Month: May 2023

Green hills forever: Windows XP activation algorithm cracked after 21 years

Please, please, please do not actually install XP and use it. But if you must…

With this background, potentially <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliss_(image)">the most viewed photograph in human history</a>, Windows XP always signaled that it was prepared for a peaceful retirement. Yet some would have us disturb it.

Enlarge / With this background, potentially the most viewed photograph in human history, Windows XP always signaled that it was prepared for a peaceful retirement. Yet some would have us disturb it. (credit: Charles O'Rear/Microsoft)

It has never been too hard for someone with the right amount of time, desperation, or flexible scruples to get around Windows XP's activation scheme. And yet XP activation, the actual encrypted algorithm, loathed since before it started, has never been truly broken, at least entirely offline. Now, far past the logical end of all things XP, the solution exists, floating around the web's forum-based backchannels for months now.

On the blog of tinyapps.org (first spotted by The Register), which provides micro-scale, minimalist utilities for constrained Windows installations, a blog post appropriately titled "Windows XP Activation: GAME OVER" runs down the semi-recent history of folks looking to activate Windows XP more than 20 years after it debuted, nine years after its end of life, and, crucially, some years after Microsoft turned off its online activation servers (or maybe they just swapped certificates).

xp_activate32.exe, a 18,432-byte program (hash listed on tinyapps' blog post), takes the code generated by Windows XP's phone activation option and processes it into a proper activation key (Confirmation ID), entirely offline. It's persistent across system wipes and re-installs. It is, seemingly, the same key Microsoft would provide for your computer.

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DSL-Kunden: 1&1 streicht Sondertarife und Rabatte

Wer bei 1&1 besonders günstig DSL gebucht hat, bekommt Post von dem Unternehmen. Die Tarife lägen deutlich unter Listenpreis, heißt es. (1&1, DSL)

Wer bei 1&1 besonders günstig DSL gebucht hat, bekommt Post von dem Unternehmen. Die Tarife lägen deutlich unter Listenpreis, heißt es. (1&1, DSL)

Huge Tesla leak reveals thousands of safety concerns, privacy problems

A Tesla employee gave more than 100GB of data to Germany’s Handelsblatt.

The tailgate of a Tesla Model Y in the rain

Enlarge (credit: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

The German publication Handelsblatt is in possession of more than 23,000 internal files and documents from Tesla after an employee leaked the data. The files include personal information on more than 100,000 current and former employees, as well as thousands of reports of problems with Tesla's advanced driving assistance systems, Autopilot, and "Full Self-Driving."

The earliest complaints in the data trove date back to 2015, and the most recent to March 2022. Most of the complaints arise from the US, although European and Asian customer problems are also reflected in the data.

More than 2,400 complaints allege sudden unintended acceleration problems. Although Autopilot and FSD have been the focus of headlines for the last few years, during the mid-2010s there were plenty of reports of Teslas taking off on their own accord—at least 232 cases have been reported in the US, although (as often turns out in cases like these) the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found no evidence for a hardware or software problem, instead blaming driver error.

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TikTok—banned or not, it’s probably here to stay, an Ars Frontiers 2023 recap

Experts discussed the legal impossibility of a nationwide TikTok ban.

On May 22, Ashley Belanger (top left) moderated a panel featuring Ioana Literat (bottom left), Bryan Cunningham (top right), and Corynne McSherry (bottom right) for the Ars Frontiers 2023 session titled, "TikTok—Banned or Not, It's Probably Here to Stay."

Enlarge / On May 22, Ashley Belanger (top left) moderated a panel featuring Ioana Literat (bottom left), Bryan Cunningham (top right), and Corynne McSherry (bottom right) for the Ars Frontiers 2023 session titled, "TikTok—Banned or Not, It's Probably Here to Stay."

Ars Frontiers kicked off Monday with a panel called "TikTok—Banned or Not, It's Probably Here to Stay," featuring experts on TikTok, data privacy, and cybersecurity.

It just so happened that the week before Ars Frontiers, TikTok was banned in Montana. This made the panel discussion particularly timely, as some TikTok creators and TikTok promptly sued the state, hoping to ensure that all Americans maintain access to the China-owned app—despite lawmakers' national security concerns that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might use TikTok to access US user data.

Ars Frontiers 2023: "TikTok—Banned or Not, It's Probably Here to Stay."

An associate professor in the communication media and learning technologies design program at Teachers College, Columbia University, Ioana Literat monitors how young people use social media. She has been researching TikTok since it first became available in the US. Banning TikTok at the "apex of its popularity," Literat said, would set "a huge cultural and political precedent" for TikTok's young user base, which is so politically active on the app.

