TCPA / Palladium : It's scary.... [Archive]

Mister X

12-30-2002, 12:51 AM

Originally posted by Evil Chris
Sounds like the perfect way to sell porn to people. Only the one who actually paid for it can view it.
This might be a good idea.... but then again, with everything that comes out calling itself 'secure', there is someone bootlegging or cracking it! Actually this is NOT a good way to sell porn. What this means is the end of all the Apache web servers on the net. Because it would mean the end of Linux. Actually the end of all free software. The people who develop Linux aren't going to pay to get their software certified as secure so they can give it away for free. No more Apache webserver basically means that all servers will become Microsoft based platforms. Which in turn means that server costs go up and dig into the profit margin. In fact this goes even deeper. Internet Explorer won't go to a server that isn't "certified". That server won't run any code that is not certified. And the browser won't either. No more free flash games or little bits of java on your website. No more live streams from porn sites because the streams will need to be certified. And how the hell do you get a live stream certified anyway? As far as mpegs and shit go... if media player, et al won't play them unless they're certified and there are no free programs left to play them with, how is a website going to be able to afford to get this stuff out to their surfers? The important thing to realize with this shit is not that it will make it so that your computer will not play unauthorized media or run a pirated program. It will ONLY play media or software that has been certified! And certification will NOT be free. You have to pay this consortium to review your shit and give the okay for it. Much like Microsoft is doing with it's drivers right now. In Win XP the OS complains about installing unsigned drivers but it still does it. In the future that won't be the case. It won't install it anymore. So when a software or hardware vendor wants to release a hotpatch or bugfix they have to get it certified first. So your software and hardware will probably be buggier and for longer periods of time. The big problem with this isn't that it checks to see if you're authorized to run this program or play that song. It assumes that anything that you don't have authorization for IS unauthorized. It's like a reverse killfile in your email program. It blocks EVERYTHING by default and then allows only the stuff that fits a rule to be run or viewed or listened to. The argument they use is that a program or media file can be cracked to indicate that it doesn't need authorization. So they want to block everything that doesn't need to be authorized to prevent that from happening. Which means that even if someone is crazy enough to develop a free program and get it certified they still have to build in a system of authentication and then put in place the infrastructure to implement and maintain it. Goodbye freeware.

This thing will also be responsible for causing considerable downtime and headaches if you want to make a configuration change on your computer. Right now with XP if you make any significant hardware upgrades chances are you are going to have to re-activate. You might even actually have to reformat your drives and reinstall. That happened to me and several other people I know. With Palladium you won't even be able to play an mp3 until you re-activate because all media and software on your computer will have the same thing happen to it.

Personally I think it will be a supremely stupid move on the part of these guys if they do go ahead with it. People like free stuff! With no more free software the prices of what's left will get jacked up because there will be less competition. Companies like Compaq or Dell will suddenly stop bundling software with a new computer. Most small vendors have already done that. Somebody that does buy a new computer finds out that about all they can do with it is play solitaire unless they start shelling out more money. They can't even go on the net and find some free porn mpegs to look at. Because there aren't anymore free mpegs. So where are the real incentives to own a computer?

The scariest thing about the whole concept is that it gives these guys the right to delete everything on your computer that isn't licensed to their satisfaction. It gives them actual physical control of your computer. The only things that do that kind of shit now are called trojans.