Actually, forging a signature while someone is watching is a lot harder than making a fake ID. Cashiers aren't supposed to check your ID, but they are supposed to check that your signature matches (and no, you don't have to be a handwriting expert to do it). Most of them just do the opposite.
I don't know, but I suspect the answers are (1) yes, because it's no longer a policy about credit cards; (2) no, because it's such an obvious loophole that the merchant contract probably covers it.
You could send an email to Visa's customer service.. they were very helpful with my questions about ID checking.
The only possible and marginal exception to this would be Verizon's solution, but I cannot comment on something I do not know (can it even play non-DRM'ed audio files?) Secondly, how easy is it to get a decently encoded MPEG or AVI on your phone with a 2.2" display AT MOST and probably using some in-house, proprietary software, if any? My Verizon phone is the Samsung SCH-U740, and it supports MP3 and WMA files (the latter with or without DRM). For video, it uses 3GP, a standard format based on MPEG-4 that you can produce with several free encoders.
Getting the files onto the phone is as easy as mounting a microSD card and copying them into the appropriate directories, but you probably need to use sync software (e.g. Windows Media Player) if you don't have a card reader.
Fair enough. EVDO coverage is, however, widespread enough that it'd make plenty of sense to release an iPhone that could take advantage of it - but Apple sold out to Cingular, so they can't.
Thanks for pointing this out. I'm so sick of being asked for ID when I use my credit card. BTW, here's a PDF of the merchant rules - page 29 also mentions the "See ID" nonsense.
Remember: if you try to buy something with your Visa, but they won't let you because you won't show your ID, you can file a complaint against the merchant by calling (800) VISA-911. So far I've never had to make the call, just had to threaten it.
In a very technical sense maybe. It still seems to work when I buy stuff with it. That's because the merchants you buy from, like most merchants (it seems), are more than happy to violate the agreement they signed when they started accepting credit cards.
What they're supposed to do when you present your unsigned card is check your ID, make you sign the card in front of them, and then compare your signature on the card to the one on your ID. That's the only time a merchant can require you to show ID before using your card.
Well, a lot of people seem to get pretty good speeds from Verizon's EVDO. The whole first page of test results is >600 kbps - 50% more than EDGE's theoretical maximum.
Speaking as a "geek," I know I've seen oodles of phones with music players and MP3 capability, but it would be a lie for me to say that the majority of them are worth replacing an iPod or similar (for reference, check the RAZR with iTunes line and see what I mean...) Er.. the capacity of the iPhone is what, 4 gigs? Maybe 8 if you splurge? I have twice that much on my iPod, and my music collection is nothing compared to what my friends have. That wide screen is an invitation to fill it up with video, but with the iPhone's limited capacity, you can only hold enough video for one or two plane trips.
My phone might not be a very good music player, but at least it has an SD slot so I can expand it!
Correction: Apple is now planning to sell DRM-free tunes. As far as I can tell, they aren't doing it yet, and they were unable to answer my question about how much it'd cost to upgrade an album purchased today to DRM-free format when it becomes available.
EDGE's theoretical maximum is 473 kbps, while EVDO's is 2.4 Mbps - five times as fast. Real world performance is more like 800-1200 kbps, which is still four times the real-world performance you can expect from EDGE.
AFAIK, you can't burn CSS keys to a DVD-R for Authoring disc either. (cite 1, 2, 3)
As I mentioned in another response, copy protection is always limited in the type of copying it intends to prevent. A game that requires you to enter words from the manual only prevents the type of copying where you just give someone a copy of the disk--it doesn't stop anyone who's willing to scan or photocopy the whole manual--but that's still a form of copy protection. Likewise, CSS prevents you from copying one DVD onto another. Sure, you can make copies, but those copies won't be DVDs.
That means that consumer-grade burners and media are defective, it doesn't mean that CSS is a copy protection technology. It means the system of encrypted DVDs and intentionally limited DVD burners/media is a copy protection system. It isn't an accident that you can't write to the CSS key area on DVD-Rs.
Or use non-defective media (of which there is no consumer-grade versions, but as you note a professional DVD press will work fine), By that logic, there have never been any copy protection systems. Those old floppies with holes in them don't keep you from making a copy, they just mean you have to copy the holes too, right? You can make a copy by breaking into the factory at night and running the copier/hole-puncher yourself, or mount an image of the floppy with a virtual hole emulator, or just crack the software so it doesn't care about missing holes... therefore holes aren't a copy protection system!
Sorry, but that definition is so limited, it's useless. Copy protection systems are necessarily limited in the type of copying they're meant to prevent. Remember the games where you had to type in words out of the manual? Those didn't prevent copying of the disk at all; they just prevented effective copying by people who didn't have the patience to photocopy the whole manual or the skill to crack the game. But it was still a form of copy protection.
CSS is an access control system, but the fact that copying a DVD to another DVD requires access means that it also serves as copy protection. Sure, you can copy the data on a DVD to something that isn't a DVD (and therefore isn't really a copy), or bribe the guy working the DVD press to make some extra copies for you, or you can just break CSS and make your own decrypted copy.. but none of that changes the fact that CSS presents an obstacle to making copied DVDs at home, by design.
