Bill C-11 - An Act to amend the Copyright Act (Canada)

Bill C-32 contains highly contentious changes with major implications for both copyright holders and institutional and individual users of information - a quote from Micheal Geist's blog - either a comment from him or a visitor to his blog about C-32 (now C-11)

In 2010 Michael seemed to imply that there there was some sort deception (or at least a lack of transparency) on the part of the Canadian government - I am more of inclined to believe that it is more to do with a lack of understanding of technical issues on the part of the politicians.

the brief to the ACTA on the Government of Canada website

The issue is Canada's response to the International agreement set out in the ACTA. This page (and blog) are not meant as a commentary on the debate it is purely a starting place for links so that the debate can continue to be followed.

SOPA - Stop On-line Piracy Act

sopa.htm

Torrenting

All about P2P and torrents - these are my collected notes on my findings with downloading from file sharing sites. This post is a work in progress, please follow the links below to other posts relating to my research on P2P and and the avoidance of being detected when torrenting.

• BTGuard and TorrentPrivacy review
• Peerblock (Peer Guardian II)
• VPN use and torrenting - the importance of an independent service.
• The relative risks of Torrenting - is downloading a movie or music more of a risk than TV "catch-up"?
• IPTorrents.com  - is this any safer?
• APOs - Anti-P2POrganizations 
• Copyright Protection discussed on The Technology Muse
• Running Torrenting and IP obfuscation software, such as in a Virtual Machine 

The list above is not an exhaustive list of all the work that I have done in this field. Please visit some of the posts and then find links from those posts. This is only a starting page for my work in the observation of techniques to keep you safe when downloading from P2P sources.

BTGuard and TorrentPrivacy now blocked

It looks like word has finally got out to the major ISPs that they should block these two services.

As they are the two most popular methods to download from P2P networks and avoid detection by copyright holders it makes sense that they would be candidates to be filtered out by the ISP firewalls.

As there are many VPN services that may or may not allow torrenting using their services, it does mean that they would be a far bigger target for the ISPs to block.

• The in-depth analysis of BTGuard and other techniques to avoid detection whilst downloading.
• BTGuard Vs. TorrentPrivacy  

My pages on Torrenting and P2P:

•  All posts on this blog relating to Torrenting
• Anti-P2P Organizations
• The "Six Strikes" proposal

My Digital Life

Some of my observations

Having come across many references to My Digital Life web pages and forum quotes in my research of many topics including Windows 7 Activation techniques, I feel that a few comments and observations of my own are in order. While the antics of many who participate in their forums is a mixed bag, the web site itself seems to be primarily a front for monetization for its owners.


Links:

• Unlocking your UEFI/BIOS to allow the configuration of a Hackintosh
• The Daz loader - as featured on My Digital Life (MDL)
• How to use RemoveWAT - by Hazar
• The instructions on the LifeHacker forum on how to configure a Hackintosh 

Lifehacker

Much of the content on LifeHacker is nonsense.

A fake Hackintosh on Lifehacker

A lot of my exposure to Lifehacker was with respect to the configuration of a Hackintosh

• Unlocking your BIOS to allow the configuration of a Hackintosh
• The instructions on MyDigitalLife to configure a Hackintosh

OPK (OEM Pre-Installation Kit) and BIOS mod

You don't have to use the Microsoft OPK to install an OEM version of Windows 7 or a copy downloaded from the Internet of ANY Retail version. Microsoft will tell you that you do as you will be in  violation of the license agreement. However, you are probably are already doing that as you probably should not be using an OEM copy of Windows in the first place.

The copy of Windows 7 is installed from a DVD prepared from the downloaded iso file (generated from the original DVD purchased by the torrent uploader) without entering the Product Key that normally would come with the retail packaging.

The copy of Windows 7 is then Activated using a program that fools the copy of Windows into believing that it is a fully licensed OEM copy of Windows 7 (even if it is not) but applying a serial and certificate in your System BIOS ACPI_SLIC table.

This is just part of the Microsoft "Smoke and Mirrors" to deter those that can see a cheaper way and to avoid paying for a full retail license.

Why it is not in Microsoft's interest to "fix" Windows 7 piracy

The computer users that know how to defeat the Activation Technologies are the very same as those that are likely to sing praises for Microsoft in how they have improved their operating system.

They are are the same users that if faced with the choice of installing a free copy of Windows 7 or sticking with what they have (or even installing a "cracked" copy of XP), would not bother.

