'DVD Jon' Breaks Google Video Lock in 24 hours ..

[BJ_M]

not really big news - because google is using open-source VideoLAN media player.

but what IS funny is that several news groups are acting like he just did another major hack (like yahoo news wire, Googles big competition also) ...

what he did; he added "//" before an 'if(condition)' statement" .


Now picture this:

A little-known hacker secret known as "//" or comment sequence is being used to illegally remove protections in computer software

"It's a nightmare for the industry, the // sequence is being used to defeat protections in hundreds of thousands of software programs, costing the industry trillions of dollars in lost revenue" said Robert Holleyman, president of the Washington-based Business Software Alliance (BSA).

While Linus Trovalds confirmed that the // sequence may be a powerful tool for removing protections, he downplayed the threat, stating that only software for which the code is freely available can be cracked using the method.

Various anti-piracy groups are pressuring congress to pass an extension to the DMCA laws, which will effectively outlaw commenting out parts of computer code. Under the new law it will also be illegal to manufacture a computer keyboard with the forward slash '/' key.

Ironically, there is nothing on Google News concerning this .....



The patch is HERE

[ROF]

There is a simple solution to all those people out there worried about their IP being ripped off.

Never release your product to the general public.

That will make sure that your songs are not downloaded illegally, that your movies aren't copied into a persons collection, your game will never be hacked, your website will never receive a DoS, and your protection coding will never be commented out.

Keep your intellectual property to yourself, never make it available to others, and all will be fine in your little closed world of 100% security.

If it can be played, it can be copied, if it can be copyprotected, it can be broken, and if it is viewed by others, expect it to be viewed by those not authorized and expect some to even make your intellectual property more user friendly and open to the end consumer.

Plain and simple with easy to follow directions. Don't release it!

[ukb007]

Various anti-piracy groups are pressuring congress to pass an extension to the DMCA laws, which will effectively outlaw commenting out parts of computer code. Under the new law it will also be illegal to manufacture a computer keyboard with the forward slash '/' key.

Amazing. They'll ban keyboards with the "/" key?

Thanks.

[redwudz]

Then they should also ban the 'Enter' key. A lot of bad things start with using it.

[yoda313]

Various anti-piracy groups are pressuring congress to pass an extension to the DMCA laws, which will effectively outlaw commenting out parts of computer code. Under the new law it will also be illegal to manufacture a computer keyboard with the forward slash '/' key.

Amazing. They'll ban keyboards with the "/" key?

Thanks.

Hi,

So how will you be able to go to sites like http://www.google.com ?????

The internet is // dependent

Kevin

(I now you can just enter www and get there but not all websites have the www prefix )

[jimmalenko]

So how will you be able to go to sites like http://www.google.com ?????

The internet is // dependent

Kevin

(I now you can just enter www and get there but not all websites have the www prefix )

Easy. Open your browser and delete the whole url, including the http:// bit. now type in videohelp.com and press Enter (make sure not to select any of the suggested urls). You'll find that you can still get around the net without the www or the http://


EDIT:
HOWEVER!! ... it makes sites / pages such as members.dodo.net.au/~jimmalenko impossible to navigate to, directly from the address bar.


EDIT #2:
I put in members.dodo.net.au\~jimmalenko (using a backslash instead of a forward-slash) and it still navigates correctly.

[lumis]

i agree with yahoo.. / should be banned.. it killed my father, and raped my mother! :P

[jimmalenko]

Various anti-piracy groups are pressuring congress to pass an extension to the DMCA laws, which will effectively outlaw commenting out parts of computer code. Under the new law it will also be illegal to manufacture a computer keyboard with the forward slash '/' key.

Amazing. They'll ban keyboards with the "/" key?

So all of a sudden, the most popular P2P download is a notepad file with a solitary / in it that can be cut n pasted ?

WHOAAA, that'll be effective NOT !

[thecoalman]

First that has to be some kind of joke, either that or somone has gone off the deep end.

So how will you be able to go to sites like http://www.google.com ?????

The internet is // dependent

The // they are refferring to is not in URL but the code for a page. I'd imagine it's the same for programming but I wouldn't know. Adding that before a line will make it void for lack of better of term. The server that is executing the code ignores the line. It's useful if you want to leave information for someone looking at the source or to make notations to yourself within the code. It's used quite regularly, phpbb mods for instance use them a lot. Tells you where the mod begins and ends if you wanted to remove it....

[jimmalenko]

The // they are refferring to is not in URL but the code for a page. I'd imagine it's the same for programming but I wouldn't know.

I've certainly seen it in PHP. ASP & HTML use . VB uses a '. I think C might use the // as well ?

It would obviously be ludicrous IMO to expect all the different design softwares, compilers etc etc to change conventions just because of this.

[thecoalman]

I've certainly seen it in PHP. ASP & HTML use . VB uses a '. I think C might use the // as well ?

It's used in PHP, exclusively in the phpbb mods. I don't remember seeing the regular used at all. As for the others I would have no clue.

Here's the start of the index...

