DVDFab Has Ignored Court's Shut Down Order, AACS Says (torrentfreak.com) 167
An anonymous reader cites a report on TorrentFreak: DVDFab has failed to cease its operations in the U.S. and should be sanctioned, AACS says. The decryption licensing outfit founded by Warner Bros, Disney, Microsoft, Intel and others, informs a New York federal court that DVDFab's parent company has blatantly ignored a permanent injunction that was issued last year. In 2014 decryption licensing outfit AACS LA initiated a renewed crackdown on DRM-circumvention software. The company, founded by a group of movie studios and technology partners, sued the makers of popular DVD and Blu-Ray ripping software DVDFab in a New York federal court. After a brief legal battle the court ruled in favor of AACS, issuing an injunction based on the argument that the "DVDFab Group" violates the DMCA's anti-circumvention clause, since their software can bypass DVD and Bluray encryption. Among other things, the injunction barred DVDFab from distributing its software in public and allowed AACS to seize a wide range of domain names. The crippling injunction seemed to work, but not for long. In a new court filing, AACS notes that the software vendor briefly blocked U.S. purchases but went back to business as usual soon after (PDF).
douche-nozzles injunction (Score:3, Funny)
Can I go to court and get an injunction against AACS being douche-nozzles?
Re:douche-nozzles injunction (Score:5, Informative)
Can I go to court and get an injunction against AACS being douche-nozzles?
Already done... You see the AACS are ignoring the WTO order allowing them to pirate software directly to recoup online casino losses from the illegal US actions.
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put comey and these idiots in a room (Score:5, Insightful)
and let them fight it out.
comey wants to outlaw encryption.
that stupid trade group wants ONLY encryption.
#include <popcorn.h>
lol
Re:put comey and these idiots in a room (Score:5, Interesting)
No he only wants to to ban it for the peasants. (ie us)
Re:put comey and these idiots in a room (Score:5, Funny)
That's a great idea. Only a terrorist would want to use encryption. Perhaps the the entire R/MIAA should be sent to Gitmo.
And I think we can make it revenue neutral, or even make a profit. We'll sell tickets to anyone who would like to waterboard them. After all, they must be hiding something on those disks. Why else would they encrypt them? Or people can pay to choose which song will be blasted in their cell. Kind of like a torture jukebox.
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Kind of like a torture jukebox.
This is my new favorite thing.
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Re:put comey and these idiots in a room (Score:5, Funny)
If the use of encryption is banned in the United States (for private individuals), terrorists will probably start mailing encrypted Blu-Ray disks, containing operational instructions, to each other. Suggested titles might include "Mullahs Gone Wild" and "Three Men and a Fatwah".
Re: put comey and these idiots in a room (Score:2)
Evil Empire (Score:1)
The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
available everywhere but the publishers? (Score:3)
not knowing how good of a program it is but i would bet that the "Usual Suspects" have copies more or less at all times within hours of a new version coming out.
This is like Jurassic Park and thinking those dinos would not breed.
Re:available everywhere but the publishers? (Score:4, Informative)
It is a very useful program for making backups of your DVD & BluRay collection. That is their main selling point. Have used it for years. Saves the wear and tear on my disc collection and allows me to store them in a safe place. Then I can watch them with PowerDVD straight from my hard drive.
And they do publish updates very soon after a new protection scheme comes out.
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Ok. That's a good reason for making it illegal. Copy protected media SHOULD be too inconvenient to use.
Well, OK, that was a bit of a snark. But I refuse to buy any copy protected CD, DVD, or BluRay because I insist on backups and I prefer to obey the law. So if I can't get a version that isn't copy protected, I won't buy it. I've found that I haven't missed anything important.
dvd is useful - please fight (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:dvd is useful - please fight (Score:5, Funny)
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I'm not autistic and I don't want to watch all those ads either. Who does?
Advertising monkeys checking out the competition, maybe?
Other than that, I have no earthly idea...
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I'm not autistic and I don't want to watch all those ads either. Who does?
How about those auto-play ads on Blu-Ray discs that do nothing but tell you how great Blu-Ray discs are ... as in, not any specific titles, but the format itself. Uh ... guys? Hello?
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Test-case (Score:2)
Why do they get to ban one DVD backup tool and leave the rest alone?
