The Red Book standard does include a "copy allow" bit, which is set or cleared for individual tracks. On virtually all CDs, it is off, ostensibly forbidding copying.
In theory, future technologies would have looked at the bit and refused to copy tracks, disabled perfect digital output or what have you. (The flag may in fact affect the SCMS code sent to DAT recorders, which nobody actually uses for copying CDs to.) However, they did not count on CD-ROM drives capable of sucking the ones and zeroes off a CD directly, and as such, the "copy allow" bit is a fossil.
Often hacking is not required. I picked up an Apex AD-660 (sold under the marque Hiteker in Australia) a while ago. The box bore a Region 4 logo, as required by law. However, the player itself happily played Region 1 discs as well as Region 4 ones, with no modifications required.
Some software (i.e., some Mac audio apps) uses "disk authorisation" as copy protection; i.e., it won't run unless a signed disk is attached. Which makes moving between your desktop and laptop a hassle. Format one of these, authorise it and you can take it between the two machines, using it as a universal dongle of sorts.
If CDs were copy protected, would most people rip them by attaching their CD players to sound cards? Probably not. And not because of the quality, but because of the effort required. Consider this:
Ripping a CD to MP3s involves: (a) fetching track names automatically from freedb, (b) reading the audio off the CD (much faster than playing it) into separate files and (c) making MP3/ogg files.
Ripping a recording from line in involves (a) recording the whole damned thing at real time, (b) cutting it into separate tracks (no track info, remember), (c) hand-naming the files and making playlists. Takes a lot longer and requires more effort. I've done it once for a live recording from a MiniDisc, and it's not something I'd want to do for every CD I wish to listen to on my computer.
Of course, the payoff for going to this Herculean effort would be the kudos you get from all the mp3 l33ch3z when you upload it for the taking. So, in effect, copy-protected CDs would punish honest home-rippers and encourage file-sharing mp3 d00dz.
Sure, they can't jail everybody illegally modifying their TrustedPC to run Linux; but they can prosecute the people making available the details on how to do so, or linking to such information overseas (as was the case with DeCSS). Can you get DeCSS for Linux? Yes. Can you get it in a CD distribution in a form suitable for people who aren't hardcore underground hackers? No.
With the SSSCA and the dropping of the Microsoft case, the US Government may be moving in a direction of sanctioning a Microsoft monopoly on the core part of the operating system, in order to mandate access controls as demanded by the content industry. Which means that Linux is dead as a mainstream OS unless (a) the kernel is relicensed in a way that allows "blessed" binaries with strong access controls to be distributed without source, (b) the kernel is replaced with something like SCO's closed-source kernel, or (c) the SSSCA is stopped in its tracks.
If the legislation passes, it may not eliminate all MP3 swapping, but it will (a) legally mandate copy-control mechanisms in all PCs (such as CPRM and the Intel/Compaq/Microsoft "Trusted PC" standard), and (b) exempt the manufacturers of security standards from antitrust laws, essentially establishing a government-guaranteed Microsoft monopoly on operating systems for the good of the content industry. So the next PC you buy will not run Linux, or if it does, it will only work in a crippled mode, unable to do many of the things it can do under Windows.
This bill needs to be stopped. And you know
what to do.
If they'd really want to catch people for using patent-infringing clones of SMB, they could. For example, groups like BSAA run audits of companies to check for unlicensed software; they could extend this to checking for software that violates intellectual property laws in other ways, such as unlicensed implementations of patented technologies. All they'd have to do is add SAMBA to a list of infringing products to check for.
...and none seems to be coming. Given Ogg's stand against DRM, manufacturers may be fearful that if they support this format, they may open themselves up to lawsuits for contributory copyright infringement. MP3 is grandfathered, predating DRM, but to introduce a new, information-wants-to-be-free format now would be waving a red flag at the RIAA.
AOL/TW own vast content holdings, which are at risk from file sharing. Now it's MP3s, but as broadband spreads, DivX files of movies will become a massive problem. It would be in AOLTW's interest if the anarchic design of the Internet was replaced by one which enforces accountability and traceability. And if the content industry push it hard enough, we may see laws mandating traceability in TCP/IP, preceded by a campaign in the AOLTW/Murdoch/Vivendi/Bertelsmann media about how child pornographers are using the Net with impunity and nobody can stop them.
