Polish Hackers Repaired Trains the Manufacturer Artificially Bricked. Now The Train Company Is Threatening Them (www.404media.co)

In one of the coolest and more outrageous repair stories in quite some time, three white-hat hackers helped a regional rail company in southwest Poland unbrick a train that had been artificially rendered inoperable by the train’s manufacturer after an independent maintenance company worked on it. The train’s manufacturer is...

Ubisoft Can Delete Inactive Accounts, Making Users Lose Access to Their Games (gamerant.com)

In a response to a post from the AntiDRM Twitter account, Ubisoft Support has clarified that users who don’t sign in to their account can potentially lose access to Ubisoft games they’ve purchased. The initial post from AntiDRM featured a snippet of an e-mail sent to a user from Ubisoft notifying them that their account had...

IAmDannyBoling, to random
@IAmDannyBoling@mstdn.social avatar

DO NOT BUY HP PRINTERS!

I don't believe I've ever seen a more from a .

If you buy an and sign up for the optional HP Plus , you'll get a that will FORCE you to only new HP cartridges — for the life of your printer. And once that firmware update happens, there is no way to undo it.

DO NOT BUY HP PRINTERS!

https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/25/23736811/hp-plus-printer-ink-drm-firmware-update-cant-cancel
HP has found an exciting new way to your printer

screenshot from the article "Here are a few choice quotes from the terms and conditions for HP’s ink service that I think you’ll appreciate (bolding mine): "You expressly allow HP to remotely change, patch, update or otherwise modify Your printer’s software, firmware or programming remotely, without notice to You, in order to provide the Service to You or to comply with applicable laws "Remote monitoring may include provision to HP of one or more of: page counts, types of documents printed (e.g., Word, PowerPoint, pdf, jpeg, etc.), types of devices that initiated print jobs, printer serial number, cartridge information (e.g. HP original cartridge status, and whether the cartridge was new or used at the time of its last insertion into the printer), and other similar types of metrics related to your Service as may be added by HP from time to time "You agree to maintain connectivity of Your Printer to the Internet and to not remove or disable any remote monitoring software or functionality on Your Printer."
screenshot from the article "If Your printer is not connected to the Internet, then the Subscription Cartridges (as defined in section d. below) will be disabled, and You will not be able to use them to print; however, You will continue to be charged for the Service as described in Section 7 (“Paying for Your Service”). In order to reactivate disabled cartridges, You will need to reconnect Your printer to the Internet and keep it connected "When Your Service is cancelled for any reason, HP will remotely disable the Subscription Cartridges and You will no longer be able to print with the Subscription Cartridges. In such a case, you will need to purchase a regular HP cartridge compatible with your printer, in order to continue printing "HP may increase or otherwise change the Service Plan Fee and Overage Fee, and add additional fees, for any Service Plan, or otherwise change or add Service Plans at any time in HP’s sole discretion with prior notice to You."

jarulf, to linux
@jarulf@mstdn.social avatar

@bookstodon
I use as the main OS on my computers, but also use Windows 10 on one.
For the sole reason to download the I buy.
I play the occasional Windows-only game as well, but those I can do without.
I can't do without ebooks.
I really, really wish there was an open standard for getting any ebook, with or without , onto any device without having to rely on a single piece of software from one company.
, do something!

drsbaitso, to discworld

So has most of 's library for $18 dollars.

You should not buy it.

(Of course, if you're not in the US, they've already made the choice for you. Thanks terrible international intellectual property laws!)

Until today, my experience buying from Humble Bundle was they were always available unencumbered by . I have hundreds of built up over the past decade.

The is through 's ebook shop, and all the books are encumbered by and the DRM. There is zero indication that this DRM is included on the bundle page itself. and it explicitly says "Use on Any Device". On the page itself, the only indication the file has DRM is some small bottom-text that says "Download Options: EPUB 3 (Adobe DRM)".

Also, DRM Digital Editions will also "helpfully" install Norton for you as well. It's like the dogshit you just stepped in offered to stab you in the kidney, too.

