New Copy Protection to Make Playing DVDs on a PC Difficult 557
The Cowardly Pirate writes "ZDNet's Hardware 2.0 blog is reporting that new copy-protection software for DVD publishers from a company called ProtectDisc not only makes it difficult to rip movies that you've purchased but also prevents discs from playing in a Windows PC at all. From the article: 'Protect DVD-Video is the brainchild of a company called ProtectDisc. Part of the copy-protection mechanism is a non-standard UDF (Universal Disc Format) file system which results in the IFO file on the DVD (this is the file responsible for storing information on chapters, subtitles and audio tracks) appearing to the PC as being zero bytes long.'"
DVD Jon (Score:5, Funny)
Re:DVD Jon (Score:5, Interesting)
Or: Fingers on the shift key!
It's always great to hear about new hacks, designed to keep us from watching our purchased content, likely to keep some legitimate players from being able to play the content, and which will be quickly and simply foiled by some low-tech solution. It's hard to believe companies want to be in this business of "content protection" (but of course they are, because a solid, secure protection system is the holy grail for content providers). Thanks a lot, Hollywood, we love you, too.
Re:DVD Jon (Score:4, Interesting)
You would purchase this? I suppose people must do... personally, I don't own DVD players, I watch everything through my computer, so the only way I could watch it would be to download it.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:DVD Jon (Score:4, Interesting)
Disney, for one, has never used the DVD-Video logo, They have their own "Disney DVD" logo that they've been using all along.
Re:DVD Jon (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wow, that would be so much fun. (Score:5, Insightful)
Tutorial: How to prevent ANY PC from playing it (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tutorial: How to prevent ANY PC from playing it (Score:4, Funny)
No use.. someone will apply the word "hack" literally.
Re:Tutorial: How to prevent ANY PC from playing it (Score:5, Funny)
http://www.dvdshrink.org/what.html [dvdshrink.org]
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:DVD Jon (Score:5, Informative)
Funny stuff. No, really.
Re:DVD Jon (Score:4, Interesting)
At the very least, ISO Buster [isobuster.org] shouldn't have any problems with it. There are many other utilities out there. I don't have an example with a screwed up IFO to test, but I suspect the popular freebie utility Daemon Tools [daemon-tools.cc] could do it, too -- it would just treat the disc in the drive as an image.
obDoctrow (Score:5, Funny)
Re:obDoctrow (Score:5, Interesting)
I first read "brainchild" as "child's brain"
I still do.
You see, whenever somebody invents a such pathetic copy protection for specific software (read: UDF filesystem driver) you have to keep in mind that the only device that is 100% surely programmable to avoid the protection is.. TA-DA.. the COMPUTER!!! [Applause]
This is a 1-day job for any CD/DVD writer software author, to read the raw and use it in another way.
So, some person will lose 1 day in life walking around this `protection`, the other `hackers` will lose 1 googling minute for finding, downloading, installing and finally playing the DVD.
This is why the entropy principle is there to stay! These sort of thoughts/inventions will never _create_ information
You misunderstand their motives (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:DVD Jon (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Even more funny, the DVD ripping forums are full of people explaining how to use "rollback" software to fool AnyDVD into thinking it's never been installed, so that you can just keep re-using it without paying. Of course, this rollback software is also copy-protected.
But I'm sure we all use AnyDVD to bypass FBI warnings
Good for the goose, good for the gander, I say.
Cause being incompatible is good, right? (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't see how that can avoid being read by a computer with the proper drivers and software and yet stay compatible with the vast installed base of DVD players. Note: I have had a DVD-R, burned by a FOAF which would not play in any PC DVD player I owned, and I tried at least 7 different drives. It would play find in all three SO dvd players I tried. It reportedly was readable in the drive that burned it, but that PC was out of commission (don't know the problem). I don't know what was screwed up, but I hope the studios don't ever get thier hands on it*.
*I suspect it was just some odd bit errors or bad tracks that messed with the FS - maybe not unlike the topic system. I did not try to read it with Linux, as I did not have a machine that had it loaded at the time.
