch of MBA's/CEO's/whatever telling me what I can or cannot do with my computer.
Now, seeing this story as I'm getting ready to put the new system together, it makes me wonder all over again if there really is any such thing as a coincidence.
For the benefit of the curious: I got a Tyan Tiger MPX, a pair of Athlon MP 2400+'s, half a gig of Corsair ECC memory, and a PC Power & Cooling 510ATX supply. Should keep me going for another 5-6 years at least.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
Well, I think Taiwan, rather than Samsung, oops I mean Korea is where all the boards come from. And it was not that long ago that we saw a post here on /. about a board coming out of Taiwan from a comapny called Abit with a special chipset they call the X-Wall that they claimed in their marketing materials could be used to keep out both the RIAA and government agencies. So, I would have to imagine that the notion of the entire motherboard market being controlled by a dark mysterious anti-consumer entity is a bit far fetched.
There is no government agency that can legislate "only signed OS's can use the internet".
Yet. Does everybody forget the effort to pass the SSSCA aka CBDTPA?
Will I retire or break 10K?
And watch the U.S. federal government block trade with countries that don't have a strong copyright law, strong enforcement thereof, a Bono Act, and a DMCA.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Hey, buddy. Wanna buy one of these coloumbian CPUs? No drm! Highest quality! I get them from a guy i know.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
It's not even hardwired into the card, so you can just tell the card to change it's MAC and it will.
Here's how to do it on windows.
In Linux its just as easy:
ifconfig interface hw ether 23:23:23:23:23:23
DRM is scary because, if it's done right, you wouldn't be able to turn it off. It's a much more serious effort than serial numbers and MAC addresses.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Send Phoenix abusive email. Tell them you will never buy their products EVER AGAIN. Intuit recently deployed DRM and their customers screamed so loud that the CEO nearly shit himself and the company backpedalled like mad.
If this happens enough times, DRM will die in the ass as it should.
If there is one thing I have always admired about the U.S. it's that people speak their mind.
Complacency now by those of you who are too pathetic and lazy to complain will cause great suffering later for you later. So be smart because now is the time to get ANGRY. Not later.
The great danger though is if DRM ends up being widely deployed enough that only or two major PC makers isn't using it. Then all of a sudden the idea of legislating DRM-only PCs is a plausible prospect. Something the media cartels would dearly love. They would probably lose the first time but there would inevitably be some comprimise. Then they would try again in the typical relentless fashion and more rights would go away. Stallman's prescience is amazing.
...I can buy a different motherboard with that on it, thank you very much.
Assuming you mean "without that on it", I think the problem is that DRM will evolve into a "feature". When Windows or DVD playback starts to require DRM hardware people will pay extra to get it.
Incidentally, "Digital Rights Management" is pretty poor marketing. It kind of suggests someone in a suit sitting behind me. Something like "Digital Freedom Key" would net more suckers.
Here's a clue: the Ukrainian ogvernment don't give a fuck about what the RIAA wants. Neither does Russia. neither does China. Not even, I would venture, does France. If you spoke french or russian (or cared to try to understand it) you would find a preponderance of stuff on the net that lies well outside the control of the **AA. And if you were capable of using proxies, that would allow you to surf these sites without revealing a US-bound IP, you would find a considerable amount of "free" or "nearly free" content.
Lots of talk lately about US based sites offering music downloads. HA! I can show you at least three russian sites that have been offering all-you-can-eat MP3 downloads for years. All 100% legal within the laws of Russia, despite the fact the RIAA would have such a site padlocked within minutes of its US launch.
I am a bit more worried about DRM than you are. An unfortunate property that keeps Capitalism from being a perfect economic system is that companies get to decide what they will offer for sale and consumers can only choose among the alternative that are offered. If companies decide they will no longer sell software that works without DRM, you will have a mighty hard time buying new software. I also wouldn't be too sure that you'll be able to keep you existing software either; Microsoft just has to slip DRM in with its next security update, leaving you with a choice between Hackers owning your machine or Microsoft.
Now Open Source software can still work with or without DRM; but Open Source is not going to work for all types of software. In addition, people buy computers to do something with them, if open formats are replaced with DRM-enabled ones; a non-DRM O/S is not going to be able to do much.
I have a personal rule that I will never buy a copy-protected CD, an electronic device that can be "updated" automatically without my permission, or a device with DRM. We'll see if those rules have any affect on what companies offer for sale; I have already bought a DVD player despite its DRM system.
