BayImg: Google Ads + Porn Pictures
I like the idea behind Pirate Bay’s new image hosting venture Bay Image, which is free, unrestricted image hosting outside of political influence or police control. I like the idea that visual information can find a free home. However, they have a big problem at the moment, which is the massive amounts of porn being uploaded. Just take a look at their tag cloud and it becomes clear what BayImg really is: a free porn hosting site:
They have a “report image” link, but according to their terms on the front page, these kind of images are probably ok:
Bayimg is a place where you can host all your images. We do not censor them. We believe in freedom of speech, it’s of utter importance to us. As long as your pictures are legal they will be hosted here, but we reserve the right to remove images due to technical reasons though.
AACS Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Key Cracked
On Februrary 11th, doom9 member arnezami posted a message claiming that he had discovered the processing key for the AACS content-protection system:
Here is the Processing Key which should work on all HD DVD discs (and maybe even Blu-Ray discs) released so far:
. Save it. Store it.
He discovered it by watching a movie player’s memory space as it loaded the HD-DVD for decoding. In his own words:
This gave me an idea: what I wanted to do is “record” all changes in this part of memory during startup of the movie. Hopefully I would catch something insteresting. In the end I did something a little more effiecient: I used the hd dvd vuk extractor (thanks ape!) and adapted it to slow down the software player (while scanning its memory continously) and at the very moment the Media Key (which I now knew: my bottom-up approach really paid off here) was detected it halted the player. I then made a memdump with WinHex. I now had the feeling I had something.
This exploded onto Digg today, with dozens of stories containing the key cropping up. Digg then deleted all of them in response to a DMCA notice. They also appear to have deleted user accounts of those who submitted stories, clearly taking the necessity of censorship in the face of the DMCA a step too enthusiastically.
Screen from gizmodo; i was at work when this hit
Appendix:
- The WinDVD device key has also been discovered to be
- Download Squad calls this the 21st century revolt. Clearly I’m in.
- You can, of course, interpolate a function over this data. Question–did you overdetermine it so that we can transmit it lossily?
- I’d donate $50 for someone to get this tattooed on them
- We can make it with images (or just memorize the damn thing)
- Pirate bay torrent
- HD-DVD T-shirt
Apparently Google is overdue to stop indexing web pages which contain this information, but given that it can be distributed in so many different ways, and that it’s just a number, the whole thing is a joke of sad proportions. Is whatever that is in decimal now an illegal number?
Digg Blog Update:
Digg founder Kevin Rose has reversed his decision about censoring the AACS controversy:
In building and shaping the site I’ve always tried to stay as hands on as possible. We’ve always given site moderation (digging/burying) power to the community. Occasionally we step in to remove stories that violate our terms of use (eg. linking to pornography, illegal downloads, racial hate sites, etc.). So today was a difficult day for us. We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease and desist declaration. We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code.
But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.
If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.
You can go read his insipid post yourself. Personally, it would have had a bigger impact on me if they made a decision and stuck with it. Now, can we trust them in a month not to reverse it?
The aftermath:
All the big tech sites have an article about it. Here’s a random short selection:
- Hack Zine – HD DVD processing key found
- First AACS Blu-Ray/HD-DVD Key Revoked
- Respect! Digg’s HD-DVD key stance
- DIGG gets pwned by HD-DVD Key Fiasco
- Riot Confirms What We Knew All Along
- A number that inspired creativity
Get the T-Shirt:
There’s now a t-shirt you can order for that infamous number. Wear your nerdom proud for about 4 months and then people will just glare at you.
Update: Ars totally hits the nail on the head with their analysis of why the AACS hacks are inevitable:
The real problem with trying to create an “uncrackable” copy protection is that the media must come with the keys used to decrypt it somewhere on the device and the media itself. Hiding these keys in different places—security by obscurity—merely delays the inevitable.
Go read it in New AACS cracks cannot be revoked, says hacker.
Happy April Fools Day! [Collection]
Happy April 1st!! A lot of funny things are already floating around the internet, so I’m going to try to collect as many as I can right here. As updates come in, I’ll keep adding to the list of April Fool’s Day pranks:
0) WoW Tinfoil Hat
The WoW tinfoil hat item is just great. Then again, Blizzard is always busting stuff out for the holidays. But, this takes the April fools cake!
1) Google Gmail Paper
Google is offering a new email to paper product for GMAIL called Gmail Paper. Tired of reading email on a computer? No problem, they’ll print and deliver it to your home for free.
