And thanks to the chinese labor market, replacing the crew will cost even less.
Unfortunately, after working on the sound-deadening lead-based hull coating, and eating a steady diet of diethylene glycol and melamine, the crew may have to be "rotate out" slightly more often than expected.
In case I sounded negative before: I have used postgres in several projects, both personal and professional. I think it is robust and stable, and I mostly agree with what you said.
Would I use it to handle a massively-multiplayer game, or a financial institution? No. Does it fit in for a lot of other projects. Yep.
I also really don't get the PostgreSQL is hard to use argument.
Did you try installing it on Windows a couple years ago?:-)
One reason MySQL quickly gained popularity is that they provided a Windows version early on. It took a long time before PostgreSQL finally got around to building a Win32 version with an installer. (Regardless of my opinions of running a database on Windows... the userbase is still huge).
Performance isn't what causes a lack of acceptance in the marketplace for PostgreSQL.
The problem is twofold:
MySQL, as others have pointed out, has better developer support and they know their target audience. They supply a fast, easy to use database for those who don't need a whole lot.
Oracle supplies an enterprise level database that MySQL doesn't aspire to. PostgreSQL doesn't know where to fit in.
Do a little investigation on setting up PostgreSQL with fault tolerance and replication and you'll quickly see why large corporations cough up money for Oracle. Performance is one aspect of the price tag, but it is certainly not the only factor.
I apologize for the tone of my previous post. But I wanted to emphasize that the FUD can go both ways... both scaremongering, and covering up old problems.
I think the best way to advocate nuclear power is to focus on the improvements that have been made, and how different it is today from years past. I also think the public is blissfully unaware of the hazards created by coal-fired power plants in their backyards.
I am glad the Hanford facility was finally shut down. I have friends who grew up in the Tri-Cities area and now have to wonder if they'll be facing health issues related to that plant, later on in their adult lives. But I wouldn't mind seeing modern nuclear power plants in my state, if needed.
The thing is, with WA state, we're fortunate to generate a lot of power from hydroelectric sources. In fact our grid often exports power because of a surplus, and because we don't waste power on large amounts of air conditioning in the summer due to our location. Those factors remove a lot of the incentive to build new nuclear facilities here.
In the midwest, I think they make sense. The two main problems are: no one wants to front the funds needed to build a proper, modern nuclear plant with a full lifecycle plan on what to do with the spent fuel. And the other means of disposal (breeder-burner reactors) incur even more expense and red-tape due to federal oversight on plutonium production.
With power companies, though, it really boils down to price-performance. In order for nuclear to become more feasible, prices on other energy sources need to go up. Oil is a dwindling resource so its price is rising on its own. But coal is not, and I think the only way to make an impact on coal is through federal regulation. The EPA is probably the best bet, since the Supreme Court recently ruled that CO2 emissions should be regulated.
Generating clean power while reducing CO2 emissions is such a huge problem that no single technology will impact it very much. We need a combination of nuclear, solar, wind and other innovations to start making progress. Not only that, but I believe diversifying our energy sector is prudent from a national security standpoint.
You are so full of crap I don't know the best place to begin.
As someone who has been a resident of WA state most of my life, I can tell you that:
In every year from the founding fathers up to the 1970's there were a LOT of companies disposing of waste improperly, and precisely NONE of it was nuclear waste. NONE OF IT.
is flat out wrong.
The Hanford site (I'm sure you've heard of it), produced weapons-grade plutonium as well as power for many years (first under the DOD, then under the civilian WPPS - Washington Public Power System). During its operation, Hanford released many radioactive isotopes into the Columbia river. They also stored waste products in single-lined barrels on-site that degraded and seeped into the ground water-table.
EVERY SINGLE MOLECULE OF WASTE HAS BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR!
"Accounted for" is not the same as "contained". But nice try.
People are incorrectly attributing the irresponsibility of power companies and heavy industry in the past over to the Nuclear industry
This distinction is irrelevant when you are talking about generating power from nuclear resources. The two are intertwined. In the other case (weapon production), you have the DOD running things, and their track record is no better.
If you want more information, have a search on Google for:
Hanford Hanford Superfund Columbia River radioactive waste Downwinders
All that said, I am a proponent of nuclear power. Modern-day plants and waste storage solutions are much MUCH better than what was running at Hanford, and are overall less toxic than, say, a traditional coal burning power plant. But don't defend your points with bullshit.
