New Yorkers for Fair Use Action Alert:
--------------------------------------
Tell American Megatrends and Transmeta not to make chips
that let others control your computer!
Stop Palladium and TCPA Now!
Okay, you folks understand this issue -- AMI and Transmeta
recently announced their intention to build TCPA technology
into their chips. It's time to tell them that building
chips that let others control your computer, is
unacceptable.
1) Please send your comments using the form provided below.
Tell them not to produce their AMIBIOS8 and TM5800 chips,
and that you will boycott any technology that enables TCPA
and Palladium technology on your computer. Read the alert
below for details.
3) Take up a role helping with this and other efforts
related to information freedom in the future. Two roles you
can take up are to become a Press Outreach Campaigner or a
Commentator. Simply reply to this email to show your
interest.
2) Please forward this alert to any other interested parties
that you know of, who would understand and see the
importance of this issue.
New Yorkers for Fair Use Action Alert:
--------------------------------------
Stop Palladium and TCPA now!
Tell American Megatrends and Transmeta not to make chips
that let others control your computer!
Please use the following form to tell American Megatrends
and Transmeta not to produce their AMIBIOS8 and TM5800
chips, and that you will boycott any technology that enables
TCPA and Palladium technology on your computer:
http://www.nyfairuse.org/cgi-bin/nyfu/palladium
What's Going On:
Last week, Intel, Microsoft, the RIAA and the MPAA announced
their intention to force Palladium and TCPA into every
personal computer on the planet. Palladium and TCPA are a
different kind of DRM, worse than even the most invasive of
previously proposed "content control" systems.
Palladium and TCPA would hardwire your home computer so that
these four entities and their partners would be able to run
processes on your computer, entirely outside your control,
indeed, without your knowledge.
Below we answer some questions about DRM, Palladium, TCPA,
and the boycott.
New Yorkers for Fair Use
What is DRM?
DRM is the political, legal, contractual, economic,
hardware, and software infrastructure designed and intended
by a loose alliance of cartels and monopolies to take away
your right to own and privately use a computer. No full DRM
exists in the world today, though pieces of DRM have been
successfully enacted into law and tiny bits of DRM hardware
and software have been placed in some home movie playing and
recording devices. Every single piece of DRM is meant to
help attain the objective of the anti-ownership alliance: to
get control of every personal computer in the world.
Intel and Microsoft and RIAA and MPAA, by their own
admission, have, to date, spent billions of dollars to force
universal DRM on the entire world. Last week these four
reiterated their intention to force DRM into every personal
computer on the planet:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/15/business/15PIRA.htmlhttp://news.com.com/2100-1023-980671.html
For more on DRM see:
http://newsforge.com/newsforge/02/10/21/1449250.shtml?tid=19http://www.panix.com/~jays/what.is.drm.3
What is Palladium?
"Palladium" is Microsoft's name for its proposed DRM system.
No implementation of Palladium exists today, indeed no
complete specification of Palladium exists today, but
certain hardware which a Palladiated operating system
requires is about to be placed in all personal computers,
unless we stop Microsoft and its hardware and vendor
partners, such as Intel, American Megatrends, Transmeta,
Dell, and CompUSA.
What will Palladium do?
Palladium will enable a few large corporations and
governments to run source secret, indeed, well-encrypted,
code on home users' machines in such a way that the home
user cannot see, modify, or control the running code. A
Palladiated system is under the complete control of
Microsoft at all times. Microsoft might allow some of its
partners to run code on your machine, but no code will run
on a Palladiated system without Microsoft's consent. The
mechanics are as follows: only code that has been signed
with a special Microsoft provided key will run. Microsoft
will retain at all times the power to revoke any other
entity's keys. In particular, no operating system will be
able to boot without a key from Microsoft. So if Palladium
is forced into every home computer, there will be no more
free software.
Microsoft will be able to spy on each and every keystroke,
and mouse movement, and send encrypted messages from your
machine to Microsoft headquarters. Microsoft will also be
able to examine every file on your system. Your encryption
programs will not work against Microsoft, or any other
entities which have full power keys from Microsoft.
But surely wily crackers and freedom-loving hackers around
the world will be able to defeat Palladium by breaking it?
No. Whether or not a few hackers are able to get around some
versions of Palladium, most people will not be able to.
There are two reasons most people will not be able to escape
the All Seeing Eye and Invisible Hand of Palladium. First,
Palladium is not like the absurdly weak systems called "DRM"
today. Palladium is both hardware and software, and the
software is locked to the hardware in a manner completely
different from today's weak DRM systems. The design of
Palladium allows for defense in depth, and even one layer of
Palladium is harder to crack than any DRM ever seen before.
Second, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the
United States of America, it is illegal to try to see what
Palladium is doing. It is also illegal to modify the
hardware of a Palladiated system. And it is a felony to sell
advice on how to disable Palladium or its supporting
hardware. It is hard enough today to get vendors to sell
computers with a free operating system already installed.