My opinion (note that I'm NOT a lawyer) is that they are testing the water.
See if they can manage this case and set a precedent.
And then use this case as reference form future lawsuits with other DVD backup software developers.
(A little like back then with Napster)
Though, in practice, I think this is going to fail completely. There are way too many DVD backup tools out-there, some developed outside of the jurisdiction of the AACS.
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I know Disney was bad at first, but for at least the last 10 years Disney DVDs give an explicit option to skip ads.
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Yah, disney fastplay, does a great job of teaching kids about doublespeak.
http://www.ew.com/article/2007... [ew.com]
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You can buy the DVD, paying the MAFIAA and letting them use your money for evil, then you commit a crime by ripping the DVD. Or, you could just obtain a non-DRM copy from captain Anakata. I'd say the latter option is strictly better.
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Re:dvd is useful - please fight (Score:4, Insightful)
You obviously don't have an authistic kid bud...
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The parents react as if they are meeting the definition of autistic, why would the children be any different? Its not genetic, its environmental in these cases.
Autistic parents having autistic children is pretty much the goddamn definition of genetic, dumbass.
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The parents react as if they are meeting the definition of autistic, why would the children be any different? Its not genetic, its environmental in these cases.
Autistic parents having autistic children is pretty much the goddamn definition of genetic, dumbass.
That's not what he meant. He's describing neurotic parents having neurotic children, and assuming that sufficient neuroses are indistinguishable from autism.
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It sounds like you're just really good at labeling people as autistic. I'm surprised your numbers aren't higher.
Besides, that doesn't sound like autism, though it was admittedly a very brief description.
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it therefore follows that no children are autistic.
Uhm, I think you've perhaps not read BitZtream's entire post. If you'd made it just past the half-way point, you'd have read the following:
YES, there are children with real social issues, but thats a small percentage of the ones diagnosed as such.
And he's spot on about the vast majority of "autistic" kids, as well as the actual autistic kids.
Proof? I happen to know a couple, serial foster parents, who take in diagnosed autistic children as they enter the family services (family court) system, until they find a permanent adoptive home of reach legal age and become wards of the state. Last I'd heard, they'd foste
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Being exposed to commercials isn't good for anyone.
Your argument could pretty much be applied to any aspect of technological progress from the last 500 years. Your theocratic notion of self-flagellation is outdated already.
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Nobody will tolerate that shit ... nobody.
And hence sufferers of extreme cases qualify for disability allowances. Because you know ... autism is actually a thing and not just a case of a badly behaved kid with a bad upbringing.
Re:dvd is useful - please fight (Score:5, Insightful)
As another parent of an autistic kid, my reply to you, AC, is FUCK YOU!
(and yes, I'm fully aware I'm posting as an AC as well, thanks for stating the bloody obvious!)
Unfortunately, there persists this stubborn subset of morons in society that continue to believe that mental diseases are imaginary, so people with autism or clinical depression must be "faking it", that they just have to "toughen up" or some shit like that.
Ironically enough, it's often these self same people who have a morally-outraged meltdown whenever they see a mom-n-pop store entrance that has a bit of a step up, or an elevator without braille on the floor selector buttons. Apparently it's absolutely vital for everyone to accommodate certain types of ability impairment, but accommodating other types is somehow 'babying' them.
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Unfortunately, there persists this stubborn subset of morons in society that continue to believe that mental diseases are imaginary, so people with autism or clinical depression must be "faking it", that they just have to "toughen up" or some shit like that.
Public perception of mental illness is just so very fucked up.
Eg People might recall that there was a time when homosexuality was regarded as a mental illness. Nowadays we are 'enlightened' and homosexuality isn't generally regarded as a mental illness. No, these days people who "don't like homosexuality" are regarded as having a mental illness; there is a widespread belief that 'homophobia' is a real thing and that 'homophobes' really are phobic. Hey, if that WERE the case then these 'homophobes' should be
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Eg People might recall that there was a time when homosexuality was regarded as a mental illness. Nowadays we are 'enlightened' and homosexuality isn't generally regarded as a mental illness. No, these days people who "don't like homosexuality" are regarded as having a mental illness; there is a widespread belief that 'homophobia' is a real thing and that 'homophobes' really are phobic. Hey, if that WERE the case then these 'homophobes' should be given understanding and compassion, right? Because they are ill. But no, the LBGT community demand they be treated like criminals... Shoe is on the other foot, kind of thing.
