Its the end of an era folks.
Quoting Yarlen, reply 41The Steam client will be required for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion for initial install, updates and Internet multiplayer, regardless of purchase location. You can choose to play in offline mode via the Steam client after initial install, though ICO features and achievements will no longer be available.
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8. Gamers have the right to use their games without being inconvenienced due to copy protection or digital rights management.
Now its debatable whether this news actually goes against the PC gamers bill of rights Stardock pushed forward 3-4 years ago, but it certainly seems an ominous change of pace for the company to me. Are the other Stardock gaming communities concerned? Will other Stardock titles follow suite? Does this symbolically show the finalization of the Steam monopoly, short of the self sufficient EA and Blizzard titles? What does the wider community think, and what can we do about it?
I 'get' exactly what you are saying. I don't think you're 'getting' what I'm saying though. I was pointing out that it is neither here nor there to suggest not using DNA as a form of digital control just because some would get around it; just like it would be ridiculous to scrap DNA controls in the physical realm because some criminals get around them there.
To quote myself from my earlier post:
"Using DNA isn't a foolproof system, it is however better than nothing. Which is exactly what we have when it comes to digital-accountability.........nothing."
Oh, and you can get all the evidence you want against someone, but they still have a surprisingly good chance of getting off.
Correct, but is that reason to stop using DNA? No. Which makes the system useful even if not infallible.
Personal accountability is an excellent goal.
DNA to accomplish it?
I can't really see it. I mean I can see it in a sci-fi Gattica kind of way, but the world isn't there. On the other hand I'm a bit of an anarchist at heart. But anarchy is the ultimate for personal accountability. Web anarchy not so much though.
DNA checks for accountability? How is this any different than simply requiring a password?
I mean really really think about it...in theory, passwords work perfectly....I create my password and only I know it...so, when I enter my password, there is no doubt that it's me....
Of course, in practice this system isn't perfect....people can steal passwords, hack them, tell them to someone else, etc...
What does DNA do to solve this? Nothing other than raise the threshold of difficulty to "hack"...sure, at first it would be really difficult to pull off illegitimately...but people's DNA is now going to have to be stored somewhere, and it's going to be just as vulnerable to infiltration as stored passwords....a few months, and someone is going to have a way to mimic someone else's DNA and pretend to be them...
Any society that can afford to implement "DNA checking" on every digital device and have it work accurately and quickly is also a society where certain people will be capable of "faking" or synthesizing DNA...
I'll acknowledge that DNA is harder to "crack" than a mere password...but in the end it doesn't end piracy to guarantee accountability...
Criminals carry swords, the police carry shields...police carry shields, the criminals carry guns...the criminals carry guns, the police wear bullet proof vests...the police wear bullet proof vests, the criminals use armor-piercing rounds...
It is a never ending process...doesn't mean you should just give up, but there comes a point where you have to stop and think if maybe your methods are too costly or too invasive (and DNA is both of those)...
Whether intentionally or not, you are missing my point......
DNA 'testing' exists as a method used in proving one's guilt/innocence in the physical realm. While I am discussing the potential application of DNA 'testing' (comparision) in the digital realm I am not suggesting it be used any differently than it is today. Why are you?
I'm not suggesting using DNA as a better 'digital-lock'. I am suggesting using DNA to track/implicate/prove innocence exactly the way it is currently being used but instead of just being used in the physical also in the digital world.
EDIT:
Why are you even posting about 'cracking DNA' etc.? I guess it's because of all of the times someone has cloned someone's DNA, planted it on some murder victim and the innocent went to jail?!?
And how is that going to occur? Tying your DNA to your login? Tying it to every file you make, every e-mail you send, every post you create? Conceptually, I just don't see how this is different than authentication keys or the authorship automatically assigned to files created by a user account...at some point, you have some digital gibberish that says "THIS IS ME"...whether it be 1's and 0's or A's,T's,C's, and G's really doesn't matter...
If you plan on proving I sent you a nasty e-mail, you need something that says where that e-mail came from in digital form...DNA, like anything else, can be copied or faked once in digital form....
So maybe it is more sophisticated, but in the end it is exactly what we have now....make it part of the system, and someone will find a way to fake it...
Not aware of this happening yet though if it has already happened, not sure exactly how we'd know other than pure chance...
Regardless of whether it has happened yet, I don't see why one day it couldn't happen...and I'd gander that around the time it could occur is the same time we'd have the infrastructure to make DNA a sort of digital signature...
I think what we're pointing out is that in order to use DNA for digital tracking, you have to have some access to it, like a fingerprint or a password. That means that people have to be put on file, no exceptions. This would not be accepted from a freedom of liberties point of view. Short of that, there is no DNA to be used. I send an e-mail. You track it to my account and that may be tied to my ISP, but then you have to prove that I actually sent it. Yes, my keyboard has DNA, but it also has the DNA of three or more people. Shadow of a doubt comes in and a jury finds me not guilty. So unless you plan on making people give their DNA to a national registry, it doesn't make sense that it would contribute at all to digital crime solving any more than a series of witnesses, passwords, or weak alibis would.
