Ironically enough, when I was stuck trying to remove the "lower filter" from my sister's DVD driver on her new laptop after she installed the Sony rootkit, I ended up giving up and rolling back, because I hadn't yet turned off her restore.
Well, I don't expect the Sony rootkit to infect you from another system. So if you just listen to the CD, but don't let it install, what exactly are you waiting for the honeypot to catch, that you can blame on Sony?
(I meant that you deliberately installing the rootkit = deliberately infecting yourself:) )
I think getting a honey pot set up, with Sony's Rootkit, and some old SQL non-transferable licenses set up on it might do nicely for 5 or 6 thousand in actual damages, to begin with. Add in my own time to restore the system to working order (another couple of thousand) and punitive (Triple damages?).
Once you start deliberately infecting your machines, it's your fault, not Sony's. That's like saying you're going to spill hot coffee in your lap so you can sue McDonalds. You'd be lying if you told the court Sony was installing something without your knowledge, and that you didn't know it would be hard to remove.
I submitted an article, but then edited it. In case the latter fails to see light of day:
In the first enforcement of Texas' new spyware law, the Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act of 2005, Attorney General Greg Abbott filed suit against Sony for having "surreptitiously installed the spyware on millions of compact music discs (CDs) that consumers inserted into their computers when they play the CDs, which can compromise the systems." The suit is seeking US$100,000 per violation. A PDF of lawsuit is available here.
If you look with your eyes, you may see that in 2 of 5 pictures, the TM is clearly done after the kids are done with the drawings.
Plus they probably had the original Google-logo with the TM to base their doodles on.
Sure looks to me like these were just xerographed logos, that they colored with crayons and markers. Meaning the TM wasn't added after, it was there all along, just ignored by some children. So perhaps counter-jokes about kids starting young ignoring trademarks and copyrights are more appropriate. 2 in 5? 40%?
Like any other modern Apple design, it's more about ease of use and looks than feature set:
black turtleneck
dark jeans or pants.
That's it. Developers can wear white shirts, but notice his turtleneck doesn't even have an Apple logo. Colors and things, that's ok for Linux folk, who stay in the back room:)
I had removed all the DRM files and all the registry entries from my sister's computer, but that stupid "lower filter" kept re-appearing when I tried to reload her DVD drivers. After a couple of hours, I gave up because I discovered that since her computer was new, I hadn't yet disabled rollback on it. (Nor, obviously, had I had a chance to disable autoplay)
She had a save point from the day before she played the CD, so I used rollback, which surprisingly mostly worked, and her driver was restored. And then I spent a lot of time reinstalling all the software I had installed before discovering she had played that stupid CD.
She hates Sony, now, because I no longer had time to migrate her files from her old dying laptop over before she went home, having to spend it all doing this. She's a college student and a teacher, so this affects her studies and her work, until she can make it back over. You can bet, if there is a class action lawsuit for Texans, I'll sign up.
But so far, I haven't seen them say anything about their products actually detecting or removing them. Go here for the blog.
I wrote a response, pending moderation, as follows:
Artifex Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation. November 18th, 2005 at 12:47 am
So, does Ad-Aware offer detection and FULL removal (and not just de-cloaking)? If not, why not, if we're relying on you to detect such things? That is what you advertise your products are for: detection and removal of malware.
Should we start relying on someone else, instead?
It will be interesting to see how they respond, if they bother to do so.
If you are unfamiliar with them, they make Ad-aware, which is a popular utility for detecting and removing trojans, malware, etc., on Windows machines.
Looking around at different tables, I'm seeing that SpeedBooster is done entirely in software on the GS. In fact, according to this page, a couple of the firmwares you can get should do SpeedBooster on the G model, too. I'm going to go for the DD-WRT firmware.
Odd. That table you showed seems to indicate the 4.0 GS is still Linux-capable. But you both agree on it having half the memory, so I should get a 3.0, instead.
Thanks. That site has a lot of cool material on it. I think I'm going with DD-WRT, when I get the router. I'm pretty sure I'll get the GS, for the extra memory. From working with Ciscos, I know you never can have too much memory, especially not with such a low differential in price.