<?php
/************************************************** *************************
* index.php
* -------------------
* begin : Saturday, Feb 13, 2001
* copyright : (C) 2001 The phpBB Group
* email : support@phpbb.com
*
* $Id: index.php,v 1.99.2.3 2004/07/11 16:46:15 acydburn Exp $
*
*
************************************************** *************************/

/************************************************** *************************
*
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
* the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
* (at your option) any later version.
*
************************************************** *************************/

define('IN_PHPBB', true);
$phpbb_root_path = './';
include($phpbb_root_path . 'extension.inc');
include($phpbb_root_path . 'common.'.$phpEx);

//
// Start session management
//
$userdata = session_pagestart($user_ip, PAGE_INDEX);
init_userprefs($userdata);
//
// End session management
//

[rkr1958]

Various anti-piracy groups are pressuring congress to pass an extension to the DMCA laws, which will effectively outlaw commenting out parts of computer code. Under the new law it will also be illegal to manufacture a computer keyboard with the forward slash '/' key.

Amazing. They'll ban keyboards with the "/" key?

Thanks.

Hi,

So how will you be able to go to sites like http://www.google.com ?????

The internet is // dependent

Kevin

(I now you can just enter www and get there but not all websites have the www prefix )

Forget the internet. If you use your machine & keyboard to login into a Unix machine how in the world would you be able to navigate to any directories (e.g., /unix_root/users/my_directory)

[disturbed1]

Let's not forget windows admins

XCOPY source [destination] [/A | /M] [/D[:date]] [/P] [/S [/E]] [/V] [/W]
[/C] [/I] [/Q] [/F] [/L] [/H] [/R] [/T] [/U]
[/K] [/N] [/O] [/X] [/Y] [/-Y] [/Z]
[/EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...]

ipconfig [/? | /all | /release [adapter] | /renew [adapter]
| /flushdns | /registerdns
| /showclassid adapter
| /setclassid adapter [classidtoset] ]

SORT [/R] [/+n] [/M kilobytes] [/L locale] [/RE recordbytes]
[[drive1:][path1]filename1] [/T [drive2:][path2]]
[/O [drive3:][path3]filename3]

CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/I] [/C] [/L[ize]]

and many more.


I think it was just a smart ass comment to emphasize how asinine the quote from Robert Holleyman was.

If the source code is available, it's there to be modified. Pay software a.k.a. closed source won't have the source code available to be hacked. Then hackers will just have to rely on their hex editors

[shelbyGT]

I'm confused... what happened? What's going on? This talk is all over my head.

[ukb007]

Started by BJ_M, we are discussing removing restrictions put in Code by the author by means as simple as putting slashes ["//"] before an 'if(condition)' statement, and some people arguing in favor of removing the '/' from computer keyboards to curb this 'piracy'.. Discussions, of course, have ramifications and branches. Join in.

Thanks.

[thecoalman]

I'm confused... what happened? What's going on? This talk is all over my head.

I'm up to my eyeballs so don't feel bad. The if statement is used in php code and other applications just for example to generate this page. If usename = shelbygt then "talk is over his head" else "talk is not over his head" <------------ that's the gist of it. I'm still learning how to properly code something like that myself, that's not real code.

By adding the // before the if statement it disregards the line of code. See the example I posted above, the server will disregard those lines with the //, they are only there to put comments in the code for when your viewing the source. Apparently whatever application they are using is open source so by adding that before the line of code it's allowing them do whatever they are not supposed to be doing...... I think. :P

[shelbyGT]

ah HA! that makes much more sense! gracias coal.

[ukb007]

Apparently whatever application they are using is open source so by adding that before the line of code it's allowing them do whatever they are not supposed to be doing...... I think. :P

Yes, something like that. The slashes make the computer ignore the line of code that follows as if it wasn't there, so whatever the line of code was supposed to do isn't done. Programmers use that technique to put comments/thoughts/observations/explanations in the millions of lines of code which otherwise will be too cumbersome, if not impossible, to assimilate by another. There's this question, however: why put slashes instead of deleting the line? The answer is that, for one thing, it's easier; and for another, the line will be irretrieveably lost forever if deleted.

Thanks.

[Radixmind]

RE: making the'/' key illegal on keyboards.

all this talk of programming languages is all very well, but it seems to me that you have failed to see the more fundamental problem: the 'slash' key represents a punctuation mark within the English (and other western) language. it's removal from the keyboard would be like removing the comma key, or the open or close brackets keys. it would effectively limit our abilities to express ourselves in our native languages which have existed within cultures far older than any modern computer programming system. certainly, ukb700 wouldn't have been able to post his last comment without it.

many modern poets use symbols and punctuation in new ways to express their ideas to an audience. it is common within poetry/prose pieces, and lyric writers often use it to represent beats/pauses in thir words, for performers to note. and i just used it myself, twice, and i wasn't programming anything.

this idea is a restriction on basic freedom of expression, and should be laughed out of the house like the foolishness that it is.

and i have enough difficulty handling the differences between US and UK keyboard layouts as it is.

[junkmalle]

Jesus people! The original quote was obviously tongue-in-cheek.

[Radixmind]

yeah, i know. but all this techno-talk was just getting me down. sometimes i think some of these people truly believe there was no world before computers came along.

[RottenFoxBreath]

yeah, i know. but all this techno-talk was just getting me down. sometimes i think some of these people truly believe there was no world before computers came along.

#

there was a world before computers....surely you jest,its just not possible..no..it cant be..

[ukb007]

The species that created this world of ours with its myriads of systems and subsystems tuned up precisely with one another must have had access to computers.

Thanks.

[RottenFoxBreath]

^^ ^^