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Thread: Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far

  1. #11
    AO Curmudgeon rcgreen's Avatar
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    I've been ranting about DRM for months, that it is, by definition, a trojan horse.
    As for the legalities, right now it's the wild wild west. They can say anything
    they want in a EULA. It's when it gets to court that issues get defined. You can sue them.
    Maybe you'll win. Maybe not. If you hack their copy protection, then they have
    to sue you if they hope to get satisfaction.

    The real worrisome thing is that stuff like this is only experimental, and that they
    are eventually going to ask government for a final solution, mandatory
    DRM designed in to all hardware and software.

    http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/
    I came in to the world with nothing. I still have most of it.

  2. #12
    The ******* Shadow dalek's Avatar
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    Looks like 2 schools of thought for this DRM stuff.

    DRM technology has its first two major trainwrecks
    Posted by David Berlind @ 1:09 pm

    Sooner or later, it was bound to happen — a Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) management technology that, by design, often keeps you from consuming that content on devices that use other DRM technologies actually ends up keeping you from consuming content that's protected by it as well. Talk about a trainwreck. Actually, in this case, we have two trainwrecks in one — trainwrecks that perfectly demonstrate how proprietary DRM technologies are going to turn the frictionless utopia we should be after into a friction-laden migraine headache.

    If you've been following my series on DRM and why we must stop being sheeple and delcare our inDRMpendence before it's too late (it is for some of us already), then you'd also know by now that we're in the midst of a content dumping crisis where some of the digital content we're downloading for free or buying today will only be viewable or playable on certain products tomorrow, while other digital content that we're acquiring will only be viewable/playable on other products. Imagine for example how upset you'd be if that CD you just purchased worked in your boombox, but not in your car. On its current course, that's where the world today's DRM technologies are leading us right now. It's a repeat of the VHS vs. Betamax war only far worse because of the way multiple proprietary/incompatible technologies have been successful at simultaneously penetrating the market.

    But going back to the VHS vs. Betamax war, imagine if you had a VHS machine and a bunch of VHS tapes and everything was working and then suddenly, after upgrading your VHS machine at the manufacturer's suggestion, your VHS tapes stopped working. Much the same way VHS tapes only work in VHS machines (and not Betamax machines), content wrapped in Microsoft's DRM technology only works in devices that are compliant with that technology. For example music purchased from Yahoo!'s Music Store (which recently doubled its prices) only works where Microsoft's playback and DRM technologies live together (ie: Windows Media Player or a PlaysforSure-compliant device). But DRM is software (complex software at that) and like all software, it is affected by upgrades. And when complex software is affected by upgrades, sometimes, things that once worked, stop working.

    Judging by Microsoft's MSDN Web site, this is apparently happening to some users of Microsoft's Media Center solutions. According to a blog entry by Aaron Stebner:

    I have heard of several folks running into issues playing protected content (such as purchased songs/movies, or HBO television shows) after installing Update Rollup 2 for Media Center 2005. As I described here, Update Rollup 2 installs an updated Digital Rights Management (DRM) redistributable package. We are still investigating reports of content protection problems in order to identify root causes and provide fixes. In the meantime, I wanted to offer some suggestions.

    Remediation involves resetting the DRM system and points to an entry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base that lists the necessary steps entitled The Windows Media Digital Rights Management system may not work if your computer hardware changes. Check it out. Can you imagine Grandma doing this? Perhaps it should be called "If anything can go wrong with DRM technology, it will". So, trainwreck #1 is where, in addition to making sure your content doesn't work on incompatible devices, now the DRM technology keeps the content from working on compatible ones. This was bound to happen and it will happen again. After all, with DRM-breaking technlogies like those of the Hymn Project and United Virtualities on the loose, DRM technologies will have to be like anti-virus technologies — staying one step ahead of the hackers and forcing people to upgrade their gear in the process.

    Trainwreck #2 is where, in Stebner's blog, it says that before you reset your DRM, you'll need to backup your content licenses through a feature called "Manage Licenses." Manage licenses? You've got to be kidding. So, not only will DRM technology restrict where and when I can enjoy my content, I may have to manage my licenses to that content as well? But wait, it gets better. Stebner goes onto say

    Some license issuers will not allow you to store backups of their license files….However, if you use these steps to reset the DRM system and do not have backup copies of your licenses, you will lose the ability to play any previously acquired protected content. If you have content that you do not want to lose, I would encourage you to wait until we can identify and post a fix.
    Ahhhh the VHS vs Betamax wars, I remember them it was at the same time I was trying to learn how to set the digital clock on the massive VHS player


    http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2083&tag=nl.e589
    PC Registered user # 2,336,789,457...

