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'Winston Smith' Speaks Out On MS Reader Convertor
Posted by
timothy
on Sat Oct 11, 2003 09:38 PM
from the gotta-read-on-my-zaurus dept.
from the gotta-read-on-my-zaurus dept.
David H. Rothman writes "'Winston Smith,' an unemployed American high school dropout self-named after 1984's hero, told my TeleRead.org site why he and buddies turned out Convert Lit to crack the Microsoft Reader e-book format. Winston makes clear he is pro-fair use and anti-piracy. Alas, new DMCAish legal restrictions in the United Kingdom will force the Dan Jackson Software site to shut off the Convert Lit downloading later this month. Just as in the States, free speech and fair use apparently matter less in the UK these days than they used to. According to Dan Jackson, Winston 'is indeed the real author of Convert LIT.' Meanwhile, if you're in a country without DMCAish thuggery and can host Dan at a new location, email him ASAP."
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'Winston Smith' Speaks Out On MS Reader Convertor
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You could always host it... (Score:1, Insightful)
Why bother? (Score:2)
Heh, later this month... (Score:5, Interesting)
-- Dr. Eldarion --
Once Again (Score:1, Funny)
Where is Alan Cox in all of this? (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.enginuity.org/)
Re:Where is Alan Cox in all of this? (Score:4, Informative)
(Last Journal: Sunday October 14, @10:49PM)
He has also taken a year or so off to get an MBA and learn welsh.
Re:Where is Alan Cox in all of this? (Score:4, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Tuesday June 06 2006, @08:27PM)
Besides, its not about American products, its about ideas. The US comes up with great ideas, like cars, Internet and so on that get implemtented better elsewhere. The freedom present in the US (should that be past tense?) creates an environment great for ideas (notice how intellectual property law in the US aggressively protects ideas)... but the Germans and Japanese sure do make better cars ;)
What are they teaching kids these days? (Score:5, Funny)
A new email address might be more useful... (Score:5, Funny)
how do people come up with these laws? (Score:2, Interesting)
But the real bad guy is companies like microsoft that act on the laws.
-Seriv
Normally... (Score:2)
(http://egosurf.net/~grishnav)
Damn EU (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Tuesday September 14 2004, @08:18PM)
Its things like this that make me want to bitch-slap the queen and get her to do something about it.. even if its just erm.. making the beafeters run around. We need a leader who takes no crap from the EU and the US and we need to nuke someone now, i dont care who, just as long as i dont have to live in a country where i will be arrested for wearing a decss t-shirt. And isnt this violating the human rights/free speech laws?
Does it matter any more? (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.shambala.net)
Re:Does it matter any more? (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://spf.pobox.com/)
You people sound like kooks (Score:1, Funny)
Alas...the good ol' days... (Score:1)
(http://www.kolgoth.com/)
I personally think this is turning into a vicious cycle, much akin to the one found in the rotation of television broadcasting. In the late 80's, there were some quality shows on television... After the 5000th run-down of Power Rangers, or the 1000th joke about the purple Teletubbie, television is finally restoring some quality shows...
In the 1930's, life in the world was a trafic affair. That time it was because of financial issues. In the 1970's, life was well...we all know how life was in the 70's... Now, in the late 90's and early 2000's, we're experiencing the next cycle of hell on earth so to speak. Right now, we can still go down a lot further before the world realizes what is going on, and slowly begins its climb back to the days when waking up in the morning wasn't a burden.
However, as we are currently here now, we must deal with it as it comes.
I haven't RTFA yet, but if he bypassed some descryption algorithm designed by MicroSoft (No - I don't like them either - but thats not the point) then something should be done. However, the problem now lies in the extent of punishment which he would receive. In today's world, we've begun comparing "digital theft" as some like to call it, to armed robbery and murder. I know people who have been to jail for armed robbery, and many other violent crimes, who got off easier than someone caught hosting 1000 MP3s... It is a sad day when owning a copy of a song on your hard drive, or a copy of a book on your computer, becomes a crime punished to a greater extent than 'other' crimes...
Ahhh...the wonderful world we live in now.
I'd better not post my crack for... (Score:3, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Monday January 06 2003, @10:36PM)
it does work (Score:5, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Monday November 05, @02:21AM)
Our company had a document (Employee Handbook) converted into MS Reader format. (Don't ask me why.) The original files were lost in a disk crash. (Don't talk to me about backups either.) Now the document needs editing. I could have re-typed it, but I'm lazy. A quick Google and I find this program with a potentionaly offensive name.
