To find the manual for that damn encrypto-thingy his friend installed to protect him from the RIAA. He's at work looking for how to bypass it, since he lost his key.
It seems a lot of us/.ers are worried about the privacy issues, but I'm betting a lot of you would agree that these kids need some kind of real supervision. A lot of them certainly aren't getting it at home. I went to a private high school where we were constantly watched. I couldn't even figure out how to skip a class until my senior year. I, for one, think that the constant monitoring that was done there did me good and kept me in school. Most of the kids that I went to public grade school with that attended public high schools did drop out and a good number are incarcerated or are dead (I grew up in a rough neighborhood and went to public school for 1st thru 6th grade and private school thereafter). Oddly, I now count myself lucky for the "harassment". The monitoring was more invasive in that "dean breathing down your neck" manner in my case which makes the databnase seem reasonable and even somewhat wimpy to complain about.
I'm not trying to troll, but merely offer a different perspective. Any other private school kids out there feel the same way?
Yeah, I just found the manual at ftp://ftp.abit.com.tw/pub/download/fae/secureide_e ng_v100.pdf. I wish they would put all of the information in one spot so mistakes like that aren't made. They just about lost my interest by being badly organized and i'm a geek. imagine how Joe Sixpack feels trying to figure this out. Thanks!
When booting up your system, go to DOS and implement the FDISK instruction. This instruction will make a partition to format the Hard Disk to accept the secure IDE key.
It would seem to me that if they weren't limiting you to choice of OS, they would have said "format your drive as normal after preparation" or something similar. I am reading between the lines, but it seems kind of obvious to me.
They are probably using the File Allocation Table itself (the FAT in FAT) to store some encryption data or authentication info. That would also tie them to a particular implementation of FAT most likely. Any hardware specialists in the house to speculate?
I'm betting that it uses a proprietary USB interface to hand the encryption data to the daughtercard in the diagram. It may just pass the data straight to the BIOS though.
As to FDISK, I can't even remember the last time I used a DOS partition for Linux. I would be loathe to go back to that filesystem and would consider it too much of a downgrade to justify the added security - especially if they rely on Microsoft's FAT16 implementation. FAT32 would be a little better, but still not compare to any decent journaling filesystem. Being stuck with FAT may also mean that you can't create a real Swap Partition or that it would be un-encrypted.
without a special key, your hard disk cannot be opened by anyone.
They forgot to mention that you will also need a special motherboard to access your data, conveniently enough made by them. From this page, it seems like the key is just a USB drive. They claim that "A password can be cracked by software in a few hours", but a hardware dongle containing software can be spoofed, copied or cracked at leasure if stolen. If you lose the key, you're pretty much screwed if you don't have the hardware or patience to hack your way back in. Conversley, if they make it easy for you to back up your key, they have also made it easy for other people to do so as well. They mention using FDISK from a DOS prompt to set your drive up, so existing installs and non-windows machines need not apply. They also don't mention if you are stuck with only one choice of filesystem to use their features.
Nothing is ever completely secure, but I could see where this would help some. Genuinely a cool idea, but I'll wait a couple of years to see if it matures some first.
I can see it now: I make a jingle and Microsoft steals it, using it as the opening sound to their new Windows OS. Billy says "My bad, here's $150."
This portion of your argument is flawed. Downloaders are not doing it for direct financial/promotional gain. You may, in turn, argue that the $15 they save off the CD is some financial gain, but most of them only want a track or two, so reduce that to about $5 to $10 at most. Microsoft could make Billion$$$$ from using your music in a commercial or as a "feature" (sparkly sounds are features). M$ would also be tying themselves to the music permenantly in the minds of others, which is another type of litigation. Definitely not the same situation and useless for comparison.
Just in case everyone is wondering artists like Moby make millions on licensing deals for commercials and movies. If they used something like a copyleft license (personal use/downloading for free and commercial uses being charged) I don't think we'd see much change in how much an artist can earn long term. Check out this copy of a NYTimes article for more.
The term for it is "Fasionable Rebellion" and it ALWAYS sells, but never solves anything or truly educates.
I know there are some serious Rage fans out there, but if they were really as conscious as they purport to be, they wouldn't work for a major corporation. This one bit of blatant hypocracy makes me discount them outright. Fight the Man! (but make sure he signs your paycheck first and knows you don't really mean it).
If he's got a derringer, then he's really screwed. If he's got an AK-47, then I bet nobody is going to rush him at all. Which brings up a good point, how many shots are in the RIAA clip?
no, i just keep up with the flow of traffic! everyone else is doing it, why shouldnt i?
You're stealing time! You can call it "saving time" or "being in a hury", but you are outright stealing! How are the county clerks and local legal system going to get fed? Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't make it moral!
Sorry, someone had to give a mock anti-filesharer response.
The "Om Networks" in the artticle should read "Om Technologies" (known as Omsoft) like the rest of the world has it. Since I'm one of their customers, this case made my day:)
Linkline Communications, Inreach Internet, Om Networks and Red Shift Internet Services are seeking $40 million in damages
Speakeasy is a good provider because they offer a reasonable terms of service without charging "Business Class" prices.