    "When the water reaches the upper level, follow the rats."
    Claude Swanson

  3. #13
    I just have to add this. I was working through the Washington State RCW and stumbled on this. It is codified in RCW 19.270. What Sony did with their "DRM" software is illegal in the State of Washington (USA). The damages section says you can recover actual damages or $100,000, whichever is greater. A judge is specifically given the authority to award up to three times the damages, plus costs and attorney fees.

    Ya'll move to Washington, copy the Sony stuff on and then file a claim. Yeeehaaaaaw!

  4. #14
    Man, sony sony sony, when are you gonna learn... You can't knock up someone, and then go after the A. Hole:
    http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/01...fter_the_.html
    This is where stuff starts to get a little bit more interesting. Rootkits in DRM, now they are trying to make it so that you need permission from the RIAA for any analog connections. Rediculous, rediculous.

    All I have to say, is I'm glad I know how to solder, and I have plenty of p2p'd copies of electronics textbooks so that when the **** comes down, i'll be the only guy in town able to use the massive amounts of TVs people are going to be throwing out. I'll finally be able to have my dream....A house with as many TVs as a sports bar, playing all the pirated content I've ever wanted.

  5. #15
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    OK can someone tell me where I am technically incorrect with this:

    1. If I can play something, I can re-record it without crapware?
    2. I can burn copies of my re-recording?

    And I DO know how to format and reinstall an OS In fact, maybe I will use one of my boxes with removable drives, and a drive just for ripping off Sony

    Ack! Phtt! this is arrogance, not intelligence. When will these guys learn that it is COMMERCIAL PIRACY that is their problem, not private individuals?

    Let me make it clear that I do not "steal" anyone's intellectual property.............I actually buy what I listen to, and have transaction records to prove it............I have actually been made redundant because of music piracy, so I can assure you that my position is based purely on practicality

    Just my £0.02

  6. #16
    Frustrated Mad Scientist
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    I think that virtual sound cards are available.

    Music is puched through that which can then be recorded as a straight wav then re-encoded to MP3 or whatever.

    http://www.highcriteria.com/main_pro...trsdk_info.htm

  7. #17
    Senior Member hesperus's Avatar
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    Originally posted here by nihil
    OK can someone tell me where I am technically incorrect with this:

    1. If I can play something, I can re-record it without crapware?
    2. I can burn copies of my re-recording?
    Maybe not for long :
    Hollywood has unveiled a powerful new technology which it hopes will help kill the pirating of movies. The system relies on sound – not vision – and was unveiled at a conference held by the international DVD Forum in Paris, France.
    http://www.newscientist.com/article....ne-news_rss20.


    And interestingly, Sony is preparing to issue a patch through AV companies. No mention of an uninstaller, though.

    Sony BMG Music Entertainment and a technology partner are working with antivirus companies on a fix for a potential security problem in some copy-protected CDs.
    http://news.com.com/Sony+to+patch+co...8608&subj=news
    .

  8. #18
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Lol, I love this. They don't want you downloading the albums and not paying for it, yet they do something that makes you not want to EVER buy it. Like, HELLO JACK ASS, if you do things like this people are more likely to download it to not screw the computer in the ass they want to listen to it with.

    .... Who the hell buys these albums from them? My whole CD collection has nothing like this at all. And just to piss Sony off more, if you see an album you want and it's an older one but the Copyright **** is on there, go to Ebay and buy the older version without the bullshit on it. Make sure you take it home and rip it and make a legal back up copy and store it in your friend's CD collection as off site storage.

    If you get in trouble, tell them you didn't want to buy it again in case of a fire at your house so you're using a friend for offsite storage, that should hold up in court with the right Judge.

    I left a sticker on my first computer I ever bought. The sticker reads:

    "Download MP3 Music files off the web
    Create custom music CDs with the HP CD Writer Plus".

    I ever get caught, I'll play stupid and say I thought they were instructions. Works for everyone else claiming stupidity and ignorance, hell, a sticker is proof I'm not making it up. And hell, it WAS the first computer I EVER bought, how was I supposed to know it was an advertisement for a CD-Writer?... Buahahahahahahaha.

  9. #19
    gore: yer a gem!

  10. #20
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    And you're.... A guy in Depends from the looks of your pic in the BG thread

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