[LINK] Region Locked DVD Drives Illegal?

Kim Holburn kim at holburn.net
Tue Aug 22 22:06:56 AEST 2006


You find rpc-1 firmware for your laptop drive and reflash it so it's  
region free.  It's not hard to do, although you usually have to wait  
a bit until the firmware is available.

Alternatively, you get an external DVD drive that is region free or  
for which the region-free firmware is available.

Or, if you run windows there are programs that can let your spc-2  
drive read and write region free.

Or you sue the manufacturer for advertising a product that doesn't work?

On 2006 Aug 22, at 9:33 PM, Adam Todd wrote:

> At 06:35 PM 22/08/2006, George Bray wrote:
>> Thanks everyone.
>>
>> The ACCC came back to me and confirmed those views.  It's only a  
>> legal
>> issue if the unit is marketed in AUS for a specific purpose and does
>> not perform as advertised.
>>
>> I guess I'll be spending a few CPU cycles to rip my foreign DVDs. Or
>> is that illegal here now thanks to the FTA?
>
> Wouldn't the mere act of ripping the DVD be illegal in Australia  
> anyway?  Isn't that the reason the 'Copyright' holders are suing  
> everyone?
>
>> It used to be you could re-burn the ROM in the drive to accept any
>> region, but alas that doesn't look possible now.
>
> yes I had to set my laptop to a region the other day.  You know  
> what the problem with this stupidity is?
>
> Well I was in Aus pre May, France in May, Australia in June, so  
> that's Three changes.  Then I'll be in the USA later this year for  
> a bit, that's another change, then I'll be in the UK, so I'll have  
> to change it again.
>
> Then I can toss the DVD+RW drive in my laptop and buy a new one and  
> do it all over again.   Sad isn't it.  Portable technology that  
> isn't portable.
>
> Maybe I'll not buy or play any DVD's whilst I'm out and about, just  
> seek out the Independent movie makers and enjoy those instead!
>
>> As usual, the media industry's efforts to protect themselves force
>> their customers to investigate new ways to acquire the content. My
>> contempt for them is inversely proportional to their trust in me.
>
> As usual the industry prevents customers having the benefit of  
> hardware that plays materials in all places they might travel to.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link

--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +61 2 61258620 M: +61 417820641  F: +61 2 6230 6121
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request
Cacert Root Cert: http://www.cacert.org/cacert.crt
Aust. Spam Act: To stop receiving mail from me: reply and let me know.
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD] http://www.saqqara.demon.co.uk/ 
datefmt.htm

Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961






More information about the Link mailing list