____/ nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on Monday 07 January 2008 19:27 : \____
> <Quote>
> Windows Vista's increased anti-copying protection is already leading
> some customers of movie services to find themselves locked out of
> content they have legal rights to watch, users are reporting today.
> Netflix subscriber Davis Freeberg notes that his access to the movie
> rental service's Watch Instantly online feature was cut when he
> upgraded to a newer display that could play HD-level content but did
> not support HDCP encryption; to regain access, he would have to grant
> Microsoft's DRM system free reign to scan his system for videos
> regardless of their source, according to Netflix support staff
> contacted regarding the problem.
>
> In addition to its invasive nature, it could also potentially affect
> other content legitimately bought or rented content. Should it detect
> videos using the same Windows Media format that lack the expected
> keys, the Microsoft system may bar access to third-party videos. A
> collection of videos from Amazon's Unbox service could be disabled in
> attempting to get the Netflix collection to work properly, Freeberg
> notes. Netflix has reportedly asked the author to downgrade to a lower-
> resolution display to ensure he can view movies from multiple
> services.
>
> Though Microsoft has not commented on the issue, the incident
> underscores limitations imposed by movie studios and agreed to by the
> Windows creator in Vista, none of which are currently in effect for
> earlier versions of the OS or for alternatives such as Linux or Mac OS
> X. HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Copyright Protection) is a feature
> included in Vista and many more recent displays and video cards meant
> to automatically block or lower the resolution of protected movies
> when compatible hardware is undetected, preventing image-perfect movie
> copies by pirates and others hoping to capture the raw video
> output....
> </Quote>
>
> http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/01/04/vista.drm.and.netflix/
When you enter an age when /disablement/ becomes a 'feature', then that's
trouble. I'm not just talking about access to media, but also availability of
physical hardware. This is insane. As the old saying goes, "what where they
THINKING?"
Related links:
Anti-Features
,----[ Quote ]
| DRM and trusted/treacherous computing systems are, in many ways, an extreme
| example of anti-features.
|
| [...]
|
| Unfortunately for the companies and individuals trying to push anti-features,
| users increasingly often have alternatives in free software. Similar to
| Mozilla's pop-up blocking feature, RAW was low-hanging fruit for the free
| software developers working on CHDK. The absence of similar anti-features
| form some of the the easiest victories for free software. It does not cost
| free software developers anything to avoid anti-features. In many cases,
| doing nothing is exactly what users want.
`----
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/antifeatures
The Longest Suicide Note in History
,----[ Quote ]
| Gutmann: The genie's out of the bottle before the operating system has even
| been released! But that doesn't mean Vista users in particular - and
| the computer community at large - won't end up paying for Microsoft's
| DRM folly. At the risk of repeating myself repeating myself, yet
| another reason to move to Linux.
`---- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/tux-love/2007/01/the_longest_suicide_note_in_hi.html
DRM in Windows Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| Windows Vista includes an array of "features" that you don't want.
| These features will make your computer less reliable and less secure.
| They'll make your computer less stable and run slower. They will
| cause technical support problems. They may even require you to
| upgrade some of your peripheral hardware and existing software.
| And these features won't do anything useful. In fact, they're
| working against you. They're digital rights management (DRM)
| features built into Vista at the behest of the entertainment
| industry.
|
| And you don't get to refuse them.
`----
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/02/drm_in_windows.html
Golden Rant : Microsoft DRM's gone too far
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft appears to have hit the wrong button on its critical
| Windows XP download service late last month, pretty well forcing
| every XP user to upgrade to Windows Media Player (WiMP) 11 if
| they (like me and many others) have the automatic download/install
| option enabled for critical updates.
`----
http://securityblog.itproportal.com/?p=712
Avoid the Vista badge, it means DRM inside
,----[ Quote ]
| The root of this crappy DRM infection is Microsoft. It is the driving
| force here. This has nothing to do with protecting content, as we
| keep pointing out, there has never been a single thing that has had
| a DRM infection applied that didn't end up cracked on the net in
| hours. DRM is about walled gardens and control.
|
| He who controls the DRM infection controls the market. DRM is
| about preventing you from doing anything with the devices
| without paying the gatekeeper a fee. This is what MS wants,
| nothing less than a slice of everything watched, listened to
| or discussed from now on. DRM prevents others from playing
| there, thanks to the DMCA and other anti-consumer laws.
|
| Make no mistake, MS is pushing the DRM malware as hard as
| it can so it can rake in money hand over fist with no
| competition. It is really good at lock-in, in fact, the firm
| based its entire business model on harming the user so they
| have to comply and spend more.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38926
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Prevalence does not imply ideali$M
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU is Not UNIX | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
http://iuron.com - proposing a non-profit search engine
|
|
