iPod Used To Copy Mircrosoft Office Suite Illegally!

[torifile]

I've thought about doing this myself. Well, not this exactly, but something similar. I was at an Apple Store in New York and I saw that they had the dev tools package on the desktop. Not wanting to have to wait until I got back from my trip to start messing around with A.S.S. I thought it would be a good idea to copy it off the computer. They would have let me, too, but I didn't have a firewire cable and they didn't have any spare ones that were convenient lying around. But they weren't sure that it was ok to do. Now that I think about it, I could have copied anything off that computer including all the graphics apps it had (it was a dual 800, so they were showing them off)

[Mac Guru]

[quote] He still needs a serial number, one that has probably already been earmarked as a warezd one by MS. <hr></blockquote>

Yeah RIGHT. There are TONS of serial numbers flying around the warez channels and using one doesn't flag M$ police. The only port broadcasting Office v. X does is on your network to look for apps running under the same serial number.

Once the Algorythm for generating Office v. X codes is found it's all over... throw in a name and out pops a CD Key for Office v. X.

(Office 2001 was a total shame... type in 111-11111 and you had a registered version... some code generator.)

:rolleyes:

Mac Guru

[MacsRGood4U]

Funny story:

<a href="http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,50688,00.html" target="_blank">http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,50688,00.html</a>

[Artman @_@]

:eek: Whoa!

Funny but scary. I'm wondering why they had Office X on the machine anyway!

Don't get me wrong. That is a great way to show customers what MS does offer for the Mac...but...

There's gotta be a way from the hardware/OS side to lock someone from copying files
(edit: There is: "Any Mac can easily be configured to allow changes only by administrators, he said. Also, a system profile tool logs all peripheral equipment, but it must be running to log an iPod. For Macs running OS X, a locked dummy file in an application's package will protect the entire file from being copied without a password."

...but we're talking CompUSA...

"Webb watched the teenager copy a couple of other applications. He left the kid to find a CompUSA employee. 'I went over and told a CompUSA guy, but he looked at me like I was clueless,' Webb said."

:rolleyes:

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: Artman @_@ ]</p>

[bunge]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyrights Act) isn't Apple liable for offering technology that can be used to help circumvent copyright protection schemes?

[ThinkingDifferent]

All iPods will be confuscated by the software police. :D

[Brian J.]

There's no way you could pull that off with USB. "Everything is easier on a Mac", indeed!

[MacsRGood4U]

I have secreted my iPod to a location that nobody will be able to find. As a matter of fact I can't find it now either! <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />

[Anders]

That must be that "unsupported feature of iPod" an apple genius must know.

[Eugene]

This is no different than using a warez channel...

He still needs a serial number, one that has probably already been earmarked as a warezd one by MS.

[Addison]

Wow, I wish I could collect blonds that way.

[i am monkey]

I think a better idea would be to upload 5 GB worth of Porn on to COmp USA machines..

:)

HA! How'd that get there? :eek:

[mac's girl]

[i dont own an ipod but i thought i had read somewhere that you can only dowload files to it, not upload, because they wanted to prevent music from being illegally copied/tranferred to other computers. is this true? if it is, how would the kid copy the pirated software to his computer?

[thegelding]

mac's girl...i think there is code/program to stop the upload of mp3s from iPod to computer, but not to download programs...if there was no way to download programs, the iPod could never be used as storage or a portable harddrive...g

dang, already purchased office....this would really cut down the overall price of an iPod...not that i recommend stealing....plus, compusa never seems to have any programs i want on their test models...

[mac's girl]

[quote]Originally posted by thegelding:
[QB
dang, already purchased office....this would really cut down the overall price of an iPod...not that i recommend stealing....plus, compusa never seems to have any programs i want on their test models...[/QB]<hr></blockquote>

well, in that case, this should boost the sales of ipods. im going to go get one too!
;) as for your copy of ms office, i'll just bring my ipod over to your computer, and when you arent looking...

btw, im surprised too that kid had a compusa in his 'hood that actually had programs on it. over here, their computers are frequently "out of order." lol.

[New]

well... my local mac-reseller actually has Photoshop beta 62 on their macs... :D

[onlooker]

I read that article yesterday, and I thought it was BS right off the bat. I doubt it ever happened. I know you can do it, but I'm saying that guy wrote that just to drum up more attension towards the piracy issue.

That's my O.

[ 03-01-2002: Message edited by: onlooker ]</p>

[Jeremiah Rich]

As for Apple getting in trouble over this, I do not see how that would happen. Besides playing music, the harddrive feature is no different than any other firewire drive out there.. Especially the bus powered ones. People could easily take one of these to a store as well and do the same thing. They could even bring in a blank CD or DVDr and do the same thing, too....