I'm pretty sure that if people actually saw it as a mental illness, they wouldn't make a big stink about it. It's not like anybody thinks you'll become autistic, schizophrenic or psychotic by hanging around people that are autistic, schizophrenic or psychotic. Homophobes act like it's some kind of contagious disease you can catch by being around gay people. Or that people have a wicked part of their soul prone to sin and gays are those that have joined the dark side. Where else but religion can you find a g
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You aren't getting my point. I'm simply illustrating how fucked up peoples perceptions of mental states are. To use the suffix 'phobia' in 'homophobia' shows a complete lack of understanding about the mental condition 'phobia'.
Its a bit like gamers etc who use the term 'rape' not getting that rape isn't something to be taken lightly. They just don't get it.
Same with people who refer to 'homophobes'. Do they even know what phobia is? Do they think a phobia is simple fear? Or are they just using the term 'pho
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Homophobia is a word. It does not mean fear of gay people. Are hydrophobic coatings afraid of water? No.
http://www.grammarphobia.com/b... [grammarphobia.com]
Still not getting it...
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No one except you is using the word phobia to talk about disliking gays. If you don't get it, that's fine, everyone else knows what the perfectly cromulant word means.
And no one but you is getting butthurt over it.
'homophobia' includes 'phobia', show some respect for people with genuine mental issues. See what I mean? You are part of the problem that was originally described in the post I responded to; lack of comprehension of actual mental health issues. You probably think that people suffering severe depression are just sad.
Re:dvd is useful - please fight (Score:4, Interesting)
there is a widespread belief that 'homophobia' is a real thing and that 'homophobes' really are phobic. Hey, if that WERE the case then these 'homophobes' should be given understanding and compassion, right? Because they are ill.
No, you're selectively (and intentionally) imposing your own over-literal interpretation of the word "homophobia"- as if it was what everyone meant by the word- because it suits the flow of your argument.
I appreciate that the persecuted-turned-hypocritical-persecutors narrative suits your rationalisation of a sense of victimhood (stemming from the fact it's not as socially acceptable to be a bigot in this respect as it used to be).
However, when you need to selectively interpret the general meaning of words and twist the facts to suit that argument, it's rather obvious nonsense.
You aren't getting my point. I'm simply illustrating how fucked up peoples perceptions of mental states are. To use the suffix 'phobia' in 'homophobia' shows a complete lack of understanding about the mental condition 'phobia'.
Its a bit like gamers etc who use the term 'rape' not getting that rape isn't something to be taken lightly. They just don't get it.
Same with people who refer to 'homophobes'. Do they even know what phobia is? Do they think a phobia is simple fear? Or are they just using the term 'phobia' as a perjorative? Either is wrong. You shouldn't use terms like phobia or rape or cancer in the pejorative, its offensive and inappropriate.
If homophobia is a real phobia it should be treated as an illness. If homophobia is not a real phobia then this term should not be used at all. But people don't understand what phobia is AT ALL; they don't understand mental states or illnesses AT ALL.
Get it now?
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Thus while changing attitudes towards homosexuals- who once *were* considered mentally ill- says something about changing attitudes towards mental illness itself, modern use the term "homophobe
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Okay. Then my point partly aligns (and partly doesn't) with yours- that the "phobia" in "homophobia" *isn't* being used in the medical sense, but as a term meaning more general fear or revulsion. For that reason, it's inaccurate to suggest that "homophobes" have ever- for the most part- been considered mentally ill.
Indeed. The lack of understanding of the nature of mental states is so bad that many people actually believe that a phobic person is actually just afraid of something. They might even see a phobic persons response to the object of their phobia and think that they are overdoing it. They don't get that phobia is way way more than just being afraid of something, that it can be a debilitating condition.
Hence, to many people, it seems totally reasonable to label someone who dislikes homosexuals as 'homophobic' w
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How is homophobia not a real thing?
I didn't claim that "homophobia wasn't a real thing".
Are you claiming that you're considered "mentally ill" and in need of treatment in the same way that homosexuals once were as a result of your feelings? If not, then that's the point that was being made.