Re:DVD Jon (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh come on. Breaking copy protection on data is easy. You don't need to be a genius hacker. Just try, as in just take a look. Dump the beginning of a protected DVD (dd is one tool for that), then compare what you see to specs on the UDF file system, or whatever it is, and you'll see stuff-- stuff like setting the file size to 0. In many cases the copy protection will fall right over because it's that pathetic. Change a few bytes (like, set the file size to the correct amount), and viola! Broken. That's why all those licenses say it's a violation to reverse engineer, etc. They know their stuff won't stand up to even casual examination.
Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:5, Interesting)
Just the other night we had more DVDs to watch than TVs and players. Our daughter wanted to watch her Smallville (purchased), and we were watching one of our circulating Blockbuster "mailer" DVDs.
She was delighted when I showed her how to watch her DVD on the upstairs computer -- she hadn't known that was possible. Problem solved, everybody happy.
But, now this? What the hey? So now potentially what she presumably knows about watching on an alternative device could not work, and she wouldn't know why -- yes, the article mentions the latest new "tool" that "effortlessly" bypasses the security, but again, What the Hey? She isn't going to know about that tool, or how to use it, and I'm about as sick and tired as I can be of setting up the workarounds for restrictions that shouldn't even exist.
Interestingly, the article mentions (emphasis mine):
I only almost agree with that -- "they" in this case seem to be blurring the line between use-use and piracy. Each day I toss a coin to decide who annoys me more -- media "providers" or spammers. It's a close call.
I used to wonder whether the DVD industry would totally shoot itself in the foot with the HD vs. BluRay DVD wars coupled with intrusive DRM, sending potential customers away in droves. If this new protection technology is for existing DVDs (it's not clear from the article), they could send existing DVD customers away in droves. I no longer about the sanity of the industry -- I worry about the sanity of artists allowing contracts for their "art" to be wrapped in technology like this, I wonder why they allow it.
(Interesting (and I think important) aside: I recently updated the firmware on my Creative Vision:M mp3 player, a player I've absolutely loved for its features, ergonomics, screen quality, you name it, there was hardly a thing about it I could find fault with. As the new firmware was installing I browsed the release notes... looking for the standard blah blah blah on what's fixed, what's new. The very last line of the notes said (paraphrasing), This firmware upgrade will disable your FM recording capability(!). WTF? It was too late for me to stop the upgrade -- sure enough, I now have a Creative Vision:M sans FM recording capability, (a feature which I was quite fond of)! Creative doesn't say whether it's RIAA induced, I have no idea why they did this... but if it IS more DRM crap, what a crock!)
(Other aside: I love that the ad for the slashdot page for the "read more" for me was an HD-DVD ad...)
Re: Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:5, Insightful)
Eventually only the hackers will be able to watch movies and play games on their computer.
Re: Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:5, Funny)
If watching a DVD is a crime then only criminals will watch DVDs.
Re: Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately the *AAs could not care less if you watch/listen to their products. All they care about is that you *buy* their product.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Dunno if Creative has released any official information, though.
Nathan
Creative: prepare to pay the lawyers (Score:5, Interesting)
If you want to see Creative punished (you won't benefit, class action suits never actually benefit the consumer), take a screen grab of anything on their site that still shows this capability, and then email it to the proper vultures.
jh
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
So yes, class actions are abused 99% of the time, and the lawyers are the only ones who benefit, but "never" is a harsh word.
Re:Creative: prepare to pay the lawyers (Score:4, Funny)
Hey! That's not true...I got like $12 from that CD price-fixing lawsuit about four years ago to reimburse me for the money I lost paying too much for the 500 or so CD's that I own. That's twelve whole dollars, man!
I probably spent it on a CD...
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
The sad thing is that people will probably still be buying them.
Re: Message to DVD industry: Byte Me! (Score:5, Insightful)
Nah, the protection won't kick in until the main feature. You'll always be abe to see the trailers and commercials, no doubt.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Don't call them artists... (Score:5, Insightful)
Artists to me are people that attempt to share a unique, creative and inspired vision through sound and vision (or the combination of the two.)
(Yes I realize 'art' is subjective, but I'm talkin strictly to the movie/music type here.)
When it comes to the **AA's and their international counterparts, all we get is rehashed, same old same old in order to service a businesses bottom line.
Yes, because housing & food are sooo crasss (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, because it is crass and unseemly when hardworking artists try and look out for their own interests, pay for a decent roof over their family's head, food on the table, have medical and dental costs, pe
Re:Don't call them artists... (Score:5, Insightful)
First off, I didn't say that. I even noted at the bottom that I was refering to the **AA's specifically.