Once Microsoft and Intel have forced Palladiated hardware
into every personal computer, it will be impossible to run a
free OS. The very act of booting a free OS will be outlawed
by application of the DMCA to a Palladiated computer.
But there are no Palladium systems available today. So how
can you boycott Palladium?
We are boycotting the hardware that Palladium needs. Before
Palladium is rolled out, Palladium-enabling hardware must be
placed in most of the world's personal computers. Right now
such hardware is being placed in computers meant for home
and business use without the buyer being told. Our boycott
is aimed at stopping Palladium-enabling hardware from being
secretly forced into every personal computer in world. We
intend to stop Palladium before we cease to own the
computers in our own houses and offices.
The main Palladium-enabling hardware is called a "TPM" for
Trusted Platform Module. The TPM hardware will support, in
addition to Palladium, many different systems which take
control of the computer away from the user and give control
to large corporations and government entities. The TCPA, the
Trusted Computing Platform Alliance, is the standards
organization for the TPM. The founding Alliance members are
Compaq, HP, IBM, Intel and Microsoft. Since 1999, the year
TCPA was founded, about one hundred more companies have
joined the TCPA. The Alliance has published a formal
specification of the TPM. The TCPA's FAQ
http://www.trustedcomputing.org/docs/Website_TCPA%20FAQ_0703021.pdf
seeks to allay the natural suspicions of computer buyers
about what the TPM does. Unfortunately the FAQ is inaccurate
on the most important issues. For example, the claim is made
that a computer with a working TPM will remain under the
final, ultimate, and complete control of the user. But, as
explained above, this is simply untrue.
So what exactly are you doing?
We refuse to buy any computer with a TPM inside and we ask
you to refuse to buy any computer with a TPM inside. We use
the term "TPM" to include TPM-like devices, whether in a
separate chip, in the BIOS chip, or even in the cpu. This
means that we ask buyers of personal computers to find out
whether the computer has a TPM or a TPM-like device inside.
We will shortly provide buyers of home computers with
methods for telling whether or not a computer has a TPM
inside.
Is it possible to be more specific today?
Yes. We call for a boycott of the just announced American
Megatrends AMIBIOS8:
http://www.ami.com/ami/showpress.cfm?PrID=118http://www.ami.com/products/product.cfm?ProdID=127&CatID=6&SubID=14http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/09/166251&tid=99http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/17/1430214&mode=thread&…
and the just announced Transmeta TM5800 cpu:
http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/1569201http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/14/1719220&mode=thread&tid=161
Where can I find out more about Palladium, TCPA, and DMCA?
For Palladium see:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/%7Erja14/tcpa-faq.htmlhttp://wintermute.homelinux.org/miscelanea/TCPA%20Security.txthttp://discuss.microsoft.com/SCRIPTS/WA-MSD.EXE?A2=ind0301b&L=wmtalk&T=0&O=…http://www.theregus.com/content/4/25378.htmlhttp://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0208.html#1http://www.ofb.biz/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=152
For TCPA and the TPM see:
http://www.trustedcomputing.org
For the DMCA see:
http://www.nyfairuse.org/analysis/dmca.must.be.repealed.xhtmlhttp://anti-dmca.orghttp://www.nyfairuse.org/dmca.xhtml
How do I tell these folks I don't want DRM?
Just click on the URL below:
http://www.nyfairuse.org/cgi-bin/nyfu/palladium
(Well, it got silent again, and I can't check the archive...)
Appears that the LAD site is down, and the list archive gives me the
PHP code as text/plain... What's going on?
//David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate
.- The Return of Audiality! --------------------------------.
| Free/Open Source Audio Engine for use in Games or Studio. |
| RT and off-line synth. Scripting. Sample accurate timing. |
`---------------------------> http://olofson.net/audiality -'
--- http://olofson.net --- http://www.reologica.se ---
> The worst situation we can end up in if we go ahead with XAP is two
> plugin APIs on Linux; XAP and a new, totally incompatible API. That's
> still a lot better than the *current* situation on Windows and Mac
> OS.
Given the nature of vested interest, this is probably the best
situation, not the worst. Don't wait. The only reason to delay is if
you actually believe that a unified approach is not just possible, but
probable. Closed developers might agree to a closed, members only,
approach but a true unification would require either presently closed
developers to abandon the idea of trade secrets, or open developers to
abandon the gpl. Neither is likely. If you are into it, just go ahead.
Tom
> I´m not a programmer, but If I were, I´d try to do some
> co-operation with
> fruity-developers and do an linux-support to the fruityloops.
> ´cause it´s
> only the question of time&money.
I don't think that they like to share the code with a developer
and why should anyone port Fruity Loops to Linux without
getting money, when Cakewalk sells his work later on?
It would be better to write an open-source program from scratch.
