Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: DRM, MPAA, ADSL
It's not evil, but just in case... gmr2048 writes "Sony seems to have heard the commotion. They have offered a "Service Pack" to uninstall the DRM Rootkit. From the announcement: 'This Service Pack removes the cloaking technology component that has been recently discussed in a number of articles published regarding the XCP Technology used on SONY BMG content protected CDs. This component is not malicious and does not compromise security. However to alleviate any concerns that users may have about the program posing potential security vulnerabilities, this update has been released to enable users to remove this component from their computers.'"
Obviously they have never heard the adage about deep pockets. Dieppe writes "The MPAA is at it again. This time they're suing a grandfather who didn't cave into the $4,000 blackmail offer for movie downloads his grandson downloaded from iMesh. Four movies in total, and they already owned 3 out of 4 with the grandson deleting them soon after download. This time the MPAA wants "as much as $600,000" in damages. The article also claims that "illegal downloading" costs the industry $5.4 billion per year. Not sure where the MPAA comes up with these figures."
Longer life and no charge time. It doesn't come easy writes "A press release from A123Systems announces another new lithium-ion battery technology that promises to deliver unprecedented performance (according to them). The technology is suppose to deliver 10 times the cycle life and 5 times the power over conventional lithium technology, and only require 5 minutes to recharge to 90% capacity. This is certainly not the first breakthrough for lithium based batteries that has been promised. I wonder if there is a patent lawsuit in the making?"
Fast net connection, but only if you live nearby. conJunk writes "The BBC is running an article about the ADSL2+ that touted a 24MB/s net connection. It seems that this number in fact only holds up if you live across the street from the service provider."
Always read the fine print. JeremyWall writes "The recent Netflix class action settlement has a catch. While it is nice that the average subscriber will be upgraded for one month for free, if you read the fine print in section 4.2 of the long form [PDF Warning] of the settlement you find that you will be automatically charged for the higher subscription going forward. If you don't opt back out when you get their email, you are gonna get charged from then on. If you opt in for the settlement - check your email box regularly!"
Know when to hold and know when to fold. psykocrime writes "According to a recent press release SGI stock has been delisted by the New York Stock Exchange, as a result of falling below the NYSE's minimum share price." SGI, the former darling of the high-tech world, has been in trouble for a while, perhaps this is really the end.
Leave it up to the MPAA to go after a grandfather. Where is the accountability for this group? Who do we direct our hatred at?
Let's give the fuckers a name, and a face. No more of this MPAA, let people know who is behind it, which artists are in cahoots with this. Then we'll see how much we can really cost the industry.
This is sad that SGI cannot stay afloat. I put them akin to Next in that they both make(made) quality machines that not many people want to buy. Notice I did not say need to buy. SGI has been a perfect fit for many a project of mine, but for varied reasons no one wants to take them.
I guess this movie just isn't going to be accurate. One line I chuckled at during watching it was when it says, "Silicon Graphics Saves the World." Of course, this may be somewhat off...
Click here or here.
According to TechDirt the grandfather was sued for offering movies for download. Claiming that he isn't liable because his grandson was the one doing it, not him, is about as rediculous as saying that he's not liable if someone cracks their head open on faulty steps in his house because his grandson lives there not him. He owns the line, he's liable for any copyright infringement performed from that line. And no, it doesn't matter if it wasn't his son but some hackers who broke into his computer; if a burglar breaks into your house and puts his back out trying to lug away your safe, you're still liable. Much like copyright law in general, personal liability is insane and should be abolished.
How we know is more important than what we know.
I'm just a bit curious... Does the patch keep the rootkit permanently disabled and removed? It seems to me that if we put a deviant Sony CD back into our computer that the rootkit would just be reinstalled. Then do we have to run the patch again? This is rediculous. I've do not intend on purchasing any music that has the SONY lable on it. This to me is just plain stupid. What gives Sony the right to install deviant software on "MY" pc and then make it stealth so that I don't know it's there. As far as I'm concerned I think that's the lowest a company can go. That's stooping to the level of those bastard red headed step children Spammers/Spyware installer/Virus/worm pushing assholes.
