DeCSS makes it easy to rip a movie quickly, but other programs exist that are just as simple. I've heard rumours of one that brute-forces the key to the DVD--anybody know about this one?
The program you want is "VOBDec" It uses a cryptographic attack on the DVD rather than any reverse engineering and will work in a number of situations that DeCSS cannot cope with...
If all you have are the VOB files, but not the DVD they originally came on.
If the VOB files on your DVD have different keys from each other. [Note: This is a relatively recent "trick" used to fox DeCSS.]
On the minus side the program is Windows only, and runs in a DOS box from an option loaded command line. There are a number of GUI front ends to help you cope with this.
As an aside I eschewed the use of FlaskMPEG as I found it VERY slow and rather buggy. However switching to the MPEG2AVI method of doing this produced a 3fold increase in speed along with quality reliable encoding. I now have all my favourite movies sitting on my HD
A great resource for all of you wannabe DVD backup merchants is Digital Digest. All the software you need is sitting there along with articles, tips and troubleshooting advice.
Sorry to repeat myself, but it's applicable - Honest
Here's how I reckon it works.
A regular "What do you want to post" article is run. Moderated along the usual rules.
Any idea that has 5 moderation points is therefore approved by the/. audience
The passwords for upload [temp' of course!] are then handed over to whoever made the post. They will have a brief window of opportunity to upload. [If they've got the guts!]
The only thing Slashdot can be accused of then is engendering culture in which this sort of activity is possible.
IANAL but I reckon even the US can't stop that. You might as well say the Internet engenders posting!
Either way it'd give the/. audience "more power to their elbow" to use a Yorkshire phrase.
Oh come on. They don't make the post - They just give the ability to post to some/. hero
Here's how I reckon it works.
A regular "What do you want to post" article is run. Moderated along the usual rules.
Any idea that has 5 moderation points is therefore approved by the/. audience
The passwords for upload [temp' of course!] are then handed over to whoever made the post. They will have a brief window of opportunity to upload. [If they've got the guts!]
The only thing Slashdot can be accused of then is engendering culture in which this sort of activity is possible.
IANAL but I reckon even the US can't stop that. You might as well say the Internet engenders posting!
Either way it'd give the/. audience "more power to their elbow" to use a Yorkshire phrase.
Let us make the assumption for the moment that the HavenCo data haven really starts to take off. What applications do you see coming to the fore as your primary source of business. Do you see the development of a data haven leading to any new applications?
Three steps to becoming an evil genius ======================================
1) Speak with an Eastern European Accent ["Checkski"]
2) Never Smile ["Checkski"]
3) Bring huge corporation selling crappy software to it's knees, by accusing it of monopolistic practices ["Hmmm - Am thinkink is not possible to do two and three at the same time!"]
I'd be glad to volunteer for this but feel that the UK would not be the best choice of location. Where exactly would be the best choice for "some country" be? Presumably somewhere with no copyright agreement with the US I guess. Any ideas?
In Frederick Pohls book "The age of the pussyfoot" he describes a device about the size / shape of a mace, which gives out information and advice. It was called a "joymaker" and was not only voice activated but "Linked through the Ether" to all other Joymakers.
Sounds like a small Internet Connected PC to me.
The only substantial difference was that the Joymaker could also function as a chemist/pharmacy/bar.
The media is not important. It's the words that are important.
Anybody who reads and enjoys a paper based text will feel the urge to share that with as many people as possible.
Traditionally that was expressed by saying "Read this book - it's good!", or in extreme cases by lending them the book.
However in this brave new E-world, putting that text online is the best way to share.
Now the fact that the LOC has stated that it is not going to do this is irrelevent. The online world does not really need its contribution in this area.
In the interests of saving SlashDot readers time, Here is a brief pro-forma letter for you to cut and paste into the Fax a MP box. Fill in the relevant fields and off you go.
Dear [MPname],
As a [Constituant] constituant I am writing to you to object to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill.
I feel you should be made aware of the ramifications of this bill, and its implications for [Constituant] citizens.
In a nutshell:-
Internet Service Providers will be classed as telecoms operators and as such the Home Secretary can demand taps on ISP traffic with little deliberation -- and without publicity.
You can be jailed for not handing over decryption keys, even if the police can't prove that you ever had those keys in the first place. There is no jury for this procedure and the appeal can only be made to a closed committee to which the plaintif would have no access. You are effectivly guilty until proven innocent, with the burden of proof lying upon you!
As I am sure you can see, this bill poses a serious threat to personal privacy and rights.
I would be pleased to discuss this further with you. You can contact me in any of the ways detailed below.