Second, I hope I don't sound like a snob or something. I buy DVD's and have CD's. I'm just saying, my opinion is that, to me, they aren't "artists." They're more akin to a service provider. It's a business.
An artist can charge for their wares, but by working under the banner of a giant corporation with a contract that says "You must produce x amount of work over y period of time." that isn't producing "true art" by my definition. That's no different than doing what a manager tells you to for any other company. That's a job.
Art is more akin to science. It should be created for the pleasure, the interest and the mystique of thinking of new things, ideas, and the interest in sharing them.
Can you charge for it? Sure. If you make something people want to pay for, then by all means.
And the argument that "These people are screwed by **AA's and just trying to survive..." Fuck, I will bet dollars to donuts that most groups you hear on Clear Channel, see on MTV and who are prominently displayed up front at Best Buy just want lots of money. A lot of them even say it outloud. They aren't artists. At least not in my opinion. They entertain for a fee. They sell a service produced to generate the most income. Their decision to get into that line of work, under potentially shitty conditions, is their own choice.
Downgrade while you still can... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.epizenter.net/e107_plugins/forum/forum
I would send a nasty letter to Creative when you're done downgrading too, but that's just me. I know I sent one to Apple when they castrated iTunes' ability to share over the internet, a feature that I had used all the time to listen to my music while studying or working in another building.
Companies need to know that we won't just bend over and let them fuck us with little "upgrades" like that, at least not without noticing.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Since you didn't mention otherwise, I'm going to assume that you still use iTunes? How exactly is that not "bending over?" If that feature was really that important to you, you would switched to using WinAmp and Shoutcast (or something similar). It's doubtful that Apple cares what you think is important to you. That doesn't affect your buying decision. They're more intere
Security policy (Score:5, Insightful)
As a content provider, I agree with you. (Score:3, Insightful)
But this is a step WAY too far for DRM.
I often watch DVDs on my laptop, its a great feature, and its totally insane to prevent me as a consumer from doing this, with DVDs I have BOUGHT.
We now are in a situation where:
95% of content prov
Ooh! More great news! (Score:5, Informative)
I love reading stuff like this. I hope that they lock DVDs down so tight that no one can even play them on their regular players. Then, when the next blockbuster movie sell a grand total of four DVDs, maybe the movie and television studios will finally realize how much money this is costing them.
And seriously, can I see a quick show of hands of everyone who thinks that this will keep people from copying DVDs?...
Yeah, that's what I thought, and neither do I.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
TGFH (Thank God For HandBrake) (Score:5, Informative)
Agreed. I hardly even watch movies straight from DVD anymore. Even if I'm just going to watch it once, I just run them through HandBrake first. That way I don't have to deal with crappily designed menus, FBI warnings, and mandatory-view advertisements. (Because yes, Virginia, a "preview" is just an advertisement for another movie.)
I've told more than one other person about HandBrake and now they do the same thing. I wouldn't call it quite "Grandma friendly" yet (although the stripped-down iPod version is) but it's pretty close. If the person you're instructing knows the difference between a Phillips screw and a Torx, they can probably deal with HandBrake.
Re:Ooh! More great news! (Score:5, Insightful)
More likely they'll blame piracy.
Re:Ooh! More great news! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ooh! More great news! (Score:5, Interesting)
They will, however, play on my set-top after I "process" them on my computer.
Is this what the movie industry wants?
Re:Ooh! More great news! (Score:4, Interesting)
It absolutely refuses to play copy-"protected" CDs. If he puts one in it will refuse to function in any way until the disk is removed again, due to function locking while the disk is loading. The kicker is that if he copies the disk on his computer (which will luckily read the "protected" CDs just fine), the Denon player accepts the copy right away, every single time.
So the only way for him to play copy-"protected" CDs is by copying the damn things! How's that for ironic?
I would not be surprised at all if it acted the same way with these new "protected" DVDs.
Re:Ooh! More great news! (Score:4, Interesting)
This will get broken just like every other measure, and the break will get incorporated into the same software people are already using to copy DVDs, and within a couple of months you won't even know there's any protection on the disc when you go to copy it.
Another thing it will do is to force people who otherwise would not copy their DVDs to do so, so that the copies will then be playable on their PCs. I already know people who have done this when they unknowingly bought out-of-region DVDs from eBay or while on vacation. They're not pirates, they just want to watch what they bought.