It gets worse. I have a batch of PCs at work that are starting to die because leaking capacitors - the twist is, the capacitors are on the video card (GeForce 2 MX 400). When the video card fails, it takes out the motherboard with it.
True. And by the time you notice flickering or freezing or reboots, it's probably too late to just replace the video card, as the damage has already been done, even though the card hasn't failed yet. At least you had a good experience with Sun.
I worked for a Tier 1 ISP/webhost. and when they started having rounds of layoffs after the bubble burst, I was round 3 or 4. I was given 3 months' notice, (extended to 4) and because of the length of the time I'd been with the company, offered about 6 months' severance to stay until my RIF date. Not only that, but they paid for us to attend some classes on social networking and resume building, etc. I got the idea they really, really were being generous to us, especially since I'd seen friends at other ISPs just get locked out, or given cardboard boxes and an hour to clean out their desks, etc.
Not to mention that my duties changed substantially once the layoffs started, and people above me were getting laid off first. I was already working most of the time from home, but suddenly I was attached to various consolidation and cleanup projects, and just had teleconferences with the rest of my team around the U.S., so I never had to drive in to the office. Ironically, my personal best work started just before the layoffs, and continued until the end. I ended up getting a better understanding of processes outside my previous departments, too. So it was my most productive, and most instructive, time there. So I left feeling my work really had been appreciated.
I guess it was an ego boost, being laid off. Except for the losing my job part.
I'm going out to buy either a 54G or a 54GS this week, specifically so I can install something that is capable of bandwidth shaping certain IPs in my network, and so obviously I need to make sure I have the right firmware and hardware spec.
I thought a Dragon Plus would have been one of their best, and maybe it was, but after months of swapping out stuff trying to figure out what was crashing my system, I finally pulled the motherboard out, and it looked like I had dried bloodstains on it. This was just over a year after I bought it.
What needs to be remembered is that often a system with bad caps can damage other components, from memory to the CPU to hard drives, even cards attached to the PCI bus. This was devastating when it happened to me.
Yeah, that's a good point. Still, how else do you propose to make a public dent where they can't blame it on something else? If we just don't buy Sony music, they'll either not notice it much as a percentage of total sales volume, or blame it on the darn pirates ripping more CDs, don't you think?
Boycott Sony by refusing to cover the PS3, and encourage other websites to do the same. If they are denied all the prelaunch coverage they need to create a groundswell of demand, it will have real consequences for them, and they will pay attention.
Slashdot Mirror
Ironically enough, when I was stuck trying to remove the "lower filter" from my sister's DVD driver on her new laptop after she installed the Sony rootkit, I ended up giving up and rolling back, because I hadn't yet turned off her restore.
The PDF is available here. The press release is here.
:) )
(cough
Well, I don't expect the Sony rootkit to infect you from another system. So if you just listen to the CD, but don't let it install, what exactly are you waiting for the honeypot to catch, that you can blame on Sony?
:) )
(I meant that you deliberately installing the rootkit = deliberately infecting yourself
Once you start deliberately infecting your machines, it's your fault, not Sony's. That's like saying you're going to spill hot coffee in your lap so you can sue McDonalds. You'd be lying if you told the court Sony was installing something without your knowledge, and that you didn't know it would be hard to remove.
Sure looks to me like these were just xerographed logos, that they colored with crayons and markers. Meaning the TM wasn't added after, it was there all along, just ignored by some children. So perhaps counter-jokes about kids starting young ignoring trademarks and copyrights are more appropriate. 2 in 5? 40%?
Maybe the questions were too uncomfortable.
as in, I paid too much money for this hardware, now I'm in debt 'ell.
The two certainly do not equate.
That's it. Developers can wear white shirts, but notice his turtleneck doesn't even have an Apple logo.
