Hackers learn to download streaming Netflix movies
Earlier this year Netflix announced a new service that lets you watch a limited number of videos online instead of waiting for the DVDs to come in the mail. There's just one problem. You have to watch on Netflix's terms. The video player is browser based, and the movies are wrapped up in Windows Media DRM. If you want to want to copy a movie to a portable device for viewing on the go, you're out of luck.
Well, the smart folks over at the Rorta forums seem to have cracked the code, using Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player 11, FairUse4WM, and Notepad. The solution involves finding the URL of the video file, downloading it, acquiring the license key and then stripping the DRM. It's a bit involved, and will probably take longer than just sitting down and watching the movie. But hey, it's the principle of the thing, right?
[via Brent Evans]
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mark said 12:40PM on 8-07-2007
Kudos to you Brad for linking to the actual how-to. It's an interesting read. I don't condone piracy, but DRM and closed systems suck and are detrimental to the freedom of choice. I use Netflix and have not used the watch now thingy, because most of the films on the "watch now" list suck. I also use firefox, so two strikes against netflix..
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James said 4:25PM on 8-07-2007
This does have legitimate uses as well -- some media players will decode WMV but do not support WM11 DRM. That doesn't make FU4WM any less of a DMCA violation, but I personally feel like this is a Good Thing...
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