It's Just this Little Chromium Switch Here

See this 16-byte hex string:

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

It an HD-DVD processing key. It's a code that allows software to unlock the content on an HD-DVD. With this code (and the right software) you can do forbidden and illicit things, like watch a movie you bought on your Linux workstation.

The industry is not pleased and is trying to get this information suppressed. They say that under the DMCA, those 16 bytes should be suppressed as an illegal circumvention device.

Their effort is absurd. Even more, it's not working.

Doest this stupidity remind anybody else of the old export-a-crypto-system one line perl script?

Update: Ed Felten wonders how an industry that has failed to suppress the copying of multi-gigabyte files could possibly believe they could succeed at suppressing a 16 byte string.

I'm working from home today. Earlier in the week, I got a wild hair to buy a pile of CDs from Amazon. I've done that a couple of times since I unloaded my vinyl on Craig's List. I find myself, in equal measure, replacing missed favorites and acquiring classics that escaped my collection. So I've been multitasking between my day work and the occasional trip to the living room to switch a CD in the ripping tray.

Somehow, this whole process is making me feel dated and archaic. Little discs of aluminum—how precious!

It's clear that the days of CD purchasing, let alone CD ripping are numbered. Some recent articles in the news suggest the process is hastening.

First, there is the big, recent news that EMI is going to allow their catalog onto iTunes with higher fidelity and no DRM, albiet at a higher price. I'm unwilling to purchase digital music that's licensed and tethered to a device. This, suddenly, makes things interesting. I'd be curious to hear how the higher fidelity recordings (256-bit AAC) compare to the (FLAC) lossless compression I'm using. And I'd need a web-based iTunes store, so I can access it from my Linux workstation. If those happen, I'll be ready to start buying digital downloads instead of the aluminum discs.

Then, there is this op-ed in the Times that lays out just how bad and stupid the music industry is being.

The major labels wanted to kill the single. Instead they killed the album. The association wanted to kill Napster. Instead it killed the compact disc. And today it's not just record stores that are in trouble, but the labels themselves, now belatedly embracing the Internet revolution without having quite figured out how to make it pay.

The final thing, not related to CD marketing but to general music business stupidity, is the new royalty scheme that threatens independent net-based radio. This is one of the last remaining ways for me to discover new music. I think once that's gone, it's game over.

All this makes me wonder what the hell I'm doing still buying and ripping CDs. What's the sense when the music enjoyment comes wrapped in such a crappy experience?

5:15pm update: Christopher Beam at Slate weighs in on the 256-bit AAC issue and suggests it's mostly not noticable. I'll believe it when I hear it. Sure, it probably makes little difference when you are listening on a portable player with $12 ear buds. I want digital tracks that are good enough to play on my home stereo.

For the past couple weeks, I've been running Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, the version of Ubuntu Linux scheduled for release next month. Actually, I'm running Kubuntu—the flavor with a KDE desktop. So, just mentally add the "K" throughout this post.

Earlier this month, the hard drive on my primary workstation chinacat developed some bad blocks in critical areas. I replaced the drive and bravely decided to go ahead and load the pre-release version of Ubuntu. Fortunately, it's been remarkably robust. The system has been in heavy use I've only found a few minor bugs—which is remarkable for pre-beta software. The Ubuntu developers have responded quickly to my bug reports.

I've been impressed at how robust the Feisty applications and controls seem to be. Especially the desktop and system adminstration. One of the most difficult Linux administrative chores is adding printers. It can be bad enough just trying to add a simple printer hanging off a USB. My situation is even more difficult. I've got a couple of printers on a dedicated server, I want to use the lpd protocol to connect to the server, and I want to provide two queues for each device (one that processes the printing and one that provides a raw device). The GUI administration tool handled all this with ease.

I'm beginning to think the Ubuntu project may have taken a bad turn a year ago and Feisty represents a turn to recovery. A year ago, Ubuntu Dapper Drake was issued as a Long Term Support (LTS) release. They promised this release would have a longer lifetime, with full patch and security bugfix support through 2009, instead of the usual 18 months.

I realize that in retrospect there were two problems with this LTS release. First, LTS targets data centers more than desktops. One signficant part of this release was enhanced server support. This all sounds great, but it's not the Ubuntu sweet spot. If I want a robust, stable server, I'm going to choose Debian or Red Hat Linux, not Ubuntu. I understand that the Dapper release was an attempt to address that, but I think that's a poor choice. Ubuntu shines on the desktop, and given limited resources, maybe Ubuntu leaders should focus there instead of trying to be all things to all applications. I fear that the LTS effort may have been a distraction from providing a good desktop release.

The second problem is that it took a lot of work to get this LTS release out. Ubuntu normally runs on a six month release cycle. The Dapper release was slipped two months to get it all together. The next release, Edgy Eft, was done on a compressed four month schedule. Maybe that's why the Edgy release sucked so bad.

Every system that I upgraded to Edgy had significant problems. My workstation chinacat could not sync my calendar and contacts to my Samsung SPH-i500 PalmOS phone. My media computer coldsnap lost its wireless, and I had to build the network driver from source. The only Ubuntu computer I had that didn't have problems with Edgy Eft was my laptop hepcat—and that's because given the serial catastrophes of Edgy, I left it at Dapper.

All these problems had me concerned about the future of Ubuntu. Thanks to the promising results of Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, I'm a believer again.

When Time Warner acquired Adelphia, many localities found themselves with a new cable provider. Moorpark, CA was one of them.

The problem in Moorkpark is that the cable franchise—the contract signed between a cable provider and the municipality—had service requirements that the new provider wasn't meeting. More specifically, the franchise requires that customer service phone calls are answered within 30 seconds and they weren't.

Local cable franchises typically contain service requirements—and enforcement provisions that can be invoked when the provider fails to meet them. The Moorpark City Council chose on a unanimous 4-0 vote to penalize the provider with a $25,000 fine.

This is interesting, because there is a national movement away from municipal franchises for video. Texas, has already done that. SB 5, passed two years ago, allows new video providers (basically AT&T and Verizon, the entitites that purchased this legislation) to skip local franchises.

The big problem with legislation such as SB 5 is that it does away with the build-out and service requirments typically found in a local franchise. The supporters claim that competitive markets will fix those problems, but, as this case shows, the video market must not be competitive because the problems still exist. Frankly, I'm not sure that a market where the customer choice is basically just between Brand A and Brand T can ever be competitive.

You can read more about the Moorpark, CA situation here.