(criminal) another anti-DRM article

Seems like DRM screws everyone, including the artists whose income it is supposed to be protecting. But then we knew that already, so what's new... :-)

The Big Picture: DRM Crippled CD: A bizarre tale in 4 parts

DRM is now being used as a competitive economic weapon -- not as an anti-piracy tool.

As a music consumer, I find this ridiculous. Why I cannot use a legally purchased CD -- because Sony is miffed at Apple for creating the 2000's version of their Walkman -- is beyond absurd. I am very, very annoyed at this.

In fact, I am so perturbed at this act of wanton stupidity, that two imminent purchases -- a Sony Bravia LCD big screen TV and the Sony Vaio notebook -- are now put on hold.

(criminal) Sony, Rootkits and Digital Restrictions Management Gone Too Far

For anyone who still thinks DRM is a good idea, here's what a security researcher found: his system had been infected by a "rootkit" simply because he happened to purchase a copy-protected CD from Sony!

Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far

Last week when I was testing the latest version of RootkitRevealer (RKR) I ran a scan on one of my systems and was shocked to see evidence of a rootkit. Rootkits are cloaking technologies that hide files, Registry keys, and other system objects from diagnostic and security software, and they are usually employed by malware attempting to keep their implementation hidden. The RKR results window reported a hidden directory, several hidden device drivers, and a hidden application.

Another excerpt, from the end of the article:

The entire experience was frustrating and irritating. Not only had Sony put software on my system that uses techniques commonly used by malware to mask its presence, the software is poorly written and provides no means for uninstall. Worse, most users that stumble across the cloaked files with a RKR scan will cripple their computer if they attempt the obvious step of deleting the cloaked files.

Of geeks, girls, and geek girls :-)

Out in the west, it is traditional to joke that a "geek" (a very technical person, especially in computers) does not have much of a social life, and indeed can't even get a girlfriend. This is only a joke, mind you, since most geeks actually have better communication skills than the average non-geek!

What's more fun to note, though, is that I found a girl geek can sometimes get a whole lot of attention from non-geek guys! In this case, this young friend of mine was part of a dance group, and she just happened to use a FOSS program called audacity on Linux to slice-and-dice some song clips for a mixed dance number they were doing!

As a bonus, some of those guys are now interested, if not in Linux itself, at least in audacity!

Hey, we'll do anything to spread the religion -- even dance ;-)

Java being challenged

Technologies to Watch: A Look at Four That May Challenge Java's Development Dominance

As I did my research for Beyond Java, one recurring theme was that a growing number of people just don't believe Java is productive enough anymore.

Since I never managed to learn Java (I call it the "COBOL of the internet", and one COBOL is enough for one lifetime, thanks you!), I'm quite happy to hear something even remotely suggesting this.

(criminal) Secret Code in Color Printers Lets Government Track You

LWN: EFF: Secret Code in Color Printers Lets Government Track You

Even worse, it shows how the government and private industry make backroom deals to weaken our privacy by compromising everyday equipment like printers. The logical next question is: what other deals have been or are being made to ensure that our technology rats on us?

The spooks apparently said that they did this to combat "counterfeiting". I presume they don't mean currency (since with currency the paper itself is a major part of the security), so they probably mean bonds and stocks, etc. Even then, the real problem is elsewhere. Telgi did not need these kinds of printers to run his stamp paper scam.

The real damage is to people like political dissidents. Hopefully they'll start using black and white printers! Or at least yellow paper ;-)

[Actually, by keeping the whole scheme secret, they tacitly admit that this scheme will not actually achieve much. Security that depends on secrecy of the design is, in the end, useless security.]

(DRM) Declaration of InDRMpendence

Declaration of InDRMpendence | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

Go ahead. Ask your favorite iPod owner if he or she knows that by buying songs from the iTunes store, they're actually assuring Apple's legacy.

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. Or, as some people have started calling it, Digital Restrictions Management.

I don't even have a TV right now, and my interest in music is rather limited, so I am very far from being personally affected by this. But it does p*ss me off quite a bit. And the possibility of seeing monitors and PC speakers be DRM-disabled in the next few years is quite frightening.

(FOSS,wow) Cool stuff -- radio running Linux!

Especially check out the picture at the start of the article!

Radio's Next Generation: Radii | Linux Journal

Radii is a radio: a box with buttons and dials used to select bands and tune stations in a familiar way. Because this radio receives Internet radio, it provides hundreds of noise-free stations with a wide variety of listening options. The band selection dial, instead of AM and FM, is used to select genres such as News, Sports and Rock. The station selection dial scrolls through station names that can be tuned by clicking the select button.

This is your theater. Please keep it clean.

"Idi maa theater. Ikkada meeru maa mata vinali, memu mee mata vine pani ledu" ["This is our theater. Here, you listen to us; we have no need to listen to you"] -- Mr Venkat Reddy, manager, Ramakrishna 70mm, Abids.

(malware,funny) The cure is worse than the disease

The cure is worse than the disease [rec.humor.funny]

(malware,WTF) How to fit three bugs in 512 bytes of security code

The Hidden Boot Code of the Xbox - Xbox-Linux

Naturally, only Microsoft can do something like this -- no one else can quite match the monumental scale of these guys. Here're samples from the article if you dont have time to read the original.

This is how thorough these guys are:

The roll over of the instruction pointer from FFFF_FFFF to 0000_0000 is supposed to generate an exception. [...] But in reality, no exception is generated. [...] Apparently the i386 CPU family throws no exception in this case, Microsoft's engineers only assumed it or misread the documentation and never tested it.

and

512 bytes is a very small amount of code (it fits on a single sheet of paper!), compared to the megabytes of code contained in software like Windows, Internet Explorer or Internet Information Server. Three bugs within these 512 bytes compromised the security completely - a bunch of hackers found them within days after first looking at the code. Why hasn't Microsoft Corp. been able to do the same? Why?

And finally, to add insult to injury...

There are two more approaches for attacks that we do not want to disclose yet, as Microsoft may still offer updated Xboxes in the future.

Sweet!