Right, but your situation is more like having a governor in the engine that prohibits your car from speeding. DEC doesn't monitor your machine and fine you if you attempt to install a *NIX OS, it just istn't physically posible.
Customer Service Rep: "That $160 charge is for your unauthorized installation of Mandrake on your new system. That system is only licensed for Windows, RedHat, and FreeBSD. If you would like to extend your hardware license to include additional OSs, I can transfer you to our sales department."
With the current state of the entertainment industry in the United States (suing anyone/anything that even appears to threaten their stranglehold on the masses) the only thing this is likely to produce is a 25% increase in US DVD prices to a level comparable to that in the EU. The MPAA and thier kind would never lower prices to achieve equity, so this would be the only path that would seem even remotely viable. And if the government gets involved, who knows what the outcome would be.
According to the article, TiVo (the company) executed a forced/push upgrade on TiVo (the unit) during a nightly download of user information which disabled useful features that were previously available on a nonsubscription consumer electronics device. This isn't installing a buggy Service Pack XX (R) and complaining. This is a spam listserv without an opt-in/opt-out feature.
The big deal (from the network perspective at least) is that you won't be one of the x millions of people who tune into the season finale when they air it, thus hurting their advertising sales. The more people they can say watch them, the more money they can make from companies dieing to sell you the George Foreman Grill or a new car or whatever. I don't care, but I suppose it could make for an interesting round of lawsuits and new 'anti-piracy' tech.
Definitely. There was one student in the class ahead of me that went one step lower. He simply printed his term paper directly from his web browser, URL and all, not even bothering to cut-and-paste the text into Notepad or Word. Suffice it to say that he recieved prompt punishment for his little oversight.
If you think about it, the locks you have on your house, car, gym locker, bike, etc. really aren't that difficult to defeat/circumvent, but they do keep your property relatively secure because most of the Joe Schmoe-types walking by don't know how or don't want to expend the effort to deal with them.
This will work the same way. Sure, most Slashdot readers may be capable of circumventing the tech, but it will keep Joe User from appropriating content simply because he/she doesn't know how or doesn't care to expend the effort to find out how.
That's easy. They will get a bribed judge to mandate that all showerhead manufacturers build surveillence microphones and GPS units into each of their showerheads. When installed, these will enable the RIAA to monitor all sound emissions created in your shower, and locate your position for purposes of prosecution should you dare to hum the tune of the newest Brittney Spears song while cleansing yourself.
Note: The following is completely unsubstantiated.
Anytown, AS -- In response to a lawsuit from relatives of victims of the Columbine school shooting, game retailers are now requiring a notarized copy of customers' latest psychological evaluations before allowing the purchase of games considered violent in nature. Among the affected titles are all releases by id Software, the popular Deer Hunter hunting simulation and Lego Racers. In related news, all water pistols and cap guns have been pulled from the shelves of 26 local grocery and convenience stores.
Well, as long as they are all using new OSs, that'd work. I remember back in Win95/98 you could CTRL+ALT+DEL and forcequit the screensaver. Didn't matter if it were password protected or not, didn't make any difference. Spit you right back into the desktop. It was great for actually being able to check out the new machines at BestBuy/Circuit City/etc., since they always left them running a passworded screensaver.
Not kill necessarily, just make very weak. If you can't use it (or at least not use it with decent quality) most Windows users (and like-it-or-not that means most PC users) will look for something of better perceived quality. It doesn't mean the absolute end of the technology... there are still people using OS/2.... it just means that it will most likely be relegated to use by technofiles, people who either use alternative OS's or who continue to use the "old" versions of Windows. Lack of market acceptance, whether because of poor quality or a lack of support signifies, almost with exception, the death of the unaccepted. It may take a few years, but there isn't much hope if the "gods" have reached their decision.
Is this at implemented like BIOS on the hardware implementation? Can you remove the battery to reset all parental blocks and password? If so, I can't see that it would be too effective for anyone with kids over the age of 8.
I bow to your superior LANing abilities. We are, however, attempting to draw those other than nerds (especially those of the female variety;)) to our blood-fests, and hopefully continue to bolster our numbers.
Sorry to have to break it to you, but Mac does support mice with multiple buttons, you just have to buy them for a third party company like Kensington or Logitech. Besides, who really uses the stock $3 mouse that comes with their PC? I always go and buy a replacement almost as soon as the computer is on my desk, because the cheapie stock mice are so damn uncomfortable.
Pretty good syopsis of a typical LAN party, but you forgot one thing.....the inevitable power outage/tripped breaker. I haven't been to a LAN party yet where the last box to be connected took down at least half of the machines due to overloading a breaker (residential wiring never uses breakers that permit quite high enough load) or the power company deciding to pick the hosting community for a rolling blackout at 2 am.
