Category — Digital Rights Management (DRM)

The Great HDCP Fiasco

Idjits. Hollywood, the MPAA, ATI and nVidia, not to mention Sony and Microsoft are all just a big bunch of money grubbing IDIOTS who seem to think making it *harder* to even WATCH what people f'ing buy will cut down piracy.
Bullfuckingshit.
They have farted around about HDTV, DRM and copyright and they who THINK they are the powers that be are merely bringing on a lovely little fight between people who want to watch or listen to what they buy *LEGALLY* and those who think that there are pirates around every corner. No they are in bed with those who give a nod and wink to piracy in China and other places and punishing the legal buyers of their products be it software, DVDs, games or music.
I for one, would be very pissed about not being able to watch a DVD on my snazzy new HDTV (not like I could afford one for a few YEARS) or hell play a game on my new PS3 (altough I'm seriously reconsidering that in light of my little run-in with MediaMAX courtesy of Sony/BMG) that I bought and paid for.
Of course the article has the disturbing news that the GPU manufacturers-ATI/nVidia- have been *advertising* a feature that the retail versions don't have but OEM versions that can only be in new computers, which is a bait and switch in my opinion.

Wired News: Boycott Sony

I like Sony. I should after buying a PSP on launch day and planning on buying a second one soon, along with owning a PS2 and 2 PS1s, and planning on buying a PS3 whenever they launch. But, Sony did wrong in putting some nasty code on CD's, effectively opening PC's to attack and putting some spyware on Macs, which I think has also been mentioned. (Check, googles, yep they did install kernel extensions, by a different company, read article from Gizmodo, Sony Mac Rootkit,which makes it an equal oppotunity offender)

Wired is calling for a boycott of Sony. Does that include SCEA. or is it the Sony music label? Decisions, decisions. I don't like ANY company that installs crap on my computer be it Microsoft or Sony or hell even Apple. I don't like companies telling me what I can or can not do with the things I buy, emphasis on buy. I don't like licensing my software and I doubt I'll be buying any of Sony's CD's for a while.

The major media companues treat ordinary consumers like criminals whenever they buy digital media, be it games, CD's or movies. If Cd's were priced better and not loaded with crap like Sony pulled, maybe it just might make piracy less viable. Some people in this world can't afford to buy a new $15 CD just for a song they like or if they want to try an new group.