The private sector *sometimes* works alongside public servants. Bounty hunters are an integral part of law enforcement in the U.S., and they are profitable without support of public funding.
However, the difference between them and the RIAA raids is that bounty hunters have to be licensed, even if they don't carry guns. Plus, in general, they are going after people who have jumped bail or violated parole conditions and have warrants out for their arrest.
The RIAA detaining people in the street who haven't been convicted of a crime, though? Pure crap, and they are probably violating laws themselves if they carry out these "raids" without police supervision. Just a guess, but from what I read in the article it seems they are specifically using these tactics on immigrant street vendors who may not speak English very well, and may not know their rights very well.
As an owner of a U.S.-legal Lotus Elise, I can say that the grandparent's number of 400 lbs for safety features is not far off the mark. My car is ~1900 lbs as opposed to the older European models which were ~1500 lbs (absent things like airbags, etc).
It still has the benefit that you can send data without using the (limited) electromagnetic spectrum, or laying down lines, both of which are expensive markets to enter.... because hiring a team of quantum physicists, securing patents, and avoiding becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the NSA is so much cheaper?
My right to pursuit of happiness remains the same.
However, your name is tagged on them and could result in problems for you later on if they are shared by someone else. So you're basically losing your right to resell the merchandise (see: first-sale doctrine).
I'm not Michael Dell of course, but my guess is that Dell sees higher unit sales as an opportunity for higher sell-through numbers on their preinstalled trial software. They _already_ have a low margin on hardware sales; it's the preinstalled crapware, accessories, and subscription services / warranty that provide the majority of their profit.
It's always been true for retailers with limited space. No reason to waste shelf space on more than two products that fulfill the same demand in purchasers.
That, and competing suppliers like to ink contracts that exclude their competitors. How often do you find both Coca-Cola and Pepsi for sale in the same restaurant?
It really depends on the presentation. HP has been cashing in on their higher end PCs, as opposed to the bargain-basement stuff you'd expect in those retailers. The "media PCs" are the ones that catch eyeballs of people walking by in the stores.
If Dell can make a competitive offering like that then I it's not only smart, but necessary to stop the bleeding they've endured recently.
Either I'm missing something or this is a short-sighted move.
You're missing the minor point that HP is killing Dell lately, and HP sells most of their computers through traditional brick&mortar channels. Dell is trying to get back in the game.
It was an employee posting on their forums but unfortunately I don't have a link. The post I'm remembering though, mentioned the problem being SpamSentry's queued-spam reporting. SpamSentry - by default, I think, queues up spams received and alerts you to them hourly. If you batch-report them to a GM at that point, the spammer is long-gone. That is: the character used to generate the spam has been deleted, so your report no longer helps Blizzard because apparently their logs don't correlate the character sending the spam-tells to the account name.
If you send a report the instant the spam is received, there's a chance that a GM will see it in time to do something about it. Based on their customer-service response time though, it seems unlikely.
Don't even bother reporting the spammers with spamsentry. Blizzard has already stated that they are overwhelmed by reports from that mod and their logging (apparently) isn't good enough to track the culprits - who usually fire off a barrage of spam and then delete the account.
Better use of spamsentry is this:/spamsentry options ignorebylevel 2
That'll ignore tells from all players below level 2. I have yet to see a spambot bother to level up a character. They may start doing that at some point, but by then, Blizzard's patch with the in-house spam controls will be available.
I bet most institutions would be dead in the water if this advice were taken quite literally, as Microsoft used BSD code in there TCP/IP stack for a long time. Goodbye 95/98/NT/2000.
Microsoft to this day, still has many tidbits of BSD code sprinkled throughout its Windows and Visual Studio codebases. I used to work on the Visual Studio team, and I'm still friends with a number of the devs over there. You can always do the classic:
strings c:\windows\system32\ftp.exe |grep Regents
and be treated to...
@(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
That's not necessarily a good way to do it either. Half the time the pump clicks off after ~8-10 gallons pumped, which I then have to top off the remaining 4-6 gallons. Sometimes is makes it closer to the 13 gallon mark before clicking off. I pretty much use the same gas station every time I fill up too.