(a) The content industry will get right behind it, if it makes file transfers traceable and allows file sharers to be brought to "justice". That's AOL Time Warner and Sony on the bandwagon.
(b) It is likely that if a universal authentication solution appears, it would be eventually made a government-sanctioned standard, much as they're attempting to do with secure media formats, the government being beholden to the content industry and all that.
Microsoft and the British government are good buddies. The UK government's web sites all run on MS systems, and only work with MS browsers under Windows. The minister in charge of them also issued an edict to eliminate non-MS systems (such as Linux) from government computers, and warned public servants that mentioning the "L-word" could endanger their careers.
Britain is becoming, at least on paper, an all-MS shop.
Rumour has it that the British government is looking at getting a national Windows/Office site licence for all UK citizens, to be paid for by a computer license fee (similar to the BBC television license fee). The reasoning is that everybody with a computer needs Windows (which they do for connecting to the government's MS-only websites).
Given that the proposal is from the WEF, which is involved in the slave-labour "export processing zones" used to manufacture goods cheaply, chances are these doovy new Linux PlayStations are more likely to be used to set up data-entry maquiladoras where 12-year-olds will be chained to their desks for 18 hours a day and paid $1 per day than they are to be used to actually empower the people there.
We can probably expect MS to continue writing their EULAs to lock out GPLed and other open-source software. If MS could make it so that managers have to choose between (a) banning all GPLed software from their enterprise or (b) forfeiting the right to use Microsoft software (and access MS file formats and MS services), most would choose (a). This may result in GPLed software being contained in a GNU ghetto, well out of anywhere MS wants to be.
Would VideoLAN be able to do subtitles on a machine without hardware overlaying? I've been unable to get subtitles working with Xine on my Riva TNT2 card; apparently Xine's subtitle feature requires hardware overlaying, which is only supported by drivers for a few high-end cards.
This is legal in Europe, but not for long. The EU recently passed a multinational-sponsored Directive on Copyright, which is even more draconian than the DMCA. This requires EU member states to criminalise circumvention devices, giving them no leeway; member states are expected to ratify this (and it's extremely unlikely that the usual protests from local academics and napatistas will persuade any nation to buck the EU). Once it's passed, this will disappear, or move to one of the rapidly dwindling number of nations without a DMCA-analogue law.
Under the DMCA, access control doesn't have to be robust encryption; as long as it's a means of making something less readable. If you XOR your new movie with 0xff, you can sue people for illegally decrypting it.
As such, if TiVo deliberately did not reveal the details of the proprietary file system format, which is used for storing (and thereby controlling access to) copyrighted materials, they could be within their rights to sue under the DMCA anybody reverse-engineering it.
CD writers and untrusted burning software
on
Napster Going Legit
·
· Score: 2
Assuming, that is, that new CD writers work with unauthorised burning software, and/or don't contain watermark detection code in their firmware which requires a challenge/response to bypass, or just kills the burn outright.
Remember when, on December 31, 1999, RPC-1 (multi-region) DVD-ROM drives were phased out of manufacturing, and old drives became an expensive black-market item? The same thing could happen to burners.
I've seen some really annoying flash adverts. You don't want flash...
Especially if you're using the brain-damaged Linux Flash plug-in. It has the nice feature that, when it starts, it grabs the audio device. If it can't get it, it blocks on it, wedging Nyetscape solid until it gets its way.
Having to stop your MP3 player because some site has a Flash ad on it is not the sign of a well-designed system.
You could always buy a copy of VMware, and use it to run Windows 98 or so under Linux, for running MS Internet Exploiter. That's what I do when I need anything Nyetscape/Mozilla can't do.
Sad to say, that's probably your best bet for getting a decent browser under Linux.
Wouldn't Jennifer Lopez have been so much better
in Moulin Rouge? She would have brought some sassy, hip-hop attitude to the role, and infused it with more contemporary urban street cred, complementing the MTV-esque visual style.
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The Red Book standard does include a "copy allow" bit, which is set or cleared for individual tracks. On virtually all CDs, it is off, ostensibly forbidding copying.
