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Andy Maxwell over at TorrentFreak informs us Removing "Annoying" Windows 10 Features is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says:
Ninjutsu OS, a new software tool that heavily modifies Windows 10 with a huge number of tweaks, mods and extra tools, has been hit with a DMCA complaint by Microsoft. According to the copyright notice, the customizing, tweaking and disabling of Windows 10 features, even when that improves privacy, amounts to a violation of Microsoft's software license.
Since Windows was first released, people have been modifying variants of the world-famous operating system to better fit their individual requirements.
Many of these tweaks can be carried out using tools provided within the software itself but the recently-released Ninjutsu OS aims to take Windows 10 modding to a whole new level.
Released on May 7, Ninjutsu OS claims to take Windows 10 and transform it into a penetration testing powerhouse, adding huge numbers of tools (around 800) aimed at security experts, a few for regular users (qBitTorrent and Tor Browser, for example) while also removing features considered unwanted or unneeded in such an environment.
[...] According to the complaint, the above actions by Ninjutsu OS as mentioned on its Github page provide a "work around technical restrictions of the software", something which supposedly violates Microsoft's software license terms.
[...] "As such, we request that you please act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the specific pages/links described above, and thereby prevent the illegal reproduction and distribution of Microsoft content, via your company's network, pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §512(d)," the DMCA complaint adds.
At first view, some may conclude that Ninjutsu OS amounts to a heavily modified yet pirated version of Windows 10. However, a video explaining how the software works [24m28s] suggests that users will actually need their own license for a genuine copy of Windows 10 to get the modifications up and running properly. Ninjutsu's creator informs TF that's indeed the case.
(Score: 3, Touché) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 17 2020, @08:58PM (25 children)
The story made me curious.
Can the internet route around the damage?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:00PM
I can't even find a torrent
What's up with that?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:05PM (16 children)
Gee, I used gparted to remove the annoying features of Microsoft, by repartitioning the SSD in my new laptop. Did I break the law?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:08PM (15 children)
Yes, it's like removing the tag from your mattress
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:14PM (2 children)
That's a serious offense. Who would do such a heinous thing?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:47PM (1 child)
Serious and heinous indeed! Like removing the cellophane wrapping from a new smartphone.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @06:24AM
It's worse than that. I left the UEFI partition, so on boot, it tells me my system is broken. And I laugh, and laugh, and laugh, before hitting the button to book MX Linux. Yes, I know, torture is wrong. But they drew first Blue Screen!
(Score: 4, Informative) by Grishnakh on Wednesday June 17 2020, @10:43PM (11 children)
Sorry to be a wet blanket, and I know this was supposed to be a joke, but the mattress tag thing never made any sense. Anyone who's literate could read the things and see that they clearly state that the consumer (i.e. purchaser) is allowed to remove them. They're just strongly worded so that retailers or other middlemen don't take them off. I don't know why this was ever a thing, especially for decades. Can people not read?
(Score: 5, Funny) by RandomFactor on Wednesday June 17 2020, @10:57PM
So, you didn't chose that career in end-user support I see.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @11:29PM (1 child)
Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 27 2020, @04:51PM
You post is excessively raciest in light of the current All Lives Matter global campaign.
Post an apology. Now.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @11:56PM (3 children)
As someone who worked in the court system. No, they cannot. And I'm not just counting the cases involving people suing who ignored warning of all types. I am also including the surprisingly large number of people who couldn't do basic things like "Write your name after the colon in this sentence:" or "please summarize the reason for your lawsuit" or "what is your address and zip code" or "Please check to make sure you didn't bring knives, guns, explosives, or drugs before attempting to enter the security area." For goodness sake, so many people parked in front of "NO PARKING OR STANDING ON THIS STREET, ALL VIOLATIONS WILL BE TOWED" signs that the tow trucks on busy days would literally drive a circuit between hooking a car there and dropping it off at their lots for hours straight.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by NateMich on Thursday June 18 2020, @12:19AM (2 children)
That's an entirely different issue and has nothing to do with reading comprehension. It has a lot to do with the lack of parking in cities however.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @03:11AM (1 child)
Literally across the street was a parking garage and free street parking a block away.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @06:06AM
Yeah, but where were the elementary schools, and teachers, who taught things like sign reading and comprehension? Betsy DeVos's Amway schools, that's where they were at, teaching that God is a white man who loves children, and happens to be married to Betsy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @01:22AM (2 children)
Current POTUS is a sad example that, indeed, people can't read (for the toddler in chief, can't speak, can't think, etc. too).