I'm to the point now watching this rediculous attempt from Sony to attach it's controls on something that I purchase the rights to use/listen/backup and trying to enforce through deviant means. What is this rootkit supposed to do!? They just wanted to install it for the Hell Of It? Nope, it's supposed to reinforce their stupid DRM bullshit and keep me from listening to the music that I paid for. I'm to the end of my rope. I think that there needs to be a group or mutiple groups put together that should purposefully break what Sony is trying to do. I've been years out of the programming/Computer industry and thus lack the skills to do it, but I think that we should form Anti-DRM, anti-Sony groups to demolish the protection that they put on their stupid CD's. I will not from this day forward purchase anymore music from Sony until they drop their Bullshit practices. I call for a Boycot of Sony's Music. I'm not sure what one man can start, but I'll be damned if I'm going to stand around any longer and watch Sony impose itself on me! They want me to buy their shit, then they want to enforce by deviance their policy, and after all that they hijack my PC for WHo knows what! Ahhh! Time for a Revolution. I love my PS2, but am refusing to play it again until SONY stops all this Bullshit! No more video games purchased either. Damn you Sony! Leave me the Hell alone! Stay off of my Computer and my CD's! Damn you!
With that said, I feel somewhat better, but am still disturbed deep inside that they would have to stoop to that level to try and enforce their protection. Maybe they don't realize that as the sound comes out of the speakers it can be recorded with a MIC and pirated that way, or through LINE OUT. Damn them. Rant Over.Generation Trance: What generation are you?
When it comes to upload capacity, ADSL2+ is no better than plain ADSL. Therefore I don't see much of an improvement there. I think the 8/1 ratio in plain ADSL is dumb enough already.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Say WHAT? ... I ... This.... WOW.
I cannot belive that they can say this. They released a rootkit, bloody damn general purpose rootkit, and it doesn't comprimise security? IT HIDES AN ENTIRE SUBSET OF FILE NAMES! With this rootkit installed, ANY file or folder starting with $sys$ is immmedately hidden from the Windows API. People are already using it to hide hacks for WoW. What happens if someone distributes a trojan, tells them to run Sony's rootkit to make sure they don't get caught by Warden, and the thing disappears and the user never knows the better.
Sony screwed up beyond reproach with this, and that comment just makes me scream.
Isn't it reassuring that the Sony DRM removal kit is an ActiveX object, only available with IE?
Allow popups from xcp-aurora.com? Always/Yes/Never
Purchase products from from Sony BMG? Never/No/Nada
As has been noted by many others before on the MPAA and RIAA, they don't necessarily want just money (although of course, they want that too), they want CONTROL. By controlling distribution channels, they guarantee profitability in perpetuity. So, the real way to hurt them is to use their attempts at control as fuel for the very revolution they are trying to quash.
Spend more money on "independent" filmmakers and musicians. Listen to more live music. Tell people why they should do the same (they've given us tons of ammo). Spread the music and films via P2P when the creators allow it. If you are a musician or filmmaker, see if you can do it without the studio and use the net to find your audience.
Thinking about profits and money is short term thinking, which many Slashdotters accuse the MPAA and RIAA of. I don't think they are actually that stupid.
"But I trust in the people's capacity for reflection, rage and rebellion." -Oscar Olivera
A very bad sign in SGI's response to delisting on the NYSE. Unless a company is in deep trouble, they would normally do a reverse split to bring the stock price back over $1. In this case, chances are that SGI will be filing bankruptcy in the near future and cancelling all existing equity. Then create new shares in a debt for equity swap. No need to bother with a reverse split, since they would be delisted when they went bankrupt anyway.
Pretty sad, SGI pioneered some wonderful technology in its time. Too bad they never figured out business rule #1, ideas don't mean squat unless they make money.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
I just signed on to the class settlement today -- I'm a lapsed subscriber. I also noticed that fine print, and made a mental note to re-cancel after my free month. I suspect this is a tremendously good settlement for Netflix -- I wonder if the cost is going to be filed under "litigation" or "marketing".
...since they're clearly counting on turning a judgment against them into a profit-making opportunity...
Except there never was a judgment against them. That's why it's called a settlement. They chose to offer this up to prevent the possibility of there being a judgment against them...
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
So, we're mostly techies here. We know what it costs to do tech support, and I bet most of us have gotten good at blowing through the first tier by pretending to do the stupid stuff we'd already done before we called them. So, everyone make 10 calls to Sony, spend a half-hour drinking coffee and jerking around their tech people.
2. If you only install the service pack once, then presumably there must be a service/daemon running to detect the insertion of future corrupt CDs to stop the rootkit being installed. In which case, the service pack will need to use continual PC resources to be constantly running.
3. If the format of the corrupt CDs is such that the rootkit needed to be in place to allow three rips of the CD to be made, what happens once the rootkit is disabled? Can you no longer exercise your fair usage rights to rip the CD for personal use?
