Plankhead » digital rights manufacturing

Press Release: Plankhead Experiences 0% Piracy Rate Thanks To CC0 Anti-Piracy Technology

Zacqary Adam Green — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 04:00:54 +0000

Syosset, New York — April 1, 2012 — Plankhead announced today that their animated series, Your Face is a Saxophone, has sustained a 0% rate of illegal downloads since its debut last year. The group attributes this astronomical success to their use of CC0, an anti-piracy technology produced by the San Francisco, California-based organization Creative Commons (CC).

In an internal audit, the group determined that no consumer has ever obtained an episode of Your Face is a Saxophone through piracy. “We were stunned by these numbers,” said Zacqary Adam Green, founder and Chief Executive Plankhead of Plankhead. “Independent and well-established media companies alike have been reporting massive losses to pirated content, and yet every single person who has downloaded our series has done so legally. We have eliminated the problem of online piracy.”

Many anti-piracy technologies have been controversial due to their employment of a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system. CC0 works differently, by removing all copyright on a digital media file without modifying or locking the data within. This has the effect of severely limiting a consumer’s ability to do anything illegal with the content.

Plankhead was unable to track all downloads of Your Face is a Saxophone, but the CC0 technology makes this a non-issue. “It gives us peace of mind,” said David Lanz, Chief Operating Plankhead of Plankhead. “With CC0, we don’t have to account for every single download to be sure that none of them are illegal. We’ve consulted dozens of security experts, electrical engineers, and quantum physicists, and they’ve all agreed that it’s physically impossible to pirate our show. So we can be certain that nobody has ever done it.”

The group switched to CC0 technology in October of last year after Mr. Green voiced concerns with their previous choice of anti-piracy technology, Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY). “CC-BY is still much stronger than a DRM-based anti-piracy technology,” said Green, “but I was still able to conceive of a way that someone, somewhere might be able to infringe on our copyright with a CC-BY-protected product. CC0, on the other hand, is rock-solid.”

Green also believes that the technology has been a tremendous financial boon to the group. CC0 generates gratitude from informed consumers and digital activists, which differs from competing disdain- and hatred-based technology. “If we hadn’t used CC0, our revenue probably would have been halved,” said Green. “The goodwill it generates has been wonderful for our business.”

Plankhead is an organization devoted to the production, promotion, and proliferation of public media. In less pretentious terms, they make stuff, donate it to the world, and scream loudly about its existence. Your Face is a Saxophone is their first major release. For more information about Plankhead and Your Face is a Saxophone, please visit http://plankhead.com and http://yfias.com.

Contact:
Zacqary Adam Green
Zacqary@plankkhead.com
http://plankhead.com

###

Major Breakthrough in Cracking HDCP, the DRM System That Restricts the HDTV You Bought

Zacqary Adam Green — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:20:56 +0000

HDCP, or High-bandwith Digital Content Protection, is a system that degrades the quality of or blocks audio and video from, among other things, Blu-Ray discs being sent to an unlicensed piece of equipment, with the intent of preventing unauthorized copying. In practice, it doesn’t actually prevent copying at all, and only serves to cripple older HDTVs that predate the technology, equipment built by hobbyists and smaller companies without the means to pay the technology’s licensing fees, Mac and Linux users with Blu-ray drives, or even a PS3 being used in a completely normal fashion. Fortunately, its defeat may be imminent.

An anonymous individual posted the master key for HDCP, the (now former) trade secret on which the system’s encryption algorithm is based. This master key is what’s used to generate the vendor keys unique to each model of TV, Blu-ray player, etc., and now that it’s out in the open, anyone with cryptographic tools can create their own working keys.

Essentially, the system is blown wide open. Permanently. A new master key can be created, but it would be incompatible with all of the HDCP devices currently in existence.

No word yet on exactly how the master key was discovered, but it was probably reverse-engineered; it’s been known for a while that one could calculate the master key using less than fifty different vendor keys.

The person who posted the key requested that it be mirrored, so I’ve decided to do so. Hit the jump if you’d like to see the HDCP master key.

HDCP MASTER KEY (MIRROR THIS TEXT!)

This is a forty times forty element matrix of fifty-six bit
hexadecimal numbers.

To generate a source key, take a forty-bit number that (in
binary) consists of twenty ones and twenty zeroes; this is
the source KSV.  Add together those twenty rows of the matrix
that correspond to the ones in the KSV (with the lowest bit
in the KSV corresponding to the first row), taking all elements
modulo two to the power of fifty-six; this is the source
private key.

To generate a sink key, do the same, but with the transposed
matrix.

6692d179032205 b4116a96425a7f ecc2ef51af1740 959d3b6d07bce4 fa9f2af29814d9
82592e77a204a8 146a6970e3c4a1 f43a81dc36eff7 568b44f60c79f5 bb606d7fe87dd6
1b91b9b73c68f9 f31c6aeef81de6 9a9cc14469a037 a480bc978970a6 997f729d0a1a39
b3b9accda43860 f9d45a5bf64a1d 180a1013ba5023 42b73df2d33112 851f2c4d21b05e
2901308bbd685c 9fde452d3328f5 4cc518f97414a8 8fca1f7e2a0a14 dc8bdbb12e2378
672f11cedf36c5 f45a2a00da1c1d 5a3e82c124129a 084a707eadd972 cb45c81b64808d
07ebd2779e3e71 9663e2beeee6e5 25078568d83de8 28027d5c0c4e65 ec3f0fc32c7e63
1d6b501ae0f003 f5a8fcecb28092 854349337aa99e 9c669367e08bf1 d9c23474e09f70

3c901d46bada9a 40981ffcfa376f a4b686ca8fb039 63f2ce16b91863 1bade89cc52ca2
4552921af8efd2 fe8ac96a02a6f9 9248b8894b23bd 17535dbff93d56 94bdc32a095df2
cd247c6d30286e d2212f9d8ce80a dc55bdc2a6962c bcabf9b5fcbe6f c2cfc78f5fdafa
80e32223b9feab f1fa23f5b0bf0d ab6bf4b5b698ae d960315753d36f 424701e5a944ed
10f61245ebe788 f57a17fc53a314 00e22e88911d9e 76575e18c7956e c1ef4eee022e38
f5459f177591d9 08748f861098ef 287d2c63bd809e e6a28a6f5d000c 7ae5964a663c1b
0f15f7167f56c6 d6c05b2bbe8800 544a49be026410 d9f3f08602517f 74878dc02827f7
d72ef3ea24b7c8 717c7afc0b55a5 0be2a582516d08 202ded173a5428 9b71e35e45943f

9e7cd2c8789c99 1b590a91f1cffd 903dca7c36d298 52ad58ddcc1861 56dd3acba0d9c5
c76254c1be9ed1 06ecb6ae8ff373 cfcc1afcbc80a4 30eba7ac19308c d6e20ae760c986
c0d1e59db1075f 8933d5d8284b92 9280d9a3faa716 8386984f92bfd6 be56cd7c4bfa59
16593d2aa598a6 d62534326a40ee 0c1f1919936667 acbaf0eefdd395 36dbfdbf9e1439
0bd7c7e683d280 54759e16cfd9ea cac9029104bd51 436d1dca1371d3 ca2f808654cdb2
7d6923e47f97b5 70e256b741910c 7dd466ed5fff2e 26bec4a28e8cc4 5754ea7219d4eb
75270aa4d3cc8d e0ae1d1897b7f4 4fe5663e8cb342 05a80e4a1a950d 66b4eb6ed4c99e
3d7e9d469c6165 81677af04a2e15 ada4be60bc348d dfdfbbad739248 98ad5986f3ca1f

