January 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: The Microsoft Xbox Key/dvd issues
by Peter Fairbrother 07 Jan '03

07 Jan '03

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/28749.html The entertainment lobby has failed to persuade a Norwegian court to convict a teenager for creating a utility for playing back DVDs on his own computer. Jon Lech Johansen has been acquitted of all charges in a trial that tested the legality of the DeCSS DVD decryption utility he produced, Norwegian paper Aftenposten reports. Norwegian prosecutors, acting largely on the behest of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), argued in court that Johansen acted illegally in sharing his DeCSS tool with others and distributing it via the Internet. They claimed the DeCSS utility made it easier to pirate DVDs. The court rejected these arguments, ruling that Johansen did nothing wrong in bypassing DVD scrambling codes that stopped him using his Linux PC to play back DVDs he'd bought. (They go on to say that it's not illegal to use DeCSS to play dvd's. So if you haven't already got a copy, you can get one now, in Sweden at least.) ............. There is a product called DVD region x for the xbox that allows you to play dvd's from any region coming out soon. As it probably has to be signed by Microsoft (as all xbox programs must be), can we assume that the regionalisation of DVD's silliness is effectively over? And apart from that, what was the point of CSS? You can do a "dd" on a DVD and play the image from a hard drive. I don't have a DVD burner, but I'd imagine you could burn a DVD from such an image, so direct copying is probably easy enough. Maybe I'm wrong, I haven't tried it, but the pirates don't seem to have any technical trouble. The regionalisation issue was another monopoly grab. The DVD format is as much a monopoly as Microsoft or Intel (probably more...) -- Peter Fairbrother

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Re: The Microsoft Xbox Key
by Tyler Durden 07 Jan '03

07 Jan '03

"I think you're drifting here from my original point, which that it is in no way illegal, or even immoral, to run free software on hardware that you own, and to pick any locks on the hardware you own, which would preclude you from doing so." Amen, brudda. So will the cops eventually bust down my door if I accidentally drop and break an Xbox open? Also, some would argue that microsoft does use forms of coercion to get ultimately use their products. Whether one agrees with this or not, a nice little "byproduct" of hacking an Xbox and turning it into a PC is that there will be some slight pressure on 'Soft to get the prices back up to at least breakeven for the box. >From: Eric Cordian <emc(a)artifact.psychedelic.net> >To: tcmay(a)got.net (Tim May) >CC: cypherpunks(a)minder.net >Subject: Re: The Microsoft Xbox Key >Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 11:58:56 -0800 (PST) > >Tim writes: > > > Given that x86 boxes without Windows installed can now be had for about > > the price of an XBox, and given that the graphics chip in the Xbox is > > not used by any of the Linux server uses (so far as I know), the main > > value of hacking the Xbox is for cuteness, to show that it can be done. > >Linux is now available for download for modchipped Xboxes. Ergo, I would >infer that issues of Linux supporting the hardware are behind us, and the >sole remaining problem is getting an unaltered Xbox to run arbitrary code. > >There is a non-Microsoft-approved Xbox media player out, so I would also >infer someone has figured out how to use the graphics chip, which is a >custom nVidia Geforce 3, a known device for which good drivers exist. > > > (The approximately $200-300 Linux box comes with a 600 MHz VIA x86, and > > may come with more than the 10 GB disk the Xbox comes from. I don't > > track this closely. I'd expect that the drive is faster in the PC, as > > XBox doesn't need a speedy drive for game play. All in all, I'd rather > > have the PC for Linux than a hacked Xbox.) > >My impression is that at the $200 price point, the Xbox is a better built >fuller-featured box than similarly priced boxes from places like Wal-Mart. > > > Those who don't wish to use MS products should not do so. I use Macs. > > Many use Linux. And so on. > >I think you're drifting here from my original point, which that it is in >no way illegal, or even immoral, to run free software on hardware that you >own, and to pick any locks on the hardware you own, which would preclude >you from doing so. > >The public is getting the notion that there are things that it should be >illegal for you to do to devices that you own, for purposes of accessing >their functionality. This is something that needs to be strongly >discouraged. > >Right now, such endeavors are being muddied by being lumped in with such >things as cracking commerical software and breaking into corporate and >military systems in the public mindset. > >A widely publicized legal opinion by someone like the EFF, stating that >running anything you want on your own Xbox is a perfectly legitimate >thing to do, would put the ball in Microsoft's court to either say that >they disagreed, or to say nothing and let it slide, which would greatly >reduce their ability to legally harrass people in the future. > >It costs nothing to issue a press release. > >-- >Eric Michael Cordian 0+ >O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division >"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law" _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

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Re: Singularity ( was Re: Policing Bioterror Research )
by David Howe 07 Jan '03

07 Jan '03

at Tuesday, January 07, 2003 1:14 AM, Michael Motyka <mmotyka(a)lsil.com> was seen to say: > financial resources, > other than those that pass through verified identity > gatekeepers; That's an odd way to spell "Campaign Fund Contributing Corporations"

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Tarzan swings
by Steve Schear 07 Jan '03

07 Jan '03

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Re: Singularity ( was Re: Policing Bioterror Research )
by lcs Mixmaster Remailer 07 Jan '03