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Viermal 8K: BOE zeigt 110-Zoll-Display mit 16K-Auflösung

Mit viermal so vielen Pixeln wie 8K sorgt das große BOE-Display für Staunen. 132 Millionen Pixel sind aber selbst für die beste GPU viel. (8K, Display)

Mit viermal so vielen Pixeln wie 8K sorgt das große BOE-Display für Staunen. 132 Millionen Pixel sind aber selbst für die beste GPU viel. (8K, Display)

IBM: Eine Super-Quantencomputermaschine soll entstehen

Innerhalb der nächsten zehn Jahre will IBM einen Quantencomputer mit 100.000 Qubits bauen. Doch ohne die Hilfe von Universitäten geht das nicht. (IBM, Supercomputer)

Innerhalb der nächsten zehn Jahre will IBM einen Quantencomputer mit 100.000 Qubits bauen. Doch ohne die Hilfe von Universitäten geht das nicht. (IBM, Supercomputer)

Court Orders Instagram to Expose Pirates, Boot Their Accounts, and Purge URLs

The High Court in Bombay, India, has ordered Instagram to share the personal details of copyright-infringing users with a media company. Through a broad dynamic injunction, the social media giant is further required to terminate associated accounts and purge infringing URLs they shared from its platform.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

instagram logoSimilar to any other online platform that deals with user-generated content, Instagram processes copyright complaints on a daily basis.

Most of these arrive in the form of DMCA notices, in which rightsholders requests the removal of a specific image, video, or URL.

The number of removals runs in the hundreds of thousands during a typical month, without getting noticed by the public at large, but if Instagram users continue to post copyright infringing content, they risk losing their accounts.

Takedown Trouble Triggers Lawsuit

This takedown policy is widely accepted as the standard for social media services but every now and then, disputes can arise. In India, one such dispute turned into a legal battle in which the Bombay High Court issued a broad injunction earlier this month.

The lawsuit in question was filed by Applause Entertainment, the Indian company behind the TV-series “Scam 1992”. The series covers the 1992 Indian stock market scam, adapted from Debashis Basu’s book The Scam.

The TV production is licensed to Sony LIV and was a huge success. However, as often happens with popular media, pirated footage was readily available too. Not just on pirate sites, but also on otherwise legitimate social media platforms.

Applause Entertainment wasn’t happy with this pirate activity so it approached several platforms to take down infringing clips and snippets of the show. Instagram was one of the recipients but, instead of taking immediate action, the platform asked for proof of ownership.

The company responded to this correspondence with relevant ownership documents but, apparently, Instagram still wasn’t convinced. This standoff prompted Applause to take the matter to the Bombay High Court, where it requested an ex-parte injunction.

Court Issues Broad Injunction

The High Court concluded, after reviewing the evidence, that the studio does own the rights so Instagram must take action. This isn’t out of the ordinary but the court went further than simply asking the infringing posts to be removed.

As highlighted by the law blog SpicyIP, the court issued a so-called dynamic injunction, which goes much further than a simple takedown request.

scam1992

In addition to removing the pirated clips, Instagram must also terminate the accounts of 33 affected users, while handing over their personal details including email addresses, phone numbers, and physical locations.

Specifically, Instagram must disclose personal user data, “including but not limited to the contact details, mobile numbers, email addresses, IP addresses and physical locations / addresses of Defendant Nos. 2 to 34.”

The injunction’s scope doesn’t stop there. In addition to removing the reported posts, Instagram must also remove other infringing URLs from its platform. This implies broader filtering and could affect other users who shared similar links. The same applies to other “rogue handles” that the users potentially used.

A Blunt Anti-Piracy Tool?

According to SpicyIP, the court appears to put Instagram users in the same category as pirate websites. Previously, the court ordered flagrantly infringing pirate sites and their ‘mirrors’ to be blocked, but social media accounts might require a different treatment.

There are no signs that the court investigated the user accounts, so it’s possible that some posts were relatively innocent. Alternatively, they may be classified as fair use.

“There is the possibility that of these defendants a few of could have been genuine social media handles that have several legitimate pieces of content, and that there was a ‘mere re-sharing’ of the content in question in one shared reel or post.

“There is also the possibility that the handles, used the ‘short audio-visual’ clippings to make Instagram reels. This could have included licensed content from other sources, or fair dealing uses,” SpicyIP adds.

The court order doesn’t go onto detail on the nature of the posts, so it’s hard to draw any strong conclusions. In any case, the High Court has shown once again that copyright infringement matters are taken rather seriously in India.

Whether Instagram plans to challenge the injunction is unknown. Telegram previously did so when it was ordered to expose alleged copyright infringers, but that challenge failed.

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A copy of the order issued by the Bombay High Court is available here (pdf)

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.