971d02ada31b46 2adab96f7b15da 9855f01b9b7b94 6cef0f65663fbf eb328e8a3c6c5d
e29f0f0b1ef2bf e4a30b29047d31 52250e7ae3a4ac fe3efc3b8c2df1 8c997d15d6078b
49da8b4611ff9f b1e061bc9be995 31fd68c4ad6dc6 fd8974f0c506dd 90421c1cd2b26c
53eec84c91ed17 5159ba3711173b 25e318ddceea6a 98a14125755955 2bb97fd341cea2
3f8404769a0a8e bce5c7a45fb5d4 9608307b43f785 2a98e5856afe75 b4dbead4815cac
d1118af62c964a 3142667a5b0d14 6c6f90933acd3d 6b14a0052e2be4 1b1811fda0f554
12300aa7f10405 1919ca0bff56ea d3e2f3aad5250c 4aeeea5101d2ec 377fc499c07057
6cb1a90cdb7b11 3c839d47a4b814 25c5ac14b5ec28 4ef18646d5b9c2 95a98cc51ebd3b

310e98028e24de 092ffc76b79f44 0740a1ca2d4737 b9f38966257c99 a75afc7454abe4
a6dd815be8ccbf ec2cac2df0c675 41f7636aa4080f 30e87b712520fd d5dfdc6d3266ac
ee28f5479f836f 0bf8ee2112173f 43ae802fa8d52d 4e0dffd36c1eac 3cbda974bb7585
fb60a4700470e3 d9f6b6083ef13d 4a5840f02d0130 6c20ef5e35e2bf dad2f85c745b5b
61c5ddc65d3fc9 7f6ec395d4ae22 2b8906fb3996e2 e4110f59eb92ac 1cb212b44128bb
545afda80a4fd1 b1ffea547eab6b fac3d9166afce8 3fe35fe17586f2 9d082667026a4c
17ffaf1cb50145 24f27b316acfff b6bb758ec4ad60 995e8726359ef7 c44952cb424035
5ec53461dbd248 40a1586f04aee7 49ea3fa4474e52 c13e8f52c51562 30a1a70162cfb8

ccbada27b91c33 33661064d05759 3388bb6315b036 0380a6b43851fb 0228dadb44ad3d
b732565bc37841 993c0d383cfaae 0bea49476758ac accc69dbfcde8b f416ab0474f022
2b7dbcc3002502 20dc4e67289e50 0068424fde9515 64806d59eb0c18 9cf08fb2abc362
8d0ee78a6cace9 b6781bd504d105 af65fab8ee6252 64a8f8dd8e2d14 cb9d3354e06b5b
53082840d3c011 8e080bedab3c4c e30d722a455843 24955a20397c17 82495c1c5114e8
656e71c31d813d 1f0a6d291823a1 6327f9534353fa b89529c2f034fb 70e9b12205c7b3
a06c87969407a2 520bfa2fe80f90 da1efc3d345c65 313936ec023811 a8cc87128be2fa
4cd0e8645ee141 be7975519e2b63 9543d23113c2a8 3d87b0da033f22 df0464c704e9d4

7e1a30947e867e 014ae464b37935 5c4babf689fa4e c4aec0cb01cc35 328c0e4a0230e4
fdacb93b419594 26deefc8a553e6 6e75a2d790cb55 2c4554518f7396 94b77184cb145d
95f883f620a8bb edff42866a2783 7b4ee6304b711d ed56e077a4b9fb c4e60e687ff6c3
0cbf144b8f64d5 023dd10a35eddd beaa3323e999c6 d2e016b31c38c4 8d2917a888f799
18c3abd28e736b 8d38e69b4966cc 624db0143dd2e7 5e2fa510f632b7 ee6e64d45b139a
a1c6d852e74be7 429843b9e6bb7e db9ab07c8dc267 9efa092299f071 dcca9e0e61e960
94406fac95f1d8 d19122f3f88782 1b11a662e9c83f d161fd6fb7f032 89f7d984da9d48
a3583fea45fe58 885e2c4839e254 47e87235f713b1 f4732e05b71aee ae026d063f4349

0a481d2db197af abfce1039d4ac0 4a6b89d2d1aeac 0842eb7178cc53 b82ce2835f1937
3b4002ca21d6b6 e64a78a78abb27 8bd6142ad04526 e035dacb23624a 4cf80110135771
7a52fafc92745e efa28a290ea782 735617cd8b0221 b095e9f4b286a5 021e9ba0727645
3e58e9ec16ed1c d7732bb5ba99a6 374bde43fa89a9 cb83e5ef2e4d04 1da4f73566d134
e01da194625c25 d62018764d7473 64643721313d24 5a01badd970941 481c9578781414
a4d3faa92d1fef bd4b247d37862a 5332a7ca3c2ca6 393ee51989d5a9 01a6e564040d37
390c472ee27892 f0217fe009e9b4 5d3f04da415b35 612ecd5b8e4eac 757e27d2169f2d
92853b737b7526 9ac837c86476df e956c2b45ebd5e d4fa6da687ac39 60f4343669ddd3

64b8d778e72e78 f86cd55efe92b8 a9adbf2e728440 966c8282cee1f9 ea195972b883f4
46ac03b37e7f24 744df253954ae5 22e3f9a0adbc58 6add7c7d8a2961 ba963e4912d17c
2840ac28fcfad9 8d8ec3ad6dfc32 a3c788dd094910 e65ebb61dabb5f b50e906b28c881
003b11eb83e6a9 a2fac0595b138d 3d55a28f915330 c343bd1849a085 54c786629d2b42
1d465cb22ccbc2 d8f87fd52aded1 ecb34f46656b71 b4cbe50f839f2c 2df6a553cc3698
40b2dd25f26d51 492f3c5c6fa566 f80dd453864548 d4be786d8735d9 e364511a0fb62d
3c2df64d6d1c9f f640e4ef4186be 41773025d6ff57 6147e75d7df3f5 49809548639d16
01067ef6034247 4e7c1b20deb154 3f8172a6b98ea0 b0691d4b575801 136a88607a3e5b

0180058ca8742e 972bc2ca1c4cb6 7b05bbc57e63df 5f01049697eaa2 c537f3121384dc
edb1fa0b34f132 689b1374cafe25 802d7bca5c6674 f8e01e75e9eb3d a59c2d9126d85d
f10f603f8c4fd9 d5a358aa84b2d5 f8320f2a3bd078 019bcf0dabb5c3 43dd8dd5e173f0
45169f788a0233 d62daee0e9839c 7d673cf77a53d2 008730faf272d0 3c08080778ae8d
920e40fad87d7e bf118230ffb194 692baf40b951b4 83549affe4e382 68e172f86a40b3
aa5e2c1b74636d c3d7809ac68aae 33c344fd9bcc33 6e6057dc7d71f0 bceef547db57fa
ec91cc1056e4b5 8153f00c8ef4f8 a2ca943ab03915 079a070121782d d592dcec23dd3f
44ba5fe5078279 e6f8ed790ffa59 e7877e834b4391 d1ca3db32bccd7 b382e35bff1ba1

96cb3b9ef8671e 70342fff9216a5 d635530148dcc6 bf40909f72ba4b e3697761ac11f1
f2a77a5f435c5c a57729bb9aaf37 14f78a30f9bf6f 1a7fe7f0271b01 0b224bc83ef07b
0d409ce2157473 adefa793287d48 a6b13ce8e00a7f 74d735fd54a00b e2dc16285d1b5a
8b3d55371ce703 bb3909153586b6 03c8c622aa53e9 89ee3322e069aa 325ce41fbd0175
2cd1326421cd83 3c47eed2daadda 87c2177de0c63f 39b496d688c971 179359349f5e0e
3cfa9ea9345dbc 47b1948cbfe45f 2a13b18cf3a0d1 00b03fc13e6cde 656ef26757f5d1
7c584630c27fb2 02f2e14ca8a67e fcfec527978154 4ec09910379625 e90fc0a898a5b7
5beb0f3ee5d03a 2383832708cfb7 6905747e27453e 1714e418f0f0a3 53bcdef0965e8d

