Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 25 Mar 2012 @ 3:29am
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Changing the address of what DNS server the gateway looks to for address resolution is not a man in the middle attack.
No it's not. But what I think he was attempting to get at is that most home routers forward DNS requests on to whatever DNS the ISP offers them.
Change the DNS server addresses on the router and you could point at a different malicious DNS server that for example happens to define "whatevermybankis.com" to point at an address that's actually a pass-through proxy that'll capture the traffic on it's way to a legitimate website. Yes it's not quite that simple - certificates etc - but it's a faily powerful attack vector.
Of course, none of that has anything much to do with open wifi as such as we're talking about a router change, which is a completely different thing as you rightly pointed out.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 24 Mar 2012 @ 3:37pm
Re: Re: Re:
Manufactures should be required by law to enable at least some form of encryption on new wireless devices, and that there should be no simple way to make them "open".
Because the government has such a fantastic track record of determining what's secure? Or what one would define as "no simple way"?
So what you'd get out of such an attempt would be the usual mish-mash of poorly understood concepts and knee-jerk stipulations that have little to do with real security and make it harder for genuine uses. E.g. most hotels and other "guest" uses are unencrypted but use a portal-type authentication to use the service. Can you see a law coping well with the concept of network segmentation? I can't.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 24 Mar 2012 @ 12:51pm
Re: Why people stop going to a theater.
Never mind the glasses, 3D in and of itself is one of the many reasons I very rarely go to the cinema. For a start, more money on top of the already high ticket price for a feature I don't want is hard to swallow. Then there's the 3D itself, which is mostly about as convincing as View Master used to be. Then there's the film which, almost without exception, seems to have been made just to look pretty in 3D rather than having any other useful features like plot, story, good dialogue or writing. Oh, and if you can actually get a 2D showing of the film the scenes that were REALLY designed to look pretty in 3D stand out so much that they end up looking cheesy in 2D. For these reasons my consumption of hollywood films by any medium is starting to decline too.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 24 Mar 2012 @ 7:18am
Re:
Indeed.... and WEP is about as "protective" as putting a soggy tissue over one's bits before sex. Even WPA2 doesn't present much of a challenge these days.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 22 Mar 2012 @ 3:54pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Thanks for the link. It was entertaining bedtime reading and I hadn't had my quota of funny yet today. I particularly like the innuendo and vague assertations in it that basically boil down to "well I don't know much about this stuff but these guys I know told me....."... oh, and the hyperbole while decrying the use of hyberbole - just masterful.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 22 Mar 2012 @ 12:15pm
Re: Seuss has been down this road before ...
Seuss & Co. got themselves a court ruling that said emulating the style of Seuss without parody of an actual work was infringement
Which is just insane from a "copyright is there to encourage creation" viewpoint. To copyright a STYLE of drawing would be like copyrighting the Blues "style" of music.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 21 Mar 2012 @ 2:13pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
but you couldn't register nineinchnails.music because you have no affiliation with them.
Again, I'm having problems with the idea of DNS registration arbitrating trademark disputes. The purpose of DNS is to provide a person-friendly name that points to a computer-readable address. Trying to make a registrar of ANY kind responsible for deciding who's "entitled" to use what name strikes me as very very wrong, dangerously open to abuse and pointlessly cumbersome.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 21 Mar 2012 @ 11:35am
Re: Re: I'm fine with this.
Now, what else should be on the list?
People..... every bit of violence is conclusively linked to people. I know where you can get a good deal on army surplus tattoo equipment to start labelling.....
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 21 Mar 2012 @ 11:03am
Re: Re: Re:
1. You can't register a person's name unless it's your own or your legally registered pseudonym.
And so we await someone to change their name legally to "Universal Music" and watch the amusing lawsuit.
2. You can't register a band's name unless you are an agent or current member of the band.
Which brings us back to "what qualifies as a band and who gets to decide?" I've a keyboard and a computer in the house. I can barely play a note and my singing voice sounds like cats being strangled but then that's the same as many a famous act, 'specially those on reality TV so why don't I qualify as a band?
