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Comment Re:So can someone answer this: (Score 3, Insightful) 747

If you hooked your HTPC to your non-HDCP compliant display, you could possibly modify your device driver to decode the HDCP encryption and be able to view content at full 1080p on your non-HDCP compliant display. Alternatively, someone might be able to implement it in hardware and provide a cheap device to lay in between your device and non-HDCP display to decode the stream on the fly. All of this... just so people can watch content at full HD on the monitor they legally paid for.

Submission + - HDCP Master Key Possibly Leaked

Vertana writes: HDCP stands for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection and is used by content providers to secure digital works on the connection between digital displays. It does this by encrypting the stream of data between two digital connections (ie an HDMI to HDMI connection) and having the destination (your monitor) decode it and display the data. This has caused older displays that do not come equipped with HDCP to display high definition content (such as Blu-Ray movies) even if they have the digital ports required. In order to fight this issue, someone has now leaked the alleged HDCP Master Key. This is being discussed here and here.

Comment To cut down on support requests (Score 1) 766

I would wait for either Ubuntu 10.04 to come out or wait until the Linux Mint that is built off of 10.04 to come out. I say this because as it will be the LTS, they won't feel like they need to upgrade (you can tell them that they get free support for 3 years). Linux Mint, although I have not used it myself, has gained a lot of traction as an easy-to-use distro because of all the preinstalled software and proprietary drivers and such. You can teach them how to use the Ubuntu Software Center, Evolution, maybe even install Boxee for them as a media center and call it a day. The reasons I say to wait on Ubuntu 10.04 is because the GDM in 9.10 doesn't have the "click on user" to login UI, you must type in username and password (I've received complaints from Windows users about it) and there is no "easy" way to fix that and stability. Generally speaking LTS releases tend to be a bit more stable (at least in theory). If you don't wanna go with Ubuntu, OpenSuse has a very good KDE implementation (for the "Windows feel") and a nice control panel, that would be a better option if the look and feel of Windows is slightly more important than ease-of-use.

Comment SOHO User (Score 1) 487

How many non technical people know the difference between 64 and 32-bit CPU's? Not a whole lot, if any. For those people, it's a bit daunting when their Linux friend/son/granddaughter/whatever tells them it'd be a great choice and the first thing they see is "Which download? 32 or 64?". Just put the .ISO with both 32-bit and 64-bit with a script that tests if the CPU is 64-bit capable at boot time. Or how about those people that don't know if their Mac has Intel or PPC chipset? Same thing, script at boot time to determine. If it's just two architectures the overhead could be well worth it.

Comment Re:How does custom firmware "lose sales" (Score 1) 190

A PSP homebrew program was released a few weeks ago by the name of ChickHEN. It does not allow play of ISOs or PSX games. It's been downloaded thousands of times. I personally use it for emulators and playing Duke Nukem 3D on my PSP and I still buy my games (although I would make backups for logistical reasons if it was enabled).

Comment Integrity? (Score 5, Interesting) 134

Ok, so they build this massive surveillance cluster. It can listen in and decrypt all information passing through all the major ISP players. Now that they have this information, it goes... where? These machines sit in between routers and the ISP's backbone (they'd have to). This means that they are connected to the internet and/or they have remote administration capabilities (I'm assuming dedicated machines). They can't keep the information local, that would be asinine. It would only take one leak (and there will be one, because there are people in the government who will not agree with this. A secretary somewhere will get a memo that gets put on the Internet) of either a password, username, or even a hint that there is remote admin possibilities and it will launch the fury of the Internet at large. Machines will be hacked (eventually) and data will be leaked. Some of it will be embarrassing to the people, while all of it will be to the government. Or maybe they have some secure server that the machines VPN into and transmit the databases that way. Who knows how they could 'securely' transfer this information they are getting, but VPN seems an obvious answer at the moment. That means they will need to deploy the VPN server IPs to the IT's in the field; it also means the server configuration is in a manual. If the government employee thinks they can get away with it or if they are an ex-employee... there will be a whistle-blower. Wikileaks, I guess it's UK's turn ^^

Comment How are they sorting? (Score 1) 238

I live in the US, but what if I like to be an extra jackass and video tape US officers doing stupid things? I just proxy through the UK and post? Would they really come after me for something so trivial overseas? What if there are 50 people just like me, flooding the site with these videos? This idea won't last much longer, it was just something so the PR people didn't lose their jobs. Awesome! Now you just have to stop all the false videos filed under false pretenses! *stifles giggle*

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