I happen to be a customer of one of the litigants, Om Networks (known to me as Omsoft - the article got the name wrong). Before Omsoft, I was an SBC customer. Like some Speakeasy customers, I went with Omsoft for the business class service at regular rates as well (I have web and e-mail on a static IP). Not only did they offer better customer service than SBC (they are local and I can even go to their offices if I had to) and a Static IP address, but they seem to know how to run a company. SBC made me feel like I was inconveniencing them by being their customer. Every time I had to call SBC (they screwed up the PBX a couple of times), they had this "We wish you wouldn't call us unless we told you to buy something" attitude. It seems SBC doesn't have to care because they will get some of my money whether I like it or not.
Omsoft service is a remarkable contrast to SBC and in my opinion worth every penny - even with the SBC price gouge. I got an error from their proxy server and sent an e-mail requesting removal from the proxy. Guess what? They did it and replied to me the same day. Link problems? I just give them a call and we troubleshoot it together - which brings up another point: They don't treat me like an idiot. Run your own server? Omsoft encourages it and sees it as a way for their customers to learn technology. It's like having a local "mom and pop" ISP again. I value Omsoft and would be pretty disturbed if SBC ran them out of business with price gouging tactics. I think I'll give my ISP a call tonight to congradulate and encourage them.
Can the people being sues band together in some kind of class action defense? I've never heard of such a thing, but I wonder if it could be legally possible. First of all, it would alleviate the cost of defending such a suit ageanst the deep pockets of the RIAA. Second, it sure would be an interesting precedent: "We are all acused of violating a law that we feel sucks and we are facing this togther to show our protest and/or change the law." Can the defendants even discuss their cases with each other? Is there a lawyer or constitutional professor in the house?
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To find the manual for that damn encrypto-thingy his friend installed to protect him from the RIAA. He's at work looking for how to bypass it, since he lost his key.
I'm not trying to troll, but merely offer a different perspective. Any other private school kids out there feel the same way?
Great minds think alike (and sometimes average ones do too). You really are an Evil Twin! Congrads :)
Thanks for the answer! I eventually found the manual (troll around these threads for a link) and that cleared thins up for me as well.
127.0.0.1 :)
Have at it
Yeah, I just found the manual at ftp://ftp.abit.com.tw/pub/download/fae/secureide_e ng_v100.pdf. I wish they would put all of the information in one spot so mistakes like that aren't made. They just about lost my interest by being badly organized and i'm a geek. imagine how Joe Sixpack feels trying to figure this out. Thanks!
Thanks for clearing that up for me. Bitten by the Common Acronym/Nomneclature monster! Doh!
They are probably using the File Allocation Table itself (the FAT in FAT) to store some encryption data or authentication info. That would also tie them to a particular implementation of FAT most likely. Any hardware specialists in the house to speculate?
proprietary SUB port
Err... I mean a USB port, not the place you would put the screen door on a submarine.
All my co-worker saw was "SUB port on some kind of daughter" and he just about died laughing. Dirty bastard.
As to FDISK, I can't even remember the last time I used a DOS partition for Linux. I would be loathe to go back to that filesystem and would consider it too much of a downgrade to justify the added security - especially if they rely on Microsoft's FAT16 implementation. FAT32 would be a little better, but still not compare to any decent journaling filesystem. Being stuck with FAT may also mean that you can't create a real Swap Partition or that it would be un-encrypted.
As I mentioned here, the key appears to be a USB memory stick put into a proprietary SUB port on some kind of daughter card. There's a diagram here.
Nothing is ever completely secure, but I could see where this would help some. Genuinely a cool idea, but I'll wait a couple of years to see if it matures some first.
I know there are some serious Rage fans out there, but if they were really as conscious as they purport to be, they wouldn't work for a major corporation. This one bit of blatant hypocracy makes me discount them outright. Fight the Man! (but make sure he signs your paycheck first and knows you don't really mean it).
If he's got a derringer, then he's really screwed. If he's got an AK-47, then I bet nobody is going to rush him at all. Which brings up a good point, how many shots are in the RIAA clip?
I've asked this before (here). Is there some way that the defendants can band together (pun intended) for some type of class action defense?
Sorry, someone had to give a mock anti-filesharer response.
I just found that out. The CEO of Omsoft replied to my congradulations e-mail and pointed it out to me. Such a cool ISP!
The "Om Networks" in the artticle should read "Om Technologies" (known as Omsoft) like the rest of the world has it. Since I'm one of their customers, this case made my day :)
Omsoft service is a remarkable contrast to SBC and in my opinion worth every penny - even with the SBC price gouge. I got an error from their proxy server and sent an e-mail requesting removal from the proxy. Guess what? They did it and replied to me the same day. Link problems? I just give them a call and we troubleshoot it together - which brings up another point: They don't treat me like an idiot. Run your own server? Omsoft encourages it and sees it as a way for their customers to learn technology. It's like having a local "mom and pop" ISP again. I value Omsoft and would be pretty disturbed if SBC ran them out of business with price gouging tactics. I think I'll give my ISP a call tonight to congradulate and encourage them.
Can the people being sues band together in some kind of class action defense? I've never heard of such a thing, but I wonder if it could be legally possible. First of all, it would alleviate the cost of defending such a suit ageanst the deep pockets of the RIAA. Second, it sure would be an interesting precedent: "We are all acused of violating a law that we feel sucks and we are facing this togther to show our protest and/or change the law." Can the defendants even discuss their cases with each other? Is there a lawyer or constitutional professor in the house?