P.S. We had 70+ players at our last LAN party, top that....:P
I'm assuming that since it is your in-laws, they probably have a Windows box, so how is censorware going to help exactly? I would guess that a lot of teens would be able to circumvent or remove the software with relative ease. And if not, there is always Anonymizer.com and Rewebber, or modifying the logfile after surfing. Do her parents even know that half of that stuff is possible?
If someone wants to access something, there really aren't too many ways to stop them. When I was in HS, the sysadmin had to basically turn the school's lab into a bunch of vegetables that weren't even capable of running Word reliably before I gave up from lack of interest. I'm not sure what the real value of these things are. Not a lot can stop a determined teen.
I personally believe that counseling and actually discussing things with your kids is a much more effective and natural way to deal with things. Don't blame the Internet when you fail to do your job as parents.
What you describe would indeed be considered a criminal act, however it still amuses me that thousands of businesses pay security consultants through the nose for that same service when they could just wait for a burglar to break in and leave them a note detailing how they did it for free.
God bless our current model of capitalism (or is it consumerism?) which allows people to either make tons of money or be sent to jail for a number of years for commiting exactly the same act.
Have you forgotten? They are going to add network cards to everything and make your VCR yet another web appliance with more useless functions....so your VCR clock will set itself and be able to surf the web. Oops, wait a minute that was TiVo and WebTV, now wasn't it? Well, maybe they won't....I still can't wait until Slashdot posts the hack to turn my VCR into a Counter-Strike server, though.
If it is a cut and paste job, they really should fire whoever did the editing. I am an engineering student who likes to dabble (and a bit more) in graphics, and I don't know of any serious graphic artists that would let that stuff remain in the shot. Most would do pixel-level editing to remove all of the artifacts before continuing with the edit.
....the RIAA just wanted to get in on the action in a controlling role. They don't want to be a partner, they want control, and Napster didn't give it to them, so they had it shut down so they could start their own service. Now they have control over when they start charging, and how much. Cute, isn't it? -----
I believe this occurs for the same, completely non-understandable reason that Survivor had such huge ratings. It has much less to do with the quality of gameplay as with the natural obsession of humanity to play god and in general be a bunch of closet voyeurs. As it is socially unacceptable (and in many cases illegal) to be a voyeur, this is the next best thing for those unwilling to labeled a 'sicko-perv' by society.
Only thing is, in solving the problem, they also make credit card generators viable again. I mean, you can get registration code generators for at least half of the commercial software ever released. I can't see this being much different.
Slashdot Mirror
Right, but your situation is more like having a governor in the engine that prohibits your car from speeding. DEC doesn't monitor your machine and fine you if you attempt to install a *NIX OS, it just istn't physically posible.
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everytime you installed non-approved software.
Customer Service Rep: "That $160 charge is for your unauthorized installation of Mandrake on your new system. That system is only licensed for Windows, RedHat, and FreeBSD. If you would like to extend your hardware license to include additional OSs, I can transfer you to our sales department."
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I know I've seen Eric Idle in at least a couple of the Chevy Chase Vacation movies. Has he moved more into directing now?
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With the current state of the entertainment industry in the United States (suing anyone/anything that even appears to threaten their stranglehold on the masses) the only thing this is likely to produce is a 25% increase in US DVD prices to a level comparable to that in the EU. The MPAA and thier kind would never lower prices to achieve equity, so this would be the only path that would seem even remotely viable. And if the government gets involved, who knows what the outcome would be.
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Read the story before you post.
According to the article, TiVo (the company) executed a forced/push upgrade on TiVo (the unit) during a nightly download of user information which disabled useful features that were previously available on a nonsubscription consumer electronics device. This isn't installing a buggy Service Pack XX (R) and complaining. This is a spam listserv without an opt-in/opt-out feature.
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The big deal (from the network perspective at least) is that you won't be one of the x millions of people who tune into the season finale when they air it, thus hurting their advertising sales. The more people they can say watch them, the more money they can make from companies dieing to sell you the George Foreman Grill or a new car or whatever. I don't care, but I suppose it could make for an interesting round of lawsuits and new 'anti-piracy' tech.
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Definitely. There was one student in the class ahead of me that went one step lower. He simply printed his term paper directly from his web browser, URL and all, not even bothering to cut-and-paste the text into Notepad or Word. Suffice it to say that he recieved prompt punishment for his little oversight.
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If you think about it, the locks you have on your house, car, gym locker, bike, etc. really aren't that difficult to defeat/circumvent, but they do keep your property relatively secure because most of the Joe Schmoe-types walking by don't know how or don't want to expend the effort to deal with them.
This will work the same way. Sure, most Slashdot readers may be capable of circumventing the tech, but it will keep Joe User from appropriating content simply because he/she doesn't know how or doesn't care to expend the effort to find out how.