Really? (Score:5, Funny)
Movies: the Gathering (Score:5, Funny)
"I tap my 'Ghostbusters' and my 'Stripes' to power my Bill Murray's Sarcastic Comment Attack..."
"Well, I counter with my Renee Zellweger's Pinchy Faced Squint Attack, so let's see, my Zellweger is destroyed, but your Murray takes six points of damage, and I tap my 'Showgirls' to power a Flashbulb of the Paparazzi and finish him off."
"Damn! Your turn..."
Not a DVD (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Not a DVD (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah. That showed 'em.
Re:Not a DVD (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, yes, it did.
Suddenly we were provided with an easy to see visual clue that the enclosed disk may not be able to be used as we expect. This helped people avoid those disks that weren't compliant with the CD standard.
Bastards (Score:5, Informative)
Note: This doesn't mean I'm going to stop watching movies. Do the fucking math, MPAA.
Re:Bastards (Score:4, Interesting)
XBox? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I'd hardly call the XBox small.
that's terrible (Score:5, Funny)
I don't know about you, but the only DVDs I watch on my computer are in DIVX format and come from sweden. GG MPAA.
Nothing to see here (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Um, someone who want's to bypass all the non-skipable trailers (commercials), FBI warnings, and other crap and just play the friggin movie??? If you have a child, you know how fsking obnoxios disney movies are. Yep, rip em down to Mpeg4 and play via Mythtv.
UDF? (Score:5, Funny)
Not very universal if it's non-standard, now, is it?
A workaround already exists (Score:5, Informative)
Of course the encryption is already broken. From the article:
Nice try. I'll give you a cookie.Learn Dammit (Score:4, Informative)
Nonstandard format- (Score:5, Insightful)
Home Theater PCs (Score:5, Interesting)
anydvd has already bypassed this (Score:5, Interesting)
With the latest release of AnyDVD, version 6.0.8.0, SlySoft has again confirmed its position as the market leader in providing video DVD decryption software. With this version it is now possible to bypass the new "Protect DVD-Video" copy protection which first appeared on the DVD "Silent Hill" (german rental version).
Among other mechanisms, Protect DVD-Video comes up with a messed-up UDF file system, in which an IFO file appears with a zero-byte length on a regular PC. The unsurprising result is that these DVDs will refuse to run on a Windows PC with Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center Edition or all software players that are based on DirectShow (e.g. the very popular ZoomPlayer).
"With this copy protection the film industry clearly overshot the mark", says Giancarlo Bettini, CEO at SlySoft. "The premium customer who spent a lot of money on his multimedia home cinema and who, for quality reasons, would never even consider watching anything else but an original DVD, is being slapped in the face. These customers with their shelves stuffed with rightfully aquired DVDs, can't watch their videos."
This is incredible nonsense! Any Media Center freak will have no choice but to install AnyDVD on his PC in order to watch his original DVD." "The film industry should actually thank us for taking care of their premium customers so well. Maybe one day I'll be nominated for an Oscar", Bettini adds with a grin.
Background info: The company ProtectDisc is being run by Volkmar Breitfeld, also managing director of ACE (FluxDVD copy protection). Remarkably enough, Volkmar Breitfeld was previously known for creating copy protection circumventing products like InstantCopy or InstantCD/DVD, before he changed fronts to selling copy protection mechanisms.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Those protections are moronic and only get in the way of legitimate users. People that know what they are doing (tech educated, hackers...) will be able to find an appropriate tool in minutes. This "protection" would probably not even stop a ripper program...
Re:anydvd has already bypassed this (Score:4, Insightful)
The chain of unlawfulness is solid up until the point that the decryption is created or used by an enduser for any specifically exempted purpose, including fair use. I don't hink Antigua gives a rats ass about the US wrt the DMCA, and I doubt that the US government is going to do anything about it.
And just how many regular DVD players will choke? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm sure this will be much better than... (Score:4, Interesting)
Safedisc. Or Discguard. Or Safecast. Or SecuROM. Or...
Oh hell. Here's the list of those who have gone before. [cdmediaworld.com]
So what? (Score:4, Insightful)
On anther rant, Linux machines won't be affected by this. Even if I bought one of these disks it would only stop me from using it on my work computer, not my laptop, not any of my homebrew computers or my Mac Mini.