Run up a copy of Excel 97 Enter the date 28/02/1900 into cell A1 Enter the formula +a1+1 into cell A2
Cell A2 now displays the date 29/02/1900 [an impossible date as 1900 was not a leap year]
It says a lot about M$ that can't code an event that happened 100 years ago!
M$ don't know what is going on in the past. M$ can't code for the present either. I suspect their "forward planning department" is fundamentally unsound also.
If you want to get a baby in one months time you don't get nine women pregnant.
For slashdot to be considered a distributed net there should be FAR more collaboration than "First post" and "I got the answer first - and I'm determined to spoil it for everyone."
For those of you who would like to lobby Ms P.Hewitt, here is a pro-forma for your conviniance. Fill in the relevent blanks and send it to... e.minister@dti.gov.uk
Dear Ms Hewitt,
I am writing to you in your capacity of "E-Minister" to register my protest at the draft Electronic comminications bill and it's reincarnation in the "Regulation of Investigatory Powers" bill.
In my [somewhat expert] opinion this act would be seriously damaging to citizens rights online and would hence drive away the very business you are trying to foster. I would urge you to find a less draconian method of policing online information.
Please be assured that there are better solutions out there and they are much less frightening to the humble voter,
We don't really classify Football violence as a "riot" bud. Besides, the UK enjoys a really good reputation for crowd control.
Just yesterday FIFA officials said that the UK security facilities [with regard to the world cup]are the most up-to-date they have ever seen.
Bottom line is that the UK just doesn't see the football violence that it did during the late seventies.
However, actual riots that the UK has had of late
Toxteth : Race / Poverty Brixton : Race Newbury : Environmentalism Trafalger Sq. : Poll Tax Miners : Destruction of the coal industry
There is a certain rebellious culture within the UK. Maybe it all dates back to the punk/anarchist days? It's a very valid part of any society. The theory [and it's well founded] is that if you can't stick two fingers up at authority, then you are not part of a living society.
The LA race riots suprised a LOT of people in the UK
I got out of this one by countering the inherent belief of "If it's on a computer then it must be factual"
I was summonsed in 1989 and was hauled up before the judge, with the entire legal wing of the council glaring at me.
My defence of "Prove I haven't paid it!" was countered by "We've got your bloody name on this computer generated list of debtors" [Not quite so polished terminology in real life guys]
Needless to say the judge threw that out [My name on a list proves that someone has put my name on a list - not that I did not pay poll tax], along with all other 250 cases that were due to be heard that day.
Having been tried once, I was unable to be tried again. Strike one for freedom eh?
BTW I was in California about that time and wearing a "Bollocks to the Poll Tax" shirt. About 70% of people I met asked me what "Bollocks" Quick poll for our American friends. Who knows what bollocks are?
The main reason is that I object to companies gathering this information so sneakily is that this information is MINE. Not theirs. So sayeth the Data Protection Act [UK law,1984]
They don't offer to pay me for my information, they just take it, and I can't do much about it.
In fact just about the only thing I can do is to "not like" the information gathering business.
I also opted out of "conventional" society due to the poll tax, and whilst I am [like you] now back "inside the law" I am still trying to confuse the information gatherers by the following methods. I would urge you to do the same if only for the principle of the thing.
1) Datestamp initial in my name so I can tell where junkmail comes from 2) Changing the spelling of my name radically every month or so [this is legal in the UK so long as you are not doing it to defraud] 3) Never let anyone know my DOB etc etc etc.
In the words of Dale Gribble, "Don't feed the beast!"
It's irrelevent. The US is trying to hold onto a situation that was lost as soon as Zimmerman posted his code. All the export laws do is legislate against the citizens of a "free" country. BTW - Has anybody heard that the US now has the technology to break practically any block crypto techniques? Of course, the result of anybody drawing attention to this fact would be that nobody would continue to use block cyphers. Wonder if that would piss anybody off in the CIA? . Don't worry tho guys. PGP [international version] is not based on block cyphers and you can continue to use it safely!
Slashdot Mirror
I think I'll have to send out a cease and desist letter to the author. [and also demand back royalties]
He has clearly infringed the "look and feel" of my Slashdot nickname.
As I was born BEFORE 1975, I think you will agree I have god/right/idiocy on my side.
The program you want is "VOBDec" It uses a cryptographic attack on the DVD rather than any reverse engineering and will work in a number of situations that DeCSS cannot cope with...
On the minus side the program is Windows only, and runs in a DOS box from an option loaded command line. There are a number of GUI front ends to help you cope with this.
As an aside I eschewed the use of FlaskMPEG as I found it VERY slow and rather buggy. However switching to the MPEG2AVI method of doing this produced a 3fold increase in speed along with quality reliable encoding. I now have all my favourite movies sitting on my HD
A great resource for all of you wannabe DVD backup merchants is Digital Digest. All the software you need is sitting there along with articles, tips and troubleshooting advice.