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That's easy. They will get a bribed judge to mandate that all showerhead manufacturers build surveillence microphones and GPS units into each of their showerheads. When installed, these will enable the RIAA to monitor all sound emissions created in your shower, and locate your position for purposes of prosecution should you dare to hum the tune of the newest Brittney Spears song while cleansing yourself.
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Well, as long as they are all using new OSs, that'd work. I remember back in Win95/98 you could CTRL+ALT+DEL and forcequit the screensaver. Didn't matter if it were password protected or not, didn't make any difference. Spit you right back into the desktop. It was great for actually being able to check out the new machines at BestBuy/Circuit City/etc., since they always left them running a passworded screensaver.
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Not kill necessarily, just make very weak. If you can't use it (or at least not use it with decent quality) most Windows users (and like-it-or-not that means most PC users) will look for something of better perceived quality. It doesn't mean the absolute end of the technology... there are still people using OS/2.... it just means that it will most likely be relegated to use by technofiles, people who either use alternative OS's or who continue to use the "old" versions of Windows. Lack of market acceptance, whether because of poor quality or a lack of support signifies, almost with exception, the death of the unaccepted. It may take a few years, but there isn't much hope if the "gods" have reached their decision.
A moment of silence for MP3, you were a friend.
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I know that cursor movement has been defined, but how exactly does one click under this system? Do you just blink really fast or what?
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Is this at implemented like BIOS on the hardware implementation? Can you remove the battery to reset all parental blocks and password? If so, I can't see that it would be too effective for anyone with kids over the age of 8.
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I bow to your superior LANing abilities. We are, however, attempting to draw those other than nerds (especially those of the female variety ;)) to our blood-fests, and hopefully continue to bolster our numbers.
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Sorry to have to break it to you, but Mac does support mice with multiple buttons, you just have to buy them for a third party company like Kensington or Logitech. Besides, who really uses the stock $3 mouse that comes with their PC? I always go and buy a replacement almost as soon as the computer is on my desk, because the cheapie stock mice are so damn uncomfortable.
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Pretty good syopsis of a typical LAN party, but you forgot one thing.....the inevitable power outage/tripped breaker. I haven't been to a LAN party yet where the last box to be connected took down at least half of the machines due to overloading a breaker (residential wiring never uses breakers that permit quite high enough load) or the power company deciding to pick the hosting community for a rolling blackout at 2 am.
:P
P.S. We had 70+ players at our last LAN party, top that....
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I'm assuming that since it is your in-laws, they probably have a Windows box, so how is censorware going to help exactly? I would guess that a lot of teens would be able to circumvent or remove the software with relative ease. And if not, there is always Anonymizer.com and Rewebber, or modifying the logfile after surfing. Do her parents even know that half of that stuff is possible?
If someone wants to access something, there really aren't too many ways to stop them. When I was in HS, the sysadmin had to basically turn the school's lab into a bunch of vegetables that weren't even capable of running Word reliably before I gave up from lack of interest. I'm not sure what the real value of these things are. Not a lot can stop a determined teen.
I personally believe that counseling and actually discussing things with your kids is a much more effective and natural way to deal with things. Don't blame the Internet when you fail to do your job as parents.
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What you describe would indeed be considered a criminal act, however it still amuses me that thousands of businesses pay security consultants through the nose for that same service when they could just wait for a burglar to break in and leave them a note detailing how they did it for free.
God bless our current model of capitalism (or is it consumerism?) which allows people to either make tons of money or be sent to jail for a number of years for commiting exactly the same act.
Have you forgotten? They are going to add network cards to everything and make your VCR yet another web appliance with more useless functions....so your VCR clock will set itself and be able to surf the web. Oops, wait a minute that was TiVo and WebTV, now wasn't it? Well, maybe they won't....I still can't wait until Slashdot posts the hack to turn my VCR into a Counter-Strike server, though.
If it is a cut and paste job, they really should fire whoever did the editing. I am an engineering student who likes to dabble (and a bit more) in graphics, and I don't know of any serious graphic artists that would let that stuff remain in the shot. Most would do pixel-level editing to remove all of the artifacts before continuing with the edit.
....the RIAA just wanted to get in on the action in a controlling role. They don't want to be a partner, they want control, and Napster didn't give it to them, so they had it shut down so they could start their own service. Now they have control over when they start charging, and how much. Cute, isn't it?
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I believe this occurs for the same, completely non-understandable reason that Survivor had such huge ratings. It has much less to do with the quality of gameplay as with the natural obsession of humanity to play god and in general be a bunch of closet voyeurs. As it is socially unacceptable (and in many cases illegal) to be a voyeur, this is the next best thing for those unwilling to labeled a 'sicko-perv' by society.
Sad but true.
Only thing is, in solving the problem, they also make credit card generators viable again. I mean, you can get registration code generators for at least half of the commercial software ever released. I can't see this being much different.
I'm sorry, but doesn't the "plastic drive platter" comment sound rather like a CDRom drive (which I'm sure every one of us already has?