Windows' Genuine Disadvantage
,----[ Quote ]
| When you install Vista, Microsoft claims that you consent to being spied
| upon, through the "Windows Genuine Advantage" system. This system tries to
| identify instances of copying that Microsoft thinks are illegitimate. This
| system includes a "kill switch" which allows Microsoft to remotely deactivate
| your copy of Vista. This deactivation, whether deliberate or by accident --
| as has been the case in some 500,000 cases already according to a study last
| year -- locks you out of your computer, and forces you to contact Microsoft
| to get access to your files.
`----
http://badvista.fsf.org/blog/windows-genuine-disadvantage
Wait until they shut down computers for (potentially false) suspicion of
infringements. New laws:
MEP says providers should cut the line if copyright is infringed
,----[ Quote ]
| The European Parliament, under the leadership of the French socialist Guy
| Bono, is currently working on a report on promoting the cultural economy. The
| former Spanish minister for the arts, Pilar del Castillo Vera, had preceded
| her British fellow-conservative in calling for the installation of filtering
| mechanisms in access providers' networks. Heaton-Harris is now hitching up
| once more with his proposed amendment (PDF file)
`----
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/101954/from/rss09
No EU Snooping, Danke
,----[ Quote of quote ]
| First, it won't work. Users will simply encrypt their files before sending
| them, making them completely opaque to content filters. The power of
| computers is such that this is an easy operation to carry out, and it will
| become the norm if the above proposal is enacted. Breaking that encryption,
| by contrast, is very hard, and access providers will be unable to do this in
| order to inspect the contents.
|
| Secondly, the proposal requires access providers to examine the full traffic
| flows of everyone. The scope for abuse is enormous. Most people do not
| encrypt sensitive information that they include in emails, for example.
| Sometimes Web transmissions are not properly encrypted, allowing sensitive
| information such as credit card details or health information to be read. If
| this proposal were enacted, and access providers were required to monitor all
| traffic, it would be tempting – and easy – for criminals to infiltrate such
| companies and extract sensitive data.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-eu-snooping-danke.html
Related:
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
|
|