Sorry to repeat myself, but it's applicable - Honest
/. audience
/. audience "more power to their elbow" to use a Yorkshire phrase.
Here's how I reckon it works.
A regular "What do you want to post" article is run. Moderated along the usual rules.
Any idea that has 5 moderation points is therefore approved by the
The passwords for upload [temp' of course!] are then handed over to whoever made the post. They will have a brief window of opportunity to upload. [If they've got the guts!]
The only thing Slashdot can be accused of then is engendering culture in which this sort of activity is possible.
IANAL but I reckon even the US can't stop that. You might as well say the Internet engenders posting!
Either way it'd give the
Oh come on. They don't make the post - They just give the ability to post to some /. hero
/. audience
/. audience "more power to their elbow" to use a Yorkshire phrase.
Here's how I reckon it works.
A regular "What do you want to post" article is run. Moderated along the usual rules.
Any idea that has 5 moderation points is therefore approved by the
The passwords for upload [temp' of course!] are then handed over to whoever made the post. They will have a brief window of opportunity to upload. [If they've got the guts!]
The only thing Slashdot can be accused of then is engendering culture in which this sort of activity is possible.
IANAL but I reckon even the US can't stop that. You might as well say the Internet engenders posting!
Either way it'd give the
OK - How about Slashdot buying some space here.
Stuff we all agree should be freely available [DeCSS etc] gets posted.
At the very least it would give us an answer to "Who whould win in a fight, HavenCo or MPAA"
They gonna ban Peer-Peer file sharing too?
Jeeez!
Let us make the assumption for the moment that the HavenCo data haven really starts to take off. What applications do you see coming to the fore as your primary source of business. Do you see the development of a data haven leading to any new applications?
Three steps to becoming an evil genius
======================================
1) Speak with an Eastern European Accent
["Checkski"]
2) Never Smile
["Checkski"]
3) Bring huge corporation selling crappy software to it's knees, by accusing it of monopolistic practices
["Hmmm - Am thinkink is not possible to do two and three at the same time!"]
I'd be glad to volunteer for this but feel that the UK would not be the best choice of location. Where exactly would be the best choice for "some country" be? Presumably somewhere with no copyright agreement with the US I guess. Any ideas?
In Frederick Pohls book "The age of the pussyfoot" he describes a device about the size / shape of a mace, which gives out information and advice. It was called a "joymaker" and was not only voice activated but "Linked through the Ether" to all other Joymakers.
Sounds like a small Internet Connected PC to me.
The only substantial difference was that the Joymaker could also function as a chemist/pharmacy/bar.
Actually that's not such a a bad idea....
The media is not important. It's the words that are important.
Anybody who reads and enjoys a paper based text will feel the urge to share that with as many people as possible.
Traditionally that was expressed by saying "Read this book - it's good!", or in extreme cases by lending them the book.
However in this brave new E-world, putting that text online is the best way to share.
Now the fact that the LOC has stated that it is not going to do this is irrelevent. The online world does not really need its contribution in this area.
When are these people going to realise that rebellion has a very valid part to play in *any* society.
Furthermore that the society that has no rebellious influences will stagnate, fragment and lose cohesion.
All these people can come up with is the attitude of...
Become an informer!
Rat on your buddies!
Betray your friends and family!
Fantastic prizes to be won!
In the interests of saving SlashDot readers time, Here is a brief pro-forma letter for you to cut and paste into the Fax a MP box. Fill in the relevant fields and off you go.
Dear [MPname],
As a [Constituant] constituant I am writing to you to object to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill.
I feel you should be made aware of the ramifications of this bill, and its implications for [Constituant] citizens.
In a nutshell:-
Internet Service Providers will be classed as telecoms operators and as such the Home Secretary can demand taps on ISP traffic with little deliberation -- and without publicity.
You can be jailed for not handing over decryption keys, even if the police can't prove that you ever had those keys in the first place. There is no jury for this procedure and the appeal can only be made to a closed committee to which the plaintif would have no access. You are effectivly guilty until proven innocent, with the burden of proof lying upon you!
As I am sure you can see, this bill poses a serious threat to personal privacy and rights.
I would be pleased to discuss this further with you. You can contact me in any of the ways detailed below.
I look forward to hearing from you soon,
[Yourname]
[Your contact details]
If you think that's bad then try this one...
Run up a copy of Excel 97
Enter the date 28/02/1900 into cell A1
Enter the formula +a1+1 into cell A2
Cell A2 now displays the date 29/02/1900 [an impossible date as 1900 was not a leap year]
It says a lot about M$ that can't code an event that happened 100 years ago!
