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'Winston Smith' Speaks Out On MS Reader Convertor
David H. Rothman writes "'Winston Smith,' an unemployed American high school dropout self-named after 1984's hero, told my TeleRead.org site why he and buddies turned out Convert Lit to crack the Microsoft Reader e-book format. Winston makes clear he is pro-fair use and anti-piracy. Alas, new DMCAish legal restrictions in the United Kingdom will force the Dan Jackson Software site to shut off the Convert Lit downloading later this month. Just as in the States, free speech and fair use apparently matter less in the UK these days than they used to. According to Dan Jackson, Winston 'is indeed the real author of Convert LIT.' Meanwhile, if you're in a country without DMCAish thuggery and can host Dan at a new location, email him ASAP."
On Freenet.
What's the point in hacking a format nobody's using anyway?
Stop downloads of it later this month? They may as well just leave it up, because by then there will be about a million different sites available to download it from. Especially now that the Slashdotters know about it, people will host it just to spite Microsoft.
-- Dr. Eldarion --
They spend time cracking ebooks, which I will never read, instead of creating a universal porn site user/password hack. I want my naughty teenage lesbians, I just don't want to pay for it!!!
AC has always badmouthed the US as no longer "the land of the free" and made other off-the-cuff remarks, also saying that he'll be leaving his country if such laws were passed. Yet, suddenly, he's become very quiet. Does he have any plans of following through, or does he just make idle threats? I find it sad someone so prominent in this community would be all talk and no walk.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
Winston Smith is not the hero of 1984. Big Brother is the hero of 1984. Big Brother has always been the hero of 1984.
Uhm, after posting his [unobscured] email address on the Slashdot Frontpage, I tend to think that we might want to find the guy a new email addy first...
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Do people just sit around and go, "Bob, I feel like taking away peoples rights today."
But the real bad guy is companies like microsoft that act on the laws.
-Seriv
Exactly. This is cracking open a bank vault with hardly anything in it. It's still a vault, and the cops are gonna come after anybody who breaks into it.
If you wanna do a Rosa Parks-like stand of civil disobedience, go ahead, but also pack your bags for the slammer. The fact is, civil disobedience means breaking the law and paying the price, the theory being that if enough people do it it'll get attention and hopefully cause the law to be changed, or at least cause the local officials a headache trying to arrest 10,000 people when the local police department only has enough cells for 3. Somehow, a small number of hackers breaking a non-used scheme isn't quite the same effect...
You're better off pointing out the DRM schemes that can be hacked with a single key. That's a much better test case than this...
Normally, this would be a great use for Freenet. It's too bad the network is fucked to hell right now.
I wasnt even aware of this new law until i read the post! I havnt seen a single bit of media attention here apart from one tiny register article. Even dimitry skylarov got attention here.I just hope they will make this more public before the 31st when it goes into effect and i hope that everyone does their absolute best to spread every bit of DRM circumnavigation around as much as they can while its still legal and screw over as many companies as possible.
Its things like this that make me want to bitch-slap the queen and get her to do something about it.. even if its just erm.. making the beafeters run around. We need a leader who takes no crap from the EU and the US and we need to nuke someone now, i dont care who, just as long as i dont have to live in a country where i will be arrested for wearing a decss t-shirt. And isnt this violating the human rights/free speech laws?
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
I wonder if it's worth putting effort into distributing an e-book cracking program when e-books are falling out of style. Amazon is getting out of the business and they may be setting a trend. The lack of a decent micropayment system is sounding the death knell for legitimate electronic distribution of content, protected or not. Meanwhile pirates are busy scanning and distributing their own copies which they don't bother placing content controls on.
The DMCA is good law in any nation. As far as the "thuggishness" comment goes, well I have to say I am saddened by this comment. It demonstrates a lack of respect for the law and the brave officers who enforce the law. The "jackbooted thug" and other comments make me sick and that sort of "speech" ought to be banned. We need zero tolerance policies toward DMCA violators, or any law breakers for that matter who are not in the ruling class. The law enforcement officers have every right to wear whatever kind of boots they want, use any weapons they want (including nuclear, chemical, and biological), and any tactics they want to enforce the law and to stop terrorists like this Winston Smith character. We need special camps for subjects who disobey.