2c9b5813b90c3c bb9a20c8ebb80e 045e04f3d57918 6fe6ffb0718731 201760abf11c27
e289872adda7e1 233e7ef2b2c83b 423b4c0ba711db 334b15e5bd4c01 034d1e41bff0e8
58a436cce28ea3 e6ef4d94b49962 ec8728db63716b 8c8ffc95c21b06 0beb50502d9acb
c1eb732268091a e45e0c30cfed36 31d58c384bc3e4 8a26ae8b7a5c60 83991e11e8a21e
e4f193c0183e07 691fbbf9ccb4c2 4e5214fae905d8 2052c969e9699d f6cea5a6157de3
fd84477a6bad8e 04f37758724bc3 a491d0fd8f084e 19933cec5f51f0 93794e76e1f29b
ebd1f1c057b30c 7ec220fa6d31d9 867d711c9a7674 a700cf5f177e37 cf3fae5da3ddc4
4e8030990c7917 553a5ce2abaaa4 c2296c42e2dcea 19ae4f9b654581 66d5fff1163703

bb5085e0e7d595 12605df8a35f9f 35c6d572c28ea5 5099437e5f5595 fb45cdaa8872f1
6e012db5feedc3 1ba0e5515be76f b793b687fbf1dd 9d2c01063d4ca1 c2e6fde5bc3a1c
c17b11e1a33418 436fcacef170c5 e4c3cbc3066618 2063665d2a1b84 a8b5b4f2e58850
ce74bcbc892d71 b312d96806cdc8 82d9c95678fff1 5d8a0120206c3c 621f13db39bd6e
4a5db4815f181d 8dae6e596cebd5 1b8b1681dd4918 1dbcbd79f8e5ff 135064b0968c4e
d81e91507c1e96 ce08e072644e54 e1648d32befadc d0b7f41fca118d 7b9291b680b18a
10ab9a2fb4f9a0 9f462d2370dd03 bb453f4b48b2ea b3c3e6d63c2559 be4aa3d8e8f129
90af78e01d25c9 2e06a8715063da 988dbf792de669 17eabe5b043c41 b1f700946e4ad2

e329ae8a66581e 4a5bda0ff2a313 79577080aaac8c 0dd34f4f929df3 0f5e87f82b9b1f
1ead67333c42d5 ebac8fb8797375 dc26965e625abb 953ce074d8c84c 2edd54991b2104
a45196065c2bca 98f56533f328bf 8560a1a390e921 37d2506aff3d7b f88576a47d273e
562b7c9592ffdc 2d0ff0ba59787b 4dd89971bd39a6 7a4a778d69a4cc 58bad18bf5fc74
5cac8d53dcc72c ba7e9c7a2b57d7 ff544acc98f08f 1d22f503712081 cf868290f04def
ba48ab7c61a8ab 3ca439f055f713 2401e3a43338e0 b7c4b19cf1edc8 37db6b0d8991a7
10ede95c9c35e6 a8f021fc870126 6e5909a7f3217b 33772e647266ff a5c8fd0c786e0f
04f0bb34025c67 cc33c6a49bf101 45c563f33f807d 6e95e9c2b5e349 3a0e55d42d44b7

611138d0e928dd 24d7958e8e6149 c66faf12b50f45 eaa5eb19337961 e68c81cb35d5d3
ed1fe1f1b8d443 612ca593de8afe 6c15ee22ffb8b0 c27152ca5a1e77 0133b8165e3ed1
608c9c1a6ca4aa df5272bd1b6425 6f7efc5b2bbfa0 b49b5f0c67ee30 f4ef0e7ed820cb
4b14d077b672ce 3a60f2386c0218 9e8d6e5f6caddf a53ccecbae8684 d3183beeba0cef
4cd21e6afc08e8 5db41995d15a93 6afe570246af77 d0994bc305b27f 2de99a0885c909
1629a47aaa161f 0f6b6d45ff8967 cfc4e83f5b469c cc22586cab3936 29e6b3f94d122e
83f00e419d8980 bb282b6f3efdef 30d80463fb25e0 1846f8f1b935d3 3c03ed5243b7b4
cb6b0e6e4c770f 8bc2856390163a 73a332bc2ebabd b3aeafedbc8c08 74ff7726398cd4

0071d5d3644b97 45dd1ae0369e9a c1f518cd384512 b933bc25cb3402 9377c50007d647
e609eb009c9245 7d99fff828ba6e 9f0adcca6cd0a9 5c5cf8366b699f f00f513ad9e29d
7c2ecfdb5afe40 1f131691f0677b 30e1df0cce8710 f3c52df030e941 b2bb6b650cf2d7
012a5a2d11f1b4 4699b78e898918 977b2e06972b36 674e2619e6be97 93007948f99eee
af2b5b80b81bb3 417446ac93bc16 14fb20c6ab0e24 3ffc77d1672771 36580afea2edec
48942ed95911c5 fa312a7aca8f83 992e36a47ef1db 3937ff39b1a9b5 2af79ef5c48c64
6c88d58111a0b7 b6fa6dc5f7c8dc b1acc64f2b083d 332baac65b4feb e58dae530ad4af
0fbdb072d0ba36 e2607b065b6fe4 f803ae22cb2a6c 9b639dd91166cc f5e430b9cece8c

687c1dc2ac5898 b429122b168f1c 4248f91ae51605 1c24d7f1578ba6 1dec5a6c003598
e3c04b01a812a7 2df7909352cece de31efaffdd0d4 e4a7f11873ec87 4768f7b8d77583
23b6f7bae4521f 8fbf571e568d5a 577ad8b71f3721 718b68ac1ada36 e10689cc83ea91
43f73798b295f7 6e2b078c8d68e5 613c3bb265ca36 d25d07032b8c80 843fe3783b5959
e918f7789f0d33 afac1cb1534684 0fb3c6c442a94b 167f58645b56c2 76132472470129
590ae9be533d39 75adfeba5e6230 30dea290d933d7 08cc4d30a4af39 09bc69be193a2f
f7f8ff9f03af3b 3ad1a453e9dde4 a534709b6e15c7 c6ce7d4efd42e9 5e947977595b68
ca674d0c7541e9 97f178a43b6057 137a6483c7653a 49f1eec3082cc7 70824eb5bebf04

cf95519563f7c7 cef140efdaa431 4f8ddc5fb70009 27710736a485cd 41b05dfead9e7a
dcbf8e83a3a89a 23e46b5a421a08 84f0fb922099a4 120b226eedd549 cf4706582b36f4
e3b718cabb9c11 03db1daab9520a 3a29a8c65c45f6 0219e82dbeb36b b351c498a8dda8
0ba2a5607f3bf6 0b95be14721f63 62d3b4d2b1fc16 f46a95de23a55e b70c2f136e83eb
a0b215f5837e73 d76368870bd5bc 0372cf15e7ff03 c992d958598014 1fb03e9712f2c4
a73b9107699fb2 239ad1d706b5f3 3623dab66fefc1 8b5e04ac40e7ed 77eaadd7c4d35c
b3ba11dde839a2 621e7ab334235d 29f2ed9f1990d9 e0d731952272a4 d31f58d8cfad64
57690ff74579fe e78fb0fe43c6cf b127e3c5c7da88 1765c8883fcd01 dc0028f618172d

07d8f79c0e5b79 bdff41e18ee3b3 0990bd1c710888 b0ef52eb6da5bd b790ff7419e17d
22ab4221d42b9a 35bec4ded01a53 6a2f35fd63b686 db66f3c21b9291 165a5fd321d034
f2ea034bd3a6b6 4d47388e2680b7 018dd250cfd53b 53babaed27080a 73c54d98e4a365
6a77f2e71cfab6 4f9539f7e67a64 c35beaa6ab5528 1698a8ee44d10d 01e623ff7096e8
96a68072d59c56 6baba4b0d232ee 725a1f9e0fbeb1 97728ef73b9a8e 16ecfe23a3bdb6
f035aac743b427 202c094281f68b 1c8be9e39e4591 0959fad0920ae6 15a97f475dc632
a3fc9e9363688a 89cea147f0339b d1ffe6e68570d2 329a0b16c32fa2 cbd5818383dd8f
c26f57abe7c8cd 4d680e55e8a77d feefbd47b284a3 41bc9077e7df69 1c32ea11a0df3c