[torifile]

[quote]Originally posted by thegelding:
<strong>mac's girl...i think there is code/program to stop the upload of mp3s from iPod to computer, but not to download programs...if there was no way to download programs, the iPod could never be used as storage or a portable harddrive...g

dang, already purchased office....this would really cut down the overall price of an iPod...not that i recommend stealing....plus, compusa never seems to have any programs i want on their test models...</strong><hr></blockquote>

Actually, you can move mp3's around using the ipod as long as you don't use itunes to move the music to it. It's just data that way. Of course, that means that you can't play those mp3's either. But you could use the ipod to move the mp3s to your computer, add them to itunes and then add them on the ipod. Not too hard. But impossible to stop if you're going to use it as a harddrive (one of the ipod's selling points, IMHO). Hell, even if they added something to the software that says "if filetype is mp3, don't transfer" you could always stuff the files and then move them. No problem. :)

[Brad]

[quote]Originally posted by Mac Guru:
<strong>(Office 2001 was a total shame... type in 111-11111 and you had a registered version... some code generator.)</strong><hr></blockquote>Actually, that's how ALL Microsoft serials worked for quite some time. At the office I used to work at, whenever I had to reinstall MS Office or something else MS on another computer, I'd enter all 1's for the serial (that's what my boss told me to do!).

[bauman]

The iPod isn't the only thing that can do this. There are even smaller firewire hard drives, bus powered, for $250. They even have a larger capacity. It's really a shame that they put all the blame on the iPod when there are hundreds of other drives that could do the same thing. Sure they mention USB keychain drives, but I'm somewhat disappointed that they didn't mention some of the laptop fireware drives. oh well

~bauman

[torifile]

Heh, I just thought about another thing that could go on Apple's new slogan "Everything's easier on a Mac." You can plug in any firewire HD and swipe software without having to worry about needing to install drivers. Everything really is easier on a Mac :)

[Wrong Robot]

[quote]Originally posted by i am monkey:
<strong>I think a better idea would be to upload 5 GB worth of Porn on to COmp USA machines..

:)

HA! How'd that get there? :eek: </strong><hr></blockquote>

my brother was telling me about a keychain harddrive that was pretty big(for a really small drive) and he said "it would be great to take it to compusa and upload a virus into their network(assuming they have a a network :p ) and frying all the computers there"

in a joking manner of course


If the guy d/led a working copy from a computer to his iPod why would he need a serial number?...I haven't read the link yet, but it seems that if he copied an installed and working copy than it would be just as if he owned it..only he doesn't.

[torifile]

He'd still need the serial number because it's not stored in the application directory. If he were smart, he would have also copied the microsoft directory from ~/Library/ to get all the info he needed. Only if he were smart, of course.

[Thoth2]

[quote]Originally posted by bunge:
<strong>Correct me if I'm wrong, but under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyrights Act) isn't Apple liable for offering technology that can be used to help circumvent copyright protection schemes?</strong><hr></blockquote>

I don't think so. DMCA uses "circumvent" meaning using a specific technology to actaully break a copy protection scheme, such as the recently litigated DeCSS thing. If the word were used in a broader sense, nearly any data transfer protocol would come under the aegis of the DCMA and everybody would be in trouble. In other words, I don't think the creative use of file transferring suffices, I think you have to create a tool to attack the copy protection scheme itself, such as removing MS Office's requirement for a serial number at all. Other kinds of illegal copying are just garden variety copyright violations.

Thoth

[sobelizzard]

This story made it to the National Post today here in Canada... (a nationally distributed newspaper)
Frankly, i dont see how any of this responsibility falls on apple. If the compUSA folks are unobservant enough to not notice a kid plugging in an iPod to a demo machine... its like blaming the makers of a backpack for some kid walking into a corner store and filling it full of merchandise.
If this is what it takes to get the iPod into mainstream media, then lets all go out and start doing it.
Think Revolution :D

[MarcUK]

[quote]Originally posted by i am monkey:
<strong>I think a better idea would be to upload 5 GB worth of Porn on to COmp USA machines..

:)

HA! How'd that get there? :eek: </strong><hr></blockquote>

Cool. You could write a simple Realbasic program to automatically launch a porn slideshow, or movie about 2 minutes after you've found a suitable vantage point. Watch the kids flock to the macs, watch the parents scream, and watch the ChimpUSA staff go bananas.

If you were smart, the RB program would make the porn have invisible icons, and would relocate itself into the startup-items folder. It would also disallow quitting the show. Watch those chimps go mental. Cool, Id actually do this if I had an iPod. Only once!