I'm curious what vehicle you drive. The problem of a pump clicking off too early is usually due to the gas tank itself. I used to have an '87 Malibu Skier and that boat was a royal pain to fill from the pump for that very reason.
When soldiers with years of training in an enviroment where you're taught, often even brainwashed in how to kill, still manage to freeze up when it comes to shooting the enemy what makes you think a teacher would be capable of doing it?
Please, enough with the "soldiers are brainwashed" crap. Every time there's a gun argument on this forum, someone has to throw that out there.
I was taught to respect guns and use them responsibly from a young age, and they don't bother me. I served in the military, I'm a competent shooter, and now I carry a weapon in civilian life. All of those things are / were BY CHOICE. People in the service are not mindless automatons, no matter how much it makes you feel better to paint them that way.
It's easy to be an internet hero of course, but people who truly do manage to be heroes in real life are few and far between, it's not something you can choose to be, it's a case of being in the right place at the right time, being able to overcome your instinct to escape and then finally being able to actually carry out the plan - sadly many that do get this far even end up failing, all to often making the problem worse.
I can't for the life of me remember which school it was, but there was a high school shooting a couple years back (not Columbine) in the U.S. The shooter was stopped when another student, who got shot in the process, tackled and disarmed the shooter. He stood up and DID something, rather than hide under a desk to wait for the shooter to decide his fate. That bravery saved a lot of other kids.
Now every person is entitled to decide their own course of action in that circumstance. But for me, I'd rather be proactive if the opportunity presented itself. Granted you have more options if you're armed, but I can't fathom waiting around to be executed.
It pisses me off when people absolve themselves of any personal responsibility over their own safety, citing that as a job for law enforcement. I don't advocate taking the law into your own hands, but in an emergency situation, citizens are often the fastest means of response.
You wouldn't stand around waiting for medics to arrive if your professor was having a heart attack. You'd start CPR.
Interesting(?) fact... up until a year or two ago, there was a Church of Scientology prominently situated on the corner of 156th and Bel-Red road -- right next to Microsoft's main campus in Redmond. Since then though, it has shut down and the building is now home to a pawn shop.
Maybe after several years of failed attempts at recruiting Bill G., the Scientologists finally gave up? I don't really know... but I'm sure you guys can draw your own conclusions;)
I've had one serious issue with my current myth box since ~January 2007.
The problem I ran into was a periodic lockup. My processor (VIA Esther) was not fully supported by the kernel. Proper support for that processor finally showed up in the 2.6.21-rc6-mm1 patch, and I've been running cleanly since then on KnoppMyth R5E50.
I'm tempted to try out Ubuntu Myth, but my machine is stable at the moment and I don't want to mess with it. However, for people building new machines: KnoppMyth R5E50 out of the box has a lot of issues that must be resolved through trial-and-error or a lot of forum browsing.
"I'm submitting 'Supporting Open Source While Opposing Copyright' as a response to Greg Bulmash's piece from yesterday.
Then why not make the title of this article: "Supporting Open Source While Opposing Copyright", instead of repeating the same title from the previous article?
People who just scan titles, esp on RSS, are going to think this is a dupe.
I wonder why the HD-DVD people don't get together with the satellite people? Satellite TV is extremely secure and has never really been cracked successfully. Most cracks involve emulating a smartcard, which is easy since the smartcards still use early 80s technology. Even then, nobody has really done a crack that wasn't fixed within a week.
Satellite is providing a service. In other words, when you try to crack it, you are mucking with a transmission and the delivery of that (unpaid for) service can be detected.
HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are, ostensibly, providing a product. Sure the discs are encrypted, but they are still a physical medium that you possess and they are, so far, usable without being connected to a network. Therefore the means to decrypt must exist within the disc and the drive, and without a network, there's no way to notify Big Brother if you retrieve the keys in an unauthorized manner.
Granted, some players are network connected, but I don't think the studios are eager to require an internet and/or cable tv connection just to play a movie.
Slashdot Mirror
And thanks to the chinese labor market, replacing the crew will cost even less.
Unfortunately, after working on the sound-deadening lead-based hull coating, and eating a steady diet of diethylene glycol and melamine, the crew may have to be "rotate out" slightly more often than expected.
In case I sounded negative before: I have used postgres in several projects, both personal and professional. I think it is robust and stable, and I mostly agree with what you said.