2ea8501eab0c69 63dff30ea51c9f 8de69a045d957b 4036f90d8e90b7 5886f2e5059e5d
7341e707011eca 8d6006677dabf1 2c6f2040741941 5058a43d3958d2 29eee2b01178b8
eb9e382e6ea2e5 62e44ce8f6b19e a5b4444f78d77d c12755f1de34c7 8fd001eb8d0d91
8a3ece83c541b5 659f736aca9076 1c1864cc5b30f1 1b9f901459a142 f5571fc19f94a3
39e842e17176ca ed2a1659a97f8e 625e74d131b3da bdbdfeaa0366bd 95ebf86c33a687
4a09faea206cd1 29f59174377238 908e6c956350cb 686a225a26548c a45140d1ed5b76
75e9ea2087732c 14dd568be007bf 3668e3791bdd4b 56f9aa39df5785 e7b37c964271c9
c5211e837c726e 374513cd4cd34f a5c71ff1a4195e 4e234c5adc13b4 75093fc66c8faf

2ec02dd6ea2715 d8676bb21e7f0b b4c22ceadbd907 9ccaf78857ea36 a28da605bbf2d8
723651fb07c86a 07039b49d2fa32 40dbb6dc2ef93d da48f7e9d5eb92 45bc6190b3a9e4
fc84b55352b994 25f44b36a3fb83 d09a8f4ab7d78e 0829201a523b21 966e0098395656
5984c4e317d930 581dd2ab677c99 a92a70424c5aae 4ea1dbaca67de1 e45918a0d6d560
1e5c75efdd907f 99a6e56cbb015f 04fd11c8ae4d05 83a72f3e967bb6 2ddf23b892d1e5
d648bbe9e5f8d3 d4b128d667ff6a 781dcd435b03f4 1a1cb99fc298e1 69d80c51941a26
5263476c788bb7 db0b584b59ec8d d95a4e9a6a95c5 5263b0eb0cc8d4 98e62e5116ab09
97564c79d4b733 39d708c3284fb2 d2cd596efe674a a9e3b1f33b4473 70b30aa67c0c2c

3532c9874c8ce5 680a796f9db4b3 64e5825663090f eb0a67604f3f9b 7c4716c88afa20
cecf4b6b1467f8 342600406fe556 200290eea56903 36562b6cff764c b02d3847d68f8f
a26c2ab20fe063 5de36be096db8d ac5998b94e3c17 4c8808ebb9bf53 4bbf0a436470da
d3875253f7b0a9 a99369bfede348 8c3391fd3a5f95 5005f88c89d735 acd8196d21d41b
5ba2ce34f48817 da3e7f4332994f 8cfe88c8ae18af e4df8b64d16e61 b0f200ab8229f9
5a15b4ad681a60 350a1bb85a5708 f5731809fe17da 9da29858778783 e496533ffbda6c
a590c76b953dff edbf61ba227191 f7fd713fd0b4bf 4a5e6df9905845 42ed273f1fee88
e56d34cbb2866d cc76209f9773ec 4c21238f991ec6 7adff263cb22b1 4fb41d94f97f42

f26d90e0b24a1a 37fe90421cee92 5cd69e29e95550 bec2bff0431bc0 6acc812fa97ad4
4f19e44dd33a0e d9280b1ae70cff 6575a036db7f1e 7bf2ed31bcef8e 45dfb49b8dc51d
e1fd10fb1b59b8 092da05f342c0a 01fa56a0375319 c1f5ad03dc627a cb1f2c96f11444
5d67a093467a43 a832f56266f0bf 7a464d7fab7c48 42561af703a045 c1c9b270211af3
edcaf802cfd336 6f9ba5cc39c3dc 585554fa4224ca 4a7216b8d2dd3e 16c2d8b31e6fa9
e9ae301e1bfa98 ac8389842b368a 158c5060209885 c01a2c3f5b7bca d20124920faa1c
a2217820d1fa40 803272c88d1844 c2554237c9ecc8 d25f509a6db1de 325148c1726f18
398c66b1339048 8c8c43dd7f2c26 24cf4ec93ee498 54618829620375 eb494db615a50f

69e1fb949b4215 3e02e353426513 bf6ea2adefdded fbbb781d40e52c d6ebec825d94a0
3f84de44b6fd50 0b466ea0458290 3a77f7804e0c62 b0ce750e2b2078 69f346f188a43a
24ef26f7c284a3 544ea716d5498b 3e1f23b1154dcf 6d5c580dbec7f0 120302c7a16ee0
bae4ae638ee502 60cd112182bd84 dbc443744789a8 7faefcebed3a2c 579c0f77cfa536
0d920b050cb068 fb2fc616ee5eb8 3b7082e645d419 40df3b620a8474 df360190d74ec7
28f0d33396ee1e 3c007bfb335325 ac5c5327fcfbe9 9daecd75584e11 770aecaa7200f5
ef955be6081878 8c906f9fbbd9a8 f16d11b5a2980c f837a8f49c0378 33efbbae308e71
0bda652822a309 8990e49a4320ce 8bf60c5517e853 0b0f2a3d47d09b b07d28e7903ac9

5009b61262ab9c 0161bb90668bf4 a314e46c502058 447250d9698fed c3e4ceaa255d41
5ba4045c2fdba8 17b0720f52e736 0eb0036d8439d0 9e15116b8245e2 3dad88738ceab0
260986d154e9a9 56cd13e67e508e 9895906f7a2bc2 4970647a63ed02 5e192810f2e040
02e7f4cad9b4cb 18d5850dc181a2 05204ea9653f18 2d3b188124823d f9b34ca3d2c93b
2e5ba515010f68 7308114d65f874 acbf4d6286131d 46681d439816a8 15fc07b05c47fe
f0ef6a332c3132 c4630529dd2021 a743a1e9423e63 b12af7fe3d806e 0cb7d03c2afdae
7abe068af28323 fe75b567a2c0c7 069313cf6c1f44 a39aeec0ddcc87 747c3bd20c1471
876af6b8558b0f eb0b357c5d8f97 c64ac9dcac22f2 856e4341b42b50 663b16ec5eb01f

0d31dd990e70cc f7203530ab3d19 6d42eb5412ec69 dc9e4fcaf97880 e0dcd2d94a10fc
b5f39a9e831217 4b084adf9c02c4 d3cabf53a97846 4c331980146846 3c9f7c840833be
b0cb542c3108b1 9dcf7401e6f79a c1f27ed5dd4e0e 509cf69e83c56c 15ca00d43e1758
5948602f5bf14d 1d129ae6b9f4ee 2b58f973ae2956 6a6c792feb0c13 62474058c00758
caab48f22b2e6a ed88328618842d 0418ebd349eb34 846eda10087342 e8b6c21b95cbf9
cc90523ed0cb59 4c9374718e79ca 60c8fa29dd489a 41f2190a03e88f 8ac12bebb17c5e
3195835960d662 2317a3d2d90ead 5f5aeb6d34f4e1 7a39957a01179f 3f88d79fc83f9c
edb1049a771b1e 30a85067c640ed 06cac8047923de 59bdda0f1b1b9d 7a014eaecf61b7

