"well you get a replacement cd with the downloads also"
Not if one has an original CD with only Sunncomm DRM code on it - those folks just get to D/L an MP3 copy of it, and nothing else - not even removal of the DRM software installed and running on their machines.
(This is the DRM stuff that installed software even if one clicked Hell No! when asked if the software could be installed on Mac OS X machines...)
Sony is facing no penalties and is not being made to 'repair' PC
(or other 'puter's) their ill-thought out DRM may have damaged.
When I buy a CD I want not only the recorded music at the highest quality
available to me, but I want the artwork and other extras that come with that CD.
(This doesn't mean that I don't D/L music from eMusic, Magnatunes, and
iTunes, it just means that when I purchase a CD I do so for a specific
set of reasons.)
I have been to the Sony site and the Sunncomm site several times each, and have
attempted to get any sort of reasonable response from both Sony (no
responses at all) and Sunncomm (one seemingly automated response saying
they will contact me.
I don't need any fancy settlements and I DON'T want an MP3 - the quality of
an MP3 is NOT the same as the quality of a standard CD track.
Personally I would be satisfied with a replacement CD with no added
software on it, and removal software that would leave my machines'
installed software exactly as it was prior to Sony/Sunncomm (with the
possible exception of modified dates and such, of course).
I don't want some 'Sony Surprise' in the months or years down the road that
will cause problems with any use I may wish to make of my computers.
Below is my last e-mail to Sunncomm, and their only response to me:
From: _______@____-______.com
Subject: Unable to get response from Sunncomm support
Date: December 9, 2005 3:46:14 PM PST
To: investor@sunncomm.com, support@sunncomm.com
Cc: _____@_____.org
________________
I run several Macintosh computers on my home LAN, and one of
them is also the center of my entertainment system.
Since I have a number of Sony/BMG CDs that may have dumped
Sunncomm files onto my system(s) I have been trying to get
information from your support folks to remove those files
from my system(s) and undo any and all changes Sunncomm may
have made to standard OS and application software on my
system(s).
Thus far I have received absolutely no response from
Sunncomm support.
If nothing else, please provide me with a list of files
potentially left or changed by Sunncomm so that I can take
my own measures to restore my system(s).
(Note: Your FAQ information for Macintosh computers is
severely lacking, and in some places incorrect.)
Thank you for your time and attention,
[signed]
Their response to me:
From: techsupport@sunncomm.com
Subject:
Date: December 9, 2005 4:12:01 PM PST
To: _______@____-______.com
________________
Thank you for contacting us. A SunnComm Tech Support representative will respond to your email
shortly.
So far, there has been no further response from Sunncomm
since that 09DEC autoresponse saying they would get back to
me shortly.
(I seriously doubt that I have any of the Sony distributed
software on any of my machines, because I do
NOT allow unauthorized installs to take place, but I
would still like to have the information from them to
allow me to verify this is the case.)
Anyway, the "settlement" appears to be simply a way for Sony
to protect themselves from protracted legal hassles at
the cheapest cost to them. It is NOT in the best
interest of any of their customers who may have had
their system software damaged by the software
distributed by Sony.
One of the sad things about this whole incident is that the music company seems to not even have tried to ascertain what the application was doing - it is merely a very focused search engine that makes it easier to find lyrics and attach them to purchased music.
Another sad thing is the chilling effect on further development of anything associated with the music industry and music lovers in general. As was said in the article:
One of Ritter's recent brainstorms -- an application that queries lyrics data online to help music fans choose tracks based on themes, like "love" or "breakup" -- may now remain only an idea, he says.
A search feature like that could actually HELP the music industry (as well as listeners) by leading potential customers to new 'must have' songs for their collections.
The short-sighted, overly litigatious folks in the music industry are the ones causing the majority of the problems for their industry. The world has changed over the last century, and they need to look ahead rather than behind in shaping their business.
The commercial part of UNIX was sold back then, but the internally used UNIX based systems that worked in the background of the majority of the US phone system (and kept most of the records and even switched some of your calls) were still kept in the family.
