Tech Support HELL

Jesus, I can't believe Sony is doing that. I read his whole article, and I gotta say, jesus jones. It's mind boggling to me to think that a large and VERY powerful corporate entity like Sony thinks they can get away with installing a rootkit WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE. They've gone too far this time. I've not been a proponent of DRM in the past and this sure as hell isn't gonna sway me.

I plan on telling all of my friends and family to NOT buy Sony BMG music cd's ever again.

On the topic of this making our jobs harder, DUH! This will suck, and you just know some idiot is gonna bring his sony cd in and play it on his computer and then get all kinds of upset. That or someone that thinks they're good with computers will try to fix it and end up borking their system. Thanks Sony, for the job security, you assholes.

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Well it is going to make my job a bit harder because one of the products I support is image scanners. When a customer has a virus on thier system it often blocks the install of the software because it is trying to block the install of virus scanners and doesn't care about the fact our software is not looking for it. In the past we just said "go here, do the virus scan at trend" and that would show we couldn't do anything... now we will have to be a little deeper looking for viruses.

Right now it doesn't affect me directly because I'm doing Mac support but next month when they cross queue me I'm going to be wondering if there's a rootkit on peoples systems. It would be nice if there was a simple tool that some one could run to tell them about the root kit, I'm not talking about the tool the author used, I want something the average drooling Joe who has difficulty using the right mouse button
can use.

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I hear you completely on that. It amazes me the level of ineptitude of most computer users out there. They wouldn't know a rootkit if it bit them in the ass.

All I can say, I guess, is good luck. I think you'll need it.

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I can.

You are not sufficiently cynical about megacorps yet.

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Hehe. I avoid them like the plague. It's just hard to believe that this isn't out of a movie. I hate mega corps, and I "try" to do most of my business from smallers shops. You get better service, better attitude, etc.

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This is part of why I maintain that it is more ethical to download RIAA music.

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Honestly, I just buy an iTune. If I can't find it, I hit up a p2p app and download it and go from there. I also usually buy the cd, but most definitely not from Sony. In fact, I don't think I've bought a Sony CD in awhile. Sony DVD, perhaps, but no Sony cd's.

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iTunes is worse than a CD by a long shot. iTunes tells the company that you LIKE DRM.

Again, this is why I download and only buy red-book-compliant CDs.

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After downloading, I burn to a cd, and then rip it onto my hdd. No copy protected music on my system, and I got the song cheaper than going to a store and buying some crappy cd with one song on it that I like. If I really like some of the songs, I'll buy it anyway. I do agree with you though.

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The CDs I buy tend to be used CDs. There are several indie and/or used music stores in my area, and me love them long time.

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Yeah, I hear you. Those kinds of places are the best, because you can find some obscure recordings, or a particular album that the bigger boutique stores can't or won't carry. Those dirty bastards!

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I believe stores that carry RIAA stuff frequently sign contracts that:
A) Force them to carry only RIAA stuff.
and
B) Do the price-fixing thing.

It sucks, major.

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Price fixing sucks. So does the RIAA. You're most likely correct, in that regard. Best Buy and the like will stop at nothing to get more money, even if it means screwing the consumer. This is why I absolutely REFUSE to shop at boutique stores, unless I have absolutely HAVE to.

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ihateemo.livejournal.com

Me love them long time, too.

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It's not just Sony BMG CD's that have this issue, but companies that they own as well. They're a large percentage of the music industry.

As for downloading music... up here downloading and copying music for self is legal, we pay a hidden tax on blank media and players for this right. Uploading music or copying a CD for some one else is illegal.

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I'm fairly certain I've not bought a DRM enabled cd EVER. I'm always careful to pick up the regular cd's, and now more so than ever.

Where is up here?

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Canada

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Ah, coolness.

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What gun is that in your avatar? The front site reminds me of an armalite but the rest of it looks off.

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It's my AR-15. It has a removable carrying handle, so I threw a red dot scope on top (need to get an extension, so it raises it up), and I threw some aftermarket heat shrouds on there with rails, so I could mount a vertical foregrip and a light. It's raced up in that picture, but for shooting, I generally go with iron sites and the vertical foregrip, although, when I get the extender, the scope will be permanent.

You can find more pictures in the

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guns it should be.

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Though these are not the real thing (we keep our real steel off the net), you might check out http://airsoft.icrushu.com

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