(Disclaimer; the comment you're replying to was mine- I meant to post it while I was logged in).
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...said no one ever.
Seriously, you've invented a very specific kind of fake person for your argument.
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...said no one ever.
Seriously, you've invented a very specific kind of fake person for your argument.
Which part? The ones who claim mental diseases aren't real, or the ones who call the city and report stores for not being wheelchair accessible?
I have personally witnessed both behaviors from the same person, and more than once (i.e., different people on different occasions). I don't think the hypocrisy of their world view even registers with them...maybe it's not terribly 'often', but it is ironic (and somewhat amusing) when it happens.
Quick exercise for you: Next time someone starts spouting off about h
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I wonder that if you get an imported european DVD, maybe the ads aren't unskippable? I don't remember such ads on DVD but that was 10 years ago and over.
Alternatively I wonder why a DVD player feels it has to obey "unskippable" directives.. Region coding, I know every player ended up ignoring except maybe in the US where you found the "regulatory" pressure to honor it.
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Hmmm (Score:3, Interesting)
Shouldn't the FBI and NSA be arrested for trying to circumvent the encryption on iPhones?
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Yes, they should. But they helped write the law, so they can't be.
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Long overdue for American Revolution 2.0 anyway....
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it also has allowances for interoperability, which ripping for use on a tablet or phone or home media server quite obviously is.
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unfortunately, the reverse engineering clause is about programs, not data. Ripping for use on a different platform is more on the fair use side, except that in the DeCSS case the judge decided that if Congress had meant fair use to apply to that they'd have said so. Legislation has been proposed to address that; I'm sure the RIAA has opposed it vehemently, and that their opposition is why such legislation hasn't passed. *sigh*
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It wouldn't matter anyway. Even if you accept the ripping is fair use, distribution of the tools to do the ripping is still illegal. It's one of those ugly legal contradictions where you technically have a the right to do something, but have no legal means of exercising it.
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When the gov't waves the DMCA stick... (Score:2)
DEC logo (Score:2)
What does the DEC logo have to do with anything?
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Re:DEC logo (Score:5, Insightful)
Somewhere along the long line of people who have owned and operated slashdot, the site administration has lost all of the people who had any idea what DEC was. Since it has the word "digital" in it, the current editors assume the icon can go with anything digital, like Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Re:DEC logo (Score:4, Funny)
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What, you expect the /. editors to do their job?
LOL
That's funny.
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the site administration has lost all of the people who had any idea what DEC was.
The good thing about all this is that nobody gets confused between DEC and DR any more.
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that's just fucking sad.
Digital was part of computer history and if you are ANY kind of computer science person, not knowing what DEC was means you are not really educated. it was too important a company to have not known about.
Wonder if AACS has been knocking on all their door (Score:1)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Good luck with that (Score:5, Interesting)
DVDFab is made by a Chinese company and you know just how much of a fuck China gives about this.
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DVDFab is made by a Chinese company and you know just how much of a fuck China gives about this.
Exactly.....zero....
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If they are not an American company, they should absolutely ignore US courts and US laws.
They are not the world police though they seem too clueless to know that. Suck it up.
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The power these mobs^W associations have in their own countries is bad enough for the consumers, let's not move them to the international level.
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Exactly AACS's argument is that because of the injunction DVDfab should be actively blocking US ip addresses. I guess when you live in a world where everything you do is geoblocked you can't see any other solution.
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I'm sure China is more like this [youtube.com].
US courts over-reach? (Score:5, Interesting)
Once again only hurts paying customers (Score:2, Insightful)
The scene will always have access to dvd & bluray ripping software; it's their raison d'etre. Whether they write their own or use a third party one is immaterial, they won't stop until disks are entirely obsolete.
Customers, on the other hand, want to be able to rip their disk so they can watch it on a mobile device, stream it over their network or simply have a large movie collection without having to find somewhere to store hundreds of fragile plastic drinks coasters (whose dye starts breaking down aft
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The problem is what people want is a portable version that can be played on any device.
A great example is a TV series. It's conceivable I might want to watch a given episode on any of 5 different devices in my house. No one download method works for all of them. And in some cases, I may want to downsample HD content to put on a physical DVD.