I'm sure there was, and still is, enough work to do on those major supports of what WAS the Bell System...
C'mon, folks, I can't believe that if someone really wanted to mis-direct the government as to their physical location while using a computer-controlled phone, they wouldn't be able to fake the GPS info going out.
The REAL bad guys won't be caught with this, only the poor slobs who make mistakes...
...that was asked "...What has you chained to your firewall?"
I'd just like to say:
I'm chained to my firewall because I'm not running a server farm, but a simple LAN for my desktop and my WiFi laptop here at home, while trying to keep the code-kiddies out of my hair.
With all those windows in all those buildings looking down at the bean, shouldn't there be bunches of web cams taking a pic of the bean every five seconds?
C'mon, Chicago, tourists (and locals) naturally take pictures of any and every thing in sight - ESPECIALLY something as strangely beautiful as the bean.
Whoever is in charge of harassing photographers trying to take pics of a donated sculpture in public space needs to buy larger panties - the one's they're wearing are OBVIOUSLY too tight...
Yes, at least in my small corner of the US (about 200KM south of Vancouver, BC, Canada) we tend to have few elections and they cover everything from the funding for the local schools and firehouses, to judges, to national political offices all on one ballot.
That, in itself, doesn't appear to be a problem.
In my county, voting is still done by marking a paper ballot and having the marks read by a machine. The ballots are archieved should any questions arise about the vote (I'm not sure how many years they are kept).
This system works fine, and doesn't have the problems that many newer (and older) systems do. It also is relatively inexpensive and quick.
In the county I previously lived in we used the miserable 'poke the chad out' system of Florida fame, and I can readily see how there could have been "problems" with it.
I see no advantage in cost, speed, security, or accuracy with moving from the system we are currently using to some ethereal electronic touch-screen system. In fact I see the opposite.
Thankfully, the folks running the elections in our county agree...
A shop that could safely use trichlorotrifluoro-ethane to clean the assemblies might be a good choice. Trich dissolves organic oils and such and has a long history of being used to clean electronic and electrical equipment.
I think more that an intern may be over a slow fire...
Just as an observation from one who spent a quarter century managing, errors do happen through no one's real fault.
The intern may have not been told something, may have been told the wrong thing, or may simply have misunderstood.
It is actually unlikely it is the intern's fault.
Still, that intern is probably being roasted over a slow fire in hope of either 1) finding out how the error occured, or 2) hiding how the error occured. From 'outside' it is between difficult and impossible to tell which.
In any case, I hope Matthew finds the source of the failure and works dilligently to ensure it does not happen again.
I also hope that this entire incident, even including Slashdot's part, makes it's way to a serious and detailed article or two from Ziff Davis...
Tomas
-- In sad rememberance of Mike 'Moogy' Tuxford - 1952-2004
Matthew, I'm one of the (probably) many who think that it would be appropriate for eWeek/Ziff Davis Internet to produce a serious article on this sort of thing, and to use what actually happened within your walls as an example.
This is certainly newsworthy, and I feel of more than passing importance.
I look forward to a well researched, well presented article on the subject.
This is JUST the sort of thing that very much needs to be settled in a court of law.
It appears that the pocketpctools site was totally within the law, and that Ziff-Davis has gone well beyond their legitimate ownership rights into harassment. I suspect they are depending on the difference in size to make the smaller opponent simply fold rather than fight them.
We need one of the organizations (EFF?) with the ability, muscle, and money to push this one right back into Ziff-Davis' face. This sort of abuse needs to be stopped, and needs to be stopped hard.
Since this particular incident appears to have clear, clean boundries it might be an ideal one to clear up the legal questions, and to set hard limits.
-- Tomas
A number of reasons this device might be practical
on
Cheap Cell-Phone Detector
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
1) It might detect a cellphone being used for sureptitious evesedropping on a conversation
2) It might detect a cellphone in a silent text ony mode receiving test answers
3) It might detect an active cellphone in a secure environment where they are prohibited
Not all potential uses are obvious ones.