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
For 200', wouldn't it be simpler to simply run ~$30 worth of Cat5E to the customer and not have to use a DSLAM + Modem? 100Mbps full-duplex, only need a managed switch to fix per-port bandwidth limits and port isolation policies.
IAAL working in IP and media law and I take strong exception to your attitude. Lawyers are not the cause of this problem. Lawyers are paid money to argue for their clients interests (or perceived interests). If the MPAA pays money to a good lawyer and gives them instructions, that lawyer goes and researches the law, determines what tactics will be effective, and ASKS THE CLIENT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. It is the client who decides to go ahead and sue a grandfather for $400K, and the client who decides to lobby Washington.
If you want to obliquely suggest killing any group of people because you think this will solve the problem I suggest you review and include (in reverse order):
4. Artists who continue to participate in the corrupt entertainment industry
3. The MPAA for ruthlessly trying to protect its own profits and interests
2. Politicians for being so pathetically weak that they can be bought and sold like prostitutes
1. Yourself and everyone else who does not fall into 4, 3 or 2 but who (a) funds the MPAA and the artists by buying their crap, (b) funds the politicians with their taxes, and (c) allows the politicians to get away with it by being politically disengaged and reelecting them all the time.
Do not blame lawyers. In my experience most lawyers tend to be more sympathetic to the views of people like us who are unhappy with these stupid laws and stupid lawsuits than they are to the views of organisations like the MPAA. Most lawyers I know think that the DMCA and its international equivalents are idiotic and outrageously biased, for example. But lawyers are part of an adversarial system, and their duty is to represent the interests of those who retain them to the best of their abilities. So instead of attacking lawyers, why not pony up some cash for your beliefs and help the EFF or someone like that get their own kick ass legal team.
I am so sick of people who bitch about the corporations owning everything but ignore the fact that the corporations only have as much power as you, the consumer, gives them. And I am SO SICK of people bashing lawyers, who tend to be progressive, intelligent, and politically and socially engaged individuals (real lawyers, not ambulance chasers).
Read Pynchon.
I had over 27 hits on my blog today for "sony rootkit" or something similar to that search.
Here's where you can complain to Sony about DRM and Rootkits:
http://www.sonymusic.com/about/feedback.cgi
Here's my letter, please modify it if you use it:
Dear Sony,
I'd like you to know how displeased I am that you've put DRM in your Compact Discs, and I'm shocked that "Van Zant's" CD is reported to have a "rootkit" virus that infects Windows so that certain file names remain hidden from even anti-virus scanners. Your product has endangered thousands of music fans, by crippling their Windows system in yet another way that virus writers can exploit.
I think you owe your customers better.
Sincerely,
Saskboy
Yorkton, SK CANADA
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
The MPAA (or any group with money to pay for politicians) will continue to extort your money from you until you either (1) kill the lawyers yourself, or (2) pay someone to do it for you.
(Wasn't this an audio disk? That would be the RIAA.)
Given the RIAA's origin in organized crime (the jukebox syndicate) and ongoing business model (extortion), I strongly suspect that even going after them with tommyguns - and killing off a number of them - would affect their strategy. (In fact, some of them might find it a refreshing return to the good old days of gang wars - and come after you in return. B-) )
There are alternatives to violence. Reread the works of Dr. Martin Luther King or Gandhi for powerful accounts of effective alternatives. Nonviolent tactics did work against far more dangerous and evil enemies than the entertainment industry.
The canonization of King and Ghandi is convenient for the ruling class. But claiming they prove the success of non-violence is a rewrite of history:
Ghandi succeeded in India - against the British colonial occupation, when a major British government faction was already trying to unload the colony. Ghandi's movement helped empower them to achieve their aims. But remember that he started his political carreer in South Africa, attempting to end Apartheit by similar tactics - a dismal failure. And his prescription for the Jews in Nazi Germany was to commit mass suicide in protest of their treatment.
MLK's non-violent opposition to Jim Crow segregation was a necessary step in the Civil Rights movement. But the movement didn't succeed until it switched to violence after his assasination and cities burned. King's contribution was to sieze the moral high ground, enabling the claim that non-violence had been tried and had failed.
(Ghandi's revolution was getting a bit bloody toward the end, too.)
The current ruling class raises King and Ghandi as role models and conveniently forgets the roles of people like H. Rap Brown an Muhammad X. This detours people from the not-so-non-violent tactics that finished the job - and were the whole of many other successful revolutions - and gets them stuck in an endless loop of non-violent and ineffective protests that can be easily ignored.
(Please note that I'm not advocating the use of violence - merely trying to correct the never-ending misstatement of the historic record.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
...