Colors and things, that's ok for Linux folk, who stay in the back room
I had removed all the DRM files and all the registry entries from my sister's computer, but that stupid "lower filter" kept re-appearing when I tried to reload her DVD drivers. After a couple of hours, I gave up because I discovered that since her computer was new, I hadn't yet disabled rollback on it. (Nor, obviously, had I had a chance to disable autoplay)
She had a save point from the day before she played the CD, so I used rollback, which surprisingly mostly worked, and her driver was restored. And then I spent a lot of time reinstalling all the software I had installed before discovering she had played that stupid CD.
She hates Sony, now, because I no longer had time to migrate her files from her old dying laptop over before she went home, having to spend it all doing this. She's a college student and a teacher, so this affects her studies and her work, until she can make it back over. You can bet, if there is a class action lawsuit for Texans, I'll sign up.
Except that reports say the rootkit kills Vista. Or at least crashes it.
Go here for the blog.
I wrote a response, pending moderation, as follows:
It will be interesting to see how they respond, if they bother to do so.
If you are unfamiliar with them, they make Ad-aware, which is a popular utility for detecting and removing trojans, malware, etc., on Windows machines.
Where's a good place to get wood grain veneers and laser engraved plastic for making stuff like this?
Not to mention the LCD and laptop assembly.
Like I was saying, I use it, for AIM contacts, and I don't have any new buddies on my list.
I'm using AdiumX and it didn't add anyone to mine. I just restarted to be sure.
Looking around at different tables, I'm seeing that SpeedBooster is done entirely in software on the GS. In fact, according to this page, a couple of the firmwares you can get should do SpeedBooster on the G model, too. I'm going to go for the DD-WRT firmware.
Odd. That table you showed seems to indicate the 4.0 GS is still Linux-capable. But you both agree on it having half the memory, so I should get a 3.0, instead.
Thanks for the help!
Thanks. That site has a lot of cool material on it. I think I'm going with DD-WRT, when I get the router.
I'm pretty sure I'll get the GS, for the extra memory. From working with Ciscos, I know you never can have too much memory, especially not with such a low differential in price.
True. And by the time you notice flickering or freezing or reboots, it's probably too late to just replace the video card, as the damage has already been done, even though the card hasn't failed yet. At least you had a good experience with Sun.
I worked for a Tier 1 ISP/webhost. and when they started having rounds of layoffs after the bubble burst, I was round 3 or 4. I was given 3 months' notice, (extended to 4) and because of the length of the time I'd been with the company, offered about 6 months' severance to stay until my RIF date. Not only that, but they paid for us to attend some classes on social networking and resume building, etc. I got the idea they really, really were being generous to us, especially since I'd seen friends at other ISPs just get locked out, or given cardboard boxes and an hour to clean out their desks, etc.
Not to mention that my duties changed substantially once the layoffs started, and people above me were getting laid off first. I was already working most of the time from home, but suddenly I was attached to various consolidation and cleanup projects, and just had teleconferences with the rest of my team around the U.S., so I never had to drive in to the office. Ironically, my personal best work started just before the layoffs, and continued until the end. I ended up getting a better understanding of processes outside my previous departments, too. So it was my most productive, and most instructive, time there. So I left feeling my work really had been appreciated.
I guess it was an ego boost, being laid off. Except for the losing my job part.
I'm going out to buy either a 54G or a 54GS this week, specifically so I can install something that is capable of bandwidth shaping certain IPs in my network, and so obviously I need to make sure I have the right firmware and hardware spec.
I thought a Dragon Plus would have been one of their best, and maybe it was, but after months of swapping out stuff trying to figure out what was crashing my system, I finally pulled the motherboard out, and it looked like I had dried bloodstains on it. This was just over a year after I bought it.
What needs to be remembered is that often a system with bad caps can damage other components, from memory to the CPU to hard drives, even cards attached to the PCI bus. This was devastating when it happened to me.
Yeah, that's a good point. Still, how else do you propose to make a public dent where they can't blame it on something else? If we just don't buy Sony music, they'll either not notice it much as a percentage of total sales volume, or blame it on the darn pirates ripping more CDs, don't you think?
Boycott Sony by refusing to cover the PS3, and encourage other websites to do the same. If they are denied all the prelaunch coverage they need to create a groundswell of demand, it will have real consequences for them, and they will pay attention.