this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
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Sony sure tried, and bricked a bunch of PCs in the process.
This is so crazy
So the OS just runs any program on a cd you just inserted?
It was an earlier time!
It's called autorun. I don't remember if back then the default was to run without warning or ask the user, but if it was to ask the user - which sounds reasonable - do you think most people wouldn't just learn to click "run" without a second thought?
On Windows, it used to be the default to just run, yes. Made a good infection path for viruses.
Mac OS X could open up a generic dialog that asked if you wanted to drag and drop the app to your hard drive to start installing it. Linux depended on the distro, but generally GUI-based distros would open the file manager to the CD path if they did anything at all.
Well if you have a music CD you shouldnt expect programs on there, but if they say its just a player probably people will belive, cant check any non open source thing
And especially when you're indoctrinated to believe that it's evil pirates that will add viruses to the cracked software. You don't expect a legit lawfully received CD from a large and well trusted company to contain something bad, do you?
I remember for a brief period of time CDs came with media players that had custom skins and band related extras in the late 90s, maybe early 00s? I remember it being a factor in which CDs were considered cooler, because the ones without that just came up in the default media player. So it wouldn’t have seemed out of place at all to a lot of people at the time to let it run a program even though it “only” has music.
As people said, auto run was the default, but there were systems in place to prevent silent or malicious software from auto-installing. Sony basically coded a virus rootkit that circumvented the Windows security mechanisms, as well as the mechanisms of all the popular 3rd party anti-virus programs. They knew what they were doing was fucked up, but they don't care.
And people don't believe me when I explain to them that megacorps are run by sociopaths...
Not yet. Just you wait.
Sony is way ahead of you! Sony pulls discovery videos PlayStation users already own.
They did change their tune later, but it still shows that companies can steal or threaten to steal digital items that you had legitimately purchased access to.
If Sony contends that that is not stealing, then neither is pirating Sony's stuff.
They didn't change their tune, they just played it quieter. I'll bet you $2 that they wait until the negative press dies down and then do the exact same thing as quietly as they can. That's almost always what happens in these scenarios.
I mean, is it changing their tune if they are doing it again with Funimation... which they own?
Yeah, actually you are right...
I can't remember the specifics, but didn't Audible drop 1984 and Animal Farm down the memory hole at one time?
It's by far the easiest to make copies of and I do. Basically I own it and I have multiple backups with no drm. You can burn new disks and they play just fine in a Blu-ray player. A movie server is far more convenient though. Bonus you can watch hello Kitty on the toilet if you like.
Music is just as trivial. I wish games were easier to back up though.
How can it be easier than ctrl+c, ctrl+v?
If the service goes down because a company closes it's doors or they just decide you don't own it, your kinda fucked. Also how do you even launch a game with online drm on an old PC you don't want to connect to the Internet.
Did you respond the the correct person?
Sorry I thought you were talking about PC games. It annoys me how hard software preservation will be thanks to this modern landscape. I don't envy anyone willing to undertake that task now or in the future.
There's basically going to be nothing mainstream to play with from this era of computing in future computer museums.
I'd include PC games among things that can just be copy/pasted, depending on the format. Some PC games are just exe files, for example. Meanwhile, some discs mostly just serve as an access code for online servers and playing can still be locked behind internet access. I don't think digital vs physical format is the relevant question. Its whether the actual game/content is on the local device and can be accessed without pinging an external server for permission.
Yeah, but drm on all normal physical video formats has been broken, so eh
Did any company ever used DRM to disable physical media remotely? Is this even technically possible?
Not exactly what you're asking about, but this comes to mind
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexplay
DIVX kinda worked like that. You'd rent a disc and it'd work for a few days and then stop. You could pay for a few more days, or pay more to make it permanent.
It sucked and was one facet in Circuit City's slow motion collapse (good riddance).
I'd argue that that's still better that that shutting-down-digital-purchases deal, because with DIVX (and Flexplay, which was mentioned in another reply) you'd at least know in advance, before you buy, exactly how long you have to watch the DVD. Much better than buying things to add to your backlog and having them taken off the digital library before you get to consume them.
that was the big problem with “online only” games that people fought against when it first started. Now people just accept that their physical media is just a rental
Xbox one is an example of this, the server is still up so if you get a new one then you can still update it into a usable state, but once that server goes down then any not updated to their no longer always online patch it is junk