This is shameful and disgusting from Humble Bundle. I know Humble Bundle got acquired years ago by IGN/Ziff Davis, but they'd avoided the levels of to make me stop using them.

pluralistic, to random
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

20 years ago, I got in a (friendly) public spat with , who was then the editor in chief of @WIRED. I'd publicly noted my disappointment with glowing Wired reviews of -encumbered digital devices, prompting Anderson to call me unrealistic for expecting the magazine to condemn gadgets for their DRM:

https://longtail.typepad.com/the_long_tail/2004/12/is_drm_evil.html

1/

jaseg, to science
@jaseg@chaos.social avatar

Wow this is bad. Some Italian researchers decided there wasn't enough anti-right-to-repair hardware in the world already, and developed a way to physically profile and recognize individual battery cells that can be combined with classic DRM technologies to prevent non-OEM battery cells from working inside a device, even if the classic DRM portion is circumvented. Whyyyyyy?!

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3576915.3623179

nemo, to random
@nemo@tatooine.club avatar

If you are horrified by the Web Environment Integrity proposal by Google ( for ads), stop using Chrome and switch to Firefox and block ads everywhere.

The only eyeballs left for Google to show ads are the ones protected by ad blockers. That’s the highest growth opportunity they have, and we cannot let them have it.

thomas, to random German
@thomas@metalhead.club avatar

Bei Qobuz kann man ganze Alben nun offenbar nur noch mit einer extra Software heruntergeladen. Das ging bis vor kurzem noch als einfaches tar.gz file oder Zip.

Natürlich wird keine Version für Linux angeboten. 🙃

Drecksladen. War dann wohl mein letzter Kauf dort.

Edit: Wollte gerade dem Support schreiben. Supportseite verweist auf ein Menü, das auf der Website nicht existiert. 😩

olyerickson, to fediverse

peeps: @brave vs @firefox on countering …go! Gimme more than “Brave is still based on Chromium…”

endDRM, to Amazon
@endDRM@hostux.social avatar

Deals on Kindles may seem attractive, but don't forget Amazon is one of the most devoted peddlers of DRM. We prefer books we can loan to our friends, free of restriction and prying eyes. Read more about how to live DRM-free: https://u.fsf.org/1aj

thrilway, to random
berniethewordsmith, to books

I just learned that libraries cannot purchase exclusives and I feel absolutely enraged. Then I found Libro.fm thanks to @pluralistic and I learned their are free, yours forever and a local bookstore of your choice receives part of your subscription or purchase. I tried their app and it is nicer, prettier and more user friendly than Audible, so I subscribed and picked to help seize the means of Computation ✊

https://libro.fm/referral?rf_code=lfm534065

whynothugo, to gaming
@whynothugo@fosstodon.org avatar

My partner purchased the new Zelda game and won't let me play: "this user is not authorised to run this game". Even though it's on the same device in which where she plays. Only one user can run it and only one savegame slot. I can't believe Nintendo would expect cohabiting family members to purchase multiple individual licenses, this extreme is ridiculous.

senficon, to Futurology
@senficon@ohai.social avatar

& bubble: Have you ever been hindered in your work by access restrictions on ebooks, software, videos etc.? Please take a few minutes to participate in this survey on the impact of digital content locks on access to information and research! https://www.knowledgerights21.org/news-story/survey-on-the-effects-of-digital-content-locks-and-tpms-on-education-and-research/

sebsauvage, to random French
@sebsauvage@framapiaf.org avatar

🏴‍☠️
Je me note cette citation, elle est parfaite:
« Pirater ne peut pas être du vol si payer ne vous permet pas de posséder. »
("Piracy can't be stealing if paying for it isn't owning" ; source : https://peoplemaking.games/@gamesbymanuel/110667316416843436)

strypey, to random

Goggle's "Web Integrity" project has been widely condemned as a trojan horse for bringing DRM crippleware to the web. The battle against it has been won. But the war against Goggle's attempt to iThing-ize Android continues;

https://9to5google.com/2023/11/02/google-chrome-web-integrity-api/

Hopefully the EU Digital Markets Act is about to do exactly the opposite to iThings. Forcing Goggle to get with the times.

proycon, to foss
@proycon@social.anaproy.nl avatar

My old e-reader had some problems and needed to be replaced. I ended up exploring the hell that is DRM (copy protection) on e-books and tried to break the restraints so I can read my own legally acquired books with FOSS software. I wrote a blog post on it that describes my frustrations (another ideological rant) but hopefully also helps others in a similar position with some practical guidance: https://proycon.anaproy.nl/posts/do-not-restrict-me/

gamingonlinux, to PCGaming
@gamingonlinux@mastodon.social avatar
schenklklopfer, to Dash German
@schenklklopfer@chaos.social avatar

Okay, und sind so ein Rabbithole, in das ich nicht vor dem Frühstück fallen möchte...

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