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Evil Corporations #3: Macrovision

I haven’t done an Evil Corporations story in over two years, and it’s definitely time. The focus: Macrovision.

From their About Us page on their website:

Macrovision helps solve the global need for content protection, DRM and software licensing solutions.

Now we all know that I’m no fan of DRM or Digital Rights Management, and right there in their company description Macrovision makes it a point to let you knwo that’s exactly what they’re about.

Macrovision’s claim to fame was protecting VHS tapes in the 80s – did you ever try and copy a videotape from a rental store, and got those rainbow lines at the top and bottom? That’s them.

Even though it’s legal for you, as a consumer in the United States, to make one copy for backup and archival purposes, they make sure you can’t.

The latest story hitting the web today, is a follow-up to one from June. In June, Macrovision sent a cease and desist letter to Lightning UK!, makers of DVD Decrypter. DVD Decrypter lets you strip the DRM off a DVD so you can archive to a hard drive or make a physical copy. Macrovision claimed the ability to strip the DRM violated their patents.

Well, the latest story has Macrovision claiming they’ve bought out Lightning UK!, and sending takedown notices to websites hosting DVD Decrypter. I’m sure they paid off the original developer thinking if you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em (ala Microsoft).

This is unfortunate for two reasons – one, reverse engineering should not be illegal, and in the U.S., under the DMCA, it now is. Two, if the developer had released this under a free software licenses, such as the GPL, the code would be in the wild. Now, due the evil greed of one corporation, we’re going to lose the ability to back up our DVDs. I know, as the father of 2 (almost three!) children, that I want to back up the movies they watch a lot and put them on a home theater PC. No more scratching and wrecking movies – which has happened with a few already.

But no, I’m no longer allowed to. And that’s why Macrovision is being added to my list of evil corporations.

Game Over

“Alias,” AKA Canceled – Nov 23, 2005 – E! Online News is the headline of a story over at E! Online. In a shock to no one, ABC has pulled the plug on Alias after 5 seasons.

I still hadn’t made up my mind on how this season was going – last year I jumped to conclusions way to early, and it turned out to be one of the better ones. Though little things still bugged me this season, I was willing to go along with it.

Alias executive producer Jeff Pinkner said in a statement that the crew was “very saddened to face reality that Alias is coming to an end.” He promised a “surprising” and “thrilling” finale.

The worst part of that article? One little blurb at the bottom that reports CBS has pulled the plug on Threshold as well. I was really into Threshold in it’s inaugural season. Poor Carla Gugino, Karen Sisco on ABC didn’t work out, and now this.

Radiohead Mash-ups

MP3Nova.org has the recap (and the torrent!) of a Radiohead Mash-up and Remix album.

Panzah Zandahz has released “Me & This Army”, the follow-up to “Breaks & Beats 12″”.

If you’re a Radiohead fan, check “Me & This Army” out – remixes and covers by folks like De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, and others, it looks like a must for any Radiohead fan. The torrent downloaded in just minutes for me, so head over to MP3Nova.org and check it out.

MAME stuff

Speaking of building a MAME cabinet before, came across this at Digg.com today: Emucation.Com, download roms. They claim to be legal, but I’m not sure how (yet), unless they’re truly abandonware.

Linked off of their emulator page, is Advance Projects, which includes AdvancedMAME (an emulator), AdvanceMenu (a menu program for collating all your ROMs), and AdvanceCD, a LiveCD that only takes up 20 megs, so you can fill the rest of the CD with your ROMs, stick it in any PC, power it on and it’s a full blown MAME box.

Definitely adding that to my bookmarks for when I’m ready to build my cabinet.

Projects to do after Basement is completed

Already looking past the present, things to do once the basement is done, and I consider building a HTPC part of doing the basement.

  1. Make a podcast
  2. Build a MAME cabinet
  3. Drywall the garage so Kelly has a work area
  4. Technorati Tags integration on this here blog
  5. Get Fuse running to manage all my computers / websites
  6. Hack my Buffalo TeraStation to use SSH so I can use the afore-mentioned Fuse
  7. Catalog (online!) my cd, movie and book collections
  8. Fix my server (silwenae.net) (Probably should do this sooner…)
  9. Get paulcutler.org /.com / and .net integrated somehow
  10. Inventory all my stuff (and send updated list to insurance company)

I’m sure I’ve left a bunch of stuff off this list – I always have more ideas than motivation. And this doesn’t include adding the 3rd kid to the family, enjoying my new home theater setup and whatever else pops up.

XM on DirecTV

The long-promised XM channels have finally shown up on DirecTV. Over 50 different channels covering all types of music. (How many does XM offer on their paid subscription? – Ok, I checked, over 150).

Stations include the Squizz, Fred & Ethel, so I’m definitely set. Then you have your standards, like 80’s, pop, rock, a few R&B stations.

What’s nice, is similar to DirecTV’s last music service, Music Choice, is each song pops up with some text on the TV screen showing you artist, song, album, year, etc.

With no extra cost to me as a DirecTV subscriber, I can’t complain, and I’ll use ’em from time to time.

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket

I don’t understand the black out rules around NFL’s Sunday Ticket on DirecTV.

Last week, the Packers the play the Steelers at 3:15 on CBS. CBS stays long on the Raiders / Chiefs, so I flip to the Sunday ticket channel for the Packer game. No go, it’s blacked out, as it usually is when broadcast on the local station.

While I appreciate CBS for staying with the hot game, I was annoyed that I couldn’t see the game I wanted to see, when I supposedly pay for “all” the games.

Yesterday, the Packers are at the Falcons, 3:15 on Fox. The Vikings are the noon game, and are going long. I switch to the Sunday ticket channel, assuming the Redskins / Buccaneers game is the game of the week at 3:15, and watch the Packer game on Sunday ticket. At halftime, the signal is disconnected. Sure enough, the Packer game is on the local Fox affiliate.

So why one week do I get the game and one week I don’t? Is it up to Fox and CBS to determine when DirecTV puts the blackout in effect? Worked out for me yesterday, but still annoying.

Watching all 6 Star Wars (at the same time)

And… we’re back.

Not that this hasn’t already posted everywhere on the intraweb right now, but is still very cool. Someone with way too much time on their hands has transcoded all 6 Star Wars movies and is watching them simultaneously and noting all the similarities.

Some are to say, at the least, quite interesting parallels in some of the movies, just from a time perspective.

Check it out here.

Blizzard is spying on you

Donna Wentworth gives you an overview of how Blizzard is spying on you.

If this was the government, as the article points out, they’d have to get a warrant.

What’s even more distrurbing to me, is the blog comments on this article – the gamers just don’t care if it stops cheating. This is right up there with those who say “I have nothing to hide, let the government videotape/phonetap/etc”.

Where do personal rights start and end? Just because you click on a EULA, does it really give a software company the right to capture what programs you’re running, who and what you’re communicating over instant messenger, and what websites you’ve visited?