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday June 18 2020, @02:55AM (1 child)
Oh come on now, Twitter. He can at the very least read.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Funny) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Thursday June 18 2020, @05:14AM
Not a high bar, so can ELIZA [wikipedia.org]...
Q: Why do politicians travel in groups of three?
A: One can read, one can write and the third likes to be seen in the company of intellectuals.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday June 18 2020, @01:35PM
Hello, I am an inspector from the right wing department of bedroom correctness. I am here to inspect your bedroom to be sure that there are no indication of wrong things that would offend the right.
Violation #1: I see your mattress does not have a tag warning you of something that should be common sense.
Can you PROVE one of:
1. You are not the one who removed the tag?
2. If you did remove the tag, that you are definitely the original purchaser of this 19 year old mattress? Hopefully you have kept your receipt properly filed for the length of the life of the mattress.
While the right may be against regulation in business, they are definitely all about regulation of what goes on in bedrooms.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 5, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:30PM (3 children)
Install Linux to route around the damage known as Windows.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday June 18 2020, @02:11AM
I assume he may live in a place where he has to go through a proxy to get interwebby.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday June 18 2020, @05:02AM (1 child)
Too bad it can't run the software I need.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Thursday June 18 2020, @02:35PM
Contact the company that makes the software and demand they show some common sense and intelligence!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @05:12AM
https://www.upload.ee/files/11738713/Ninjutsu-v1.0.iso.torrent.html [upload.ee]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @04:58PM (1 child)
The Internet has been routing around the damage that is Windows for almost 25 years now. Sometimes successfully, oftentimes not. Previously, at least the Windows systems were themselves the canaries in the coalmine. Android and nameless otherthings are vying for that crown.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 27 2020, @05:17PM
Just wait until Windows follows Android's lead and removes root access for users.
Like Android they can claim that the end user has no need of privileged system access for it allows them to tinker with the OS.
Users can install programs via The Store.
Enjoy your walled garden
(Score: 5, Funny) by stormreaver on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:18PM
I install software to work around the technical restrictions and functional inadequacies of Windows, by installing Linux on my computers. I wonder if I'm going to be sued by Microsoft for a DMCA violation.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DannyB on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:27PM
Hasn't Windows always been a penetration testing
whorepower house?I'm assuming they mean using it as a target and subject of penetration testing tools?
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by looorg on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:29PM
So you put a tool that heavily modifies Win10 on a Microsoft owned site ... Hmmmm ...
That said are there not a ton of these tools that "optimize" or turn things on and off etc. Those have more or less always been around for Windows, every version has had theirs. So unless it's software piracy related, which according to them it isn't then I don't really know what would be the point of this. But tools for turning off the ads, the telemetry, the other privacy horrific things, all the visual bling-bling, the notifications, the apps and (insert all the other shit here nobody actually wants but that MS deemed fit to include) are still going to be around -- I see they mentioned O&O ShutUp10 in the article. That seems to do a lot of the heavy lifting right there.
That said downloading something that adds another 800 "tools" to windows is probably not something I would want, that shit is bloated as it is already. Just looking at the screenshot they have over at TF is just to much screencrap ...
That said I'm sure there will be some accidental torrent release anytime now, someone downloaded it before they pulled them for certain.
(Score: 1, Informative) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:45PM (2 children)
*sigh* Maybe there will be a surprise in November, and we'll look back and laugh
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 4, Informative) by loonycyborg on Wednesday June 17 2020, @09:52PM (1 child)
There's already a lot of such projects for Linux, Kali Linux for example.
(Score: 2) by leon_the_cat on Thursday June 18 2020, @08:43PM
Or any linux.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @10:18PM (4 children)
On ninjutsu-os.github.io they had mega and other filehoster links to a 17.84gb "Ninjutsu-v1.0.iso" that included 17gb install.wim file with Microsoft Windows 10 OS. That is what likely didn't fly.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @11:02PM
That totally changes the story from 'poor me' to dude you are an idiot.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @11:36PM (1 child)
Deal killer for me. Why would anyone want such obvious malware?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 27 2020, @04:55PM
Possibly they have no other choice.
