[The above number is the Xing DeCSS key, in decimal.]

This week’s Crypto-Gram has a real zinger about the DigiVigilante biill, License to Hack.

Counterattack is wrong, both legally and morally. Vigilante justice is wrong, both legally and morally. Victims of attack are allowed to defend themselves, but they’re not allowed to take the law into their own hands and attack back. That’s why we have police. None of this is new or controversial, so why are copyright holders even talking about this? […]

To me, it’s another example of the insane lengths the entertainment companies are willing to go to preserve their business models. They’re willing to destroy your privacy, have general-purpose computers declared illegal, and exercise special vigilante police powers that no one else has…just to make sure that no one watches “The Little Mermaid” without paying for it. They’re trying to invent a new crime: interference with a business model.

Sad, really.

In the same issue he also brings up some non-technical points about Palladium and includes this quip from a reader:

I think the name says it all. It was sent from the gods; no man may look at it, lest they be blinded (probably a reference to the open source movement and reverse engineering lawsuits). It was supposed to protect Troy, but it doesn’t protect against attacks by Trojan horses. And, if you look at it from a commodities perspective, it may be more expensive than gold…

Is it poisonous too?

posted August 15, 2002 09:29 PM (Technology) #

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Aaron Swartz (me@aaronsw.com)