I want the damn content in unencrypted format and not locked to a specific hardware platform or service.
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On the other hand, I plop a disc in my computer, click a button, wait an hour and *everything* is available within a click, with no forced trailers, no "stealin is bad" disclai
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Betcha the studio paid for distribution rights to the soundtrack or incidental music for theater and DVD use, but not for streaming use.
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Whether they write their own or use a third party one is immaterial, they won't stop until disks are entirely obsolete.
Why would they stop when disks are obsolete?
Only hurting legit sales (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyone who wants to crack dvd/bluray encryption for piracy is going to do it with or without commercial programs like dvdfab.
The only reason I still buy movies on disc is so I can rip them to my media server and *store* the physical media.
No needing to go dig up discs, worry about scratches, etc. If I want to take a movie with me, I just transcode it to my phone.
Not only is it more convenient, but it gets around a lot of licensing issues with streaming media where companies let the license lapse and it becomes unavailable online.
As a consumer, I want to consume my media when and how I want. Nuts to anyone who wants to restrict my rights to watch something I've already paid for.
So, as a legal user of dvdfab, I hope they keep doing what they're doing.
Good Advertising (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm considering going and buying a copy now.
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Agreed.
Though, really, this is one of the reasons that I don't own a single DVD or Blueray disc.
If I really want to watch something I will rent it from Redbox for $1.50, thanks.
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Most of the DVDs I have are music and are not from the USA, where I live. So region coding is a barrier to my legitimate use of persons DVD imports protected under the Berne Convention.
Re:Good Advertising (Score:4, Informative)
A few weeks back I attempted to purchase it because the consensus among friends is it's the best to convert my home library to my media server.
For ripping and converting video, I've found that MKV + Handbrake works really nicely, and it's free.
http://www.makemkv.com/ [makemkv.com]
I wish more people knew about it instead of those stupid clones that come up better in search results and ask for money.
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Is MakeMKV the perma-Beta one you have to install every 30 days? It seems to run into more discs that it doesn't know how to decrypt than the paid guys. I had great success with AnyDVD for years, though I don't know yet about the new "Red Fox" (they claim to be the same team, just ignoring previous lifetime subscriptions are making people pay again, which is a bit shitty, but whatever.)
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MakeMKV used to take a long time to catch up after key rotation. Maybe they're doing better now. (BTW, Movie bought retail, Movie from Netflix, and Movie from Redbox all have different keys and different likelihoods of ripping successfully the first week or two).
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Is MakeMKV the perma-Beta one you have to install every 30 days?
Yes, that's the one. I've never really had a problem with it, and I like it so much I bought it. The developer could use the support (I'm pretty sure it's just one guy working on it - could be wrong tho)
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Wait, you can pay for it now? Wow, that wasn't the case when I bought AnyDVD. I thought they were slipping under the radar thanks to not taking money (unlike AnyDVD and DVDFab, who face serious lawfare opposition).
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Is MakeMKV the perma-Beta one you have to install every 30 days?
I had great success with AnyDVD for years
Are you implying you didn't need to get an update to AnyDVD every time a new movie came out? I certainly remember I did. That's the joyful world of AACS.
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That's why I suggest ripping with MKV, then converting to your desired format with Handbrake.
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>> I've found that MKV + Handbrake.
> I am pretty sure Handbrake does not decrypt.
Reading. [sharenator.com] You might want to try it sometime. :-)
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Stupid question (Score:2)
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IIUC, China is not a party to the TPP.
The US has no juristiction. (Score:4, Informative)
Looking at DVDFabs about pages, it leads to a chinese company called Fengtao Software Inc from the Haidian district in Beijing.
They have no obligation at all to comply with this, because they are not an american company at all.
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They could also liberate the whole thing and let the cat completely out of the bag. Scorch the earth behind them as they retreat.
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No you don't. You just want strangers on the Internet to think you do.
I agree with your assessment. I'm a firm believer in the 2nd amendment, but I'm pretty horrified when someone suggests we need it due to something as trivial as copyright law. Anybody advocating for an armed revolution should think long and hard about the last time we did that, and at modern examples. The outcome would be catastrophic (even if (or maybe especially if) "the people" "won"), and one need look no further than somewhere like Syria to see the template for their new life.
That's not to say I adv