Not quite. The encryption on DVDs is a copy protection measure, and so is the encryption on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs (AFAIK - I'm not as familiar with their technical details).
People who don't understand how it works usually come back with the response, "But you can just make a bit-for-bit copy!" Well, no, you can't, unless you work in a DVD manufacturing plant. With consumer-grade burners and media, it's impossible to burn a working encrypted disc, because you can't write to the area where the keys are supposed to be stored; the only way to make a working copy of the movie is to decrypt it first.
If humans have an abundance of freewill, is it really surprising that less complex but similar creatures may have a small share? Only to those whose religious beliefs lead them to think humans are categorically different from every other species.
I thought Rand's ideas held together well enough within the laboratory confines of her books' covers. Back to the Future's ideas hold together pretty well within the confines of the movie series, too.
But that's not to say it's not very, very influential. Look at how many post-Halo games restrict you to a realistic amount of weapons? You mean like Rise of the Triad (1995) and Rainbow Six (1998)?
So even if you reproduce two frequencies that are not audible by humans, their beat frequency often can be eared.
But you have to have a very high fidelity sound system to reproduce these frequencies, so for most consumers, the sampling frequency of a CD is Okay. I think the more likely explanation is that if you own a "very high fidelity sound system", it means you've spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to get a slight improvement in sound quality, and you'll think you hear a difference whether it's actually there or not... because you know that if you don't hear a difference, you're just a sucker.
DVR owners still watch a hell of a lot of live TV. The point of a DVR is not to enable you not to watch shows that are on while you're watching TV; the point of a DVR is to allow you to watch shows when you otherwise couldn't. Since I bought a TiVo, I barely ever watch live TV. Why would I want to flip through the guide, desperately looking for something to watch, when I've got hundreds of hours of recorded shows I know I like? Why would I even want to remember what time my shows are on when TiVo does it for me? Why would I want to sit through a commercial break with no way to fast-forward?
I think the people who have a DVR but still watch a lot of live TV are mainly either new owners who haven't set up enough series recordings yet, or they have crappy DVRs that make it difficult to set up recordings or just don't hold very much.
So how do you handle extensions? You know, someone calls you, and you want to say, "Honey, pick up an extension." so you can talk together. Do you just 3-way the call? I suppose I'd pass the phone back and forth, or use speakerphone. I've never really felt the need to have a 3-way conversation.
And how do you handle guests? Do you simply assume that if they want to make a call, they just use their own cell phone? Everyone I know has a cell phone, so yes, or they can borrow mine if they need to.
Oh, and how do you handle devices that need to "dial home" periodically? (ReplayTV box, DirecTV box, etc.) I don't know about DirecTV receivers, but TiVo and ReplayTV can both use a LAN instead of a phone line for all their updates.
And that might be a better choice anyway, depending on how your outlets are set up. For example, I only have two phone jacks: one in the kitchen, and one across the living room from the cable jack. To hook up both of my DVRs to the phone line, I'd need to run one wire across the living room and another from the bedroom to the kitchen.. but with WiFi, there's no problem.
There are a number of ways you are allowed to innovate using same sequence of words, parody, derivative works, education, etc There are also a number of ways I'm not allowed to innovate. Remixes, mash-ups, sampling, fan fiction, etc. can only be done legally by begging or bribing for permission, and even parodies aren't entirely safe. See the Grey Album, Dylan Hears A Who, and The Wind Done Gone for examples of copyright stifling new art. For examples of copyright stifling innovative ways to enjoy existing art, see the DVD releases of old TV shows whose original soundtrack had to be ripped out because the rights couldn't be re-obtained.
If you are using the same sequence of words just to repeat them, then you are not innovating. Please note that "stifling innovation" was only one of my objections. Just because some speech isn't innovative doesn't mean it should be prohibited either.
I don't see why this tech would prevent you from upgrading your TiVo hardware, even if you copied the data over. You could still only "read" (playback) the data on the TiVo itself. Because in order to write that data to the new drive, I had to read it off of the original drive first. If TFA's tech were in place, I wouldn't have been able to read it at all without doing some kind of hot-swap trick.
Some series 2 TiVos lock the disk in such a way that to upgrade you need to boot up the TiVo to have it unlock the drive, and then move the drive to your PC while it is still powered up. I had to do this with my second TiVo, but not with my Series 3. I don't know if that's the stuff from this patent, but I wouldn't be surprised. Yeah, that sounds more like it. I had to do something similar to mod my Xbox. Didn't have to do it on either of my Series2 TiVos, though.
Also, yes, you can read the data stored on it. That doesn't mean you own the data or that the vendor is required to give you the decryption key, or that you can redistribute and copy it as you please. I never said they had to give me any key, never said anything about redistributing or copying the data (which, in any case, would be data that I recorded, not licensed, so I'd have the same rights as I would to a TV show I recorded onto VHS), and the laughable idea of "owning" numbers is irrelevant here. What I'm talking about is having read and write access to a hard drive I own.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, forging a signature while someone is watching is a lot harder than making a fake ID. Cashiers aren't supposed to check your ID, but they are supposed to check that your signature matches (and no, you don't have to be a handwriting expert to do it). Most of them just do the opposite.
