Sony is a member of the RIAA and the MPAA. If you give Sony your money, they will use it to take away your civil liberties with lobbyists and lawyers. One of their efforts is to stop people from using Free Software by making it illegal. They have already succeeded to some extent with the DMCA. As long as they continue to attack our freedom, it is your moral obligation to never purchase their products.
Mike On Fri, Oct 24, 2003 at 12:59:28AM -0600, Richard Esplin wrote: > Thanks for all the great input about digital cameras. It has been really > helpful and I have learned a lot. > My wife and I really like the Sony DSC-P92. At 5 mega-pixel, it's as cheap as > most 3 mega-pixel cameras I've seen (though I understand that 3 is probably > acceptable for my needs). It also has most of the other features that we > wanted. It does have a major problem though: the dreaded Sony Memory Stick. > Besides being more expensive than Compact Flash, it seems that Sony wants you > to use the Memory Stick Pro which incorporates the Evil(TM) MagicGate > copyright protection technology. A quote from a page which has been removed > from Sony's website (Google cache: > http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:1tX2xcgdrtMJ:www.sony.net/Products/SC-HP/CXPAL/CXNEWS-20/PDF/TW.pdf+MagicGate+Technology+PDF&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 > ) > > "This copyright protection technology is incorporated in both the MG Memory > Stick semiconductor media and appliance that uses that media . . . This > technology provides two main functions. > "Mutual confirmation between the media and the appliance that both the media > and the MG appliance support copyright protection (authentication). . . . > "If authentication is not established mutually, data exchange operations are > not possible This prevents inappropriate copying and protects the copyright > on the content." > > To me this says that if I buy a camera enabled for Memory Stick Pro, then > even if I use a conventional memory stick I am still supporting theft of fair > use rights because the technology is already in the camera. So, I reason that > it isn't a big deal because I own the copyright to my photos. But this > article says that I still can't use Free software to access the a Memory > Stick Pro because it can't legally (due to the DMCA) speak MagicGate's > protocol to the card. > So if Sony wants to lock consumers into using the MagicGate technology (which > appears to be their strategy), the day could come when I need a new Memory > Stick and can only buy a Memory Stick Pro. > Does anyone know for certain? Do Magic Stick readers work in Linux? Even with > a Magic Stick Pro? Is it likely that Sony won't continue making Magic Sticks > in the future without consumer crippling technologies built in? > I would still like to buy this camera (if I can verify that I won't ever have > to buy a Memory Stick Pro), but I'm not sure if I can feel good about it > anymore. Sony often has the best technology out there, and then they ruin it. > Frustrating. > Can anyone suggest a comparable camera without the ethical baggage? > Richard Esplin > > > ____________________ > BYU Unix Users Group > http://uug.byu.edu/ > ___________________________________________________________________ > List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list -- .___________________________________________________________________. Michael A. Halcrow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Security Software Engineer, IBM Linux Technology Center GnuPG Fingerprint: 05B5 08A8 713A 64C1 D35D 2371 2D3C FDDA 3EB6 601D Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
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