3. You can't register a game/movie studio name unless it's your studio.
Again, who gets to decide what's legitimate? I've a text based BBC basic adventure game I knocked up about a thousand years ago I think I titled "Attack of the Evil Dead" or something. I'm sure I wouldn't have any problems registering "Evil.Dead.Game" Right?
4. You can't register a song/movie/game unless you are the content owner.
So now a TLD is going to be specific content control too? Ooo that's BOUND to work... just what a DOMAN NAME was designed to do.
Leaving it up to ANYONE to control who gets to use a name is fraught with danger and far from black and white. With you on the **AA though... DEFINITELY not them.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 21 Mar 2012 @ 10:18am
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Someone could easily get accredited and end up with a .music TLD, then have their site hacked easily enough and wahlah
No, no, no! In this utopian vision of total control that could never ever happen. I mean it's not like 80% of virused websites and 6% of phishing sites are legitimate sites or anything... oh.. hang on a minute... but if the RIAA are in charge I'm sure that'll be better. After all they're the internet experts aren't they?
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 21 Mar 2012 @ 6:54am
Re:
And yet here I was the other day hopping channels and caught one explaining about how the patenting of a steam engine in England set the industrial revolution back because everyone spent their time trying to re-invent the steam engine in a way not covered by the patent and how there was a huge explosion of innovation and industial output as soon as the patent expired.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 20 Mar 2012 @ 12:59pm
Re:
Ain't region encoding fun?
Uh... you do know that from about 5 minutes after region coding was invented, just about every DVD player (with the possible exception of Sony ones for which there was a hardware mod) came with an easily findable handset code to change regions, don't you? Region coding is irrelevant and always has been.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 20 Mar 2012 @ 4:05am
Speaking of 6 strikes plans
Perhaps a xx? strikes plan should be considered for this site? I'm all for opposing opinions even a bit of name calling now and again can be ignored, but random spewing of mindless venom is starting to make the comment threads all but unreadable - presumably that's the plan.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 19 Mar 2012 @ 11:36am
Re:
I honestly think a lot of pirates will be gutted when somebody comes up with a cheap infrastructure for obtaining digital content because they will lose their smug self-righteous rationalistion for downloading it for free
"Somebody" already has, and any time it's been attempted legitimately it's been stomped on with iron boots by the studios leaving only the myriad illigitimate ones. The self-righteous sense of entitlement from the content middlemen in repeatedly refusing to embrace the "cheap infrastructure" that's been freely available for quite some years now and is what their customers want is indeed part of what generates the "rationalisation" you speak of.
Another part of the rationalisation in question predates electronics entirely but is created anew by the content middlemen themselves. Ever heard the phrase "As well to be hung for a sheep as a lamb"? If one is going to be called a criminal anyway and treated as a criminal anyway, why (goes the argument) pay the hangman too?
As for IF the studios started offering full quality digital content directly AND got rid of the stupid and pointless DRM in it so it's usable then I for one would get as close to praising some kind of deity as I'm ever likely to get and will happily pay a sensible amount for the service. Sadly I fear that if ever such a thing happens (shortly after world hunger is ended with the application of a few dozen loaves and a small amount of sea-life) it will be arbitarily decided that such a wonderous and miraculous new invention is so valuable it should be priced at twice what a plastic disc costs.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 19 Mar 2012 @ 6:45am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Well done carefully missing the point of my reply. You very carefully completly ignored that I was replying to a specific "point" of your post and instead focussed on making up what I didn't say. OK try this.
Yes I can blame the movie companies for their own problems because every law they have lobbied for/ bought is a part of their problem and makes it harder for them to change since as well as attempting to lock their "customers" into their business model (failed) they have locked themselves into it (succeeded).
And for reference the argument isn't binary. Just because not every impediment has been created by the industry itself doesn't mean they aren't to blame and in the same way that they have created many of their own problems doesn't mean there aren't also other reasons such as other special interests that also buy laws from government.