I don't know, but I suspect the answers are (1) yes, because it's no longer a policy about credit cards; (2) no, because it's such an obvious loophole that the merchant contract probably covers it.
You could send an email to Visa's customer service.. they were very helpful with my questions about ID checking.
Getting the files onto the phone is as easy as mounting a microSD card and copying them into the appropriate directories, but you probably need to use sync software (e.g. Windows Media Player) if you don't have a card reader.
Fair enough. EVDO coverage is, however, widespread enough that it'd make plenty of sense to release an iPhone that could take advantage of it - but Apple sold out to Cingular, so they can't.
Thanks for pointing this out. I'm so sick of being asked for ID when I use my credit card. BTW, here's a PDF of the merchant rules - page 29 also mentions the "See ID" nonsense.
Remember: if you try to buy something with your Visa, but they won't let you because you won't show your ID, you can file a complaint against the merchant by calling (800) VISA-911. So far I've never had to make the call, just had to threaten it.
Then it sounds like you were taught wrong. See page 29 of the Rules for Visa Merchants (PDF).
What they're supposed to do when you present your unsigned card is check your ID, make you sign the card in front of them, and then compare your signature on the card to the one on your ID. That's the only time a merchant can require you to show ID before using your card.
Do banks even give those out anymore?
Here are some speed test results. myvzw.com is the domain for all Verizon Wireless internet access: 1xRTT (slow), EVDO rev 0, and EVDO rev A.
Well, a lot of people seem to get pretty good speeds from Verizon's EVDO. The whole first page of test results is >600 kbps - 50% more than EDGE's theoretical maximum.
Maybe the network is just slow in your area?
My phone might not be a very good music player, but at least it has an SD slot so I can expand it!
Actually, there's coast-to-coast 3G coverage in the USA. We just don't put a "W" in our "CDMA".
Correction: Apple is now planning to sell DRM-free tunes. As far as I can tell, they aren't doing it yet, and they were unable to answer my question about how much it'd cost to upgrade an album purchased today to DRM-free format when it becomes available.
EDGE's theoretical maximum is 473 kbps, while EVDO's is 2.4 Mbps - five times as fast. Real world performance is more like 800-1200 kbps, which is still four times the real-world performance you can expect from EDGE.
AFAIK, you can't burn CSS keys to a DVD-R for Authoring disc either. (cite 1, 2, 3)
As I mentioned in another response, copy protection is always limited in the type of copying it intends to prevent. A game that requires you to enter words from the manual only prevents the type of copying where you just give someone a copy of the disk--it doesn't stop anyone who's willing to scan or photocopy the whole manual--but that's still a form of copy protection. Likewise, CSS prevents you from copying one DVD onto another. Sure, you can make copies, but those copies won't be DVDs.
Sorry, but that definition is so limited, it's useless. Copy protection systems are necessarily limited in the type of copying they're meant to prevent. Remember the games where you had to type in words out of the manual? Those didn't prevent copying of the disk at all; they just prevented effective copying by people who didn't have the patience to photocopy the whole manual or the skill to crack the game. But it was still a form of copy protection.
CSS is an access control system, but the fact that copying a DVD to another DVD requires access means that it also serves as copy protection. Sure, you can copy the data on a DVD to something that isn't a DVD (and therefore isn't really a copy), or bribe the guy working the DVD press to make some extra copies for you, or you can just break CSS and make your own decrypted copy.. but none of that changes the fact that CSS presents an obstacle to making copied DVDs at home, by design.
Not quite. The encryption on DVDs is a copy protection measure, and so is the encryption on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs (AFAIK - I'm not as familiar with their technical details).
People who don't understand how it works usually come back with the response, "But you can just make a bit-for-bit copy!" Well, no, you can't, unless you work in a DVD manufacturing plant. With consumer-grade burners and media, it's impossible to burn a working encrypted disc, because you can't write to the area where the keys are supposed to be stored; the only way to make a working copy of the movie is to decrypt it first.
But you have to have a very high fidelity sound system to reproduce these frequencies, so for most consumers, the sampling frequency of a CD is Okay. I think the more likely explanation is that if you own a "very high fidelity sound system", it means you've spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to get a slight improvement in sound quality, and you'll think you hear a difference whether it's actually there or not... because you know that if you don't hear a difference, you're just a sucker.
I think the people who have a DVR but still watch a lot of live TV are mainly either new owners who haven't set up enough series recordings yet, or they have crappy DVRs that make it difficult to set up recordings or just don't hold very much.
And that might be a better choice anyway, depending on how your outlets are set up. For example, I only have two phone jacks: one in the kitchen, and one across the living room from the cable jack. To hook up both of my DVRs to the phone line, I'd need to run one wire across the living room and another from the bedroom to the kitchen.. but with WiFi, there's no problem.