Would I use it to handle a massively-multiplayer game, or a financial institution? No. Does it fit in for a lot of other projects. Yep.
- SEAL
I also really don't get the PostgreSQL is hard to use argument.
:-)
Did you try installing it on Windows a couple years ago?
One reason MySQL quickly gained popularity is that they provided a Windows version early on. It took a long time before PostgreSQL finally got around to building a Win32 version with an installer. (Regardless of my opinions of running a database on Windows... the userbase is still huge).
Performance isn't what causes a lack of acceptance in the marketplace for PostgreSQL.
The problem is twofold:
MySQL, as others have pointed out, has better developer support and they know their target audience. They supply a fast, easy to use database for those who don't need a whole lot.
Oracle supplies an enterprise level database that MySQL doesn't aspire to. PostgreSQL doesn't know where to fit in.
Do a little investigation on setting up PostgreSQL with fault tolerance and replication and you'll quickly see why large corporations cough up money for Oracle. Performance is one aspect of the price tag, but it is certainly not the only factor.
I apologize for the tone of my previous post. But I wanted to emphasize that the FUD can go both ways... both scaremongering, and covering up old problems.
I think the best way to advocate nuclear power is to focus on the improvements that have been made, and how different it is today from years past. I also think the public is blissfully unaware of the hazards created by coal-fired power plants in their backyards.
I am glad the Hanford facility was finally shut down. I have friends who grew up in the Tri-Cities area and now have to wonder if they'll be facing health issues related to that plant, later on in their adult lives. But I wouldn't mind seeing modern nuclear power plants in my state, if needed.
The thing is, with WA state, we're fortunate to generate a lot of power from hydroelectric sources. In fact our grid often exports power because of a surplus, and because we don't waste power on large amounts of air conditioning in the summer due to our location. Those factors remove a lot of the incentive to build new nuclear facilities here.
In the midwest, I think they make sense. The two main problems are: no one wants to front the funds needed to build a proper, modern nuclear plant with a full lifecycle plan on what to do with the spent fuel. And the other means of disposal (breeder-burner reactors) incur even more expense and red-tape due to federal oversight on plutonium production.
With power companies, though, it really boils down to price-performance. In order for nuclear to become more feasible, prices on other energy sources need to go up. Oil is a dwindling resource so its price is rising on its own. But coal is not, and I think the only way to make an impact on coal is through federal regulation. The EPA is probably the best bet, since the Supreme Court recently ruled that CO2 emissions should be regulated.
Generating clean power while reducing CO2 emissions is such a huge problem that no single technology will impact it very much. We need a combination of nuclear, solar, wind and other innovations to start making progress. Not only that, but I believe diversifying our energy sector is prudent from a national security standpoint.
- SEAL
and since no one is going to tolerate ads on their MythTV, or pay for the service, this is unlikely
Given the choice between:
1. paying Comcast's fees, DVR service, etc
2. paying Tivo or
3. paying for a subscription to an XML TV Listing service, and keeping my MythTV box
I'll take #3.
People will pay for it as long as no free alternatives are out there.
You are so full of crap I don't know the best place to begin.
As someone who has been a resident of WA state most of my life, I can tell you that:
In every year from the founding fathers up to the 1970's there were a LOT of companies disposing of waste improperly, and precisely NONE of it was nuclear waste. NONE OF IT.
is flat out wrong.
The Hanford site (I'm sure you've heard of it), produced weapons-grade plutonium as well as power for many years (first under the DOD, then under the civilian WPPS - Washington Public Power System). During its operation, Hanford released many radioactive isotopes into the Columbia river. They also stored waste products in single-lined barrels on-site that degraded and seeped into the ground water-table.
EVERY SINGLE MOLECULE OF WASTE HAS BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR!
"Accounted for" is not the same as "contained". But nice try.
People are incorrectly attributing the irresponsibility of power companies and heavy industry in the past over to the Nuclear industry
This distinction is irrelevant when you are talking about generating power from nuclear resources. The two are intertwined. In the other case (weapon production), you have the DOD running things, and their track record is no better.
If you want more information, have a search on Google for:
Hanford
Hanford Superfund
Columbia River radioactive waste
Downwinders
All that said, I am a proponent of nuclear power. Modern-day plants and waste storage solutions are much MUCH better than what was running at Hanford, and are overall less toxic than, say, a traditional coal burning power plant. But don't defend your points with bullshit.
