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TI vs. Calculator Hackers

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the this-never-ends-well dept.

Nyall writes "So a bunch of TI calculator programming enthusiasts got together to factor the keys Texas Instruments uses to sign the operating system binaries for the ti83+ (a z80 architecture) and the ti89/v200 (a 68k architecture) series of calculators. Now Texas Instruments is sending out DMCA notices to take them down."

18 of 463 comments (clear)

  1. first post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    55378008

  2. Math by daveywest · · Score: 5, Funny

    Somehow, this just doesn't add up.

    1. Re:Math by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

      TI has a new calculator based on the original Pentium?

    2. Re:Math by Hatta · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah. I don't think TI factored this development into consideration when it released this product.

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      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    3. Re:Math by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 4, Funny

      Z80 is pre-x86 architecture, i.e. pre-pre-Pentium, and 68k is pre-Power PC architecture.

      So technically, this should have sarcasmed with "oshwho".

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    4. Re:Math by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 4, Funny

      every time anyone has said "woosh" it's been non-funny and every other time it was just as deserving of its own "woosh"

      whoosh

      --
      "But this one goes to 11!"
  3. subterfuge by davidwr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone in TI's legal dept. who knows what the Streisand Effect is wants these keys publicized.

    Well, we can hope that's the reason.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  4. DRM in a calculator? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm shocked to hear that TI is even bothering to sign things. What exactly could be in a calculator that you would want to protect from hackers or end users?

    "Oh no, a virus has replaced all my Fourier transforms with Laplace transforms!"

  5. Re:Wikileaks link by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Funny

    What will they do with people outside the US where the DMCA does not apply?

    Get the US government to invade them?

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  6. Re:Wikileaks link by TrentTheThief · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder if it's mirrored here: http://crystalwind.com/index.html

  7. No HP??? by volpe · · Score: 5, Funny

    hp is not supported at all

    I that they so shortsighted would be can't believe!

  8. Re:Wikileaks link by stephanruby · · Score: 5, Funny

    What will they do with people outside the US where the DMCA does not apply?

    Put them on a hacker terrorist watch list and disappear them the next time they partake in a terrorist training camp (e.g. a math conference).

  9. IANAL but TI is screwed now by OrangeTide · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sending out false DMCA notices opens up TI to some very serious penalties. And this point every member of the team can hire and lawyer and get TI to pay for it, plus be charged with some additional fines. The DMCA in this instance is not a gray area at all. There is no copyrighted being circumvented by this perfectly legal reverse engineering, and a kind of reverse engineering expressly allowed by the DMCA itself.

    I am guessing TI executives decided they didn't like something, and forced their lawyers to make a very bad legal decision. Using the DMCA to bully people works, but only if you don't trip over the DMCA itself as TI has done.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  10. Re:Woosh by Haxzaw · · Score: 2, Funny

    "As a MS/Phd engineering student..." There are several clues in that statement as to why he didn't get it.

  11. Re:Exactly. by klapaucjusz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hang on - it's 2009 and we're still arguing about calculators?

    Vi sucks.

  12. Re:Wikileaks link by Toonol · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wow, freenet DOES have a raison d'etre other than illegal porn!

    I'm kind of kidding, but posting of freenet links on slashdot ought to be standard procedure whenever something is DMCA'd.

  13. Re:Its the usual castle gate mentality by klapaucjusz · · Score: 2, Funny

    what is the answer?

    42.

  14. A long time ago... by okmijnuhb · · Score: 2, Funny

    a classmate showed me a computation on a scientific calculator in about 1983, which caused the calculator to go blank for about 15 seconds before outputting the answer which might have been an error message.
    Does anyone know or remember that one?