M$ don't know what is going on in the past.
M$ can't code for the present either.
I suspect their "forward planning department" is fundamentally unsound also.
Yeah well,
Will someone teach that Morissette girl what it is then?
I think not.
If you want to get a baby in one months time you don't get nine women pregnant.
For slashdot to be considered a distributed net there should be FAR more collaboration than "First post" and "I got the answer first - and I'm determined to spoil it for everyone."
However - Nice concept tho.
Or you could carry a sheet of paper with the keys drawn on it. Your soulution doesn't HAVE to use electronic technology you know!
1984
For "Ministry of Peace" read "Ministry of War"
For "Ministry of Truth" read "Ministry of Propaganda"
Britain
For "Department of Employment" read "Department of Unemployment"
For "Department of Social Security" read "Department of No Social Security"
The man was a genius - way ahead of his time.
For those of you who would like to lobby Ms P.Hewitt, here is a pro-forma for your conviniance. Fill in the relevent blanks and send it to... e.minister@dti.gov.uk
Dear Ms Hewitt,
I am writing to you in your capacity of "E-Minister" to register my protest at the draft Electronic comminications bill and it's reincarnation in the "Regulation of Investigatory Powers" bill.
In my [somewhat expert] opinion this act would be seriously damaging to citizens rights online and would hence drive away the very business you are trying to foster. I would urge you to find a less draconian method of policing online information.
Please be assured that there are better solutions out there and they are much less frightening to the humble voter,
yours,
[your name here]
[your extremely techie job profession here]
We don't really classify Football violence as a "riot" bud. Besides, the UK enjoys a really good reputation for crowd control.
Just yesterday FIFA officials said that the UK security facilities [with regard to the world cup]are the most up-to-date they have ever seen.
Bottom line is that the UK just doesn't see the football violence that it did during the late seventies.
However, actual riots that the UK has had of late
Toxteth : Race / Poverty
Brixton : Race
Newbury : Environmentalism
Trafalger Sq. : Poll Tax
Miners : Destruction of the coal industry
There is a certain rebellious culture within the UK. Maybe it all dates back to the punk/anarchist days? It's a very valid part of any society. The theory [and it's well founded] is that if you can't stick two fingers up at authority, then you are not part of a living society.
The LA race riots suprised a LOT of people in the UK
You *Paid* it? - Succckkeerrrr!
I got out of this one by countering the inherent belief of "If it's on a computer then it must be factual"
I was summonsed in 1989 and was hauled up before the judge, with the entire legal wing of the council glaring at me.
My defence of "Prove I haven't paid it!" was countered by "We've got your bloody name on this computer generated list of debtors" [Not quite so polished terminology in real life guys]
Needless to say the judge threw that out [My name on a list proves that someone has put my name on a list - not that I did not pay poll tax], along with all other 250 cases that were due to be heard that day.
Having been tried once, I was unable to be tried again. Strike one for freedom eh?
BTW I was in California about that time and wearing a "Bollocks to the Poll Tax" shirt. About 70% of people I met asked me what "Bollocks" Quick poll for our American friends. Who knows what bollocks are?
Yeah I think it *does* make a difference.
The main reason is that I object to companies gathering this information so sneakily is that this information is MINE. Not theirs. So sayeth the Data Protection Act [UK law,1984]
They don't offer to pay me for my information, they just take it, and I can't do much about it.
In fact just about the only thing I can do is to "not like" the information gathering business.
I also opted out of "conventional" society due to the poll tax, and whilst I am [like you] now back "inside the law" I am still trying to confuse the information gatherers by the following methods. I would urge you to do the same if only for the principle of the thing.
1) Datestamp initial in my name so I can tell where junkmail comes from
2) Changing the spelling of my name radically every month or so [this is legal in the UK so long as you are not doing it to defraud]
3) Never let anyone know my DOB
etc etc etc.
In the words of Dale Gribble, "Don't feed the beast!"
Whilst we're on the subject of the american school system
1) is it still illegal to teach Darwin's theory of evolution in some US schools?
2) Didn't one US school board pass a rule that PI = "9 and a bit" some time ago?
Inquiring minds wanna know!
It's irrelevent. The US is trying to hold onto a situation that was lost as soon as Zimmerman posted his code. All the export laws do is legislate against the citizens of a "free" country. BTW - Has anybody heard that the US now has the technology to break practically any block crypto techniques? Of course, the result of anybody drawing attention to this fact would be that nobody would continue to use block cyphers. Wonder if that would piss anybody off in the CIA? . Don't worry tho guys. PGP [international version] is not based on block cyphers and you can continue to use it safely!