Slashback: DRM, MPAA, ADSL

Slashback tonight with a response from Sony that removes the DRM 'rootkit' that has caused so much commotion, more hijinks from the MPAA, continued battery advancement, a followup to the UK broadband plan that had so many American's drooling, a catch in the recent Netflix settlement, and continued financial trouble for Silicon Graphics. Details on these stories and more, below.

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.

Comments

HEY SLASHFAG

[CmdrTaco (troll)]

Yep, I'm talking to you.

Frothy piss

[(TK)Dessimat0r]

_ _ _ _ _ _ __ _..._ ALL YOU FUCKING SLASHDOT USERS
_ _ _ _ _ _ .-' . . '-. THIS FUCKING PENISBIRD SHITS
_ _ _ _ _ _/. . ._ . ._\ DOWN YOUR NECK INTO YOUR STOMACH
_ _ _ _ _ /. . .(o) ./__) WHERE THE SHIT BURNS FOR THE REST OF
_ _ _ __ /. . .,_ . .| '| YOUR SHORT AND PATHETIC LIFE
_ _ _ _ |. . ./ .\ . /_/
_ _ _ _ /. . .`"`" . .} IT THEN GRIPS ONTO YOUR COCK WITH ALL ITS MIGHT
_ _ __ /. . . . . . . { AND INJECTS VARIOUS MUTAGENS INTO YOUR BLOODSTREAM THROUGH
_ _ _ /. . . . . . . .} ITS RAZOR-SHARP CLAWS WHERE IT REACTS WITH YOUR
_ __ /. . . . .\/\ /\ { VAST RESERVES OF FAT AND BLUBBER
_ _ |. . . . . .;``"``\
__ /. . . . . . / ; ; ;| NOBODY IS SAFE FROM THE PENISBIRD, AND IT
_ |. . . . . . / ; ; ; | FUCKING HATES ALL SLASHDOT USERS
_ \ . . . ._.-`|; ; ; ;|
_ /`-..--`` a a| ; ; ; | YOU ARE NEXT, YOU FUCKING FAT, FILTHY PIG
_|a a a a a a a|; ; ; ;|
_| a a a a a a | ; ; ; /_ _ _ _ ,--........,, FUCKING POST, YOU FUCKING
_|a a a a a a / ; ; ; ; _ _ _ .' . . . . . -='. BASTARD ASCII.. I CAN'T BELIEVE
_| a a a a a / ; ; ; / _ _ _ _\ . . . . . . . : THIS FUCKING STUPID LAMENESS
_|a a a a a/` ; ; ; \ _ _,==" .\ . . . . . . .' FILTER, WHAT AN ARSEFUCKING COCKLORD
_\ a a a .'. _ ,._'\.\~" o //` .\. . . . . .'
_|a a a.___~' \ \-~| | o ./,\.` .\. . . _.' WHAT KIND OF SHIT NAME
p|; a a/ _|.-~'| |o| |. . . . ,-''\..--' IS LAMENESS FILTER ANYWAY
p| _..-'"'. . .| | | |. . _="`
pp~ . . . \\ . | | / /_="` WHAT THE FUCK? MORE LIKE TROLL FILTER
ppp. . . ./,\ / /_,)") FUCKING CMDRTACO, YOU FUCKING FAT BASTARD
pppp . . ._,.-)")
pppp__,=~"| ===============
ppppp|; .;| Penisbird/. 1.3
pppp | y .| ===============
pppp |;|\ |
ppp_ |/' \| LETS GET IT ON, MOTHERFUCKERS.

Trollkore
"I hate you, I hate your country, and I hate your face!"

Important Stuff # Please try to keep posts on topic. # Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. # Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. # Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. # Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) Important Stuff # Please try to keep posts on topic. # Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. # Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. # Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. # Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)

Re:Good idea.

[Anonymous Coward]

Moderators: Please note that "twitter" is a known fanatical sycophant whose obnoxious offtopic rants are legend here on Slashdot. It doesn't matter what the topic is, he'll find a way to scrape in some pointless Microsoft bashing. While nobody expects us to love Microsoft in any way, his particularly tepid style of calling anyone he replies to "troll" or "liar" or "fanboy" because he happens to disagree with whatever they're saying is well documented and should not be rewarded. If anything, twitter is the type of person that should not be part of the open source/free software community. He is an anathema to all that is good about free software.

I'm posting this so that you (the moderator) have some context to consider twitter and not mod him up whenever he posts his filler preformatted rants about installing Knoppix or Mepis or whatever that unfortunately get him karma every single time and allow him to continue posting his trademark toxic crap (read on) day in and day out. You may consider this a troll - I consider it community service. And I ain't kidding.

If you're a /. subscriber, I invite you to look through some of his posting history. I guarantee that you'll be hard pressed to find someone that is more "out there" than twitter. You'll also probably notice he's got quite an AC following. Don't just read his posts, make sure you go through the replies.

To get an idea of what I'm talking about, check this post out. This is an article about email disclaimers. The parent of the post is complaining about the ads in the linked page and so on, and twitter actually goes off on a rant to blame it on Microsoft and recommend Lynx, because "is teh free".

Here's another. In this post twitter not only calls the OP a troll but attempts to "tell it like it is" while making some vague argument about "GNU". Yes, if you're confused, you're not alone. The reply (modded +4) proceeds to simply destroy his bogus argument. You will notice he did not reply. This is what some people call "drive-by advocacy". A sort of I'll just leave you with my thoughts here and move on to the next flamebait kind of deal. In fact, he almost never replies because he knows that his fanatical arguments simply do not hold up to any sort of discussion. It's not that he's chosen the wrong cause - he's just going at it in a completely wrong way.

Here's that drive-by advocacy and FUD in motion: twitter goes on about some topic and then drops the usual "oh and M$ is teh evil" because "WMP phones home" or some such. Called on his FUD, he then claims that WMP stores every song and movie you've ever played in a file, somewhere. Pressed further, he just sort of slithers out of sight, his FUD-spreading complete. This is not about some Microsoft technology that nobody likes anyway; it's about lying for the sake of lying. Way too many of his posts are exactly like this one.

More? Just read though this post and the subsequent replies. I guess this stands on its own. Or these two. Or this one. Or this one.

Still not convinced? This is what twitter considers "humour" while going about his daily "M$" routine.

M

Sony download site insecure!

[Anonymous Coward]

The site want's to run ActiveX or it refuses a connection. Why's that, Sony? Could it be you'd like to do drive by installs of other malicious crap. Perhaps you'd like to know how many SonyBMG Mp3's I have on my hard drive, my IP address & ISP etc.

Re:GNAA

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh jesus fucking christ! Fucking troll! Fucking, jeez! Nobody finds this fucking funning. Take your god damned racist GNAA and get off the fucking internet. God Damnit!