In theory, future technologies would have looked at the bit and refused to copy tracks, disabled perfect digital output or what have you. (The flag may in fact affect the SCMS code sent to DAT recorders, which nobody actually uses for copying CDs to.) However, they did not count on CD-ROM drives capable of sucking the ones and zeroes off a CD directly, and as such, the "copy allow" bit is a fossil.
Often hacking is not required. I picked up an Apex AD-660 (sold under the marque Hiteker in Australia) a while ago. The box bore a Region 4 logo, as required by law. However, the player itself happily played Region 1 discs as well as Region 4 ones, with no modifications required.
Do you suppose that Bernard Shifman is related to John "Doctor of Law" Grubor?
Some software (i.e., some Mac audio apps) uses "disk authorisation" as copy protection; i.e., it won't run unless a signed disk is attached. Which makes moving between your desktop and laptop a hassle. Format one of these, authorise it and you can take it between the two machines, using it as a universal dongle of sorts.
If Universal wins, the rules are rolled back and sites like MP3.com can go back to business without interference from the big boys.
Except that MP3.com is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal.
If CDs were copy protected, would most people rip them by attaching their CD players to sound cards? Probably not. And not because of the quality, but because of the effort required. Consider this:
Ripping a CD to MP3s involves: (a) fetching track names automatically from freedb, (b) reading the audio off the CD (much faster than playing it) into separate files and (c) making MP3/ogg files.
Ripping a recording from line in involves (a) recording the whole damned thing at real time, (b) cutting it into separate tracks (no track info, remember), (c) hand-naming the files and making playlists. Takes a lot longer and requires more effort. I've done it once for a live recording from a MiniDisc, and it's not something I'd want to do for every CD I wish to listen to on my computer.
Of course, the payoff for going to this Herculean effort would be the kudos you get from all the mp3 l33ch3z when you upload it for the taking. So, in effect, copy-protected CDs would punish honest home-rippers and encourage file-sharing mp3 d00dz.
Sure, they can't jail everybody illegally modifying their TrustedPC to run Linux; but they can prosecute the people making available the details on how to do so, or linking to such information overseas (as was the case with DeCSS). Can you get DeCSS for Linux? Yes. Can you get it in a CD distribution in a form suitable for people who aren't hardcore underground hackers? No.
With the SSSCA and the dropping of the Microsoft case, the US Government may be moving in a direction of sanctioning a Microsoft monopoly on the core part of the operating system, in order to mandate access controls as demanded by the content industry. Which means that Linux is dead as a mainstream OS unless (a) the kernel is relicensed in a way that allows "blessed" binaries with strong access controls to be distributed without source, (b) the kernel is replaced with something like SCO's closed-source kernel, or (c) the SSSCA is stopped in its tracks.
If the legislation passes, it may not eliminate all MP3 swapping, but it will (a) legally mandate copy-control mechanisms in all PCs (such as CPRM and the Intel/Compaq/Microsoft "Trusted PC" standard), and (b) exempt the manufacturers of security standards from antitrust laws, essentially establishing a government-guaranteed Microsoft monopoly on operating systems for the good of the content industry. So the next PC you buy will not run Linux, or if it does, it will only work in a crippled mode, unable to do many of the things it can do under Windows.
This bill needs to be stopped. And you know
what to do.
Hmmm... the Melbourne General Post Office was gutted by fire at around the same time as the Billennium. Do you suppose...?
If they'd really want to catch people for using patent-infringing clones of SMB, they could. For example, groups like BSAA run audits of companies to check for unlicensed software; they could extend this to checking for software that violates intellectual property laws in other ways, such as unlicensed implementations of patented technologies. All they'd have to do is add SAMBA to a list of infringing products to check for.
...and none seems to be coming. Given Ogg's stand against DRM, manufacturers may be fearful that if they support this format, they may open themselves up to lawsuits for contributory copyright infringement. MP3 is grandfathered, predating DRM, but to introduce a new, information-wants-to-be-free format now would be waving a red flag at the RIAA.
AOL/TW own vast content holdings, which are at risk from file sharing. Now it's MP3s, but as broadband spreads, DivX files of movies will become a massive problem. It would be in AOLTW's interest if the anarchic design of the Internet was replaced by one which enforces accountability and traceability. And if the content industry push it hard enough, we may see laws mandating traceability in TCP/IP, preceded by a campaign in the AOLTW/Murdoch/Vivendi/Bertelsmann media about how child pornographers are using the Net with impunity and nobody can stop them.
