81–90 of 269 posts
It is perfectly legal for the entertainment industry to deploy rootkits. What you decide to put on your computer is up to you. If someone wants to put something in the software, the agreement is between you and them. So long as they disclose what they are doing, it's not like anyone reads the those agreement contracts on the internet. A company that deploys rootkits, then survives class actions and angry consumers? N…
This has little to do with the entertainment industry. This is dealing with intellectual property such as research and development. They are trying to protect U.S. companies from having their R&D stolen and used by foreign companies, calling for sanctions via the FTC and by amending the espionage act to go after those who steal trade secrets, for example. The whole paper is on protecting the innovations developed in…
I'm sick and tired of being in such a lazy-ass, apathetic society that possesses zero regard to freedom. Stallman may be a nut, but when you think long and hard about what he says, and think about SOPA, PIPA, and this lobby, in horror, your face twists in fear and you watch, helplessly, as your fellow citizens bend over backwards and let the government have their way. I don't even know what to do anymore. Nobody will…
And your answer is Stallman ? Yes, he is a nut. In the sense of "no one will ever take him seriously, especially anyone involved in mainstream decision-making, who has ever read anything he has written," which is in this case the most relevant metric. Stallman is never going to be any help here, nor is anyone like him, because any "normal" person -- that is, one that other people won't ignore out of hand -- will igno…
Stallman is absolutely part of the answer.
Sure, not everybody can be RMS and live the way he does. He's still correct about the importance of values he's staked out and made a lifelong effort to demonstrate and respect. And to the GP's point, when you have content producers arguing they need legalized malware to police every machine, it makes it all the more obvious how much we need voices insisting on user freedom.
> More of those outliers that get lampooned in every media outlet for railing against the status quo?
While I agree it's good for activists to consider how their messaging might be received by various audiences, the fact that media outlets -- and even everyday citizens or presumably otherwise intelligent commentators on HN -- tend to collapse people to caricatures may not be an indictment of activists.
> Otherwise get back on the bench with the rest of us, because all your whining about mass media and celebrity culture is just that.
You've managed to work up a good froth of whine yourself there for somebody complaining about whining -- apparently summoned up to promote the ethic of more quiet frustration.
Even if effective political action can't let its end be posts on a website, it starts with people talking to each other. Maybe even here.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, rootkits are okay then...?
Rootkits are a thing. They're neither good nor bad. That value is supplied subjectively within different contexts, no? Would I want the RIAA/MPAA to install rootkits in media files that are distributed to customers? Absolutely not. Would I want the ability to install rootkits in engineering schematics and documentation that are never intended to be distributed outside of my organization and are only activated in case…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, rootkits are okay then...?
Rootkits are a thing. They're neither good nor bad. That value is supplied subjectively within different contexts, no? Would I want the RIAA/MPAA to install rootkits in media files that are distributed to customers? Absolutely not. Would I want the ability to install rootkits in engineering schematics and documentation that are never intended to be distributed outside of my organization and are only activated in case…
This is not going to go where they think it will go. Right now their enemies are just pirates wanting to watch Game Of Thrones for free. A business threat, certainly, but one they're generally handling well. But start infecting people's computers, and a portion of them are going to fight back. Then the entertainment industry has enemies actively trying to destroy their systems. A whole different level of conflict, an…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure we need be this terrified. Gear-heads made similar claims about freedom as cars became more complicated and less user-serviceable. But you know what? While cars have their issues, and are indeed now more difficult to service, they have continued to get better- a lot better. The last totally user-serviceable cars were made in the 60's and early 70's. Many of the improvements come from improvements to manu…
Your analogy is completely flawed. Automakers aren't putting root exploits in vehicles that allow override by the government when it detects you're going to an "unauthorized" music dealer. And are late 60's cars really that bad? There weren't any of the fallback mechanisms we take for granted, such as airbags, so people drove better. Styling is questionable, but many cars on the road look and drive like bloated, life…
Late 60's cars are not horrific or anything like that. But be realistic- the performance, longevity, emissions, driveability, and weight of engines have all come a very very long way, and in my personal experience a multitude of other characteristics have made leaps and bounds as well, such as suspension- though that is mostly just more sophisticated now, rather than more electronic.
I love old sports cars, and I love their soul. But if we are talking engineering, ground yourself- take a gander at this article: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/soccer-moms-reveng...
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This paper barely even mentions music or movies, and its proposals are for going after foreign entities who steal intellectual property, such as R&D, to develop counterfeit goods. This is less about going after little Timmy for downloading a movie and more to do with a Chinese firm stealing biotechnology secrets from a U.S. company to produce its own products.
I don't even care what the true intent of the lobby group is. Once in effect, the laws will hit little Timmys, perhaps with a little help of outspoken lawyers painting Timmy as evil as a Chinese spy. The "three strikes" was intended for violent criminals, not little Timmy who smokes a joint with his friends. Guess how that turned out.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rootkits are a thing. They're neither good nor bad. That value is supplied subjectively within different contexts, no? Would I want the RIAA/MPAA to install rootkits in media files that are distributed to customers? Absolutely not. Would I want the ability to install rootkits in engineering schematics and documentation that are never intended to be distributed outside of my organization and are only activated in case…
Sure, I agree entirely. However, is that what's being advocated here, by parties concerned by such a thing? If so, the headline is incredibly misleading.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, rootkits are okay then...?
Rootkits are a thing. They're neither good nor bad. That value is supplied subjectively within different contexts, no? Would I want the RIAA/MPAA to install rootkits in media files that are distributed to customers? Absolutely not. Would I want the ability to install rootkits in engineering schematics and documentation that are never intended to be distributed outside of my organization and are only activated in case…
Especially as it is unlikely this would affect serious criminals: If tech like this becomes common, then nobody sane would open stolen files without ensuring it was done in a self-contained environment and with software that ought to be unable to execute any of this crap. It will be trivial to stop for all but people who are unaware.