Consider the prison example from the article (You did RTFA, right?) - if prisoners are prohibited cellphones and you detect one in use in a cellblock, it is time to do a detailed search...
After-the-fact reports on cellular outages, explaining the CAUSE OF THE OUTAGE could be used, in part, as a simple training manual on how to disrupt cellular service...
The same, of course, applies to landline services, and anyone with experience on the technical side of the 'outside plant' world can probably tell you a half dozen low-risk ways to disrupt service over selected areas...
I dislike the idea of 'hiding' the root cause of cellular outages, but I can also understand a part of the desire to do so for security.
My very first home computer was a Radio Shack TRS 16B+ in the mid 1980's.
It had a Z80 CPU to handle I/O housekeeping chores and an MC68000 main CPU running XENIX (a flavor of UNIX).
It supported four users at the same time - each at their own terminal - with no additional goodies needed at the 16B+.
Mine did have a full load of memory, a larger hard drive, and a few Hayes modems so the other users could be remote, but the modems hooked right into the existing multiple ports on the machine.
For several years it was a minor mail and news server on the web (named tijil).
In what major way it this "new" thing astonishingly different from what I had 20 years ago on my desktop at home?
Slashdot Mirror
Not if one has an original CD with only Sunncomm DRM code on it - those folks just get to D/L an MP3 copy of it, and nothing else - not even removal of the DRM software installed and running on their machines.
(This is the DRM stuff that installed software even if one clicked Hell No! when asked if the software could be installed on Mac OS X machines...)
--
Tomas
(or other 'puter's) their ill-thought out DRM may have damaged.
When I buy a CD I want not only the recorded music at the highest quality
available to me, but I want the artwork and other extras that come with that CD.
(This doesn't mean that I don't D/L music from eMusic, Magnatunes, and
iTunes, it just means that when I purchase a CD I do so for a specific
set of reasons.)
I have been to the Sony site and the Sunncomm site several times each, and have
attempted to get any sort of reasonable response from both Sony (no
responses at all) and Sunncomm (one seemingly automated response saying
they will contact me.
I don't need any fancy settlements and I DON'T want an MP3 - the quality of
an MP3 is NOT the same as the quality of a standard CD track.
Personally I would be satisfied with a replacement CD with no added
software on it, and removal software that would leave my machines'
installed software exactly as it was prior to Sony/Sunncomm (with the
possible exception of modified dates and such, of course).
I don't want some 'Sony Surprise' in the months or years down the road that
will cause problems with any use I may wish to make of my computers.
Below is my last e-mail to Sunncomm, and their only response to me:
Their response to me: So far, there has been no further response from Sunncommsince that 09DEC autoresponse saying they would get back to
me shortly.
(I seriously doubt that I have any of the Sony distributed
software on any of my machines, because I do
NOT allow unauthorized installs to take place, but I
would still like to have the information from them to
allow me to verify this is the case.)
Anyway, the "settlement" appears to be simply a way for Sony
to protect themselves from protracted legal hassles at
the cheapest cost to them. It is NOT in the best
interest of any of their customers who may have had
their system software damaged by the software
distributed by Sony.
-- Tomas
I actually hope about half the planet does. ;o)
--
Tomas
Another sad thing is the chilling effect on further development of anything associated with the music industry and music lovers in general. As was said in the article:
A search feature like that could actually HELP the music industry (as well as listeners) by leading potential customers to new 'must have' songs for their collections.The short-sighted, overly litigatious folks in the music industry are the ones causing the majority of the problems for their industry. The world has changed over the last century, and they need to look ahead rather than behind in shaping their business.
--
Tomas
Personally I think Apple has done a quite decent job of building a GUI on top of a UNIX core (the Darwin flavor of freeBSD).
Currently they have it working on two different processor families (the IBM Power series, and Intel).