Hooray! I get to be lazy and violate the DMCA just to retreive a file owned and created by the company I work for. The incident only reinforced to everyone here the value of pdf files and that MS Reader is beyond worthless.
Wanted to use reader... (Score:5, Insightful)
The people making anti piracy software have to realize that you just can't force people to act in a simple fashion so that it's easier for them. They have to realize that they have to find real and intelligent solutions that work and still allow Joe Legal user fair and useful access to the content that's being provided.
After doing a small search for a conversion program (this was a while back now) and not finding one, I just ditched it and went another route.
Later this month? (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.feelourpain.com/)
Slashdot may take care of that before they need to.
Why are readers crackable? (Score:2, Interesting)
(http://www.the-h.net/)
I know there is most likely some technical reason, so what is that reason? Why are the makers of these readers complaining, instead of actually creating a secure product (which, btw, does NOT require backups of anything other than the userID and private key, which have no reason to be made unavailable to the user)
Of course, storing data "encrypted" would be pointless, as the key would need to be stored somewhere as well, but if the key is for one-time-use, the ability to take the cover off, hack and solder your way into the memory chip, and sift through until you get what you want.. doesnt seem like a problem to me...
Please, I'm not trying to troll or anything, I'd just like my ignorance to be alleviated.
This sux (Score:1)
Just remember one thing... (Score:2)
(http://www.fluidlight.com/drew)
Oh, where to start? (Score:4, Informative)
You'll notice, when you follow the link, that you're really getting submitter David H. Rothman's weblog, where he states, "Winston in effect provides some great insights into why "Microsoft" is a hated name among millions and why e-books sales for the whole bloody industry are a pathetic $10-million or so a year--a fraction of Tom Clancy's annual income."
Rothman has what's known as "target fixation" - he's so focused on the target (MS and DRM) that he'll fly his plane into the ground. Of course revenues are so little - no one wants to read books on a screen! Even in a convenient easy-to-carry PDA with super-font-res technology [microsoft.com].
If you read all the material relating to "Winston", you'll find Rothman seems to hold him up as a sort of hero of the cause, whose insights we should all read and heed. If you read Winston's writings, you'll find he's rambling, immature, and ill-informed. He does have one real insight: "Lack of a college degree is a true impediment to getting hired."
I don't know how this stuff ends up on the front page of Slashdot. A link to a guy's weblog...timothy strikes again.
Sealand (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://slashdot.org/)
sourceforge ! (Score:1)
Speakers Corner (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://cyberkinetica.homeunix.net/ | Last Journal: Wednesday January 28 2004, @03:41PM)
That place is Speakers Corner in Hyde Park.
Just gather up the source for DeCSS and any other cracking algorithm and security vulnerability and read it out loud to the 'audience'. You may need to invest in a megaphone or PA system to be heard above all the other people there (which nowadays includes Taliban sympathizers, Pro Saddam activists, IRA/PLO/Islamic Jihad fundraisers, BNP/Neo-Nazi recruiters, Triad/Mafia/Organised Crime reps).
You cannot be prosecuted for saying something there, political or otherwise.
The only problem is trying to get someone to listen.
Anyone have enough money to create a case? (Score:1)
Use the archived copy (Score:4, Informative)
(http://mikebabcock.ca/slashdot/ | Last Journal: Sunday November 05 2006, @05:55PM)
http://web.archive.org/web/20030118042411/http:
Anyone know how to extract Mobi (Score:1)
Mr. Competence
Bah (Score:1)
(http://www.megatokyo.com/)
it's already illegal (Score:2)
>Update (2003/10/07)
>The UK's implementation of the European Union
>Copyright Directive means that, starting from
>October 31st, it will no longer be legal to use
>or distribute Convert LIT in the UK.
The fact is that the copyright directive had an implementation deadline at the end of last year. The UK has just been 10 months late. However, legal precedence in the EU means that until a state has implemented the directive, then it is possible to enforce the directive through the principle of "direct effect".
This means that your material is already - and has been for some time - a copyright violation.
UK Copyright Legislation - that sucks. (Score:2)
OK, I've just finished a brief scan of that.
Its rather a big document to receive less than a week's worth of debate before enactment, but I guess I only have my MP to blame for that.
One thing that concerns me substantially is that the phrase "effective technological measure" and a number of similar phrases are used in numerous places in these regulations, but are not defined anywhere. Nor, it would seem, are they defined in any other act of the UK parliament, at least as far back as 1987 (which is as far as HMSO's web copies go). Which means that this law can be readily twisted to mean whatever the first barrister to get his hands on it wants it to mean... yeuch.
