http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=158545
I wasn’t asking about how to circumvent copy protection. I was asking how it works and I’m not just trying to get by on a technicality. I’m curious to know how it is that a cdrom can’t just read what’s on the disk and write it somewhere else. There is a difference between knowing how copy protection works in theory and the practical ability to circumvent it. How Stuff Works explains how VCR copyright protection works and I don’t think that is exactly a “How To.” Anyway, I understand why you closed it but would you reconsider a modified version?
KidCharlemagne, just MHO, here – this sounds less like a complaint over what Cajun Man did, than it is a request for further clarification. Have you tried emailing him, rather than starting a thread here?
Kid, I fully agree with you. Copy protection is any interesting topic, and one can be interested in the details without having any illegal intentions.
However, I understand that the mods have to err on the side of caution when it comes to not allowing discussions which even approach encouraging or enabling copyright violation. While I wish Cajun Man could let threads like that stay open, if he decides they have to be closed then that’s fine with me. I wouldn’t take the fact that he closed it personally.
Citing to how another Site does things is not going to get you far. The policy is pretty clear here. Given the DCMA concerns the mod’s actions were perfectly understandable.
Having just read the closed thread, I’m also quite interested in the answer, mainly because I am thinking of getting an Xbox and wondering how it all works.
I understand why the thread was closed, but it is a shame that technical issues surrounding certain subjects can’t be discussed. I would have thought the recent court win of Jon Johansen, the Norweigian “DVD hacker” would enable more public discussion of these issues without fear of prosecution. Realistically speaking, explaining even in great detail how many of these technologies work isn’t going to enable people to circumvent them. Proper hackers and crackers really do not use SDMB for ideas, they have their own newsgroups and their own communities for such information.
But as pointed out, they have to err on the side of caution here.
That case was in Norway wasn’t it? It definitely wasn’t under U.S. law. Circumventing copy protection mechanisms in a “technical” sense sort of discussion is the same as the other illegal activities thread which are opened to discuss things “in theory” and get shut down. I was surprised a more experienced poster had opened that thread in the first place.
FYI- Microsoft is a very active company with regards to this, as is Direct TV. Remember it is not about whether you might win a case down the line, its whether you will go bankrupt defending one.
No, KidCharlemagne, I will not reopen your thread, and you may not start another one on how copy protection works . . . even a modified version.
Because we respect copyrights and err on the side of caution, we do not allow discussions on how copy protection works on the SDMB.
Cajun Man - SDMB Moderator
(Apologies to P.F. Sloan and S. Barri)
There’s a man who lives for moderation
To everyone he meets it’s his vocation
With every thread he opposes, another thread he closes
Odds are it won’t live to see tomorrow
Secret Cajun Man! Secret Cajun Man!
They’ve made you moderator, and taken away your soul.
Beware the forum names that you have read
The GQ forum can hide an evil thread
Ah, be careful what you write
Or he’ll close the thread tonight
Odds are it won’t live to see tomorrow.
Secret Cajun Man! Secret Cajun Man!
They’ve made you moderator, and taken away your soul.
— lead guitar —
Secret Cajun Man! Secret Cajun Man!
They’ve made you moderator, and taken away your soul.
Swingin’ by Cafe Society one day
And then layin’ in Great Debates the next day
Oh no, you let the wrong word slip
Copy protection ain’t hip
The odds are it won’t live to see tomorrow.
Secret Cajun Man! Secret Cajun Man!
They’ve made you moderator, and taken away your soul.
Secret Cajun Man!
Sheesh, Lib, he’s just doing his job.
The song parody thing is soooooooo tired at this point. Can we all move on already?
“Sooooooooo” is pretty clapped out itself, IMHO.
touche!
Agree with yer general point, though, you goat-based activity indulging qualifying adjective, adjective noun, you.
My point was that another very respectable site clearly sees the difference between explaining the theory behind something and explaining how to go about exploiting it. I’m interested in the pure science, not the applied. If I asked how a lock on a door worked, would that thread be closed? I doubt it. There is a big difference between asking how a lock works and asking how to pick it.
Clearly if I wanted pirated software I wouldn’t need to do it myself and if I wanted to pirate software, I wouldn’t ask in this forum.
I asked nicely if I could modify the question and was denied without him even offering to hear it first. One more nail in the coffin of doubt that mods are actually cloned Comic Bookstore Guys.
Duck, see, that’s the kind of thing…
It was a friendly jab at Cajun Man. I like Cajun Man. He and I have never had a single disagreement that I recall.
Just pick up the cup and move along, please… 
Coming to a moderator’s defense counts as “junior modding”? Since when? Or is it only when I do it? Shall I go find all the “mod is a poopyhead” Pit threads and count up all the other “junior mods” in them?
And, how am I supposed to know that it was a “friendly” jab? Looked like a potshot to me. << shrug >>
Next time put in more " " smilies, then we’ll all know that it’s meant as a “friendly” jab and not a potshot.
Do I have to say “Let’s Roll!” to stave off this impending hijack?
Nah. I’ll drop it. Sometimes people think everything is about or for them.
<-- hangs up phone, starts walking threateningly toward Lib…