So why does anyone care?
You know what's really sad...? (Score:3, Funny)
People rent movies because it beats watching paint dry. All this DRM stuff is doing is making wall paint more and more interesting...
Tom
Filesystems (Score:5, Interesting)
Then how does a dedicated DVD player read the data?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Why don't computers do this? They can. But likely, with buffer issues in mind, and not wanting to reallocate memory often, the programs instead get the file size and then read the contents of the file into an appropriately-sized
How this works (Score:5, Insightful)
For the DVD-Video spec, the actual file system being used is irrelevant and is mainly used to "boot" the disc and discover where the very first data sector is located at on the DVD disc. From then on, at least in theory, all of the navigation to the rest of the DVD media is handled internally within the DVD-Video files themselves, including the MPEG data, as the navigation within the video data is handled with the use of special navigation packets.
So for a set-top box on your home television, the data scanners ignore the UTF file format and just march through the data according to the DVD-Video specs, not even aware that there might be a problem. Besides, these set-top boxes have just enough of a file system BIOS just to get to the "root" sector and not much more. Sometimes the "higher-end" ones will try to scan for MP3s or other kinds of media files, but that is a bonus and not required for playing the video data itself.
As for PCs, the operating systems are obviously designed to trust in the file system to believe that what the file system is telling you is also correct. Obviously you can mess with the order of the files and make something playable only on PCs and not set-top boxes, but usually you are more worried about the set-top ones rather than some hobbiest with some DVD playback software. The PC-based DVD-Video playback software is usually designed to trust in the file system and does the file requests through normal OS-related file requests rather than doing low-level sector navigation. This is a sign of good programming, not the lack thereof.
What is being done here is a very cheap hack that took the brains of a half-competent software engineering intern who knows just enough about the specs to get him/herself into some serious trouble and doesn't know the basics of trying to stick with known standards. Or to understand the need for redundant systems to try and protect data through multiple means of accessing the information. As has been pointed out, by doing this the file system is essentially corrupted, so normal OS file system requests will not be able to retrieve the data, unless you are accessing information on the DVD drive via individual sector requests instead (that would be the "hack" to break this "encryption" system). BTW, the "file size" of the IFO files is also recorded in the IFO file format itself as well, so "recreating" the IFO files is trivial in this situation if you can access the individual sectors.
I certainly hope that this idiot who designed this system didn't get a patent on the subject. I will go down right now as somebody to contact if you want to break the patent to testify that this is not a patentable idea in the first place. And as has been pointed out by others, this is clearly in violation of the DVD-Video standards and as such you can't claim compatability to DVD-Video by using this system. This is not a copy protection scheme but rather a corruption of the file system, as has been pointed out, and taking on a percieved weakness in the organization of the DVD-Video format.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
European Perspective (Score:5, Informative)
Since the implementation of the EUCD, it is now against the law to bypass "effective technical measures" that restrict what can be done with a copyrighted work, even if these restrictions involves rights you would normally have under copyright law.
At the same time, downloading copyrighted material off the 'net is explicitly allowed. The copyright holders are paid from a levy that is imposed on blank media.
As a result of this, for me as a Linux user, it is illegal for me to watch movies from "copy-protected" DVDs that I bought and paid for, but it is legal to watch the same movies if I download them off the 'net for free.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know about there, but over here in the UK we have the right to make a request to the Secretary of State (I'm not sure which one, but one of 'em), who should issue an order to the copyright holder to provide you with a copy that allows you to perform all of
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
According to the website for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport [culture.gov.uk], you can contact Tessa Jowell through the DCMS by writing a letter to:
Or by telephone:
Or by e-mail:
Home entertainment systems (Score:5, Interesting)
So now i cannot watch this new Hollywood-DVD that I'd buy on my home entertainment system?
There are only two sure ways to stop DVD piracy. (Score:5, Funny)
2.) Put Adam Sandler in every film.
"1" is already happening, although Mal-Wart and the rest of the retailers are not happy about it.
"2" would be a crime against humanity.
Viewing, not copy, protection (Score:4, Insightful)
It used to be, back in the 80's, that you had to be careful about putting disks from people you didn't know into your computer because you might get a virus...now in the 21st century, pirates and anonymous downloads on the internet are more reliable and less risky than sticking a CD or DVD from a well known company into your computer...