The private sector *sometimes* works alongside public servants. Bounty hunters are an integral part of law enforcement in the U.S., and they are profitable without support of public funding.
However, the difference between them and the RIAA raids is that bounty hunters have to be licensed, even if they don't carry guns. Plus, in general, they are going after people who have jumped bail or violated parole conditions and have warrants out for their arrest.
The RIAA detaining people in the street who haven't been convicted of a crime, though? Pure crap, and they are probably violating laws themselves if they carry out these "raids" without police supervision. Just a guess, but from what I read in the article it seems they are specifically using these tactics on immigrant street vendors who may not speak English very well, and may not know their rights very well.
As an owner of a U.S.-legal Lotus Elise, I can say that the grandparent's number of 400 lbs for safety features is not far off the mark. My car is ~1900 lbs as opposed to the older European models which were ~1500 lbs (absent things like airbags, etc).
Beyond that, I agree with your points.
It still has the benefit that you can send data without using the (limited) electromagnetic spectrum, or laying down lines, both of which are expensive markets to enter. ... because hiring a team of quantum physicists, securing patents, and avoiding becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the NSA is so much cheaper?
My right to pursuit of happiness remains the same.
However, your name is tagged on them and could result in problems for you later on if they are shared by someone else. So you're basically losing your right to resell the merchandise (see: first-sale doctrine).
I'm not Michael Dell of course, but my guess is that Dell sees higher unit sales as an opportunity for higher sell-through numbers on their preinstalled trial software. They _already_ have a low margin on hardware sales; it's the preinstalled crapware, accessories, and subscription services / warranty that provide the majority of their profit.
Reaching more customers is rarely a bad thing.
It's always been true for retailers with limited space. No reason to waste shelf space on more than two products that fulfill the same demand in purchasers.
That, and competing suppliers like to ink contracts that exclude their competitors. How often do you find both Coca-Cola and Pepsi for sale in the same restaurant?
It really depends on the presentation. HP has been cashing in on their higher end PCs, as opposed to the bargain-basement stuff you'd expect in those retailers. The "media PCs" are the ones that catch eyeballs of people walking by in the stores.
If Dell can make a competitive offering like that then I it's not only smart, but necessary to stop the bleeding they've endured recently.
Either I'm missing something or this is a short-sighted move.
You're missing the minor point that HP is killing Dell lately, and HP sells most of their computers through traditional brick&mortar channels. Dell is trying to get back in the game.
Congress actually now classifies their pay raises as a "cost of living" increase, to skate around the restrictions imposed by the 27th Amendment.
Do you happen to have a reference for that?
It was an employee posting on their forums but unfortunately I don't have a link. The post I'm remembering though, mentioned the problem being SpamSentry's queued-spam reporting. SpamSentry - by default, I think, queues up spams received and alerts you to them hourly. If you batch-report them to a GM at that point, the spammer is long-gone. That is: the character used to generate the spam has been deleted, so your report no longer helps Blizzard because apparently their logs don't correlate the character sending the spam-tells to the account name.
If you send a report the instant the spam is received, there's a chance that a GM will see it in time to do something about it. Based on their customer-service response time though, it seems unlikely.
Don't even bother reporting the spammers with spamsentry. Blizzard has already stated that they are overwhelmed by reports from that mod and their logging (apparently) isn't good enough to track the culprits - who usually fire off a barrage of spam and then delete the account.
/spamsentry options ignorebylevel 2
Better use of spamsentry is this:
That'll ignore tells from all players below level 2. I have yet to see a spambot bother to level up a character. They may start doing that at some point, but by then, Blizzard's patch with the in-house spam controls will be available.
I bet most institutions would be dead in the water if this advice were taken quite literally, as Microsoft used BSD code in there TCP/IP stack for a long time. Goodbye 95/98/NT/2000.
Microsoft to this day, still has many tidbits of BSD code sprinkled throughout its Windows and Visual Studio codebases. I used to work on the Visual Studio team, and I'm still friends with a number of the devs over there. You can always do the classic:
strings c:\windows\system32\ftp.exe |grep Regents
and be treated to...