Other issues - breaking an anti-circumvention measure is illegal whatever your purpose (unless its for cryptographic research). You could be perfectly entitled to get at the data, but because its protected you can do nothing about it.
Re:Here's A Suggestion (Score:4, Insightful)
If you wanna do a Rosa Parks-like stand of civil disobedience, go ahead, but also pack your bags for the slammer. The fact is, civil disobedience means breaking the law and paying the price, the theory being that if enough people do it it'll get attention and hopefully cause the law to be changed, or at least cause the local officials a headache trying to arrest 10,000 people when the local police department only has enough cells for 3. Somehow, a small number of hackers breaking a non-used scheme isn't quite the same effect...
You're better off pointing out the DRM schemes that can be hacked with a single key. That's a much better test case than this...
Re:What a Winner (Score:2, Funny)
(http://forechecker.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Friday September 07, @08:16PM)
Huh??? I thought those are qualifications, at least for ripping off stuff, dude!
Re:What a Winner (Score:1)
(http://www.yafla.com/dforbes/ | Last Journal: Tuesday September 27 2005, @10:43AM)
What are the credentials of the countless Slashbots that give their interpretation of copyright laws in every DMCA-related article (of which there are countless)?
Neither being a high-school dropout or CS graduate with honors implies any knowledge, professionally or casually, of copyright law, fair use, or the US legal system. Of course neither does it preclude such knowledge, as you seem to be implying.
Re:so tell me what a valid use for this is.... (Score:2, Insightful)
(http://www.generationxyu.com/)
Think of it this way: KFC's 11 secret herbs and spices aren't patented. If I have good enough tastebuds and can figure out what they are, it's not illegal for me to tell people what they are. Why would it be? It's the same thing.
Re:so tell me what a valid use for this is.... (Score:2)
(http://www.fluidlight.com/drew)
Re:so tell me what a valid use for this is.... (Score:1)
Microsoft's copyright protection is a PAIN IN THE BUTT. So there is your "valid use" explanation. But more than that, I believe everyone SHOULD have the god given right to circumvent copyright protection. Copyright protection is, plain and simple, a way to take away your fair use rights. Coupled with the DMCA, it actually makes it illegal (I still have a hard time swallowing it). I understand that copyright protection may have a legitimate goal: to prevent masses of people from breaking copyright law, but when it prevents masses of people from legitimate use it's usefulness is overshadowed by that flaw. Take DVD regions. Why should the DVD makers be able to tell me that where I buy a DVD is where that DVD should be played, just so they can better control global pricing? Why should it be illegal for me to circumvent "protection" of that sort?
Not only that, but why should I not have the right to change, learn from, or do whatever the hell I want with a product I buy? A DVD isn't just a copy, because if I walk out of a store with a DVD I am going to be slapped down for STEALING, not copyright infringement. A DVD is MY property once I buy it, and if I want to mess around with it then that is my business. If you sell me a product with a lock on it, that shouldn't mean I don't have the right to break the lock and take a look inside. What I do afterwards with what I unlocked may be criminal, but nothing up unto that point should.
Re:so tell me what a valid use for this is.... (Score:3, Informative)
(http://www.vems.co.nz/)
why do you think you have the god given right to circumvent the copyright protection somebody places on their work?
Because I can. I'm not going to limit myself to some arbitrary level of stupidity just because you say it's "protected". Obviously if I can crack it, then it's not done well enough, is it? If it's that important, it shouldn't be on the 'net, and copies should be tracable to the original purchaser.
If someone puts a digital copy of something out into the world, it's fair game. Sorry, but that's life - if I'm not acquiring a copy illegally, I'll do what I want with it thanks. If I figure out a decryption scheme, yay for me, and what difference is it to you? I wasn't going to pay for what ever it was so you didn't lose a sale. You still have the original, it's not like I broke into a safe and stole your painting. Jeez, if you want to stop people using infomormation that you are selling or providing online, either get better protection or provide your customers with the tools to access it without resorting to a DIY approach.
And here's your list of valid uses...
Re:so tell me what a valid use for this is.... (Score:1)
I'm sorry, but why do I need the permission of the Superme Being (if there even is such a thing, which I seriously doubt) to foil a silly protectionist measure like DVD region encoding? If there is a god, I think it has something better to do than worry about the number of zeroes in a bank account in a very tiny corner of the universe.
Re:Yeah yeah (Score:1)
Re:UK never had any fair use provision (Score:2)
IANAL, etc.