As many have mentioned before me, FreeNET, in its days of glory, would've been perfect for something like this... However, as of late, among other services, it has fallen awry...
I personally think this is turning into a vicious cycle, much akin to the one found in the rotation of television broadcasting. In the late 80's, there were some quality shows on television... After the 5000th run-down of Power Rangers, or the 1000th joke about the purple Teletubbie, television is finally restoring some quality shows...
In the 1930's, life in the world was a trafic affair. That time it was because of financial issues. In the 1970's, life was well...we all know how life was in the 70's... Now, in the late 90's and early 2000's, we're experiencing the next cycle of hell on earth so to speak. Right now, we can still go down a lot further before the world realizes what is going on, and slowly begins its climb back to the days when waking up in the morning wasn't a burden.
However, as we are currently here now, we must deal with it as it comes.
I haven't RTFA yet, but if he bypassed some descryption algorithm designed by MicroSoft (No - I don't like them either - but thats not the point) then something should be done. However, the problem now lies in the extent of punishment which he would receive. In today's world, we've begun comparing "digital theft" as some like to call it, to armed robbery and murder. I know people who have been to jail for armed robbery, and many other violent crimes, who got off easier than someone caught hosting 1000 MP3s... It is a sad day when owning a copy of a song on your hard drive, or a copy of a book on your computer, becomes a crime punished to a greater extent than 'other' crimes...
Ahhh...the wonderful world we live in now.
"The Samurai who does not fear death becomes invincible."
It's kind of like this...
...Palm's PalmReader format then. Took about a day to crack and I have only a tiny bit of experience with cracking (last thing I cracked before that was the version of Lotus 1-2-3 that insisted you had the original floppy - so we're talking mid-eighties or so.) I assume that the engineers who design these security systems know exactly what they are doing: pretending to make something secure so that they can con gullible companies into giving them a paycheck.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
All I can say is this thing helped me out of a jam a little while ago. The program is not polished by any means, but it does work.
Our company had a document (Employee Handbook) converted into MS Reader format. (Don't ask me why.) The original files were lost in a disk crash. (Don't talk to me about backups either.) Now the document needs editing. I could have re-typed it, but I'm lazy. A quick Google and I find this program with a potentionaly offensive name.
Hooray! I get to be lazy and violate the DMCA just to retreive a file owned and created by the company I work for. The incident only reinforced to everyone here the value of pdf files and that MS Reader is beyond worthless.
"Kittens give Morbo gas!"
Sounds like this guy just hangs out on indmedia and kuro5hin too much. time for him to get out of his parents' basement and smell the fresh air.
Huh??? I thought those are qualifications, at least for ripping off stuff, dude!
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
but I the first time I tried to do a little offline, off computer reading I realized that there was no print function. I didn't want to copy the whole thing or print it out for distribution. All I wanted to do is print off a chapter so I could hop in the car and read a little during my 5 hour drive during a weekend visit.
The people making anti piracy software have to realize that you just can't force people to act in a simple fashion so that it's easier for them. They have to realize that they have to find real and intelligent solutions that work and still allow Joe Legal user fair and useful access to the content that's being provided.
After doing a small search for a conversion program (this was a while back now) and not finding one, I just ditched it and went another route.
Extremely sneaky, and extremely scary.
More than mere navel gazing.
We should definitely publicize this. The DRM seas are still a vast, unknown, and malevolent region to all but the most well-traveled seamen. We can't allow others to circumvent our efforts, or to use circumvention.
What's the point in hacking a format nobody's using anyway?
.
In case you don't know, there are quite
a lot of "nobodies" out there !
In this world of 6 BILLION PEOPLE, about
6 millions of them maybe counted as
SOMEBODIES
That still leaves us around 5.995 nobodies
that might be using the
format nobody's using anyway.
Quite a lot, aren't they ?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Hmm..what are his credentials that he knows so much about copyright law, fair use, and the US legal system?
What are the credentials of the countless Slashbots that give their interpretation of copyright laws in every DMCA-related article (of which there are countless)?
Neither being a high-school dropout or CS graduate with honors implies any knowledge, professionally or casually, of copyright law, fair use, or the US legal system. Of course neither does it preclude such knowledge, as you seem to be implying.
