DRM Watch: Impact on the Web, TPM, Lockdowns, and Games
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-03-21 16:30:55 UTC
- Modified: 2014-03-21 16:31:47 UTC
After Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee's keynote talk at SXSW, he answered a question about the controversial plan to add DRM to next version of HTML. HTML 5, a standard currently under debate at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the latest battleground in the long-running war over the design of general-purpose computers. Berners-Lee defended the proposition, and claimed that without it, more of the Web would be locked up in un-searchable, unlinkable formats like Flash.
Some in the entertainment industry have long harboured fantasies about redesigning computers to disobey their owners, as part of a profit-maximisation strategy that depends on being able to charge you piecemeal for the right to use the files on your hard-drive.
-
Apple does not support the Trusted Platform Module [9] that Microsoft will require all PC makers to support starting next year...
-
Keurig is setting itself up to attempt a type of coffee "DRM" on the pods used in its coffee-making machines, according to a report from Techdirt. Keurig's next-gen machines would be unable to interact with third-party coffee pods, thus locking customers into buying only the Keurig-branded K-cups or those of approved partners.
-
Nintendo fans, mark your calendars for May 20, 2014. As Nintendo announced yesterday, that's the last day you'll be able to use the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection to play hundreds of online games on the Wii and Nintendo DS. Single-player modes for those games will still work, of course, but any parts of the games that require an Internet connection will be completely non-functional in a matter of months.
-
The Unlocking Consumer Choice Act (H.R. 1123), which was introduced in March by Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was widely supported by members on both sides of the aisle.
-
Humble feel it would harm their reputation to ask a developer to sit out and wait for the next bundle for the sake of a Linux version.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Accessibility Isn't Overrated
- Making things simpler typically means better accessibility
- Microsoft said “GitHub and its leadership team will continue its mission as part of Microsoft’s CoreAI organisation.” But it's just an empty shell created earlier this year.
- In short, it's not too clear what Microsoft has just done except dumping GitHub - i.e. mostly a Web site that loses a ton of money (it always lost money) - into some mysterious new bucket
- IBM Layoffs in MCC, or Marketing, Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
- IBM and Microsoft inflate their share price by circular financing
-
- All That's Left of MSNBC (Microsoft-NBC) is Microsoft NOW
- When plutocrats and large corporations (even deep in debt) buy all the communication channels
- The Register MS, Paid to Promote "AI" Hype, Does "Sez" (Says) Pieces
- every bubble-funded "news" site tries to make it a story about "AI"
- Many Companies Are Run by Liars Who Ride Other People's Money
- Or steal it
- Before CoreAI There Was Builder.ai
- GitHub isn't about "AI" (just a bunch of lies and storytelling for shareholders' patience)
- Microsoft Windows in Croatia at New Lows
- We've been keeping track of this trend for a while
- Using the Best Tool/s for the Job: RSS Feeds and RSS Readers
- Use RSS feeds. Reject those "modern" Web things
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 19, 2025
- IRC logs for Tuesday, August 19, 2025
- Gemini Links 20/08/2025: Neovim, XML, and Alhena 5.2.9
- Links for the day
- The Register's Slopfest
- Remember when The Register UK (yes, UK) had better standards?
- Latest Version of Windows (Vista 11) is a Failure 4 Years After Its Fake 'Leak'
- Vista 11 became more scarce this month
- Improving Our Archives
- Our old archives are still accessed a lot. Making them better is well worth the investment.
- Things One Learns as a Litigant in Person at the UK High Court
- Don't fear the official manuals
- Slopwatch: Lots of Fake Articles From Fake "Linux" Sites and About "Linux"
- Google says it's committed to "AI" (it means slop, not AI); that seems like an excuse to dodge accountability
- Links 19/08/2025: "Eavesdropping on Phone Conversations Through Vibrations" and Air Canada in Chaos
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 19/08/2025: Niche Spaces and "AI Pasta Sauce"
- Links for the day
- Links 19/08/2025: "NASA Is Giving Up on Climate Change Science" and "Earth's Continents Are Drying Out at an Unprecedented Rate"
- Links for the day
- Phil Wyett evidence & Debian Zizian plagiarism, modern slavery tendencies
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- In Many Countries People Move Away From Vista 11
- Vista 11 has been available for download for 4 years already, but adoption has been poor
- Desktops/Laptops Fall to All-Time Lows in the UK, So Why Does British Media Quote a Famous Criminal on "End of the Smartphone Era"?
- mobile usage (for Web access) has never been higher, based on an Irish surveyor, statCounter
- The Groklaw Web Site Has Been Hijacked by Scammers
- Groklaw.net isn't a safe site to access at this time
- The Register MS gets Lazy, Uses Slop
- Unlike 3-D renderings or "Classic" CG, slop images aren't quite original and definitely not fair use
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 18, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, August 18, 2025
- Online Safety Act Does Not Tackle the Worst (and Biggest) Culprits
- if our governments are serious about tackling online harms, then they need to look closely at GAFAM and social control media giants
- Chat Control (1 and 2) in the European Union Sends the Wrong Message
- This is an EU law
- Slopwatch: Google News and Serial Sloppers (Fake Articles About "Linux")
- Calling out the culprits
- Gemini Links 19/08/2025: Digital Legacy and Chat Control
- Links for the day
- English Law Misused by Americans and Irishmen Against Brits is Unfair
- There's always a way to improve existing laws
- Overly Maximalist, Expensive, Localised Patent Law is Dooming Western Companies, Argue 3-D Printing Champions
- We've long warned (over 7 years already!) that China's approach to patents will impress WIPO by gaming the totals but will doom the West
- Links 18/08/2025: "Microsoft Store" Gets Increasingly Hostile, "Cracking Abandonware DRM"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Summer "Gone" and Web Reposts in Gemini
- Links for the day
- Microsoft's Windows in Gabon: Still Moving Down
- What is this Unknown? Who knows...
- Links 18/08/2025: LLM Reputation Damaged, Australia Catches Google Foul Play
- Links for the day
- Geeks Like GNU/Linux
- The technical community seems to be consolidating and rallying around GNU/Linux
- GNU/Linux is 486 in Ireland
- 4.86% that is
- End of Reliable Media
- it makes the world a worse place, it renders the Web a misinformation machine
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 17, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, August 17, 2025
- GitHub Won't Last Much Longer
- Many things at Microsoft are going to go the way of the Skype (or "dodo"). GitHub will be among those.
- We've Never Used Large Language Model (LLM)
- we just never used an LLM
- "Secure Boot" is a Security Problem, Not a Solution
- These people don't try to improve security but to undermine security
- Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Retro and Endless Escape from the WWW
- Links for the day
