Month: December 2007

DRM and the DMCA: so stupid it makes me want to punch babies

Posted on By Wil

I hate DRM. I hate it so much, I want to punch babies. DRM’s mere existence infuriates me, because it’s anti-consumer, turns honest customers into criminals, and does nothing to stop dedicated pirates.

You’ve read my blog before, so this is nothing new. DRM is in my mind today, however, because of two links I read at boingboing.

Link the first:

Wellington Grey has a great little slideshow about the idiocy of the DMCA’s “anti-circumvention” measures, which prohibit breaking the digital locks off the stuff you own. In it, Grey recounts how offended he was when he bought a TomTom GPS that came with a CD in a sealed envelope, the seal on which read, “By breaking this seal, you agree to our contract,” but the contract itself was on the CD, behind the seal. In other words, the CD said, “By breaking this seal, you agree to a bunch of secret stuff.”

I saw this on Reddit last week, and meant to link it then. Whoops. Anyway, I love how this guy explains just how fucking stupid and pointless DRM is, and that he shows us what would happen if DRM and the DMCA were applied to real world objects. It’s good perspective that’s useful for explaining to technophobes (and congress critters) why these things need to go away. Now.

Link the second:

Techdirt reports that Steve Jobs has been pitching studio execs on a scheme whereby DVD owners can pay extra for the “privilege” of ripping their DVDs — but only for playback on iPods and iPhones. The thing is, Jobs fought the music industry back in the early iTunes day, arguing that people who buy CDs should have the right to rip them without paying anything extra.

So what’s the difference? DRM — Digital Rights Management. This is the anti-copying software that studios put on DVDs, allegedly to “stop piracy.” But DRM isn’t doing anything to stop piracy (people who want to pirate DVDs just break the DRM, because it’s impossible to stop determined attackers from copying bits on their own computers). It seems like the primary use for DRM is to sell you back the rights you used to get for free, so that the studios can pick your pocket every time you find a new way to use the media you buy from them.

That second link reminds me of the first time I encountered some sort of restrictive, proprietary “software”: when I was 9, my mom let me buy this really cool cap gun. It was so awesome! It looked just like a real gun (this was in 1979, when things like this were harmless fun for a suburban 9 year-old) and you could load this strip of plastic caps into a clip that went into the handle. When you fired it, it went off with a satisfying bang, and ejected one spent cap like it was a shell.

I didn’t want to ever shoot someone for real, and as an adult I don’t have any interest in owning a gun, but when I was 9, this thing was the coolest toy, ever, and it was the perfect addition to my James Bond superspy roleplaying adventures with the other kids in my neighborhood.

The thing was, I could only load the gun with a particular type of refill, and if the store was out of those refills — but flush with all of the “standard” strips and rings of caps — my really cool gun instantly became a useless piece of plastic and metal that only made whatever “bang bang” noise I could create myself . . . just like the kids up the block who used Legos to make guns that didn’t make an awesome “BANG” but more of a 9 year-old vocalized “bang”.

Of course, the proprietary caps were more expensive than the standard caps, and after a few months they went off the shelf, never to return. The cap gun became a paperweight, and was sold at a garage sale.

It’s not exactly a 1:1 on DRM, but I believe the fundamental concept is the same: a manufacturer uses some restrictive bit of technology to lock consumers into one format and one device. It’s stupid, it’s anti-consumer, and it makes me stabby.

Super last minute Child’s Play Dinner Auction

Posted on By Wil

I was AFK for two days while visiting family, so I didn’t have time to post about this until right now. In a moment, you’ll see why I’m apologizing in advance.

The winner of the Child’s Play dinner seats with me, Robert Khoo, and some Bungie folks had a family commitment and couldn’t come to Seattle on Tuesday. He’d already paid for the auction, so he told Child’s Play to keep his winning bid as a donation and asked them to relist the auction.

The auction’s been relisted, but it ends in 4 hours. At the moment, the highest bid is $1000.

Geek in Review: For those about to Rock

Posted on By Wil

For this week’s Geek in Review, I played a whole lot of Guitar Hero III and Rock Band, so I could review and compare them both. For you, dear readers, I made this terrible sacrifice. Indeed, I did it for those about to rock:

With the holidays fast approaching, the question facing wannabe rockers
and those who would buy gifts for them is clear: Rock Band, or Guitar
Hero III?

It’s not as simple as it may seem. Both games have strong and weak
points, and while they both have The Rock in common, they are
distinctly different games, and choosing which one is right for you or
your favorite lil’rocker can be a difficult proposition. Since we’re
talking about a substantial amount of money here – though the GH 3 360
bundle has an MSRP of $89 and the Rock Band Special Edition has an MSRP
of $160, both are in limited supply and are going for Tickle Me Elmo
prices online – I thought I’d use this week’s Geek in Review to review
both games, highlight their differences, and justify to my wife why
I’ve played both of them so much in the last two weeks, I have a
serious RSI in my right forearm and wrist.

I encourage you to read the entire review, but if you can’t, here’s the comparative bottom line:

These are very different games, and I like them both for very different
reasons. If you have friends who can consistently get together with you
to play, Rock Band destroys Guitar Hero. If you’re going to be playing
alone, or if you’re buying for a teenager who thinks the greatest
achievement in life is getting 5 stars on Buckethead in Expert mode,
mashing guitar buttons like we used to mash Street Fighter buttons,
then Guitar Hero III is a clear winner.

My personal bottom line? Guitar Hero III is awesome, but Rock Band pwns, and I have the RSI to prove it.

in the name of Scalzi!

Posted on By Wil

My pal John Scalzi got this phenomenal mention from SFFAudio:

The name of John Scalzi can now stand in Science Fiction pantheon proudly beside the likes of Orson Scott Card, Joe Haldeman and Robert A. Heinlein.