2. Politicians for being so pathetically weak that they can be bought and sold like prostitutes
Let me let you in a little secret. People here don't hate corporations per se. What they hate is how most corporations put money ahead of little things like, oh, the greater good of society. Ask yourself if the ones you're defending are doing the same thing.
That's all well and good -- I know a lot of lawyers, and as you say by and large they don't support stupid laws or overbearing tactics. But clearly there are also far too many lawyers who put the job (and the paycheck) ahead of personal ethics -- after all, your client didn't put a gun to your head and force you to engage in slimeball tactics against people who cannot reasonably defend themselves.
It occurs to me that this is much like the situation of a military grunt receiving an illegal order from his commanding officer. The grunt's legal and ethical duty is to refuse such an order. Likewise, it should be a lawyer's ethical duty to refuse orders from a slimeball client who uses coercive, illegal, or legal-but-unfair tactics.
Perhaps if more lawyers would stand up against such clients (despite the enticing mega-fees), lawyers would be perceived as heroes rather than as demon familiars.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Hitmen are paid money to carry out kills for their clients interests (or perceived interests). If the MPAA pays money to a good hitman and gives him instructions, that hitman goes and researches the target, determines what tactics will be effective, and ASKS THE CLIENT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS / CONFIRMATION. It is the client who decides to go ahead and take out a grandfather for $400K.
Yeah, not the best analogy, but saying the enabler for wrong doing is not at fault is a bunch of crap. What good is being sympathetic (as you suggest lawyers feel for the common man) when you pretend you're sorry for pissing on the common man and do it anyway? It's OK if it's something you're paid to do? Give me a break.
That is much worse than simply being uninformed because you KNOW what you're doing is against the interests of the commons. And sure, there's groups like the EFF and others, but Capitol Hill is largely run by ex-lawyers (both gov't and lobbyists... as if there's a difference in most cases) and they strike me better than the sympathetic lawyer picture you've painted simply by being unashamed of their utter contempt of people in comparison to their corporate masters.
If I did redo your list, it would be as follows:
Smack in the head list:
2. Artists who continue to participate in the corrupt entertainment industry. You can make it as an independent, and the more that do drive more nails in the coffin of the evil empire.
1. Yourself and everyone else who (a) funds the MPAA and the artists by buying their crap, (b) funds the politicians with their taxes, and (c) allows the politicians to get away with it by being politically disengaged and reelecting them all the time.
Smack in the head hard enough that they're out of the picture:
2. The MPAA for ruthlessly trying to protect its own profits and interests. Nuff said.
1. Politicians for being so pathetically weak that they can be bought and sold like prostitutes - probably the worst offender since they pretend to be for the people until elections are over, and then it's greed and politics as usual.
And as for the lawyers... sure, they're not the cause of the problem anymore than not brushing your teeth is the cause of bad breath, but it sure makes the problem worse.
Agreed to a point. Unfortunately, the only way to make a living as a musician is to participate in the corrupt entertainment industry. Since popular musicians provide real value to society, it's hard to fault this group. They could work in another profession as a day job, but then they could not concentrate on their chosen profession, and the public would not benefit from their musical talent.
This one is obvious. As with any megacorp, the MPAA members are responsible for doing everything in their power to maximize their profits. This includes exploiting artists wanting to make a living, exploiting the public domain by extending copyrights, and exploiting a weak government by bullying in the courts and buying laws protecting their profits.
Unfortunately, this is primarily the result of living in a republic with lax campaign finance rules. Since with our "fat and happy" populace and two-party system, votes can essentially be bought and sold with media exposure, political money is what is required to be reelected. Those politicians who stand up to the big corporate interests will fail to receive campaign funding and will not be reelected. Those who are left are the "weak" or corrupt ones who do whatever the corporations ask of them.
This is really three groups.
When it comes down to it, we have a self-sustaining system where corporations pay to elect politicians, politicians establish and protect the corporations, and politicians further protect the right of corporations to do so by not enacting real campaign finance reform. To sustain the system they must keep the populace happy and well-fed (give them their soma, as it were) thus preventing violent revolution and maintaining the ability to buy votes with media attention. For the people to effect any real change in such a system is difficult, since it is virtually impossible to get a sufficiently large group to care, especially since the two-party system ensures that everything but the largest or most well-funded group gets zero voice in government.
As for your overall point, I agree, lawyers in general are not the problem. However, the profession has become a poster child for a profession full of corrupt individuals, and with good reason. Like politicians, there is more work available for the lawyer who is willing to produce frivolous lawsuits for a client, and our court system makes such lawsuits prof