http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/1...goes-big-brother-will-spy-on-you-for-the-mpaa I love this quote from the article: "It’s refreshing to see Microsoft eschewing its play-nice-with-everyone approach to business for some old-fashioned, straight-up evil."
I sincerely hope (without much hope) that they're patenting this technique so that they can tell anyone else who tries to use it to go to hell in a handbasket.
So either this can be worked around by not buying/connecting a kinect or by turning it around. That or to watch movies soon, one must buy a kinect. Hmm...
Nah, the point is that once the technology is patented, Microsoft will own the technique. Then all the copyright trolls will have to pay Microsoft through the nose to use it. q
Hopefully my recent invention will be patentable, too. It is just like that patent, except in REAL LIFE! I envision having an MPAA-licensed sensor human being sitting in front of all TVs. If it looks like too many people are watching, he/she destroys your optical media or smashes your router.
As the article suggests, it's something that could be attached to anything that is used to display content -- a DVD player, television, PC, cable box, etc. Content providers are certainly not going to be content on limiting such controls to X-Box owners. That said, even if the worst happens, just as there are work-arounds for regional coding on DVDs, I'm sure there will be work-arounds for this. /edit BTW, this brings to mind scenes from "Fahrenheit 451".
Lol. I have never owned any optical sensors of any sort besides those in my trackballs. I will be unaffected by this BS. In the worst case, you can put a fucking bedsheet in the room hanging between where you want it to be able to scan and where you do not. It is just that simple. And as far as other devices going this route, you should know better than to buy anything with sensors that work for anyone other than you. I would throw a fit if my GPU drivers required Internet access. I would be on a rampage before they actually got to transmit pseudo anonymous census information I never consented to provide.
And not just to pirate the software, its a strong argument in favor of actually spiriting away high ranking MPAA and Microsoft officials out to the high seas and making them walk the plank in shark infested waters
Hey, if you are going to be a pirate, may as well go all the way. Arrr Matey! Now all I need is a pirate hat, eye-patch, peg-leg, and a parrot.
Piracy is mostly just people too lazy to search for a deal on legitimate licenses or freeware alternatives to the software they desire. No need to get on the subject. This is certainly not the place to discus it anyway. I for one hate most commercial software companies for one singular reason. And it has nothing to do with the price of the software. It is the awful license agreements and/or EULA you have no choice but to agree to in order to use the software. Most of it is a catch-all and not really intended to be taken literally. But I read them. I am appalled by what I have seen I must agree to in order to have a simple PC working. A subject fit for discussion here is that there are some notable software companies that are reasonable. I count Gaslamp Games in that list. The letter of the EULA may be Draconian, but the enforcement is miles away from that harsh reality. I think they actually care what customers think.
And people who have seen the writing on the wall and realized that most of the industries that make use of these licenses and copyrights are no longer worthy of respect and civil treatment. That if someone treats you with the kind of contempt that the MPAA and RIAA have shown for their customers and humanity in general, it is not wholly unjust to treat them with the same kind of contempt in return.
The worst offenders are not actually "Selling" the awful software they make. Java is a perfect example. It is the worst type of malware since these days it is one every platform and has the worst possible license terms. I would love to have a PC totally free of Java, but 99% of the complex applications made these days require that junk even if it is not used. I have ran into games that require Java in order to install, but not to run. (They had a previous version of the game that used Java and they just built the installer to check for it before actually installing. I think it was only the digital manual that used Java, but I could be wrong.) Also, many antiviral suites are supposedly free, but they have awful and restrictive licenses that keep you from even using the software for its intended purpose if you take the license literally. But then, most AV suites are malware themselves in my opinion.
I'll just say this. The best AV software is "constant vigilance", but you need to install it in yourself. If you don't have it, it doesn't matter how great is the AV program you have on your computer. And "constant vigilance" is free, with the only requirement being that you need to be able to learn.
When I saw that article I knew right away that it was a bad idea. I knew because the first thought that came to my mind was, "this is one of the very few instances where covering yourself and your belongings in tinfoil is a actually good idea."