292e8b0f865638 4dc1de3d7f5dda d9b1b7557b4db8 54813ab90c75a3 9b35f03246f1e4
20f760465bc347 0da41ba5991181 a6a49de8fdf505 60b1ea116f81a6 ce2716aa9919a7
e3fce68f208dd3 05d5b9594f643d ded74364c812db 16b6e7e4269696 ad975ff975a727
4d6e503b6ae9a9 9ce664850ed1da a714650763250b 944b7b251c3e6b 0d37d4e4854c4c
06c7e1c3d4b917 5602bc69558908 92f5ddd9a20bbd 84d12a16b5963d d1426dd7f44f09
06cca7d8cd71ba 710072c1b4ea7a ebabe1e8242f72 69960c6c0d5bf3 2084edb90ada1d
235ed7d8a9fe39 3b133ed8a3fec1 132c4509579af1 203ca5447787a5 ca938128fcd756
ca569d31b6f05d edec4129270543 ff17078079c2aa f642caa8568a3b 8d1f6c3bf9b5e7

c947c61701ce12 1a3808b18cb73c d1d7543be23892 9917eefd8b4b7d 0eabef30f24b08
b72c10d49c60a3 c01344f22cc2a2 b97c57f2a37b00 f82a2f9338e520 5a8b9c9ce0dc1d
8a4d7e7260e257 62046c5551c0e9 19811c1011cf28 dc158db4a957c2 b516e794206aa4
4a9e535622d8df bea44b252b2ab8 7284568528acd5 239ab1d64c7025 bad538907922d6
57fb163fcb9eca ad97c1507e480a 78e8cfc81ca935 14eee2413bbe9d e349073d92ab5c
8ed191d530d9af f3a72b6e194e41 d26925b22eb6c5 f709c6088bb419 8527923aa6f4f3
1345fcb8916f88 9f82d7a298174b b0a41e5d16d9d4 28c7eab4098fe2 f34abb591392d4
a5084515586118 71f3fcfcee19ff 180d1b40c23b7c c18c22be085cc3 edeb86d04f3c78

c56c61899b8011 2cf78b1bcd5b77 99247be60f0cdb 4c8a9aa7a58409 e2bf0ad4cfe9b6
f79b501f91d364 5fd2c40e48e881 c650973fb8e681 7c8ae6d3aca02c 7a01c329e3bf17
3b126f2cda1e76 229d405bbc41d3 5e028a9f388566 97e13e1dfee5e2 aa02da00a5271a
be2abd92296fc2 e380153ffa1a5d dc3c184ca2fd9a 8dd7381eccc7e0 55a7fef2252572
76da25ac98ef00 3e12a21d43ef92 28c5f1d9e71a96 b7cd9a47a9c9d8 aaf77a03539742
9f8854a9983a9c 2bcde940d64350 6986616ba3f75f e80cc522c68b65 f03f78b91d9f6c
fdf9170e4ac9f1 c84c3819797def 03bbfca0340880 2893d145bda408 df07456e5388bf
cbadcc8ac22dc9 365807ab820d70 29da8be4c0de87 756ee3a7865bfe 46439df366b70b

ab960b51e728db e2e3c346921e4e 74c6317baa49fb b3efd421fb40bd 979d2df24bca93
98d5bd5de71195 bc030746a50c59 02cf2a4b1b9812 467af79145cfaa 0ed643c7b530e4
181ef7d406026a f6ea606e325377 a302d06af1f7cc c7658f6ae6defa bbe5314d959e1f
bb5757386c8799 8759670183f618 58e0cc3816f883 c113183a0578ee ce5456e86ee96b
c04285b8c56bb1 74e5fb66d586e6 9d8eea215e70c8 f4a00feb7bc2f6 369c2bf470063d
5b267be08f0594 c26fb2440b1ac6 8610ef5a140769 bb3d5b50a536d4 df6c30bc09f971
74e572ca84d171 2deb91e812d860 b17ac9ae5be211 c95a0e3f542c78 46397245b13a99
1806ab9ceb6646 1b4161b0ec2edc fc536e2a24abf8 9f7207bf519f1b abf95b0d0d3cae

d9e17ba1bf7678 6526f524fad677 ec243ad271d0cb 9b1c06cf737605 0a36697c74beaa
fa0f0056a6bd7e 9f2d03db497a93 027d76e6e8692a 72ceb29c5913a7 55eb297dae3330
eb676e7345fb39 7021192efd5b47 462906905e7511 e005f52fd8da5e 1288c01960d735
3460b18eafd2d8 faa9b1c3caf426 5035e585d9fd2d 85636dff1d4e42 600c4b7f664267
02b21e6a8c7a03 79ce25c264e2f4 035a7f32c227ea bf8f711445a7d7 d0b5e3b336f71e
c454a416321483 bdc1a7a9d20dea e1ee4744e83143 5b6969f2864529 17a6b42d6346ab
ff0fb6edf2265a ba75b0991f6dfb 6638c1d7243ff8 e7806af6600486 dfe3bc58f31717
b0c4adc2717922 c11abff0b4a290 43598e076f60be 2ef17ad2f77605 3a41a09d974da6

ee787846e7ff26 ce05d869fecf18 fde916d95f9357 4c1b4dd723b90d b1f024400d61a2
f51dfebc71b770 461e7f725d9637 2b1587ff40035e a2cafbcd0c6b17 2e9efaf6986045
80e339a823ea56 febfaa02609bb2 a33955624e1602 a137b84639ef0c 6e2ecf420a6d6b
69f13acbea8f97 b4d36c41e3a867 1352aee4798c08 e3ec254ddf35cb ab600d90f13919
d00cc1d401fd2c 1c629e621756d2 090f8d6e0895fa 701bd1b0a355ce a53c7c91b15eb4
dd8579d4dd92e4 03d1c960c63d55 215a8fbc09cc85 59c1e6069b6dd1 a0428bfb223cca
46d131153e9982 c5dab0c9ffb93d 682db866d6503c a481c48384a087 a417c564567258
2ec7b9722b5c5f 2d491f9cf79086 30cd268b1088d0 f02e69b1441963 d9841b5339d18f

a26deb7b957527 337f3bd67d3c51 e6839a4d5fe4cf 1619c18889be68 d971f0f57d1016
56213ebf152a2d 9c0e0394832c92 9e6fc90ca28ba5 9c5151dfbb8394 f49fe4cf2a3f7a
97f4db054b2b34 2a4c21abf6406f eb941a80bee3f8 7615468e80e77a 0f935ebe8e8842
959f2b3ba1f50c d6bc8b614e39de 3c43d13746983a 7956e617131247 56de3547cf1010
c16d5d1fce2bcc 3e73e5ef9fd691 1211c1a27803ad f1c9644aac4ba2 8d67134e3be189
d8aee617c607cb f62677b30d8ece e7df69402b2291 6ec102f220e09f a6223e874c3e53
fb474983ebdb9f 806832bde2f4e6 7c25ef688134b3 4aadca3409a6b3 bdccd638f3b19a
2b01f18625fdd1 0f5e91c28af081 f28e4dcd9077cd 9229d87caebbfb 072b846b4d2ce0

fd7a25e195d67a ec9546899268d2 ff3068a2e9d0c2 af9f2fc2de9978 01b47566d0faef
fc5a8eab966720 4b981c9fe7ff10 b4a0aa0873484e 25a8b544ed8801 c72530c2e5d37f
94b0483e74e4fa bc5ac97d82cd68 1a23d34cce0d52 6e4d17a8475b19 63493b14551149
d36db24ae5ced3 a24a53ea6aada0 230cbe502aa32e 2aa07485f281e6 66777be0d719c7
5d3ab65be78916 06076f42e71bd2 273e56dd3eccfd 5ef1c9394b6a9e 42f1f49590ffa2
1e6ab6994e56a8 8d54a339e301c2 efff698c46e74e 6721df7c5334d0 f36cf6a93bf3ff
91d8979d8fe631 321dc8b5eccceb a237eb1423c395 4623a16cc50b79 83f616f60d8114
32c15a65536b82 e4a00d384d99cd 369206bbef6fb4 42a720e294a9e4 768a1c77e94dac

31d4798dffbd75 da46bbd77e908b 0fc027a69fcccc 4204ee745159f5 c14155873d42b2
7ce0c031527eae 22fb1c9d6da9a7 33c940531510c9 d938e52464ce71 385b73fa95a2d3
597bf6362dd268 f9901921654409 7c8d064cd5b4ea 80e8fe2f1b3288 ee188609ef2cdf
beee34a1c48fe2 459cefca35857f 33b5320fbbca79 7789297027b6a4 f1debe5a09d013
fd5d818a56bf63 19a092fb1ec45c 526f5d3ff64331 9b8295291aef56 d6963c3a92c34c
065482a033fbbb 9b9ab43410d764 44ebbd99c86a86 4c087234311b85 db6e5a803ba13f
760c159ce2a619 d58d83243fe0ba 1c1e5e83aa79b5 75c8bbae9baabf 2ed91bdb632ae8
8e46b443cfffe5 afa4f53f148577 0be538701c4afa 3fd89c44ef7ced 060dcdc21e9368