(a) The content industry will get right behind it, if it makes file transfers traceable and allows file sharers to be brought to "justice". That's AOL Time Warner and Sony on the bandwagon.
(b) It is likely that if a universal authentication solution appears, it would be eventually made a government-sanctioned standard, much as they're attempting to do with secure media formats, the government being beholden to the content industry and all that.
Wonder how soon the bounty hunters will be vivisecting MP3 d00dz they catch into living trophies for the artists and corporations they rip off.
Microsoft and the British government are good buddies. The UK government's web sites all run on MS systems, and only work with MS browsers under Windows. The minister in charge of them also issued an edict to eliminate non-MS systems (such as Linux) from government computers, and warned public servants that mentioning the "L-word" could endanger their careers.
Britain is becoming, at least on paper, an all-MS shop.
Rumour has it that the British government is looking at getting a national Windows/Office site licence for all UK citizens, to be paid for by a computer license fee (similar to the BBC television license fee). The reasoning is that everybody with a computer needs Windows (which they do for connecting to the government's MS-only websites).
Given that the proposal is from the WEF, which is involved in the slave-labour "export processing zones" used to manufacture goods cheaply, chances are these doovy new Linux PlayStations are more likely to be used to set up data-entry maquiladoras where 12-year-olds will be chained to their desks for 18 hours a day and paid $1 per day than they are to be used to actually empower the people there.
Or am I just paranoid?
We can probably expect MS to continue writing their EULAs to lock out GPLed and other open-source software. If MS could make it so that managers have to choose between (a) banning all GPLed software from their enterprise or (b) forfeiting the right to use Microsoft software (and access MS file formats and MS services), most would choose (a). This may result in GPLed software being contained in a GNU ghetto, well out of anywhere MS wants to be.
Would VideoLAN be able to do subtitles on a machine without hardware overlaying? I've been unable to get subtitles working with Xine on my Riva TNT2 card; apparently Xine's subtitle feature requires hardware overlaying, which is only supported by drivers for a few high-end cards.
This is legal in Europe, but not for long. The EU recently passed a multinational-sponsored Directive on Copyright, which is even more draconian than the DMCA. This requires EU member states to criminalise circumvention devices, giving them no leeway; member states are expected to ratify this (and it's extremely unlikely that the usual protests from local academics and napatistas will persuade any nation to buck the EU). Once it's passed, this will disappear, or move to one of the rapidly dwindling number of nations without a DMCA-analogue law.
Under the DMCA, access control doesn't have to be robust encryption; as long as it's a means of making something less readable. If you XOR your new movie with 0xff, you can sue people for illegally decrypting it.
As such, if TiVo deliberately did not reveal the details of the proprietary file system format, which is used for storing (and thereby controlling access to) copyrighted materials, they could be within their rights to sue under the DMCA anybody reverse-engineering it.
Assuming, that is, that new CD writers work with unauthorised burning software, and/or don't contain watermark detection code in their firmware which requires a challenge/response to bypass, or just kills the burn outright.
Remember when, on December 31, 1999, RPC-1 (multi-region) DVD-ROM drives were phased out of manufacturing, and old drives became an expensive black-market item? The same thing could happen to burners.
I've seen some really annoying flash adverts. You don't want flash...
Especially if you're using the brain-damaged Linux Flash plug-in. It has the nice feature that, when it starts, it grabs the audio device. If it can't get it, it blocks on it, wedging Nyetscape solid until it gets its way.
Having to stop your MP3 player because some site has a Flash ad on it is not the sign of a well-designed system.
You could always buy a copy of VMware, and use it to run Windows 98 or so under Linux, for running MS Internet Exploiter. That's what I do when I need anything Nyetscape/Mozilla can't do.
Sad to say, that's probably your best bet for getting a decent browser under Linux.
Wouldn't Jennifer Lopez have been so much better
in Moulin Rouge? She would have brought some sassy, hip-hop attitude to the role, and infused it with more contemporary urban street cred, complementing the MTV-esque visual style.