I have no problem with a 'global' DNA registry. Of course it's not like I have something to hide....
Hell, I think the world and its technology is just about mature enough to print and DNA-sample each and every human at birth. In fact, I welcome such a future.
a people who are cavalier with their liberties are in danger of being stripped of them.
That is assuming you even had any real liberties to being with. Of course this can and will open up into an even larger OT discussion but if you would like to I would ask what 'liberties' exactly you think you have at the moment, because from where I'm sitting being given a few choices to choose from by the powers that be isn't exactly freedom/liberty. At least not as I define same.
Furthermore, what liberties exactly do you believe would or could be taken away by introducing such a DNA registry as I've described? Again, I believe nothing to hide.....nothing to fear.
Liberty could loosely be defined as the extensive of negative rights i.e. the right to not be killed, not be raped, not have your property damaged, etc...the right to privacy arguably falls into that category, and one's DNA arguably fits into the "privacy" category...
Practically speaking, we all know we don't have true liberty...I would argue that DNA isn't any more or less private than fingerprints, and I have to have my fingerprints on record with the authorities (for my job) so if they have one then I honestly could care less if they have the other...
I fit quite wonderfully in the system. I know that the government is messed up and that many of the rules do restrict or choke people. Liberty is the ability to govern one's self. That is inherently restricted when you make a social contract in exchange for the services that government provides. I have no illusions regarding such.
Still, I have no fingerprints or DNA on file. The government only knows of one firearm that I own. I have an will continue to talk law enforcement officials into a submissive position. I have the ability to remove myself from 'the grid' at my own discretion and peril. These are a very few I can think of immediately.
I do not believe that 'nothing to hide' is a good motto for all. If you are content with the system, then it suits you and is fine. I reserve the right to revolt should the government act outside of what I see as reasonable or tolerable behavior, whether I stand alone or not. I do not condone, as it relates to a preference for myself, the use of technology, on any level, in order to track the individual where the potential exists for misuse or the subversion of civil liberties. Yet you must not get me wrong, as I know that governments have existed in both beneficent and malevolent forms and hope that a peoples would see fit to steer the powers that be in a direction of their choosing prior to the need for violence and I continue to hope that Americans find the strength of will to be amongst such peoples.
Hooooorah!........or wait.......is it.......America......fuck yeah!?!
The problem is, that same 'authority' you like to talk into a submissive position is the very reason you even get to enjoy the 'liberties' you do and since 'goverment' is actually the collective voice of the 'peoples' you keep referencing I don't see how 'revolt' could ever be seen as positive.
You may have no fingerprints, DNA on file but if you believe that you aren't being tracked even now as you read/respond to this......well........
I don't buy into phrases such as "civil liberties" and/or "freedom" etc. mostly because I believe they've long since changed from the ideals of the 'people's who coined them into the agenda-pushing parade floats they resemble today. Instead I choose to look at my own life (and those around me) who as I've stated before have absolutely nothing to lose by submitting a DNA sample to a DNA-registry. A registry that as I see it could/would do many times more good for a nation (and the world) than whatever bad could ever be attributed to it.
I think a more universal one might be:
Retreat, Hell!
Well that's great, but how exactly do you tie this DNA registry into authenticating people on line? That's my question. Do I need to spit on the screen or something?
You would probably have to get pricked for a sample to be taken. Of course, that just means that for me to get into your accounts, I need to take a blood sample or cut off your thumb. Hope you weren't too attached to that.
There are plenty of biometrics already in use today (to varied corporate levels) some with greater success than others, but I've never heard of someone getting their finger chopped off. It's not like I'm suggesting new technology or even new use of existing tech. I'm simply suggesting expanding what is now being used (pioneered) by the corporations to the population at large that's all. Someday it will happen, in my opinion it can't happen soon enough.
Actually you are suggesting something new. DNA is not that quick or easy to sequence, and certainly requires a physical sample. As opposed to a retinal scan or fingerprint.
But regardless, you are suggesting that all computers have some sort of way to validate who the user actually is. Which they already have...
The only thing you need to know is Big Brother is watching you...you love him.
Or is it....BIG SISTER???
Time to boycott sins of a solar empire rebellion. I was so about to preorder it but then my impulse said the magic words that stopped me from buying the game.
Warning: This game requires the Steam client to install & play.
With the all red flags went up. WTF was stardock thinking? What the best way to piss off our fan base and kill our company? Cause that must have been what they where thinking to even think Steam was a good idea. Rest in peice StarDock I so hope you become the next flagship studio over this big mistake.
I don't know what you're talking about, Neilo.
RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE
COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!
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