@(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
(note this is still present, even in Vista)
That's not necessarily a good way to do it either. Half the time the pump clicks off after ~8-10 gallons pumped, which I then have to top off the remaining 4-6 gallons. Sometimes is makes it closer to the 13 gallon mark before clicking off. I pretty much use the same gas station every time I fill up too.
I'm curious what vehicle you drive. The problem of a pump clicking off too early is usually due to the gas tank itself. I used to have an '87 Malibu Skier and that boat was a royal pain to fill from the pump for that very reason.
When soldiers with years of training in an enviroment where you're taught, often even brainwashed in how to kill, still manage to freeze up when it comes to shooting the enemy what makes you think a teacher would be capable of doing it?
Please, enough with the "soldiers are brainwashed" crap. Every time there's a gun argument on this forum, someone has to throw that out there.
I was taught to respect guns and use them responsibly from a young age, and they don't bother me. I served in the military, I'm a competent shooter, and now I carry a weapon in civilian life. All of those things are / were BY CHOICE. People in the service are not mindless automatons, no matter how much it makes you feel better to paint them that way.
It's easy to be an internet hero of course, but people who truly do manage to be heroes in real life are few and far between, it's not something you can choose to be, it's a case of being in the right place at the right time, being able to overcome your instinct to escape and then finally being able to actually carry out the plan - sadly many that do get this far even end up failing, all to often making the problem worse.
I can't for the life of me remember which school it was, but there was a high school shooting a couple years back (not Columbine) in the U.S. The shooter was stopped when another student, who got shot in the process, tackled and disarmed the shooter. He stood up and DID something, rather than hide under a desk to wait for the shooter to decide his fate. That bravery saved a lot of other kids.
Now every person is entitled to decide their own course of action in that circumstance. But for me, I'd rather be proactive if the opportunity presented itself. Granted you have more options if you're armed, but I can't fathom waiting around to be executed.
It pisses me off when people absolve themselves of any personal responsibility over their own safety, citing that as a job for law enforcement. I don't advocate taking the law into your own hands, but in an emergency situation, citizens are often the fastest means of response.
You wouldn't stand around waiting for medics to arrive if your professor was having a heart attack. You'd start CPR.
Microsoft is the equivalent of Catholocism. ;)
;)
Interesting(?) fact... up until a year or two ago, there was a Church of Scientology prominently situated on the corner of 156th and Bel-Red road -- right next to Microsoft's main campus in Redmond. Since then though, it has shut down and the building is now home to a pawn shop.
Maybe after several years of failed attempts at recruiting Bill G., the Scientologists finally gave up? I don't really know... but I'm sure you guys can draw your own conclusions
- SEAL
I've had one serious issue with my current myth box since ~January 2007.
The problem I ran into was a periodic lockup. My processor (VIA Esther) was not fully supported by the kernel. Proper support for that processor finally showed up in the 2.6.21-rc6-mm1 patch, and I've been running cleanly since then on KnoppMyth R5E50.
I'm tempted to try out Ubuntu Myth, but my machine is stable at the moment and I don't want to mess with it. However, for people building new machines: KnoppMyth R5E50 out of the box has a lot of issues that must be resolved through trial-and-error or a lot of forum browsing.
"I'm submitting 'Supporting Open Source While Opposing Copyright' as a response to Greg Bulmash's piece from yesterday.
Then why not make the title of this article: "Supporting Open Source While Opposing Copyright", instead of repeating the same title from the previous article?
People who just scan titles, esp on RSS, are going to think this is a dupe.
I wonder why the HD-DVD people don't get together with the satellite people? Satellite TV is extremely secure and has never really been cracked successfully. Most cracks involve emulating a smartcard, which is easy since the smartcards still use early 80s technology. Even then, nobody has really done a crack that wasn't fixed within a week.
Satellite is providing a service. In other words, when you try to crack it, you are mucking with a transmission and the delivery of that (unpaid for) service can be detected.
HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are, ostensibly, providing a product. Sure the discs are encrypted, but they are still a physical medium that you possess and they are, so far, usable without being connected to a network. Therefore the means to decrypt must exist within the disc and the drive, and without a network, there's no way to notify Big Brother if you retrieve the keys in an unauthorized manner.
Granted, some players are network connected, but I don't think the studios are eager to require an internet and/or cable tv connection just to play a movie.