HOWTO: Back-up your DVD for free
In response to numerous requests, we are publishing a no non-sense guide to backing up your encrypted or unencrypted DVD with the use of high-quality, ad/spyware-free gratis programs on Windows XP (it might work on Vista as well).
Backing up a DVD you made yourself, such as a mini-DVD from your Handycam, is trivial - we recommend Nero or VOB2MPG if you want to edit or play with it. As you may have discovered, typical pre-recorded, original DVDs you purchase in store cannot be copied with Nero, hence this guide.1) Legality
In most parts of the world, it is illegal to copy a copyrighted DVD that does not belong to you. In some (and increasingly many) parts of the world it is illegal even to make a copy of an encrypted DVD that belongs to you. We cannot provide an opinion on the legality (or lack thereof) of this action. Your best bet is to check with your friendly neighbourhood lawyer for that (this sounds like a joke, but we're serious; if you think that's crazy, start paying attention to Your Rights Online, take action and fight the chilling effects of misguided legislation). Just like SouthPark, this guide could cause, among other things, your screen to explode and your insurance premiums to go up and should not be read or followed by anyone.2) Controversy
When DVDs first came out, they were advertised as "impossible to copy" due to "unbreakable encryption". Then DVD John (1) cracked the code that protected the data, and the maelstrom followed. The movie industry (aka MPAA) has fought vigorously the publishing of this information, but to no avail. For the past several years it's been trivial to copy DVDs. We see a repeat of this controversy with the new High-Definition DVD formats. The encryption protecting HD-DVD format has also been broken: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0, causing a hysterical reaction from AACS (2). In all fairness, the entities protecting the encryption schemes might be compelled by law to react as such, otherwise they might lose any intellectual property rights.3) Programs needed
As you might expect, you cannot copy DVDs by drawing them in your notebook or by using carbon paper. You need to download the following basic programs (they are all ad-free, spyware free, low memory footprint at least at the time of this writing):The bare minimum
Optional
Highly recommended if you want to play with video formats (as above, everything is free):4) Choices
1. Determine if your DVD backup fits on a regular 4.7GB DVD or not, so start DVD Decrypter, select the DVD drive in the Source, then Mode -> ISO -> Read R and look in the info panel.
2. If in the Source box the Copyright Protection System Type nothing is listed than you can copy the DVD with any program, it's not encrypted. If in the information box it is listed with Number of Layers: 1 and/or the size is less than 5,000,000,000 bytes, or if your DVD burner is DL (dual layer) and you have a blank DL DVD handy you don't need another program and you can continue on with our A. Quick DVD Decrypter guide, using the ISO mode.
3. If it says Number of Layers > 1 and/or the size is more than 5 million bytes and you can't or won't burn DL DVDs you can either B. transcode / reauthor the DVD using DVD Shrink or C. split the DVD into 2 regular, 4.7GB DVDs, preserving the original quality, using DVDfab. You will have to either copy the DVD to the HD using DVD Decrypter File Mode, use the DVDfab hack or use DVD43 for on-the-fly decryption.A. Quick DVD Decrypter guide
4. In DVD Decrypter menu, click on Mode -> ISO -> Read R. This will make a decrypted image of your DVD on your hard drive in an *.iso file.
5. Make note where the DVD image will be written. Make sure that the destination drive has sufficient free space.
6. Click the DVD->HD image button and wait for the program to do its magic (you can actually minimize the program to the tray bar by choosing "Minimize to System Tray" in the Control menu).
7. The program makes a loud silly sound to alert you that it's done. When that happens, press the E button in the Source box to eject the disk if it wasn't ejected already, and replace the original DVD with the blank DVD you will write the image to. Close the CD tray either from the DVD drive button or by clicking L in the Source box.
8. Wait a bit for the blank DVD to be read, then click Mode -> ISO -> Write R. This mode will write (burn) the image from your hard drive from step 4-6 to your blank DVD. Optionally, you may also adjust other options, such as PUOs (which force you to watch ads by disabling the skip buttons).
9. In the Source box, click the folder icon to choose the source file you made a note of in step 5, then click the HD -> DVD image button. You may choose to have the image automatically erased once the burning is complete and checked if you so wish.
10. The program will alert you with the same sound when done.
Congratulations! You have made a backup copy of your DVD. See (5) for a more detailed guide, complete with screen captures (warning: heavy advertising).B. Quick & Dirty DVD Shrink guide
DVD Shrink is a very powerful program with a simple, intuitive interface. You can use it to replace the FBI warnings in the DVDs you are backing up with your own static images. I suggest you explore its menus first (there isn't all that much) then read a more detailed guide. You might want to make a decrypted DVD copy to your hard drive using DVD Decrypter File Mode first, then open it in DVD Shrink using the Open Files button. Alternatively, you could open it straight from the DVD drive using DVD43. If you want to preserve the DVD menu structure, use the Full Disc mode. In this mode you can recompress various parts of the DVD individually and may even replace certain screens (like the FBI warning) with your own static images. You can also dump certain soundtracks (like foreign languages) that you are not interested in. I suggest you leave all the subtitles as they don't take usually much space. If you don't care about menus, you can Reauthor the DVD. In this mode there are no menus, and everything plays linearly. You can thus remove certain extras and maybe keep others. Remember: for a large DVD you are trying to fit in 4.7GB, the more stuff you take out, the less you have to compress the rest, resulting in better image quality.