Yes, it is proprietary, but that does NOT mean that "Aqua" is not a GUI desktop running on a UNIX system.
Why not compare the other UNIX desktops with what may be the best UNIX desktop running?
Don't get excited, it's just an honest question. After all, just because it was done by a commercial software shop doesn't mean it doesn't work...
How DOES the usability of other attempts at a UNIX GUI stand up to Aqua?
--Tomas
The commercial part of UNIX was sold back then, but the internally used UNIX based systems that worked in the background of the majority of the US phone system (and kept most of the records and even switched some of your calls) were still kept in the family.
I'm sure there was, and still is, enough work to do on those major supports of what WAS the Bell System...
I was never in 1127 (I was a 9212 down at Holmdel), but seeing 1127 finally die is sad.
:o)
It is indeed a reflection of the Labs' culture and research environment vanishing, never to return...
It was a great environment, and we made some great things there.
--
Take care,
Tomas
C'mon, folks, I can't believe that if someone really wanted to mis-direct the government as to their physical location while using a computer-controlled phone, they wouldn't be able to fake the GPS info going out.
The REAL bad guys won't be caught with this, only the poor slobs who make mistakes...
Yup!
;o)
My error on that - can I use that it was like 3 AM when I posted? No? Damn!
Oh, well, just proves I'm human, eh?
--
Tomas
...to give Rackspace a wide birth - other than their supporting SCO by buying into their phony 'Linux License' agreements...
Rackspace used to be a good provider, but they seem to have lost their way...
--
Tomas
...that was asked "...What has you chained to your firewall?"
I'd just like to say:
I'm chained to my firewall because I'm not running a server farm, but a simple LAN for my desktop and my WiFi laptop here at home, while trying to keep the code-kiddies out of my hair.
I'll keep my firewalls, thankyouverymuch!
--
Tomas
I've been using Wacom tablets, pens, pucks and mice for years.
My default mouse is the wireless one on my Wacom tablet.
No batteries - never have been.
This is different in WHAT major way???
--
Tomas
With this new addition to Safari under Tiger, Apple has made a large step in catching up with Microsoft Windows...
Now the script kiddies won't feel as limited in their options in annoying Mac users just like they do MS Windows users.
A nice, new, open window (no pun intended) for the black hats to use... *sigh*
--
Tomas
With all those windows in all those buildings looking down at the bean, shouldn't there be bunches of web cams taking a pic of the bean every five seconds?
C'mon, Chicago, tourists (and locals) naturally take pictures of any and every thing in sight - ESPECIALLY something as strangely beautiful as the bean.
Whoever is in charge of harassing photographers trying to take pics of a donated sculpture in public space needs to buy larger panties - the one's they're wearing are OBVIOUSLY too tight...
Yes, at least in my small corner of the US (about 200KM south of Vancouver, BC, Canada) we tend to have few elections and they cover everything from the funding for the local schools and firehouses, to judges, to national political offices all on one ballot.
That, in itself, doesn't appear to be a problem.
In my county, voting is still done by marking a paper ballot and having the marks read by a machine. The ballots are archieved should any questions arise about the vote (I'm not sure how many years they are kept).
This system works fine, and doesn't have the problems that many newer (and older) systems do. It also is relatively inexpensive and quick.
In the county I previously lived in we used the miserable 'poke the chad out' system of Florida fame, and I can readily see how there could have been "problems" with it.
I see no advantage in cost, speed, security, or accuracy with moving from the system we are currently using to some ethereal electronic touch-screen system. In fact I see the opposite.
Thankfully, the folks running the elections in our county agree...
Take care,
Tomas
It might have something to do with the slight difference in population between Canada and the United States?
After all the entire population of Canada is about the same as metro Tokyo...
(Still, I personally prefer marking a paper ballot to trusting current touch-screen machines. There is a much better trail left.)
--
Tomas
A shop that could safely use trichlorotrifluoro-ethane to clean the assemblies might be a good choice. Trich dissolves organic oils and such and has a long history of being used to clean electronic and electrical equipment.
