TI vs. Calculator Hackers 463
Nyall writes "So a bunch of TI calculator programming enthusiasts got together to factor the keys Texas Instruments uses to sign the operating system binaries for the ti83+ (a z80 architecture) and the ti89/v200 (a 68k architecture) series of calculators. Now Texas Instruments is sending out DMCA notices to take them down."
first post (Score:5, Funny)
Math (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Math (Score:5, Funny)
TI has a new calculator based on the original Pentium?
subterfuge (Score:5, Funny)
Someone in TI's legal dept. who knows what the Streisand Effect is wants these keys publicized.
Well, we can hope that's the reason.
DRM in a calculator? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm shocked to hear that TI is even bothering to sign things. What exactly could be in a calculator that you would want to protect from hackers or end users?
"Oh no, a virus has replaced all my Fourier transforms with Laplace transforms!"
Re:Wikileaks link (Score:5, Funny)
What will they do with people outside the US where the DMCA does not apply?
Get the US government to invade them?
Re:Wikileaks link (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder if it's mirrored here: http://crystalwind.com/index.html [crystalwind.com]
No HP??? (Score:5, Funny)
I that they so shortsighted would be can't believe!
Re:Math (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah. I don't think TI factored this development into consideration when it released this product.
Re:Wikileaks link (Score:5, Funny)
What will they do with people outside the US where the DMCA does not apply?
Put them on a hacker terrorist watch list and disappear them the next time they partake in a terrorist training camp (e.g. a math conference).
Re:Math (Score:4, Funny)
Z80 is pre-x86 architecture, i.e. pre-pre-Pentium, and 68k is pre-Power PC architecture.
So technically, this should have sarcasmed with "oshwho".
Re:Math (Score:5, Funny)
every time anyone has said "woosh" it's been non-funny and every other time it was just as deserving of its own "woosh"
whoosh
IANAL but TI is screwed now (Score:4, Funny)
Sending out false DMCA notices opens up TI to some very serious penalties. And this point every member of the team can hire and lawyer and get TI to pay for it, plus be charged with some additional fines. The DMCA in this instance is not a gray area at all. There is no copyrighted being circumvented by this perfectly legal reverse engineering, and a kind of reverse engineering expressly allowed by the DMCA itself.
I am guessing TI executives decided they didn't like something, and forced their lawyers to make a very bad legal decision. Using the DMCA to bully people works, but only if you don't trip over the DMCA itself as TI has done.
Re:Woosh (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Exactly. (Score:5, Funny)
Hang on - it's 2009 and we're still arguing about calculators?
Vi sucks.
Re:Wikileaks link (Score:4, Funny)
I'm kind of kidding, but posting of freenet links on slashdot ought to be standard procedure whenever something is DMCA'd.
Re:Its the usual castle gate mentality (Score:3, Funny)
what is the answer?
42.
A long time ago... (Score:3, Funny)
Does anyone know or remember that one?