Regards,
J.Backhaus
The world and his dog seems to be releasing macos/windows audio s/w that
looks like 19" rack units.
Anyone know enough about X to know if its possible to make X apps open
thier main window inside a standard sized cabinet (ala Reason).
I'm assuming it would be ok to require the app to be a certian size and
have explicit support, but I guess it couldn't put any restrictions on
toolkit.
Other than looking cool, it would actually be a useful way to keep window
clutter down. Not that we have any 19" lookalike apps yet, but I guess we
will do at some point.
- Steve
>Given the time frames we're talking about here, and that XAP is almost
>in alpha (if that term applies to APIs), I don't really think there's
>more than one sensible choice here. Most of the thinking is already
>done, and we *need* that API, yesterday.
There's no point in stopping development but it would be good if someone from the MMA could figure out what their opinion is on Open Source. It seems like a huge division at the moment between what they are wanting to do and what is actually happening around here.
Maybe we have to resign ourselves to yet another completely Open source solution that has no backing from the major businesses in our field. Ok, we keep slogging on and they keep (almost) ignoring us.
Makes me feel even more uninterested in what they have to offer open source.
Should I feel guilt for not being interested in the closed source providers if they are not interested in working with us?
--
Patrick Shirkey - Boost Hardware Ltd.
For the discerning hardware connoisseur
Http://www.boosthardware.comHttp://www.djcj.org - The Linux Audio Users guide
========================================
Being on stage with the band in front of crowds shouting, "Get off! No! We want normal music!", I think that was more like acting than anything I've ever done.
Goldie, 8 Nov, 2002
The Scotsman
_____________________________________________________________
Get your spam-free, Linux email now --> http://www.LinuxWaves.com
Join Linux discussions --> http://Community.LinuxWaves.com
_____________________________________________________________
Select your own custom email address for FREE! Get you(a)yourchoice.com w/No Ads, 6MB, POP & more! http://www.everyone.net/selectmail?campaign=tag
Hi there,
I'm lurking around since some years here and try to follow your
discussions here.
Now I'm looking for karaoke systems in software for Linux.
So sth. which shows the karaoke channels of VCDs and DVDs or real
karaoke media. By showing I don't mean dumping it into a
text file, but the way an karaoke system would show it.
I also need some basic realtime equalizer and stuff to e.g. lower
a female voice to allow singing songs made for male voices.
But that is secondary.
Is anything out there, which might help me?
Thanks & Regards
Ingo Oeser
--
Science is what we can tell a computer. Art is everything else. --- D.E.Knuth
Hi All,
I'm getting a bit confused about how mixers and special harware controls (like GPIOs) are implemented in ALSA(0.9.0) :
What is the difference between /proc/asound/dev/controlC0 and /proc/asound/dev/mixerC0 ?
My card (ens1371) does not feature a mixerC0 device, does a call to snd_mixer_open(..) require a such device to exist?
Basically, what for should I open the controlC0 device ? (mixer settings, power management ? )and do I need to implement a mixerCx device ?
Should controlC0 be used for lowlevel settings global to the board, while hwC?D? would be for proprietary hardware control on a given IO ?
Thanks,
Marc.
in a second confirmation (post steinberg) of the tiny size of the
audio marketplace:
Under the proposed transaction, Sun Capital would acquire
approximately 9.8 million shares of Mackie common stock, or
approximately 65% of Mackie's total common stock outstanding, through
the purchase of approximately 7.4 million outstanding shares from
certain selling shareholders and approximately 2.4 million newly
issued shares for a total of approximately $10 million in cash.
that puts their valuation of Mackie at about $15.4M. i know that
Mackie is a niche player, not working at the same level as, say,
Gibson or Fender, but they are one of the preeminent trade mixer
makers and they also make some damn cool products.
!! *products* !! hardware! marketing! people! customers! reputation!
all this could have been yours for a few million :)
of course, there is an interesting question: who are the sellers of
those 7.4 million shares (some 49% of all existing shares)? they
appear to be basically dumping somewhere between half and all their
existing holdings in Mackie. that's quite a sell off.
--p
> the big problem is that writing even a simple WM is not
> trivial. still, i would guess that taking twm and hacking it to
> enforce window sizes and position can't be that hard.
twm would be an awful choice -- the code's completely unreadable
and surprisingly huge. There are plenty of ultra-minimal window
managers around these days that have far better code. Practically
anything written since 9wm (a pivotal app in the window manager
world). Hacking on one of those need not be hard at all.
http://www.plig.org/xwinman/others.html
The newer ones are generally nearer the top.
I wrote wm2 and wmx which have far too particular a look for the
sort of thing you want, but the code's not _too_ bad and I'd be
happy to answer questions (though I haven't the time to work on
any actual coding of this sort). They're in C++ with BSD-style
licensing. They're getting on a bit now though and there are
doubtless easier choices even than wm2 these days.
http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/
Chris