I recently put out my call for SF anthology suggestions, so let me return the favor: Get Old Man’s War, and move it to the top of your Giant Pile of Books You Bought And Won’t Ever Have Time To Read.

Then make time to read it. Yes, it’s that good. It’s Forever War good. I promise.

In related SF news, I took Nolan out to dinner last night, and he wanted to go into the bookstore when we were done. To my surprise and delight, he went directly to the SF section and began to browse.

“I want a new book,” he said, “but I don’t know where to start.”

I suggestedEnder’s Game, which I loved when I was his age and was something he could relate to, but for reasons that only make sense in the teenage mind, my enthusiastic endorsement had the opposite effect than that which was intended: “Meh.”

“Meh?” I said.

“I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem . . . I don’t know. Let’s find something different.” He said.

I thought about all the SF I love, but couldn’t come up with anything I thought he’d like. Ringworld wouldn’t interest him, I doubt he’d relate to Old Man’s War, as much as I love it. I suggested Fragile Things, October Country, and a couple of Gardner Dozois anthologies that readers had recommended to me. None of them got the dreaded “Meh,” but nothing was grabbing his interest.

I saw a golden opportunity slipping away. Nolan enjoys fantasy, but this was the first time in his life he’d expressed any interest at all in the science fiction that I so dearly love. I didn’t want to blow it by suggesting something that would turn him off from SF forever, so I sent a text message to my friend, Andrew, who is wise in the ways of science fiction.

“Did you suggest Ender’s Game?” He sent back.

I told him about the Meh.

He thought for a long time, before suggesting Heinlein’s Red Planet“I read it when I was a little younger than Nolan, and I really liked it then. I read it again this year, and it holds up surprisingly well.”

I grabbed it off the shelf, and read the back.

“This looks like a really cool book,” I thought to myself. Then, “Well, here goes nothing.”

I found Nolan on the other side of the rack, and showed it to him.

“Andrew says that he read it when he was your age and loved it.” I said.

Nolan looked at it.

“Have you read this?”

“No, I haven’t.” I said. I cautiously added, “it looks cool, though.”

He read the description on the back. I tried to act nonchalant while I watched him.

“Okay,” he said, “this looks really good.”

A bell rang in my head, and I smiled.

“Cool,” I said. “Can I read it when you’re done?”

“Maybe,” he said, thoughtfully.

“Maybe?” I said.

A mischievous glint flashed in his eyes.

“Now would be a good time to talk about you letting me get Assassin’s Creed . . .”

TNG Review: Datalore

Posted on By Wil

Happy Monday! (You’re twisting my melon, man . . .)

My Datalore review is at TV Squad:

After a bit of exploring, they find themselves in the lab of Data’s
creator, Dr. Noonian Soong. Riker, Geordi, and Tasha all join forces to
be sort of an Exposition Voltron, informing the audience that Noonian
Soong was the Earth’s foremost neuroscientist, until he tried to build
Asimov’s positronic brain and failed. Everyone thought he did the walk
of shame off the planet, but it turns out he just moved to Omicron
Theta to continue his work until he got it right. (Coincidentally, on
Omicron Gamma, there’s a group of former Microsoft employees still
working on an MP3 player).

As I mentioned on Friday, this episode was a massive disappointment to me, because I had such fond memories of it as a child. I said, "I liked this episode a lot when it first aired, but watching it now,
all I can see are gigantic plot holes and inconsistencies that never
should have made it past the first draft." Well, I re-read the original script over the weekend, and it doesn’t suck nearly as much as the final episode does, and I honestly can’t figure out how they screwed it up so badly.

Well, actually, I have an idea: we shot several episodes in the first two years where the producers and writers were rewriting the script while we filmed it, and on some of those episodes we’d get new pages in the morning for a scene we were filming that afternoon, and then we’d get pages to replace those pages right after lunch. It’s incredibly hard to keep any sense of continuity when we don’t know what’s going to happen before and after the scene we’re working on, and it’s equally difficult to turn in nuanced and well-prepared performances when we’ve only had a few hours with the material (that we haven’t had much time to look at because we’re shooting other scenes.)  Despite this, I think the performances in Datalore are fine. In fact, Picard and Data’s scene in Picard’s ready room, where Data asks Picard to stop calling Lore "it" is a fantastic one, and shows depth from both actors that we hadn’t really seen, yet. So the problem with Datalore isn’t the acting. I’m biased, of course, but I believe now (and remember) that everyone did the very best they could with what they were given.

Maybe someone who was working on the show in a production capacity at the time — Diane Duane, I’m looking in your direction — can confirm or deny this, but it seems like there was fighting among the producers, and this episode got caught in the power struggle. I said this in fewer words in my bottom line:

The pitch was awesome: "We find Data’s evil twin brother, who he never
knew he had." Sure, there’s nothing original about the evil twin story,
but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be told again in an interesting
way, especially with a cool character like Data, played by a great
character actor like Brent Spiner supported by a brilliant dramatic
actor like Patrick Stewart. How could they screw up this story this
badly?

I think it comes down to lazy writing that has things
happen because they’re supposed to happen, rather than having them
happen organically. The characters are credulous when they should be
skeptical, the audience isn’t surprised by anything after the second
act, and there are story problems that should have never gotten past
the first draft.

When you’re getting lots of conflicting orders from different producers, and the big, ultimate boss (in this case, Gene) wants one particular thing to happen, I think you must end up writing like that, having things happen because they’re supposed to happen, which is why this episode has so many holes in it.

I have a deadline chasing me like a pissed off Big Daddy in Rapture,
but I’d love to hear your memories of this episode, or any comments you
have on this review. I’ll be checking in at TV Squad throughout the day, or until readers get bored and stop commenting.

Propel it!