[GRLUG] NOT Linux

[Michael Mol]

On Dec 11, 2007 10:48 AM, Michael Mol <mikemol at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Dec 11, 2007 5:38 AM, Bob Kline <bob.kline at gmail.com> wrote:
> > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7136069.stm
> >
> > I'm not sure exactly what's being
> > done here here, but do know that
> > the RIAA and the MPAA would
> > dearly love to control people's
> > computer's so that nothing can be
> > stored on people's personal hard
> > drives that those monopolies don't
> > approve of.
> >
> > **
> > Western Digital has blocked users from sharing more than 30 different file
> > types, if they are using the company's software, called Anywhere Access.
> > **
> >
> > People like Orin Hatch, R-UT,  point man
> > for the MPAA and the RIAA,  contemptuously
> > claimed that if people didn't heed the wishes
> > of those monopoly groups their PCs would
> > be rendered useless.  Never mind that he didn't
> > know what he was talking about - the intent
> > is clear enough.
> >
> > The question is whether a company like WD
> > will try to implement a hardware solution -
> >  something that looks for a code in a file?
> >
> > I doubt the industry will stop looking for a
> > way to prevent people from storing things
> > on their PCs that it doesn't like.  Failing that,
> > it will continue to keep suing everyone in
> > sight,  but I suspect it would prefer PC control.
> >
> >      -Bob
> >
>
> This is fairly innocuous, as far as copyright is concerned. (Privacy,
> on the other hand...)
>
> These drives support a service offered by WD that lets you access data
> on them from outside your home network, the idea being that you can
> access your personal data from anywhere.   The problem is, WD's
> servers are intimately aware of the kind of data that's being
> transferred; It's possible that the data actually passes through WD's
> servers on its way to you.
>
> The reason for this limitation is that WD doesn't want to get sued in
> case you decide to give the access codes to your MP3 collection to the
> whole world.  Because of how their service operates, they fear they
> would be considered an accomplice in copyright infringement.
>
> Nothing prevents you from storing MP3s, XVid files and the like, you
> just can't access them through their remote access service.  It's as
> though someone started a P2P network that disallowed access to certain
> filetypes: Nothing new. (There are Gnutella clients, for example, that
> filter out anything that might be porn.)

Here's a list of all of the extensions they filter out:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1495&p_created=1168641440&p_sid=bLTfVJLi&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NSw1JnBfcHJvZHM9MCZwX2NhdHM9MCZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX2ZubCZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PS5hdmk*&p_li=&p_topview=1

I find it amusing that they filter out tracker formats (I've got
several gigs of the stuff, myself...), but they don't filter mkv.

-- 
:wq