At the end of the day though the "regional" problems are totally irrelevant and an excuse. This is now a global economy and despite the studios best endeavours and attempts to stop vendors like Amazon from doing it, it is still legal for me to buy a DVD from a vendor in another country and have them ship it to me. If "regional" laws were such a problem then the studios could circumvent them. They choose not to.
Further than that, the plastic disk is irrelevant entirely. The studios could choose to offer the content directly and digitally, which makes any national borders almost completely irrelevant. On top of that it is what an increasing number of their CUSTOMERS want and what an even greater number would want if the studios didn't jump up and down with every lawyer at their disposal on every attempt at a mainstream product that facilitates this.
They could choose to do these things but they don't. Instead they stand Canute-like in front of anyone else who tries to turn their content into a product that people want to pay for all the while wailing and wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth about how hard done by they are.
So, yes I can blame the movie industry for the "local impediments" and still more I can blame them for using such things as an excuse.
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 19 Mar 2012 @ 3:07am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
You cannot blame the movie industry because local governments have decided that they will set up huge barriers to entry to protect their local industries, or to force the big outside companies to do business locally, to employ local people, etc.
As it happens yes I can since many of those barriers are related to international agreements specifically lobbied for (and often created by) the movie and other content industries. Also at the same time I can blame them for not offering an useful online service where I can buy content I want wherever I am in the world whatever the local laws. And yes, they could easily offer this service and any legal burden would be on me if consuming such content happened to be illegal in my country (which it isn't).
Are you seriously trying to claim that, for example, region coding on DVDs is because of governments? I know of no country that bans the personal importing of DVDs from another country as long as you pay the import duty.
On the post: Australian Police To Go Wardriving, Telling People To Lock Up Their WiFi
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Change the DNS server addresses on the router and you could point at a different malicious DNS server that for example happens to define "whatevermybankis.com" to point at an address that's actually a pass-through proxy that'll capture the traffic on it's way to a legitimate website. Yes it's not quite that simple - certificates etc - but it's a faily powerful attack vector.
Of course, none of that has anything much to do with open wifi as such as we're talking about a router change, which is a completely different thing as you rightly pointed out.
On the post: Australian Police To Go Wardriving, Telling People To Lock Up Their WiFi
Re: Re: Re:
So what you'd get out of such an attempt would be the usual mish-mash of poorly understood concepts and knee-jerk stipulations that have little to do with real security and make it harder for genuine uses. E.g. most hotels and other "guest" uses are unencrypted but use a portal-type authentication to use the service. Can you see a law coping well with the concept of network segmentation? I can't.
On the post: Hollywood, Once Again, Sets A Record At The Box Office
Re: Why people stop going to a theater.
On the post: Hollywood, Once Again, Sets A Record At The Box Office
Re:
Once more with feeling.....
IT'S NOT BINARY!
On the post: Australian Police To Go Wardriving, Telling People To Lock Up Their WiFi
Re:
On the post: Google Defends The DMCA's Safe Harbors Against The MPAA's Attempts To Reinterpret Them In Hotfile Case
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Scammers Mimic Copyright Troll Shakedowns In Targeting Megaupload Users
Re: Re:
On the post: Scammers Mimic Copyright Troll Shakedowns In Targeting Megaupload Users
Re: Re:
On the post: C&D Squashes Seuss-Style Satire: Where Did The Idea/Expression Dichotomy Go?
Re: Seuss has been down this road before ...
On the post: Fear-Induced Foolishness: Entertainment Industry Thinks Controls On New TLDs Will Actually Impact Piracy
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Yet Another Attempt To Place Warning Labels On Video Games Based On Zero Evidence
Re: Re: I'm fine with this.
On the post: Fear-Induced Foolishness: Entertainment Industry Thinks Controls On New TLDs Will Actually Impact Piracy
Re: Re: Re:
And so we await someone to change their name legally to "Universal Music" and watch the amusing lawsuit.