See (4) for a more detailed guide, complete with screen captures (warning: heavy advertising).C. Quick & Dirty DVDfab DVD splitting guide.
Download and install DVDfab splitter, then the hack archive and expand it in the program directory. This should save you from first backing up the DVD to your HD using DVD Decrypter, which is actually the safe route. Alternatively, you may also use DVD43. Other than this, this program is very straight forward. Simply click the "Copy complete DVD" button, then choose the DVD you want to split in two. When DVD Fab is done, navigate with your DVD burning software (we recommend CD Burner XP 4 because it's free, but Nero is just as good if not better) to the DVDFab folder and burn each DVD.
See (3) for a more detailed guide, complete with screen captures (warning: heavy advertising).5) Sources:
Corrections
none so far!
Massive, unfixed security flaw at Passport Canada
We just learned about a very serious security flaw in the Passport Canada website accepting online applications. Other people's information can be easily accessed by simply applying for a passport and then altering characters in your browser's address bar. The flaw was discovered by Jamie Laning, an IT worker at Algonquin Automotive, in Huntsville, Ontario. The available data includes SINs, driver's licence numbers, mailing addresses, business and phone numbers, federal ID card numbers and even a firearms licence number. Says Carlisle Adams, professor at U of O:
This is exactly how identity theft happens. If you want to take out a mortgage, for example, this is the type of information the bank is going to ask for to make sure you're really the person you're claiming to be. Then all of a sudden there's a mortgage in someone else's name.Although Mr. Laning alerted Passport Canada of the problem last week and the site was suspended through yesterday, the problem has not been fixed, despite Passport Canada's claim to the contrary. While the security flaw in itself is not the most terrible thing, it is deeply unsettling to learn that Passport Canada was unable to fix it within one week, that it deceptively claimed it fixed it and that Canadian law does not even require disclosure of privacy breaches. This means that there may be many more security breaches that happen but we do not know about them, unless somebody makes a FOF request.
The security breach follows two significant events concerning personal information. On Nov. 21, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson introduced legislation making it an offence to obtain, possess or traffic in people's identity information for the purposes of committing a crime. Just two days earlier, Britain's tax and customs service announced it had lost disks containing banking and personal data of 25 million people."I think it's very clear that a strong, mandatory security-breach law is long overdue in this country and it's cases like these that highlight it," said Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa.This is not the first negative media report to hit Passport Canada. Only a couple of months ago, Canadian Press issued the following:
Canadian law does not require organizations to disclose when they've suffered security breaches. In the United States the majority of states have enacted legislation requiring organizations to disclose security breaches within a specified period of time.
Passport Canada is reporting continued long delays in processing mailed-in passport applications, despite a streamlined renewal process and hundreds of new employees. And there is concern those delays will only get longer as the busy winter travel season approaches.It now takes a minimum of six weeks to get a passport through the mail; two weeks longer than the agency's benchmark of four weeks.The way our secretive, inept government works, we would not be surprised if Mr. Laning would be charged with terrorism. It is much easier to find a scapegoat than hiring a knowledgeable IT security firm and have the problem fixed.
And that doesn't include the time it takes to get applications and documents through Canada Post.
UPDATE: Brian Masse (NDP) raised this issue in Question Period and Minister Maxime Bernier was told by CEO Gérard Cossette that the website is now "among the most secure".
IT Business published an article citing concerns that the privacy breach will lead to ID theft.
Source: Passport applicant finds massive privacy breach, Globe and Mail Read More to See the Light...
Google (Mail) Hacks
Googling Google posts about a hidden Gmail operator that lets you restrict your messages to a certain language. It is hidden for a good reason - the automatic detection is not perfect, so not all messages are labeled correctly.
How does it work? If I search for lang:ru or lang:Russian or language:Russian, I'll find some of the messages that contain Russian text, which in my case, are all spam. This lang operator can of course be combined with other operators.
How would you use it? My main desire would be the ability to block Russian and Chinese spam, which seems to get through only too often. Gmail could provide an option to automatically translate messages written in a language you don't know and add many other useful features from web search (spelling suggestions, query expansion, search refinements).
Love Google! Give them your eyeballs! :)
NSA Backdoor - oxymoron?!?
I was recently reading on /. about a new NSA faux pas (Slashdot New NSA-Approved Encryption Standard May Contain Backdoor). I can only wonder why is anyone surprised?! This is the kind of stuff that fulfills their mission.
Not too long ago, another big scandal took a life of its own when a security researcher revealed the existence of an NSA backdoor in Windows NT security stack. The proof was not conclusive, but it was as conclusive one can find without seeing the actual source code.
I think it's safe to assume NSA is everywhere and act as if you have no privacy. What alternative is there?
UPDATE:
We learn from /. that, according to Schneier, Microsoft has added this new random number generator to Vista SP1.