0a5b9e2ba4a53b 63db0419a96d30 f68e038377a61e aa15b78389ec74 5f532809ff80f1
f2892acc49ca4e e2d68174c08e81 378254a38f5138 0b060222bb20b1 8013f6f4745c47
ef08e87e2c197d b69d5ddaadf417 7bc66fe482b730 f4bd76d3bb1dfc 09492b63f2935b
43875dd685ab00 e15a528f666486 aad1fac042ef90 b3bb7b8ef9c2e9 c78967b9392a1c
2f05fd5ca0230b 1008345afdd18c dac73c313ace60 346d535e500b62 12e6357496459b
ecccdac5a34926 3b880f7098608f e66c3352a9cdd6 049b176ff1a04d 897d9569948066
806230e9740d6e 179ebf2b7952ab 3a2c5079b5bbea 73261b85c35fb1 5b917dc1bf7e57
9c55b95581c1d5 e1fb86e6219639 c72a22d8404448 95dc5d7b966027 457f3fec730d5d

469cd82a2b3cec 021d9de560b8d6 85b4d126933886 c8265dafb87325 8741d99af7f420
1329e52d3e66f8 7d37c458a6ad05 1241c5ccbc355b 7fdcad3c3c269d 05f04a0a23acc7
ce076aba97cc18 74b36afc4645b2 cd7adaad8f5b91 bd0651649dc722 3d9b6437c667fb
6827ec09eed45e 8ad6102faa934f 1a80658c0bfe1e ef1749235ab59f 75478ad5949a06
49ce6e19841851 8df41dc39cc628 bd9dc9bec89c8b 7771a21fe8028c 65082929b051f3
c657798a3aebd1 ce9c37c494cfc8 156efce8330e42 d0d95860d39040 dfb0fb66f814c4
4b421540a0aece 9e767cbf7e9c49 eeea5b5c866a9e e2026ca4bfb067 ec9fff1a5d41c0
290ed4da32d333 65208d00dba471 99e1d15a83b736 5585401976a265 1668daeb4aad72

cdabffa646baca 7a6c7bb29875f7 1a87a53a2139c1 1ecf7ae823158a b1087bf595f7f2
d8e668fe076e4e b0794cf137a863 81e2a419a320ac 8090b1d39e5171 813903d5f1a68c
ba31f8211e56bb 52413eefa30a66 af88d053eb8a4a 4d2235fdb9bf91 69a947973d3ed3
0dbcf583c26ffd b6bfbee58458b7 5a12f3e625e5d8 53ae22c2b1bc6a 8e6f7e7bbde691
2b692a6746d3be 686438e4ac66e4 aa77be21178471 36aed3fc3ff079 8c9373ebb1c2f7
bb99fd5bfaebc1 665902d08610e8 8af0db91b80b6e 00d4995f9a6ce8 1d503d26442bd9
e61b181dfd0949 2a02f5075a277e 76caa7ddc435fe 5cedae4cae7a57 4b5f7c58c4f214
1446a05c1023ab 459c93a9f5ad37 1ea5f5aa4060b2 a48215350fcd60 ac21e2a4729a51

f18cf87ecf430f 0fd48c241ac6bc 33964cd2e3d9ec 8bebeffc2e848e bb84a5c2ea9b0e
311f20ff7ce601 752573f4effe98 79dbe4d184dce5 6bb04def99d322 7d2d5f23c2475b
7f93f7dbddf04e fff303e751fffe 08d205f8999a3d 5750d14f75e056 1107a3f96ca8e9
f62b50c8ad9f20 53e7fcc55d72d8 6345dec1054cb6 01d52c21dc654a aa0bd78e39c594
2265b675381cd5 57cc03dd65f821 1fa373049059a8 9885886b48085f 8357ab98192a14
5bb6cfbf84048b 5cf862f25ff6ab c9382e36ab2dbd 2357b5ade91fcf 2db77558ceef24
d4a0cb3ba50a2a 12c3cb633dfe47 db805410168807 a5e635ac766e1a 25252810f49fad
cae296fce18ed4 b9932d5822c519 4b7006cc54ea84 2546d761d284cf 2346d0a11b1ed9

81ce0d028c4474 c8002fd0315372 8670db1a6ad6eb 4c7f942260e9c9 822bb2c423cc53
e3b67febea3672 59c24223d913c3 6f4b196f69400f 51bfb6cc7f3603 fb9fbef84ffaf4
7c1632636806f6 a50ec42076931f f68b2be9e5e7ad 7603302a518bd4 d7cd9bb97ffa3c
acf1faaebf7412 f55d55d548bd86 5b34112ed53d06 1b58692e1e33b7 cc7e3cb6d32fe2
8f7b35c14a744f 9a4ed599399554 8eb369e71641af d4a6d1a5c74123 8cc7ec376acf04
ec0a470647b248 2fd9e8eea1f10e 94439285677960 4d11f6e6a426e0 06378817230b68
ec14f2df152cb7 199a8c0bd5f05d ecad5aab44ac2b ca87ab2ba6e905 69c0bf2acdb36c
d66279737bc807 4dd946eb19d81b 4e9c473b5e9846 5a016f7ca86f9d d02c2b7dca744a

The iPad Might Mean the End of Intel Macs, and That Scares Me

Zacqary Adam Green — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:33:54 +0000

Yeah, yeah, the iPad wasn’t all that great, and it’s underwhelming, and it won’t cure cancer like we thought it would, blahdeblahdeblah. We all know that, and that’s not what I’m going to rant about right now.

The iPad is the first device to use an Apple-designed processor. This is something one could easily have predicted when Apple bought PA Semi in 2008, but now that Apple’s finally gone and used their newly acquired chipmaker to actually make their own chip, the potential ramifications begin to sink in. Now that Apple makes their own processors, what’s to say they’ll still be putting Intel’s in their Macs?

One can see why they wouldn’t want to. Intel Macs are much better for Apple customers than Apple shareholders, because they A) allow people to install Windows or Linux on their Macs, and B) allow people to install Mac OS X on whatever the hell they want. Both are things that Apple would probably like to make more difficult or impossible.

But wasn’t installing Windows on a Mac one of the big features that Apple used to promote? Of course it was, five years ago; back then, it was entirely possible that the average user might still need some of their Windows apps. Well, okay, it probably wasn’t, but over the last five years, millions of people switched to Macs, more and more of what we need computers for has become web-based, and the amount of software for the Mac has grown exponentially. It’s more evident than ever that to the average user, OS X and Windows (and Linux) are, for all intents and purposes, interchangeable. There is nothing you can do with one OS that you can’t do with the other, and it all comes down to personal preference. Even I, a power-user, have no reason whatsoever to boot into Windows except for gaming, and the PC gaming market isn’t perceived as large enough for most companies (like, for example, game publishers) to care very much about.

Apple can drop its commitment to Windows-on-the-Mac at any time, and it would have no adverse effect on their business.

So what of the Hackintoshing issue? It’s not legal in most countries — much like torrenting copyrighted movies, going 70 mph on a 55 mph highway because everyone else is, or clicking the “I’m 18″ button on a porn site when you’re actually 17 — but that’s hardly stopping people from doing it. In fact, I’ve long been considering building some Hackintoshes; my Macbook Pro isn’t great for HD animation and video editing, and buying a Mac Pro and a few Xserves for rendering could be almost triple the cost of building equivalent machines. That kind of thing, I would bet, frightens Apple very much: independent filmmakers who will cost-cut as much as they can to get their projects done without blowing all their rent money.