Slashdot may take care of that before they need to.
Think of it this way: KFC's 11 secret herbs and spices aren't patented. If I have good enough tastebuds and can figure out what they are, it's not illegal for me to tell people what they are. Why would it be? It's the same thing.
I mod down pyramid schemes in sigs.
Could not a system (relatively) easily be put in place which uses existing cell-phone networks to transmit the data, encrypted, into the e-books, and never store that data outside of encrypted volitile memory, with the only data ever "stored" in the e-book being a single user-id and private key for access to a database of licenses? All keys would of course be one-time use and hideously long- because it's fucking TEXT. It doesnt require a high-speed connection.
I know there is most likely some technical reason, so what is that reason? Why are the makers of these readers complaining, instead of actually creating a secure product (which, btw, does NOT require backups of anything other than the userID and private key, which have no reason to be made unavailable to the user)
Of course, storing data "encrypted" would be pointless, as the key would need to be stored somewhere as well, but if the key is for one-time-use, the ability to take the cover off, hack and solder your way into the memory chip, and sift through until you get what you want.. doesnt seem like a problem to me...
Please, I'm not trying to troll or anything, I'd just like my ignorance to be alleviated.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Damnit, they are stopping access to the only clit most of us on slashdot can get.
Winston Smith loves Big Brother. Maybe he should have been Guy Montag instead.
Here you go!
Stealing your neighbors TV or mugging a little old lady doesn't affect Rupert Murdoch or the like. Ripping a CD so you can listen to it on your iRiver, computer, as well as your CD player "cheats" them out of another $25.
For which crime do you think they'd like larger sentences?
Rick DeBay
In Alaska there is a State-sponsored scheme called "Made in Alaska", whereby people are supposed to be assured they are buying goods "Made in Alaska". (I think it's mostly aimed at tourists). But when you read the requirements to be certified, you'll see that you can have goods manufactured in China, as long as a vague amount of influence is applied (if anyone ever asks), and still stamp it "Made in Alaska". Just put the Made in Alaska sticker over the Hecho in Mexico sticker. I don't mean to create a cloud upon the honest merchants, especially seeing as the State buys buttons and other junk manufactured in China, junk to pass out to visitors, junk they could buy locally.
-cp-
If it wasn't so late I might be motivated to write more - there are so many things wrong with this picture I don't know where to begin.
You'll notice, when you follow the link, that you're really getting submitter David H. Rothman's weblog, where he states, "Winston in effect provides some great insights into why "Microsoft" is a hated name among millions and why e-books sales for the whole bloody industry are a pathetic $10-million or so a year--a fraction of Tom Clancy's annual income."
Rothman has what's known as "target fixation" - he's so focused on the target (MS and DRM) that he'll fly his plane into the ground. Of course revenues are so little - no one wants to read books on a screen! Even in a convenient easy-to-carry PDA with super-font-res technology.
If you read all the material relating to "Winston", you'll find Rothman seems to hold him up as a sort of hero of the cause, whose insights we should all read and heed. If you read Winston's writings, you'll find he's rambling, immature, and ill-informed. He does have one real insight: "Lack of a college degree is a true impediment to getting hired."
I don't know how this stuff ends up on the front page of Slashdot. A link to a guy's weblog...timothy strikes again.
Microsoft's copyright protection is a PAIN IN THE BUTT. So there is your "valid use" explanation. But more than that, I believe everyone SHOULD have the god given right to circumvent copyright protection. Copyright protection is, plain and simple, a way to take away your fair use rights. Coupled with the DMCA, it actually makes it illegal (I still have a hard time swallowing it). I understand that copyright protection may have a legitimate goal: to prevent masses of people from breaking copyright law, but when it prevents masses of people from legitimate use it's usefulness is overshadowed by that flaw. Take DVD regions. Why should the DVD makers be able to tell me that where I buy a DVD is where that DVD should be played, just so they can better control global pricing? Why should it be illegal for me to circumvent "protection" of that sort?