Misdirection Away From The Real Issue (Score:5, Interesting)
Just think, that $14 movie you "conveniently" downloaded from iTunes today won't be nearly as "convenient" to resell to someone else later on, as a physical DVD would be. To resell that one single movie, you'll need to literally hand your entire computer and iTunes account over to the buyer. Otherwise, your only remaining option is to delete the file and eat the loss... and all because you didn't buy a physical copy when you had the chance.
The industry *wants* you to buy downloaded movies instead of DVDs, despite their seeming lack of support for it. As soon as the "trusted computing initiative" is in full effect, it be game over for the consumer.
Buy the disc, can't play it, but if I pirate it... (Score:4, Insightful)
some thoughts (Score:4, Insightful)
I bought a MacBook Pro recently. It's a great machine except for one thing: The DVD drive isn't region free. What nonsense, my $3000 machine is less functional than any $30 DVD player.
My solution is: I don't buy DVDs anymore. The absolute best movies I'll watch in the cinema, for the rest there's BitTorrent. I'm thinking about putting my DVD collection up on eBay.
So where, I wonder, is the gain for the movie industry? I fail to see any, unless their goal is not getting their movies watched anymore (which I just think might be true, given the crap they produce).
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
So MPAA, if you're listening, please give me one reason to give you money. Not that I don't want to, some movies actually are worth it, but with all this hostility and restrictions you shove in my face, give me one reason not to prefer Pirate Bay.
Back to the store with you! (Score:3, Insightful)
The entertainment industry needs to realise it's the entertainment industry. I don't need to have anything to do with it, and if it makes life unpleasant, I won't.
Piracy (Score:3, Insightful)
Open Letter to the MPAA (Score:4, Interesting)
Since then, I have become a collector of DVDs. I can sit at home and watch it on my own terms. If the beging has too much stuff other than trailers, I will rip it into a format that I can enjoy. Commercials and piracy notices are not part of your "creative work." That is not what I paid for, that is not what I want, and it is not what I am going to buy. If you wish to send me the DVD for free with the commercials, then like TV, I might or might not watch it if I have the time.
If you are going to take the ability for me to watch a movie that I have paid to watch without commericals, then I will go back to books, then I can tear out or paint anything that I find offensive.
You are trying to do business in a capitolistic society. The intent of that economic system is that people or companies that provided the products that people want at a resonable price are allowed to stay in business. Please quit trying to stretch our legal system to get around that simple fact, and please quit trying to force DRM onto people that do not want it. Provide the general people with what they want, and you will continue to have a thriving business.
Re:Oh the joy. (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The answer is of course that some Chinese manufacturer will sell
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
> masses from doing the kind of cool shit they should be allowed to...but it's
> never going to stop the geeks - which gives us an avenue to showcase that
> smugness we all carry.
They are not very concerned about stopping the geeks. They are not numerous enough to matter. They want to stop the masses, and they are succeeding.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
They are not very concerned about stopping the geeks. They are not numerous enough to matter. They want to stop the masses, and they are succeeding.
Oh, I realise...and that's kind of my point. Mainly I find this kind of stuff really bad business behaviour by annoying your customers - but I must acknowledge that this pretty much guarantees that I (and we) will always have the cooler toys.
Ultimately, we all still lose. (Score:5, Insightful)
We always would have had the cooler toys. People who are interested in learning about computers, will always be able to do more with them; this doesn't change whether the computer is a drum-memory beast or the latest bazillion-transistor Intel powerhouse.
What DRM means is that the stuff that we geeks will be doing on our computers, is the stuff that the masses should be able to do
When I think of all the time that really brilliant people like DVD Jon have spent breaking DRM, it doesn't seem like some great technical achievement -- it's just a lot of effort and time that could have gone to actual development of new features, but which had to instead be spent just making something simple work the way it should have.
DRM is like the ultimate broken-window fallacy. In fixing it you feel like you're accomplishing something, but really you're just treading water.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
These days? THESE DAYS? If you think this is new, then you haven't been paying attention. Remember when you had to enter the answers to some questions to play a game? Did that actually stop piracy? Obviously not. It just meant that people had to download the answers, too. Or that a patch had to be developed to route around that code.
Re:Buy a mac? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It'll get bypassed... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)