-- Pot is safer than Beer
I still don't understand the point. After all the effort, money, and inconvenience it can be heard (audio) or seen (video). In either case, people can and will convert that to non-DRM formats such as MP3 or Mpeg. Then it's business as usual. So what's the point?
You're misunderstanding this whole conflict.
We've had videocameras and audio recorders for decades. Why did media producers only go ape-sh*t over media protection about five years ago? Aside from the occasional stupid quote ("the VCR is to TV production as the Boston Strangler is to the woman alone" is a gem) or a crackdown on pirates somewhere in Asia, the *AAs were perfectly content to sell tape-dubbable CDs at exorbitant prices.
Here's the difference. Given the choice between a shaky-video, scratchy-audio VHS tape of a movie captured by handheld videocamera and a DVD, the average Joe will buy the DVD. But given the choice between an audio CD and a ripped MP3 that sounds the same, the average Joe will download the MP3.
Reason: Digital media can make an identical-quality copy with almost no effort. DRM is designed to stop that. So even if the video can be captured or the audio recorded, the quality will be terrible, and the annoying effort required to capture the media will limit the amount of it that's available.
- David Stein
Computer over. Virus = very yes.
Don't underestimate the power of un-educated people. How long do you thing it would take for legislators to mandate for U.S. based companies to sell only DRM-enabled computers after they hear from companies that piracy is hurting them and from constituents that viruses are hurting them, and someone whispers into their ears that DRM will fix all that?
The german c't computer magazine has created a database sometime ago.
It doesn't only list CDs, there is also information about the used copy protection and how well different players/drives can handle those (UN-)CDs.
Database
I think the project was started because of the growing number of "protected" CDs especially in Germany, as the music industry is convinced to get away with it here, due to the lack of organizations like ACLU (related (german) article here).
yeah it boots a 5 year old chipset. Open source BIOS isn't going to happen. Most chipset vendors are extremely secretive about their chipset and by the time the chipset documentation becomes available to Open Source coders, the chipset is already obselete.
> I build all my own PC's and I've never used Pheonix bios, usually AMI or Award.
Um.. Hate to break it to you, but Award _is_ Pheonix.
> You make it sound like there is there is no alternative to DRM hardware in PC land.
With this article, that is fairly correct for all intents and purposes.
There are only two main BIOS companys, which happen to be AMI and Pheonix.
Those are the only two that make BIOS code and not motherboards.
The only other BIOS makers out there are companys such as IBM and Compaq and the like, but those BIOS's only work with their own hardware.
So if you do build your own hardware, you are getting the BIOS from one of two companys, both of which use DRM (AMI has for awhile now, but award bios's were touted as better because phoenix wouldnt DRM them.. ah well.)
Apple is not the ONLY option, but you will most likely not be buying a motherboard that didnt come with a preconfigured and built PC any more without DRM already in it.
> I'll keep my additional $2,000 and my freedom to choose the hardware that goes
> into my machines thankyouverymuch.
Well, that $2,000 that isnt going to apple will need to go to IBM or Dell or Compaq instead.. which means you get no freedom to choose whats in your machine outside of 'CDROM or DVDROM' and '128mb ram or 256mb ram' etc.
And in all honesty, I dont know any longer which 'big builder' still makes their own BIOS and which ones buy from AMI/Phoenix. So even some of the above companys may have DRM now..
One of my older Phoenix BIOS boards had an early version of some other of their DRM technology built in. It wouldn't wouldn't allow me to install my legal, licensed copy of Windows 2000 Professional, though ironically, it was perfectly happy with my illegitimate pirated copy of Windows 2000 Server. *sigh*
Earth to dickheads: Your main customer is supposed to be motherboard manufacturers, and then ( indirectly ) computer users. Since when is the entertainment industry a customer?
Oh wait. I suppose if you count those brown paper bags that Sony and Disney have been sending...
Does this effect virtual OS's?
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
Couldn't the Euro Union reject it and force Phoenix to sell DRMless BIOS? Just like they did with the pentium-II Machine ID.
Patola (Claudio Sampaio)
Unix System Administrator
For Linus Torvalds, DRM is perfectly OK with Linux
Patola (Claudio Sampaio)
Unix System Administrator
Using matches is old-fashioned. Use just that.
Patola (Claudio Sampaio)
Unix System Administrator
You are close to how it works, but not exactly. They don't use a "magic number" they use encryption and keys. The BIOS will only check and start up a "trusted" operating system, and the operating system will decide whether or not to copy the files. These days the BIOS doesn't run the show at all, it just boots another operating system.