Not only that, but why should I not have the right to change, learn from, or do whatever the hell I want with a product I buy? A DVD isn't just a copy, because if I walk out of a store with a DVD I am going to be slapped down for STEALING, not copyright infringement. A DVD is MY property once I buy it, and if I want to mess around with it then that is my business. If you sell me a product with a lock on it, that shouldn't mean I don't have the right to break the lock and take a look inside. What I do afterwards with what I unlocked may be criminal, but nothing up unto that point should.
but I the first time I tried to do a little reading at night during a blackout I realized that the book wasn't backlit. I didn't want to illuminate the whole thing or project it on the wall. All I wanted to do was to do a little reading until the power came back on and I could visit Slashdot again.
The people making books have to realize that you just can't force people to act in a simple fashion so that it's easier for them. They have to realize that they have to find real and intelligent solutions that work and still allow Joe Legal user fair and useful access to the content that's being provided.
After doing a small search for a flashlight and not finding one because it was dark, I just ditched it and masturbated instead.
why do you think you have the god given right to circumvent the copyright protection somebody places on their work?
Because I can. I'm not going to limit myself to some arbitrary level of stupidity just because you say it's "protected". Obviously if I can crack it, then it's not done well enough, is it? If it's that important, it shouldn't be on the 'net, and copies should be tracable to the original purchaser.
If someone puts a digital copy of something out into the world, it's fair game. Sorry, but that's life - if I'm not acquiring a copy illegally, I'll do what I want with it thanks. If I figure out a decryption scheme, yay for me, and what difference is it to you? I wasn't going to pay for what ever it was so you didn't lose a sale. You still have the original, it's not like I broke into a safe and stole your painting. Jeez, if you want to stop people using infomormation that you are selling or providing online, either get better protection or provide your customers with the tools to access it without resorting to a DIY approach.
And here's your list of valid uses...
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
Is Sealand still an option?
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
You know, there's quite a lot of irony posting as an Anonymous Coward double plus gooding Big Brother, when the whole point of Big Brother watching you was that you couldn't be anonymous....
Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
Soon The Right to Read by Richard Stallman will be historical documentary instead of overexeggarated antiutopian future science fiction...
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
why do you think you have the god given right to circumvent the copyright protection somebody places on their work?
I'm sorry, but why do I need the permission of the Superme Being (if there even is such a thing, which I seriously doubt) to foil a silly protectionist measure like DVD region encoding? If there is a god, I think it has something better to do than worry about the number of zeroes in a bank account in a very tiny corner of the universe.
And every AC troll claims to have a valid argument.
Seems sourceforge is an obvious place to host that GPLed project of yours. The interoperability purpose of the software should be enough to avoid dmca related problems (plus the eff could give a hand :)
Due to ancient laws of the land, there is one place in the whole of the UK where you cannot be sued or prosecuted for any spoken word.
That place is Speakers Corner in Hyde Park.
Just gather up the source for DeCSS and any other cracking algorithm and security vulnerability and read it out loud to the 'audience'. You may need to invest in a megaphone or PA system to be heard above all the other people there (which nowadays includes Taliban sympathizers, Pro Saddam activists, IRA/PLO/Islamic Jihad fundraisers, BNP/Neo-Nazi recruiters, Triad/Mafia/Organised Crime reps).
You cannot be prosecuted for saying something there, political or otherwise.
The only problem is trying to get someone to listen.
-- The universe began. Life started on a billion worlds...
-- Except on one where stupidity was there first.
As you kinda alluded to the "good" uses for these pieces of software is what should be the focus. I think the point is that you can't outlaw technology or research solely because it may have a negative use.
I mean what of all the military arms that Bush and co. like making? So I'm to take it that someone making DVD decoding software is abigger risk to the world than a nation with a massive stock of WMDs....
Hmmm...
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
While the Taiwan giant TSMC dominates the ASIC production business (though they do build some of their chips in fabs in Oregon), Taiwanese companies don't have a similar level of market penetration into the microprocessor space. Intel is by far the largest manufacturer of desktop microprocessors and the vast majority of its microprocessor fabs are located in the US (Arizona, California, and Oregon, with smaller concentrations in MA, NM, UT, and WA), though it does have some in Malaysia.