What do you do if you don't have a geek to help?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @12:39PM
17 GB???? But that leaves precious little space for the add-on software!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hendrikboom on Wednesday June 17 2020, @10:23PM (9 children)
It seems not to actually distribute copyrighted content, from what I read.
But ... does it break a digital lock?
(Score: 5, Informative) by NickM on Wednesday June 17 2020, @11:02PM (8 children)
According to a dude on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23487601 [ycombinator.com] they distributed a readymade iso, built with Win10-Initial-Setup-Script and O&O ShutUp10. Even if the iso required a valid activation key, it's distribution rightfully infringed on the win10 license. Ninjutsu should have been distributed as a program that take a Windows 10 iso as input and output a stripped down iso. Had they done so, the github.io pages would still be up.
Also installing a Win10 iso made by a random dude sounds like a good plan to get preinstalled malware.
I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2020, @11:38PM (1 child)
Is there any other way to infringe upon a Windows 10 license, other than rightfully? Per haps "righteously"?
(Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday June 18 2020, @03:05AM
Sure. If you're a southpaw, you'd be using the hammer leftfully.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Wednesday June 17 2020, @11:39PM (1 child)
I'm really wondering why they chose to do that now.
Was using a hacked up build the only way to bypass some of Microsoft's crap? (For example, not possible to remove once everything is set up). And if so, what was it? (Microsoft advertisement bullshit?)
Even though it "required a valid license key" did it prevent it from phoning home to validate? Just installing with a valid serial has not been enough for we-must-control-everything Microsoft for a while now.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by stretch611 on Thursday June 18 2020, @04:55AM
I'm sure that it is because it is depriving windows of "telemetry" data.
If Microsoft can't spy on you, how will it monetize everything?
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2, Informative) by fustakrakich on Thursday June 18 2020, @12:33AM (1 child)
The bigger and more disturbing issue is that it's far too easy to make something disappear off the internet.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @01:41AM
What, you want internet-immortality?
(Score: 4, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @01:25AM
> Also installing a Win10 iso made by a random dude sounds like a good plan to get preinstalled malware.
Also installing a Win10 iso sounds like a good plan to get preinstalled malware.
TIFTFY
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday June 18 2020, @01:35AM
Yeah, that'll do it.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @01:49AM
Thanks Microsoft.
I had no idea what Ninjutsu OS is prior to this, but now that I see you don't like it, I will search for it until I find it, and let all my friends know too.
Thanks again!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Subsentient on Thursday June 18 2020, @04:27AM
And that's what you get for using Windows.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @12:32PM
I can't make the changes you're requesting to this software. The vendor you bought the software from does not allow me to make those changes. I cited the licensing agreement they agreed to when they purchased the software, the CFAA and the DMCA.
But the bitches came at me with their all men conspiracy theory, accused me of hiding the secret programming secrets that would enable people with menstrual cycles to program. I learned from feminists that computers can tell whether the person behind the keyboard has a dick or not, and that the chemtrails deployed by the all men conspiracy make it so that only people with dicks can operate computers. So much sexual harassment was directed at me. and other, worse things
They acted like the DMCA didn't even exist. The bitches in the other department started invented regulations, which they couldn't even name or cite. It was so fucking dumb.
I guess the DMCA is enforceable after all, and holy shit this case is almost the exact same thing as that situation!
Feminism needs to pull its head out of its ass and find a progressive orientation instead of inventing right-wing conspiracy theories based on fake news and revisionist history. Feminism is the reason there are no women programmers.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @04:06PM
"Ninjutsu OS claims to take Windows 10 and transform it into a penetration testing powerhouse, adding huge numbers of tools (around 800) aimed at security experts"
what a fucking joke.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 18 2020, @05:14PM
i guess that ninja star came straight back and hit the ninja square in the head ...
i wonder what m$ made nunchuks would do to the poor ninja wielding them ... apart from hitting them in the back of the head?