I don't expect anything will be done, usual "We're a huge company and own all the lawyers" (aka Micro$oft) rule would apply.
Still, they should be held to account, we have enough spyware and virus problems as it is without malware from music CD's being installed without our consent.
-A
Given the fact that both CDs and DVDs contain media files and not executables, how could they implant a virus in your computer?
Harry C.
What "Computer Misuse Act"?
Harry C.
To quote from the article
"XCP only allows three copies of an album to be made and only allows the CD to be listened to on a computer via a proprietary media player. The hidden files are installed alongside the media player."
Robert
Then too Robert, CDs and DVDs sold to consumers are not targeted to markets requiring them to be played on a computer, although you can play them on a computer. They are also not XCP format, and likely never will be
Why, because Sony's main consumer market is largely (my guess would be over 95%) customers that will play the CDs and DVDs on players made by a wide range of firms including Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, and a broad variety of other producers who have spent years in developing a platform base that will support the marketing of both audio and video disks. Now that this platform base is solidly established, how would XCP enter the picture?
Given this, who in the world would purchase an XCD disk, except perhaps a few techno-geeks comprising a very small niche market?
Why would a volume production outfit like Sony ever even consider such a financially crazy scheme like this?
Sure, I'm one of those techno-geeks who does occasionally play and audio or video disk on my computer while I'm working, and have been known to copy one for my friends from time to time. Still, why would I want to ever purchase a mainstream film DVD in XCP format, when I can purchase the same media in conventional format from any video store?
The proposed XCP scheme could play a role in the marketing of training videos, or something of that type where the viewership (and market) is being limited to a select few, however Sony is not in this business and likely the limited sales revenue that would exist in such a market is certainly orders of magnitude less that which would be of interest to Sony.
Seems to me that over 20 years ago, when efforts were being made to prevent copying of VHS videso (copyguard among other schemes), the entire effort was a miserable failure after consumers elected not to purchase the product.
Seems to me that the entire XCP thing sounds like a product for which their obviously will be no demand.
Just my thoughts on the subject.
Harry C.
Macrovision was/is effective against all but a few models of VCR's. Unfortunately, some TV's have trouble with it, too, which is why the Macro Scrubber devices are legally allowed to be marketed to the masses. This, unfortunately for the publishers, means the pirates have easy access to the scrubbers as well. It's for this reason I consider it a failure. It certainly is not a failure due to consumers not purchasing Macrovision-protected products.
The commercial consumers of Macrovision are (it's used in DVD's now) the publishers of the movies. The street consumers are the people who buy the movies. So, the vast majority of law-abiding movie consumers elect to purchase Macrovision.
Manufacturers will, understandably, never, ever cease their desperate attempts to quell the rampant pirating of their wares, even if such attempts sometimes seem silly to some of us. Likewise, ubergeeks will never, ever cease their efforts to circumvent the manufacturers' attempts -- that is, as long as these products are not offered for free by the original publishers, at which point protection becomes moot.
Not in the UK, a large electronics company was ordered to remove from sale and destroy 15,000 of these boxes, despite them being in kit form.
Sony's problems just get worse!
Just wait until someone writes a really damaging virus exploiting the Sony "spyware" virus, then the shit will really hit the fan..
-A
Three ways to handle this one,
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Alien, a much simplier feedback mechanism will affect the sale of Sony XCD disks.
The first one that won't play on a conventional Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, or Toshiba DVD player will be promptly returned to the store that sold it. That will be the end of that game. Computers are not what the mass market uses to play DVDs.
Then too, if a DVD can be played on a commercial DVD player, it can be copied on a computer.
Harry C.
Ray L. Volts posted:
"Macrovision was/is effective against all but a few models of VCR's. Unfortunately, some TV's have trouble with it, too, which is why the Macro Scrubber devices are legally allowed to be marketed to the masses."
What is "Macrovision", is it something sold in the UK or what. Even though I have a resonably large collection of DVDs that I play on both my TV and on my computer, I've never heard of anything called "Macrovision".
What am I missing?
Harry C.
Many studios have used technology from Macrovision and others for analog encryption on DVDs, which produce videotape recordings with blocky, unrecognizable images or a blue screen. CSS is a scrambling system used in the distribution for movies on DVD ( Digital Versatile Disc. Its main purpose is to prevent the unauthorized duplication of disc contents. This is achieved through encrypting the files, and storing keys in hardware. Many DVD disks also use a protection technology called Macrovision toprevent consumers to copy the DVD movie to a normal video tape.Macrovision is a kind of analogue copy-protection system to prevent commercial DVD/VHS contents being copied to VHS.
Macrovision produces distortion patterns when you try to record content from DVD/VHS systems. It should not prevent normal playback for most DVD systems.Macrovision adds a special disturbance signal to a video outputsignals (composite video, S-video and component video) which disturbsa normal VCR so that it does not make a proper recording, but shouldnot cause problems with normal video viewing devices when viewing picturesthat come directly from DVD player.Macrovision, does occasionally, prevent proper genuine playback of DVDs on some video systems, because some video processing or display devicesdo not like Macrovision signal.Macrovision technology is incorporated in all DVD players to protect againstunauthorized recording of DVD programming.DVD Copy Protection Works in the following way:Rights owners seeking to copy protect their programs would instruct theirauthoring facility to set certain digital-analog copy protection triggerbits to "on." When the disc is played back in a consumer's home, thesetrigger bits activate a Macrovision-enabled digital-analog converter chipinside the player. The chip then applies copy protection to the analogoutput of the DVD player. This allows for transparent viewing of theoriginal program, but causes copies made on most VCRs to be substantiallydegraded.
Macrovision was also used on many VHS tapes with program on them, both rental and sold copies.
-- Tomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/) Take a look at my electronics web links and documents at http://www.epanorama.net/
there's no rule that they can't contain both.
Bye. Jasen
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