While Intel does have fabs in China and Israel, they don't manufacture microprocessors in them. They do ASICs (ethernet, etc), chipsets, and flash memory. The other microprocessor companies like IBM and AMD also manufacture many microprocessors in the US, though I don't know about their fab distribution as well as I know Intel's.
You're just quivering because GWB might accidentally select Kanukistan as the next target...
YAW.
Your head of state is a corrupt weasel, I hope you're happy.
If there is a court case here in the US, I think the first constitutional admendment would be very usefull.
stringent security settings on their own documents. It's certainly not Microsoft's fault for making them use the most restrictive security settings available to the program.
http://www.greenmac.com/eagle/ISSUES/ISSUE23-9/07J uryNullification.html>
he clearly didn't understand the message to which he was replying to. AC said that he would leave his country, the UK, if it instated DMCA like laws. Which the UK has. So what shock are you referring to?
Just to reiterate the stuff in the post above, Alan is certainly not fond of such laws and has lobbied against other related laws in just the last month (or did you miss the Alan and Linus protest against software patents?).
:)
Heck, after reading the link it may be the case that the law refered to has not even been passed yet (it was put up before parliament on the 3rd and does not come into force until the 31st). For all we know it might be being lobbied against (not everything Alan says or does makes headline news y'know. For instance, I don't see The Register reporting how he was nearly skewered by a sharp piece of metal sticking out the back of someone's seat in a car a few weeks ago)...
Oh and I can confirm the SUCS stuff too
If you can't get to a website for one reason or another, don't forget to check web.archive.org.
/ /m embers.lycos.co.uk/hostintheshell/ is the most recent link to the above site, and the .tar.bz2 source download link seems to work as well. Make sure to replace that date with a '*' to see other possible copies from other dates.
http://web.archive.org/web/20030118042411/http:
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
If many people do what you did, then one might be able to make the case that trafficking in the tool isn't a violation, either.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Exactly. Take isopropal alcohol for example - good way to clean mice, or ingredient in speed manufacture? Both are uses, but ban the "bad" use, not the product.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
Take one in the ass you anal freak. This is Slashdot, and typos are both expected and assured.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
The American public has shown time and time again that it can't be trusted with KFC's chicken IP. The fast food chicken industry needs protection if it is to move forward. We can begin by smothering the chicken with pepper - so much that it nums the mouth, rendering illegal terrorist tools such as taste buds ineffective. In order to dissuade pirates from developing a resistance to this defense, we can infuse the chicken with a slow-acting poison, like grease, or perhaps arsenic. Don't let the terrorist chicken pirates win!
Litigious bastards
I have a few books that I own in Mobipocket format and the reader is huge! I want to convert them so I can read them in my preferred reader (Plucker). Anyone know of a program to do this?
Mr. Competence
Those who open their minds too far often let their brains fall out.
Crack down on free speech, i hate stupid new laws about the internet and how the government is intervening at every possible place, bah.
Don't, just don't defy this
You say:
>Update (2003/10/07)
>The UK's implementation of the European Union
>Copyright Directive means that, starting from
>October 31st, it will no longer be legal to use
>or distribute Convert LIT in the UK.
The fact is that the copyright directive had an implementation deadline at the end of last year. The UK has just been 10 months late. However, legal precedence in the EU means that until a state has implemented the directive, then it is possible to enforce the directive through the principle of "direct effect".
This means that your material is already - and has been for some time - a copyright violation.
Actually, it has been legal to record a broadcast for private, non-commercial use since 1988.
IANAL, etc.
Alas, new DMCAish legal restrictions in the United Kingdom [...]
OK, I've just finished a brief scan of that.
Its rather a big document to receive less than a week's worth of debate before enactment, but I guess I only have my MP to blame for that.
One thing that concerns me substantially is that the phrase "effective technological measure" and a number of similar phrases are used in numerous places in these regulations, but are not defined anywhere. Nor, it would seem, are they defined in any other act of the UK parliament, at least as far back as 1987 (which is as far as HMSO's web copies go). Which means that this law can be readily twisted to mean whatever the first barrister to get his hands on it wants it to mean... yeuch.
Other issues - breaking an anti-circumvention measure is illegal whatever your purpose (unless its for cryptographic research). You could be perfectly entitled to get at the data, but because its protected you can do nothing about it.