Which brings us back to "what qualifies as a band and who gets to decide?" I've a keyboard and a computer in the house. I can barely play a note and my singing voice sounds like cats being strangled but then that's the same as many a famous act, 'specially those on reality TV so why don't I qualify as a band?
Again, who gets to decide what's legitimate? I've a text based BBC basic adventure game I knocked up about a thousand years ago I think I titled "Attack of the Evil Dead" or something. I'm sure I wouldn't have any problems registering "Evil.Dead.Game" Right?
So now a TLD is going to be specific content control too? Ooo that's BOUND to work... just what a DOMAN NAME was designed to do.
Leaving it up to ANYONE to control who gets to use a name is fraught with danger and far from black and white. With you on the **AA though... DEFINITELY not them.
On the post: Fear-Induced Foolishness: Entertainment Industry Thinks Controls On New TLDs Will Actually Impact Piracy
Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Just Because Companies Can Design Around Patents Doesn't Mean There's No Impact For Consumers
Re:
On the post: Why Do The Labels Continue To Insist That 'Your Money Is No Good Here?'
Re:
On the post: Why Hollywood's Six Strike Plan Should Be Investigated For Antitrust Violations
Re: Re: Re: if the isps agree to this
On the post: Why Hollywood's Six Strike Plan Should Be Investigated For Antitrust Violations
Speaking of 6 strikes plans
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re:
Another part of the rationalisation in question predates electronics entirely but is created anew by the content middlemen themselves. Ever heard the phrase "As well to be hung for a sheep as a lamb"? If one is going to be called a criminal anyway and treated as a criminal anyway, why (goes the argument) pay the hangman too?
As for IF the studios started offering full quality digital content directly AND got rid of the stupid and pointless DRM in it so it's usable then I for one would get as close to praising some kind of deity as I'm ever likely to get and will happily pay a sensible amount for the service. Sadly I fear that if ever such a thing happens (shortly after world hunger is ended with the application of a few dozen loaves and a small amount of sea-life) it will be arbitarily decided that such a wonderous and miraculous new invention is so valuable it should be priced at twice what a plastic disc costs.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yes I can blame the movie companies for their own problems because every law they have lobbied for/ bought is a part of their problem and makes it harder for them to change since as well as attempting to lock their "customers" into their business model (failed) they have locked themselves into it (succeeded).
And for reference the argument isn't binary. Just because not every impediment has been created by the industry itself doesn't mean they aren't to blame and in the same way that they have created many of their own problems doesn't mean there aren't also other reasons such as other special interests that also buy laws from government.
At the end of the day though the "regional" problems are totally irrelevant and an excuse. This is now a global economy and despite the studios best endeavours and attempts to stop vendors like Amazon from doing it, it is still legal for me to buy a DVD from a vendor in another country and have them ship it to me. If "regional" laws were such a problem then the studios could circumvent them. They choose not to.
Further than that, the plastic disk is irrelevant entirely. The studios could choose to offer the content directly and digitally, which makes any national borders almost completely irrelevant. On top of that it is what an increasing number of their CUSTOMERS want and what an even greater number would want if the studios didn't jump up and down with every lawyer at their disposal on every attempt at a mainstream product that facilitates this.
They could choose to do these things but they don't. Instead they stand Canute-like in front of anyone else who tries to turn their content into a product that people want to pay for all the while wailing and wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth about how hard done by they are.
So, yes I can blame the movie industry for the "local impediments" and still more I can blame them for using such things as an excuse.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
As it happens yes I can since many of those barriers are related to international agreements specifically lobbied for (and often created by) the movie and other content industries. Also at the same time I can blame them for not offering an useful online service where I can buy content I want wherever I am in the world whatever the local laws. And yes, they could easily offer this service and any legal burden would be on me if consuming such content happened to be illegal in my country (which it isn't).
Are you seriously trying to claim that, for example, region coding on DVDs is because of governments? I know of no country that bans the personal importing of DVDs from another country as long as you pay the import duty.
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