Don't try this at home...
--
Tomas
I think more that an intern may be over a slow fire...
Just as an observation from one who spent a quarter century managing, errors do happen through no one's real fault.
The intern may have not been told something, may have been told the wrong thing, or may simply have misunderstood.
It is actually unlikely it is the intern's fault.
Still, that intern is probably being roasted over a slow fire in hope of either 1) finding out how the error occured, or 2) hiding how the error occured. From 'outside' it is between difficult and impossible to tell which.
In any case, I hope Matthew finds the source of the failure and works dilligently to ensure it does not happen again.
I also hope that this entire incident, even including Slashdot's part, makes it's way to a serious and detailed article or two from Ziff Davis...
Tomas
--
In sad rememberance of Mike 'Moogy' Tuxford - 1952-2004
Matthew, I'm one of the (probably) many who think that it would be appropriate for eWeek/Ziff Davis Internet to produce a serious article on this sort of thing, and to use what actually happened within your walls as an example.
This is certainly newsworthy, and I feel of more than passing importance.
I look forward to a well researched, well presented article on the subject.
--
Tomas
This is JUST the sort of thing that very much needs to be settled in a court of law.
It appears that the pocketpctools site was totally within the law, and that Ziff-Davis has gone well beyond their legitimate ownership rights into harassment. I suspect they are depending on the difference in size to make the smaller opponent simply fold rather than fight them.
We need one of the organizations (EFF?) with the ability, muscle, and money to push this one right back into Ziff-Davis' face. This sort of abuse needs to be stopped, and needs to be stopped hard.
Since this particular incident appears to have clear, clean boundries it might be an ideal one to clear up the legal questions, and to set hard limits.
--
Tomas
1) It might detect a cellphone being used for sureptitious evesedropping on a conversation
2) It might detect a cellphone in a silent text ony mode receiving test answers
3) It might detect an active cellphone in a secure environment where they are prohibited
Not all potential uses are obvious ones.
Consider the prison example from the article (You did RTFA, right?) - if prisoners are prohibited cellphones and you detect one in use in a cellblock, it is time to do a detailed search...
--Tomas
Uh, sorry, but that sounds just like the legitimate e-mail I get from some of my friends... :o)
--
Tomas
After-the-fact reports on cellular outages, explaining the CAUSE OF THE OUTAGE could be used, in part, as a simple training manual on how to disrupt cellular service...
The same, of course, applies to landline services, and anyone with experience on the technical side of the 'outside plant' world can probably tell you a half dozen low-risk ways to disrupt service over selected areas...
I dislike the idea of 'hiding' the root cause of cellular outages, but I can also understand a part of the desire to do so for security.
*adjusts tinfoil propellor beanie*
Tomas
Heh, my parents weren't rich, that was what I bought myself as a treat after putting in some time at Bell Labs / Holmdel.
I kinda quit being a 'kid' dependent on my parents when I joined the Air Force in '66.
List price of the bare-bones 16B+ was $6499 plus maybe a grand for more memory, and another grand for modems. IIRC a bigger HD was about $1500.
Hmmmmmm... I guess that is pretty close to $10K.
Actually I still have that 16B+ - it's in storage and every now and then I drag it out and fire it up just to verify it still runs. It does.
Take care,
Tomas
My very first home computer was a Radio Shack TRS 16B+ in the mid 1980's.
It had a Z80 CPU to handle I/O housekeeping chores and an MC68000 main CPU running XENIX (a flavor of UNIX).
It supported four users at the same time - each at their own terminal - with no additional goodies needed at the 16B+.
Mine did have a full load of memory, a larger hard drive, and a few Hayes modems so the other users could be remote, but the modems hooked right into the existing multiple ports on the machine.
For several years it was a minor mail and news server on the web (named tijil).
In what major way it this "new" thing astonishingly different from what I had 20 years ago on my desktop at home?
Take care,
Tomas