The users that don't know, think that it is too hard or have fell for the FUD, are the ones that will actually buy Windows 7 and they are the ones that are likely to get "screwed" by WAT malfunctioning. (If it does)

For my part Vista, XP and Linux all work well for me - the "average Joe" doesn't have the opportunity, inclination or desire to do anything else apart to accept what is offered currently in the stores.
I do not see why I should "upgrade" to a system that is working well and enables me to do ALL that I want to on the hardware I own (even new hardware).

Going forward with Windows 8

Microsoft seemed to have worked out a way to stop piracy with Windows 8.

KB971033 breaks RemoveWAT?

I have updated the information on this post to be relevant for 2012

• For an update to this post - please see this new post. 

It would appear that the Hazar forum is no longer and the entry on mydigitallife is now somewhat dated.

The release of KB971033 seems to be key to the operation of the Windows 7 Activation hack. As I am using the Daz loader I had not cause to try the Hazar solution.

All my computers where I have installed 7 and applied the Loader KB971033 has been downloaded and installed - ALL the systems are indicating that they are Genuine and nothing seems to have been detected by the process installed as a consequence of the Microsoft update.

Is this the case with RemoveWAT?
If you are a user of RemoveWAT and found that it has now stopped working since KB971033 please comment.

Also the procedure for making Windows updates could do with some experienced description (i.e. restoring WAT applying updates and removing WAT again)

KB971033 and MS blocking OEM Product Keys

If KB971033 or a subsequent update actually does manage to sort out the OEM Licenses used to defeat the W7 Activation (Hack or Crack) then another approach may have be taken.

At the moment it looks like that MS are fanning the flames to create smoke for the "smoke and mirrors" on what they have done to deter those that might be thinking of trying to bypass the WAT process.

If would appear that MS have tried this before and this is a quote that I found on the MyDigitalLife blog:

Anyway, even if the leaked 22TKD OEM product key is blacklisted, ultimately a unblockable OEM-SLP product keys for Windows 7 that delivers with computer machine will be leaked when the goods are shipped in October.

This seems to be exactly what has happened. (the October here was October 2009 - it is now June 2010 and MS are getting round to addressing the issue with KB971033)

• All pages on The Technology Muse related to Windows Activation

Windows Update and Daz Loader

It has been reported that Windows Updates render Daz activation invalid - I have not found this to be the case.


KB971033 has been installed on the computers that I have run the W7Loader by Daz - they all still report as Genuine.

Prompted by search: wga crunch for windows 7 (http://www.buzzcrunch.net/2010/02/wat-update-kb971033-disables-windows-7-activation-cracks-with-dynamic-signature/)

Keep tuned to this blog for updates on how the Activation cracks are working out for me.

Note: the screen-shot above was taken from an Asus 1000HE Netbook that had Windows XP pre-installed. Windows 7 has been installed from a torrent downloaded from a p2p site.
This copy of Windows 7 has been successfully used to install Windows 7 on more than 6 computers so far - all report Windows to be "Genuine".
Computers include the Netbook mentioned, an Acer Aspire One Netbook, 2 Acer motherboard desktops, an Acer Desktop, a desktop with a Zotec ITX motherboard and an aging Lenovo X40 Thinkpad (that was originally Windows XP and was very sick before the W7 install)

• Update to Activation problems on The Technology Muse - Including a review of the techniques such as using the Daz Loader.
• All pages relating to Loaders and Windows Activation
• The location of the resources discussed on this blog

What are your chances of detection by WGA?

It seems to be pretty small.

Using the Windows 7 loader by Daz and then running the MS checking programs downloaded from their website - reports that the version installed is Genuine!

When you download the WindowsActivationUpdate program from Microsoft you are told:

The software that you are about to download works with most browsers. Once installed, it will attempt to repair Windows 7 licensing components that may have been damaged, moved, or deleted. From time to time, this software will also perform a validation check to make sure that Windows 7 running on your PC is genuine and stays that way.

When you run the program on the Daz activated copy of Windows 7 you are greeted with:

Windows validation was successful
Now you can take advantage of all the value genuine Windows provides, including extras!


The same was not found when a copy of Office 2007 Enterprise was validated using (another Microsoft validator)

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and how this affects Canada (and any other country other than the USA)

This particular act, from the US, seems to be quite the draconian affair. If Canada adopts similar legislation with Bill C-60 it may well be illegal to even talk amongst friends about such issues as copying items of digital media - even if you own them.

• The relative risks of Torrenting
• Isohunt
• The Pirate Bay
• BTGuard and TorrentPrivacy now blocked
• How do I stop my ISP seeing my torrents