2) Avalonstart Redesign Imminent
Dear Avalonstar Readers,
Many of you may know my name from the times Bryan has mentioned me in his entries, podcasts, etc. I am Jen, Bryan’s fiancé. I know how important this site is to Bryan and all the people who have supported him over the years, so I wanted to make sure that you guys are not entirely in the dark even though I am limited in what I’m allowed to say.
Due to circumstances beyond his control, Bryan has been forced to take Avalonstar down indefinitely. He is needless to say a bit restless and emotional and he doesn’t seem to want to talk about it too much. He has, however, allowed me to write this message. We are trying to make any arrangements that are possible, but it’s proving… complicated. As of right now we are uncertain of what is going to happen and even the feasibility of bringing Avalonstar back. In the meantime, I ask that you all continue to support Bryan and Avalonstar as usual, and please wish for the best.
Like I said, nothing is certain at the moment but I will say one thing… this could change everything.
Sincerely,
Jen V.
Our favorite WP/Facebook associated designer Bryan Veloso has disappeared off the web, but we know he’ll be back.
3) Shoemoney Lost Forever
Jeremy Shoemoney is also pulling the “make my site disappear” act today, but with more class and imagery from the tv show lost!
4) Matt Cutts Gets Hacked
Matt Cutts proclaiming “In Black SEOs we trust” is the funniest thing ever.
5) Woot’s $1,000,000 Bag Of Crap
The secret to Woot’s $1,000,000 bag of crap is to just enter “please” into your coupon code to get it for its regular price.
6) TechCrunch to buy F**cked dot COM
Tomorrow we will announce that we have acquired Philip “Pud” Kaplan’s FuckedCompany.com in a stock for assets transaction. The basic details of the transaction are included in a press release that will go out around 9 pm PST tonight, and Pud has also mentioned this on his personal blog.
I don’t find this funny at all, but TechCrunch says they’re buying F**Cked dot com, lords knows why…
7) Engadget Wants to Shock Us
Yeah, so uh, Engadget decided to make a fake gadget for the purpose of electrocution. Ouch! Our fingers hurt!
ThinkGeek Selling iPhone
Order the iPhone now … but you can’t click the link!
9) AlbinoBlackSheep Becomes Google: Animation
This makeover for albinoblacksheep is adorable, and who knows, maybe Google will someday do it?
10) BBC UK Sniff Screen
Them blokes at the BBC in London really want us to press our noses vigorously to the screen. Sadder, we know someone did it.
11) Google TISP
Google TISP is one of those weird ideas. Get high speed internet by lowering fiberoptic cable into your toilet? Too nerdy.
12) The Pirate Bay Finds Refuge In North Korea
Today we announce that we’re moving some of our servers to the North-Korean Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden.
After lenghty discussions with the leader of North Korea Kim Jong-Il we have decided to start a cooperation.
Some of the reasons are the extremely good bandwidth agreement we get – redundant fibre links, redundant power with diesel to last for four years makes the colocation a very good deal for us.
We are also promised immunity against foreign copyright holders and all of the crew will get North Korean citizenships.
“One of the reasons that we’re doing the move is also that the Swedish King still haven’t granted us a visit with his daughter. This ignorance towards the cultural benefits of having a site like The Pirate Bay can not be ignored.” says Tiamo, one of the founders of The Pirate Bay.
We would like to thank Kim Jong-Il for the opportunity and we would like all of our users to review their current feelings towards this great nation!
The Pirate Bay decides they’re safest in the North Korean embassy. They might even be right!
13) Facebook Injecting News
Facebook is injecting weird news bits into your feed. Check it out, it’s cool!
14) College Humour Expires
It’s a good fake Godaddy expiry page. Collegehumour couldn’t die though, or people would riot.
15) Slashdot It: Digg-like Button
Slashdot added a digg-like button they’re calling “slashdotit” to every post. It appears to actually work.
16) Technorati Anagrams
Technorati is busting out the anagrams for April Fools’ day!
17) Google Romance
This isn’t quite an april fools, but Google Romance certainly deserves a mention. Contextual dating FTW!
Notable Mentions
Uncyclopedia is running real Wikipedia entries, while McDonalds and Microsoft merge in an unprecedented hostile takeover. Meanwhile, QuakeCon is a seismology conference, and Lawrence Lessig joins the RIAA. There’s also the uberware trio which offer to speed the world up, and tattoo your toddler, for which I have no comment.