It’s not that Apple wants to bankrupt millions of starving artists. It’s that they’re a publicly-traded corporation, and they have a duty to their shareholders to make the most money that they can. By ditching Intel processors for a proprietary chip, and eventually phasing out backwards-compatibility with Intel chips, Apple could make Hackintoshing virtually impossible.

So, Zacqary, basically what you’re saying is that you’re upset because maybe now you can’t illegally install OS X on a cheaper computer?

No, Helvetica Bold 10 Maroon, not exactly. I’m upset because Apple has gotten used to taking away their customers’ control over the computer-like-devices they purchase, and it’s not inconceivable to imagine them doing just that for Macs too.

Admittedly, building Macs with Apple processors wouldn’t necessarily change the Mac experience all that much; you just wouldn’t be able to run Windows on it anymore. But if they get away with that, what’s to say they’d stop there? Why not move OS X to a locked-down, App Store-ish model? Why not ban Adobe Premiere from OS X because it competes with Final Cut? Hell, why not ban Photoshop because with the amount of Apple vs. Adobe fighting there’s probably a Photoshop competitor being worked on by Apple right now?

But that would piss off the pros, right? Mere “consumers” might be dumb enough to take that lying down, but graphics and video professionals would never stand for such things. Surely Apple couldn’t do that, right?

Of course they can. They’re Apple. They can do whatever they want. And they seem to want to be in complete control of everything, from the moment it is sold until the moment it deteriorates due to planned obsolescence.

Obviously, it wouldn’t work, and Apple would completely fall apart as people begin to remember why openness was a good thing. That doesn’t mean they won’t try. And that very real possibility that Apple might pull this crap is making me very interested in Linux-based alternatives to the Final Cut suite.

IEEE’s “Digital Personal Property” Is The Stupidest Idea Anyone Has Ever Had. Ever.

Zacqary Adam Green — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:34:50 +0000

So I’m looking through my RSS reader and see this Ars Technica headline: “Goodbye, DRM; hello ‘stealable’ Digital Personal Property.” It was like a fucking trainwreck. I could not just pass by the article. I had to read it.

Consumers hate DRM—all that “phoning home,” the outside control over one’s behavior, the fact that you can’t resell encrypted digital media, the worries about activation servers dying. But what if digital rights management could be turned into “consumer rights management” and people could actually own and fully control the digital content they purchase? That’s the dream of Paul Sweazey, who’s heading up a new study group on “digital personal property” at the IEEE.
[...]
Digital personal property (DPP) is an attempt to make consumers treat digital media like physical objects.…[DPP files] can be freely copied and distributed to anyone, but here’s the trick: anyone who can view your content can also “steal” it irrevocably.

And why would anyone want something like that? Well…

Digital content lends itself easily to the creation of identical copies, so crafting a system in which digital content can be “stolen” is trickier than it might sound. The idea is to make it a “rivalrous good,” one that, after being taken, deprives someone else of something.

Which is exactly what DRM attempts to do; DPP, at its core, amounts to nothing more than changing two letters. Of course, that’s not just because it tries the same thing. It’s also because it fails spectacularly in the exact same way. Much like every DRM system ever, “the scheme will be cracked, and once it is—even if only a few technically-savvy people can do the necessary work—content will flood P2P [file-sharing] networks,” says Ars.

The fact that people who have actual jobs and educations still consider these kinds of ideas is absolutely baffling. I mean, they’re presumably sapient enough to know how to wipe their own asses, so why does the fact that DRM doesn’t work continue to elude their common sense?

Given that digital content just isn’t like physical content, I ask Sweazey why we might want to force it back into that model…His answer is that such freely-copiable [sic] goods breaks the basic business model of human commerce by making goods nonrivalrous; it no longer has aspects of a private good, and this makes it difficult to sell.

You know, Mr. Sweazy, you’re right; freely-copyable goods do break the basic business model of human commerce. That’s certainly a problem. Now, you go run along and play, because us adults have to go back to accepting reality and coming up with a solution that works outside of Magical Unicorn Fantasyland.

RIAA Declares Death of Digital Rights Manufacturing, Causes Everyone’s Head To Explode

Zacqary Adam Green — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:42:26 +0000

TorrentFreak reports that the chief spokesperson for the RIAA has gone on record saying that DRM is dead:

Jonathan Lamy, chief spokesperson for the RIAA declared DRM dead, when he was asked about the RIAA’s view on DRM for an upcoming SCMagazine article. “DRM is dead, isn’t it?” Lamy said, referring to the DRM-less iTunes store and other online outfits that now offer music without restrictions.

DRM, which advocates claim is an acronym for “Digital Rights Management,” stands for Digital Rights Manufacturing, and refers to a number of technological methods by which media companies can manufacture legal rights for themselves out of thin air. These synthetic rights allow the gigantic corporation to prevent a legitimate buyer of a song, movie, video game, or other piece of media from doing anything particularly useful with it. It has been used by music distributors throughout the 00s as a sales reducer.

The RIAA, or Retrospectively Irrelevant Association of America, has long championed the use of DRM on music, asserting that la la la la la, I can’t hear you, la la la la la. The sudden change in attitude has so far caused 40 deaths and 900 injuries worldwide related to high-decibel emissions of “wait, what?”

Update: Actually, no, they didn’t. They just said it’s not on iTunes and stuff anymore, so that means something. Oh well.

Revelation: The Xbox 360 Is a Form of DRM

Zacqary Adam Green — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:37:26 +0000

Interesting IM conversation I had with my boyfriend:

Him:
BULL
it’s [Splinter Cell Conviction] exclusive to 360…
Me:
Oh noes. That’s so terrible because I don’t have a 360.
Thank you for being so upset at my misfortune despite the fact that you, yourself, lack it.
Him:
no, i wanted to be able to play it wherever I am
on my laptop

Oh. My. God. The Xbox 360 succeeds at causing problems for the consumer who wants the convenience of things like portability, as well as preventing other corporations (Sony and Nintendo) from competing when it has an exclusive, while monumentally failing to prevent piracy. The 360 is DRM!!!!

Granted, this is true of most game consoles, but it’s more fun to hate on Microsoft.

UPDATE: Apparently “360 exclusive” means “Xbox 360 and Games For Windows” in Microsoft-speak. Oh well. I guess I’ll have to replace Splinter Cell with the Grand Theft Auto IV DLC for my analogy to work. Or anything Halo-related besides the first two games.

The Indie Paradox: Paying Rent Without Depending On Corporations

Zacqary Adam Green — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:29:16 +0000

Piracy happens for two reasons: people don’t have a lot of money, and 90% of everything is crap (or DRM’d, but that makes it crap). Therefore, by getting everything free, you won’t lose any of your hard-earned cash on that 90%. Unfortunately, because no money is going to the creators of the other 10%, they won’t continue making things for everyone to download free.

Large corporations have come up with a solution: go into the manufacturing business. They are now Digital Rights Manufacturing companies, creating new rights for themselves using a revolutionary new process known as “fellating lawmakers”. Their revenue stream comes from licensing these digital rights at high prices, and suing people who don’t pay. But it’s too expensive for indie artists and creators, and it doesn’t win you any friends.

Because of this situation, indie game developers are doing horrible things like experimenting with in-game advertising. I’m not saying this as a knee-jerk reaction to the horrors of annoying ads bombarding us. I’m saying this as a knee-jerk reaction to the horrors of depending on the advertising industry for revenue.

Think about it: TV series with devoted fanbases are cancelled because they don’t make enough ad revenue. Millions of websites depending on Google AdSense would go broke if their accounts were inexplicably terminated (I’ve read about this happening before but can’t find a link detailing it. Maybe I’m typing the wrong words into Goo…gle…wait a minute). And remember when GameSpot fired Jeff Gertsmann when their advertisers didn’t like his reviews? For people who call themselves indie, it’s not very indie-pendent.

