On Thursday 27 August 2015 05:44:20 Thomas Schmitt wrote: > Hi, > > > We should keep in mind that it was Sony Music whose published cd's > > contained code to check the kind of drive it was being played in, > > and if the drive had a digital output such as the usual 40 pin atapi > > drive cable, then it was in a computer, and they bricked the drive. > > Sony et.al. have a secret alliance with LG et.al. that > certain bit patterns on the medium shall render the drive > firmware unusable or the damage the drive physically ?
Is there a difference to Joe & Judy Lunchbucket? No, and they have no clue how to discern the difference. All they, or I for that matter really knows is that the drive no longer recognizes valid media. > (Ok, Sony stands on both sides of this. But why should LG join ?) I believe being able to update the drive firmware in that manner it is part of the Orange Book specification. Since region codes are part of that also, the number of such updates is often limited to 3 & the 4th such switch bricks it. And since region codes are illegal in Austrailia, a fav trick is to update the drive to make it an aussie player. Plays anything from anyplace. > Can you share links to reports about this incident ? > > > I am well willing to believe that video player software > plays such tricks on its owner. > But Blu-ray drives do not contain video player software. Since when? Not that I am a blue ray expert. It was IMNSHO a poor attempt to head off the use of big hard drives as a backup medium, but I've found in several years of doing that, for the cost of a $100 drive, perhaps at 5% of the cost of blue ray media to do the same thing, which is doing a 20Gb backup with a 30 day lifetime every night. So blue ray is not presenting a more economical way to do it sales pitch to me. They are just another technology in search of my money, and found wanting. > That software is part or application of an operating system > running on the other side of the bus (as seen from the drive). > It can cause firmware updates of the drive by sending > proprietary SCSI commands. Just like the updater binaries > from the manufacturers do, for which you usually need to > boot MS-Windows. That depends. I can update the firmware in my seagate drives simply by downloading the update, burning it to a blank cd, and pressing the reset button. Its 100% self-contained. > But if i do not run such software, then i get no inadverted > firmware updates. > > I checked for LG's habits. They seem to pop up a message > when an update is deemed necessary. The owner may then connect > to a server in order to get new player software and/or > drive firmware. > That's their self presentation at least > > http://www.lg.com/us/support/answers/blu-ray-players/updating-your-fir >mware > > Note well, this is for video players (with operating system, > video player software, and a drive) not for the builtin > SATA attached drives themselves. > > > Show me credible reports with some technical information > that computer attached drives got manipulated by content of > inserted media without help of operating system and its > application software. > I.e. without Microsoft, Apple, or other software from > DRM supporters being involved. > > > Nope, read what I wrote above, the firmware in the drive is the > > attack target. > > Well, the attack target named by T.J. Duchene was "WinDVD 8", > obviously a software to run on top of MS-Windows. Yes, true. But I am refering to the likes of Sony, who thought they were justified in bricking your cd/dvd player/recorder just to prevent piracy. They didn't care how much it cost the consumer to replace that bricked drive. > I am curious to learn more about the Sony-CD incident. > The mailing list archives contain many megabytes of such messages from upset people. Use the approximately correct search terms. > Have a nice day :) > > Thomas Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
