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Comment Re:Human memory = low quality copy (Score 1) 1218

by _the_bascule (#22059710) Attached to: Apple Announces MacBook Air
*chuckle* thnks for that, I did forget to mention that I won't upload ripped movies from DVD rentals, just an ongoing moral problem for me. Redistributing copyright material that cost a lot of money to make in the first place is something that I can see as wrong, but my own counter-argument tells me that paying Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Cruise and the like $10million a movie is also morally wrong and I don't want to support that model of business either ...

Microsoft Withdraws Vista's Kill Switch 635

Posted by Zonk from the bit-less-damocles dept.
l-ascorbic writes "In what they are calling a change of tactics, Microsoft has removed the controversial 'kill switch' from Vista in SP1. This feature is designed to disable pirated copies of the OS, but had led to numerous reports of it disabling legitimate copies. It will be replaced with a notice that repeatedly informs the user that their OS is pirated. '[Microsoft corporate vice president Mike Sievert] added: "It's worth re-emphasizing that our fundamental strategy has not changed. All copies of Windows Vista still require activation and the system will continue to validate from time to time to verify that systems are activated properly." Microsoft said it had pursued legal action against more than 1,000 dealers of counterfeit Microsoft products in the last year and taken down more than 50,000 "illegal and improper" online software auctions.'"
Businesses

How Best Buy Tried To Whip The Geek Squad Into Shape 476

Posted by Zonk from the deeply-shocked-by-the-lack-of-subtlety dept.
The Consumerist site is featuring a follow-up to their Geek Squad porn collectors story, a feature we discussed back in July. According to Consumerist, Best Buy set up their own rigorous internal investigation to catch the culprits soon after these revelations became public. At that point, of course, employee morale went out the window. Draconian interrogation methods were apparently used, and innocent employees lost their jobs. "There were three Geek Squad members fired from my store including myself. The first two were fired for burning a non-copyrighted CD for another employee on a non company issued blank CD-R. I admitted in my interrogation that I was aware of this, and that I stopped these events after that occurrence. I was fired for being aware of this non copyrighted CD being copied. To quote, I did not provide the proper example of leadership. Keep in my mind I removed over 100 illegal tools and pirated discs upon my arrival as supervisor, as well as some remnants of an internal porn scandal."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Music Industry on Last Legs says Exec

Submitted by
Ponca City, We Love You
Ponca City, We Love You writes: "For years, the major record labels have fought a pitched battle against the MP3 format and although major labels like EMI and the Universal Music Group have embraced the MP3 format in recent months, a story from the Mercury News says early returns from those moves indicate they've had little impact on the industry's fortunes — for better or for worse. "These are ailing businesses on their last legs," said Eric Garland, chief executive of BigChampagne, a market research company focused on digital media. The question of copy protection on song downloads "matters a whole lot less to them than it once did." The industry has a bigger problem. Consumers used to buy CDs for $10 or $15 a pop. Increasingly, they're buying songs at about $1 apiece instead. So, even if transactions continue to increase, the industry is seeing far less money each time consumers buy and it's having a difficult time making up the difference. By potentially encouraging more music sales, moving to MP3s may be one piece of the answer to the industry's problem but it's not the only one. Instead, the industry's going to have to explore other ideas, including advertising-supported music, promotional relationships and subscriptions."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Teenager arrested over '£9.7m computer h (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by
GeneralPayne
GeneralPayne writes: "A New Zealand teenager was today arrested on suspicion of stealing millions of pounds from bank accounts around the world and of being the ringleader of a hacking network which infiltrated more than 1.3m computers. The 18-year-old, from Hamilton, North Island, was taken into custody and several computers were seized, said the head of the country's police e-crime unit, Martin Kleintjes. The teenager cannot be named for legal reasons, but uses the online identity "Akill". He was later released without charge, but police said they expected to interview him again."
Microsoft

Submission + - Everything you've read about Vista DRM is lies (zdnet.com) 2

Submitted by
Technical Writing Geek
Technical Writing Geek writes: "Self-described "professional paranoid" Peter Gutmann of the University of Auckland has become the most widely quoted source of information on DRM and content protection in Windows Vista. The trouble is, Gutmann's work is riddled with factual errors, distortions, contradictions, and outright untruths, and his conclusions are equally wrong.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=299"

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