The best way to be indie in any medium, be it game development, filmmaking, music, writing…hell, even running a business in general, the only party you should be depending on is individual people. Some may know them as “customers”, or “users” who “generate content” on your “social media application”, but let’s avoid such corporate-speak, as it makes baby Jesus cry and is killing America. But there’s still the problem of how exactly to make money on individual people anymore. In a world where art is hard work and people don’t seem to want to pay for it, one man will stand up to explain his opinion. That man is me. Reread the previous two sentences in a movie trailer guy voice, then click the jump-cut-continue-reading thingy:

The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. Part of the admission process is defining what exactly the problem is, so let’s do that now:

Indie creators need money
People seem to prefer downloading stuff for free
If your money comes from ads, you are a slave to the advertisers

Video games are seemingly the easiest medium to solve this for, but the proposed solutions only work for specific cases. I thought about the approach brought up by Dimerocker (as of writing, their site consists entirely of an unmutable coming-soon video with bad techno music, so don’t click) near the end of the Kotaku piece. Asia has dealt with this problem, and the most popular games there are free-to-play with premium components which you can get for micropayments. Piracy is impossible because the games have to be played on the web. This is great for MMO, arcade, and proceduralist games. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work very well for games disinterested in replay value. Some narrative or art games are meant to be played once, and would not benefit from premium items or costumes or levels. For the same reason, this is no way to make a profit from movies.

But a video game business model which could potentially work for other mediums is a revival of the traditional arcade. Imagine a game in which you could play the first level, and every level after that cost 25 cents. It would be browser-based, or otherwise require an Internet connection, and every level you purchase is accessible to you forever. You can save your game, stop playing, pick it up later as normal, and only pay more when you progress to a new “chapter.” This could be applied to movies and books as well, allowing you to pay by the chapter (in the novel or DVD sense) after getting an initial, free teaser.

Anyone reading this is free to try that out, and I hope it works for you, but I still see problems. Presumably a large service would offer this, so what if such a service were to go offline, temporarily or permanently? Not only would that anger customers, whose purchased movies, books, and games are now inaccessible, but creators, who were dependant on the service for their money. Also, the service would be free to pull any “objectionable content,” which would happen willy-nilly if the history of YouTube and Apple are considered. It’s a combination of DRM server scares and not actually being indie which still doesn’t sit well with me.

Perhaps it would work if everyone assembled such a service themselves. Host files on Amazon S3, take PayPal (or some other, more micropayment-focused service), and you’re done. You’re depending on corporations for the infrastructure, but they’re basically dumb pipes. They won’t shut you down if you’re controversial, and if they go bankrupt, switch to someone else.

Alternatively, for the convenience of people without credit cards or living in countries with taxes or tariffs that cause problems, make payment optional. Very few forms of media can be experienced on the Internet without downloading anything, and technologies allowing you to record music or movies from your screen and speakers prove that people want options. Right now, game developers have a free ride; while it’s possible to hear the same song or see the same movie on your iPod as opposed to your computer, Grand Theft Auto IV probably wouldn’t work all that well (it doesn’t work all that well on PCs in the first place, but I digress). This will change. But because of this desire for options, things need to be downloadable in an open format recognized by whatever Personal Media Device or Mobile Entertainment Console or MPπ player happens to exist. Therefore, piracy will occur, so you need to not depend on people paying for easily redistributable stuff. Make them pay for your continued ability to do work. I don’t have an easy, surefire answer about how to do this, other than that you should make donations easy, flexible, and conspicuous. Allow people to pay whatever they want, and some might pay $5000. If not, at least the 100,000 people who downloaded it from Pirate Bay will pay a dollar. With enough experimentation and loud screaming about this business model, the general public will get used to it, and it will be completely normal.

Either way, all that’s left is getting the word out. But with the ubiquity of Facebook, Twitter, IMing, and the age-old practice of human beings ejaculating the word-language from their face-mouths, anything with a compelling, free teaser and a low-to-no price of entry to its awesomeness will sell itself. Such a system will work very well for the 10% of people who make stuff that isn’t crap.

The other 90% may be out of luck. I’ve been thinking for about a half hour how to follow up that statement, originally believing that’s not a good thing. After all, lots of great ideas fail miserably the first time they’re attempted. But then I realized that that 99% of crap is mediocre, derivative, and boring, failing to add anything new to the world. A decreased chance for mediocrity to achieve anything for a creator is actually a pretty awesome thing. People who genuinely have passion for what they do will improve themselves and come back strong, while idiots jumping on the bandwagon will move on to find something they’re actually good at. To some degree, the world works that way already.

So the best thing for an indie artist, musician, filmmaker, game developer, or writer to do in this day and age is twofold: Don’t suck at what you do, and make it easy for people to realize that.

MPAA To Teachers: Don’t Rip DVDs, Camcord Them!

Zacqary Adam Green — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:04:11 +0000

Current hearings in Congress about exemptions to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act are focusing on the following: should it be legal for teachers to circumvent copy-protection on DVDs so that they can show video clips to their classes?

No, says the Motion Picture Association of America. Besides, why would you want to do this? There’s a perfectly reasonable alternative: point a video camera at the screen!

MPAA shows how to videorecord a TV set from timothy vollmer on Vimeo.

Two things:

Not every teacher has a high-quality monitor and camcorder, so it would cost educational institutions an enormous amount of money before this ridiculously convoluted workaround could produce usable results.
The jokes write themselves.

YouTube Blocks Content ID Matches Worldwide Except In Everywhere

Zacqary Adam Green — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:11:19 +0000

I got a very odd notice from YouTube. Apparently their robots finally detected my fair use of a copyrighted Universal Music Group song in one of my ridiculous convention videos. However, this was not cause to automatically take down the video, nor to automatically mute the audio. Instead…

As a result, your video is blocked everywhere except in these locations:
American Samoa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Fiji, France, Germany, Guam, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kiribati, Mexico, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Spain, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, United States, United States Virgin Islands, Vanuatu

So, wait, where is it blocked, then? Most of the countries I’m not seeing on there don’t have their own versions of YouTube. Um…China? Is it blocked in China? Oh, no, that’s all of YouTube, sorry.

I’m very confused. Oh well. I’d imagine that it’s still accessible everywhere regardless, now that I submitted the fair use dispute. This is the third time I’ve had to do that, and it’s kind of annoying. Why can’t I just submit the fair use claim when I upload the video? I know it’s got copyrighted music, I state that in the description, so let’s just cut to the chase, shall we?

Kindle Text-To-Speech Now Up To Visually Un-Impaired CEOs, Not People Who Need It

Zacqary Adam Green — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:42:13 +0000

A few weeks ago, whoever the fuck the Authors Guild is proved they’re just another association filled with complete idiots unable to comprehend adapting their business model to current realities. Unfortunately, their threats to shift their industry’s revenue stream to the lawsuit market have caused Amazon to cripple the Kindle 2′s text-to-speech abilities. Now, instead of allowing the Kindle 2 to read anything aloud to visually impaired users, children, or anyone else who might need or want such a thing, this option will be up to the book publishers.

Let’s think realistically about this for a second. Amazon hasn’t removed the feature entirely, so as long as a publisher allows it, their book can certainly be read aloud in a robotic, monotone voice. Still with me on this realism thing? Okay, now tell me how many publishers are likely to do this? To be fair, we don’t know. But looking at precedents set by the digitization of music and movies, I’m guessing the number of publishers allowing that will be less than or equal to the number of independent, smaller publishers selling Kindle books through Amazon.

I really hope, though, that I’m wrong. I hope, to the bottom of my heart, that the publishing industry has about as much respect for the Authors Guild as, well, any author I’ve ever met. I would be so happy if publishers prove me wrong and universally offer the text-to-speech option, because they know that negative reinforcement doesn’t make a customer want to buy another “license” from you. But I am not at all optimistic.

I should note that my argument about the visually impaired doesn’t seem to jive with the Guild; they state in their “rights alert” thingy that “Kindle 2 isn’t designed for such use” by people with bad vision or blindness. I could question who the hell the Authors Guild is to question how useful something is for visually impaired people, but I think the National Federation for the Blind can do that better than me.

But oh well. Looks like there’s nothing we can do but fire up our BitTorrent clients in protest.