07 Jan '03

>BTW, I think I read somewhere that when the water gets too hot the frog just >leaves. Like someone already mentioned, all that is needed for the total collapse of the US government is that 90+% of sheeple abstains from TV and newspapers for 30 consecutive days (externally induced psychosis needs constant maintenance.) Such detox event would be the most dramatic social phenomenon in the last hundred years. But it's impossible promulgate even that simple idea and therefore the frog stays. ribbit

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binary Windows version of mixmaster
by eric niemand 06 Jan '03

06 Jan '03

I am looking for a compiled binary Windows version of mixmaster. Can anybody tell me where to find? Eric _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

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Re: Dossiers and Customer Courtesy Cards
by Tim May 06 Jan '03

06 Jan '03

On Monday, January 6, 2003, at 07:44 AM, Trei, Peter wrote: > Actually, many stores go to a lot of trouble to find a pessimal > arrangement of items - the more shelves a customer walks > past, the more impulse buys he/she is likely to make. There's > a reason the dairy section is usually the furthest from the door. Ditto for meat, and for produce (vegetables, fruits). However, another primary reason is because dairy, meat, and to a lesser extent produce all benefit from wall space so that stocking can be done from behind. Butcher areas are usually behind the meats, and dairy is stocked from the large refrigerators behind the dairy cases. Ditto for beer. > > At Shaw's (one of our local chains) using the courtesy card > can sometimes lead to quite substantial savings - 50% on > some items such as meats. At times, my overall grocery bill > has been cut 20% by using a card. Mostly a scam. Prices on "$$$uper $$$aver!!!!" items, by whatever name, are often jacked-up before the Customer Satisfaction Reward! is applied. Items which are truly discounted, due to vendor surpluses, etc., are usually discounted just as much at stores with no such cards. (In the Bay Area, Nob Hill/Raley's, Albertson's prior to the card, and numerous other independent stores have no cards, and just as many discounts.) I don't dispute the notion that the major chains have all decided to try to keep customer loyalty by offering such cards. "So great that everyone ought to offer one" is the chestnut about a rare service becoming ubiquitous, and thus useless. This is one reason things like these cards go in cycles. As I said, I just picked up several more Safeway cards just by reaching over the counter in an aisle which was shut down. I keep a pile in my vehicles. And if I don't remember to pick one up before entering a store, I either get a new one (no name, of course) on the spot, have the checker wand a generic card, or grab a new one from near a locked cash register. But I certainly realize the supposed "savings" are hype based on the usual marketing principles. --Tim May

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RE: Dossiers and Customer Courtesy Cards
by Trei, Peter 06 Jan '03

06 Jan '03

> Mike Rosing[SMTP:eresrch@eskimo.com] wrote: > > > On Wed, 1 Jan 2003, Todd Boyle wrote: > > > Its not enough to put the chips next to the beer. They want > > to examining the layout of all their shelf space. > > The cash register data alone, is enough to do this, but > > it doesn't work very well for shoppers who come and > > buy chips on tuesday and beer on wednesday. The > > card lets them associate your whole shopping cart > > for the month. > > It's a nice idea, but they have several people on one card. > When my kids are teenagers, they'll have the same card I > and my wife have. So they have whole families in that data > mix. I'd think they would try to correlate the cash register > data with each person - the kids are in the candy corner, > the dad is getting the beer and mom is getting the chips. > Doesn't seem like a very simple problem to me! > > Patience, persistence, truth, > Dr. mike > Actually, many stores go to a lot of trouble to find a pessimal arrangement of items - the more shelves a customer walks past, the more impulse buys he/she is likely to make. There's a reason the dairy section is usually the furthest from the door. At Shaw's (one of our local chains) using the courtesy card can sometimes lead to quite substantial savings - 50% on some items such as meats. At times, my overall grocery bill has been cut 20% by using a card. Peter Trei

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Penn Jillette on Airport Security
by Bill Stewart 06 Jan '03

06 Jan '03

------ Forwarded Message From: Meng Weng Wong <mengwong(a)dumbo.pobox.com> Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2003 00:10:52 -0500 To: Dave Farber <dave(a)farber.net> Subject: a different take on airport security http://pennandteller.com/sincity/penniphile/federalvip.html I insisted on his name and badge number. I filled it out with my name. The supervisor, I think trying to intimidate me, asked for my license, and I gave it to him happily as he wrote down information. I kept saying, "Please get the police," and they kept saying, "You're free to go, we don't need the police." I insisted and they got a higher up, female, supervisor. I was polite, cold, and a little funny. "Anyone is welcome to grab my crotch, I don't require dinner and a movie, just ask me. Is that asking too much? You wanna grab my crotch, please ask. ------ End of Forwarded Message He goes on quite a bit from there - basically, making it clear that what the Fed has done is assault and asking to call a cop; the Feds say "We don't need a cop, you're free to go", Penn insists they get the cop, they get the cop, the cop is a Penn&Teller fan and doesn't like these Fed rent-a-cops, and much discussion ensues over a period of several days.

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Spice girls' vocal concert
by jya 06 Jan '03

06 Jan '03

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