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UnBox Calls Home, A Lot
SachiCALaw writes "It turns out that to use UnBox, the user has to download software from Amazon that contains a Windows service (ADVWindowsClientService.exe). Tom Merritt over at C|Net reports that the service tries to connect to the internet quite frequently. Even tweaking msconfig could not prevent it." From the article: "So, in summary, to be allowed the privilege of purchasing a video that I can't burn to DVD and can't watch on my iPod, I have to allow a program to hijack my start-up and force me to login to uninstall it? No way. Sorry, Amazon. I love a lot of what you do, but I will absolutely not recommend this service. Try again."
please correct me if I'm wrong but other then the intial authrorization, I think the only phone home that itunes does is to plug things for the mini-store advertisments at the bottom of the page. ANd you can turn that off. I don't think it runs services that phone hope besides the application itself. Perhaps on windows it's different than on macs?
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
This raises an interesting question: now that Amazon is in the business of competing with physical DVD purchases, will Amazon prices for DVDs rise until it's cheaper to buy via UnBox?
Amazon is clearly catering to a single party -- motion picture copyright holders.
I've outlined my opinions here (warning: web site plug).
But it's pretty simple. Costs too much, doesn't provide value, intentionally confuses customers, and doesn't support the right hardware.
If this software has blatant spyware in it, I wouldn't be surprised a bit.
See, that's not the way it works. There's no competition here; UnBox is for buying everything you want to watch on your Computer Machine. You're going to have to buy yourself the DVD to watch it on the TV machine. And to watch it on the iPod Gadget, you're going to have to buy it again. And circumventing any of these purchases is a crime.
My little site.
FWIW, I'd rip a DVD right in front of an MPAA rep. When he threatens to sue, I'd point at the interoperability clause in the DMCA, and point at the fair use clause in Copyright Law, as well as DVD advertisements which state that I OWN the DVD, along with various court precedents pertaining to the first sale doctrine. Providing I am not violating Copyright Law by distributing the content in violation of it, there isn't much they can do. There's not much they can do if I rip all of my DVDs to xvid to keep readily available on my HDD, and nothing they can do about my copying them to my PocketPC for mobile viewing.
Why fear the MPAA when merely exercising your rights?
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Let me be more clear: Using the correct registry entries, you can make any application run when your particular device is connected, regardless of whether or not it is a "mass storage device". I know this, because I have done this for devices my company makes. It's not a "workaround". It's the Windows mechanism for detecting and dealing with devices. Sitting in memory all the time to do the same thing is the hackish workaround.
The issue isn't that a particular program takes "just a little" memory. It's that every goddamn application vendor takes "just a little memory" and "only one tray icon", etc, etc. It's a tragedy of the commons scenario that files up everyone's machine. Still, if you at least give the user control, that's not so bad. When, like unbox, you don't allow the user to say "no, I don't want you to run every time I boot", it sucks.
The cake is a pie