Harry Potter Pirate Could Be Found

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Rich Tate

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Thanks to the digital fingerprint within every image, Canon believes it can possibly track the leak of the final Harry Potter novel if the camera has ever been serviced.

By examining the vital information - or 'metadata' - built into each photo, the company's technical officers have established the serial number of the camera that was used, which could in turn lead to the identity of the camera's owner.
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If the offender is caught, I suggest punishment outside of the US, so Bush has no opportunity to pardon him/her.
 
Big Brother is watching... so make sure you don't go snapping photos of anything anymore lest a few years from now you end up having a knock at your door from some FBI agent asking about your whereabouts years past when you snapped what you thought was a totally innocuous picture of some building that just happened to be blown up by someone with a grudge...

I won't say the "T" word since it's meaningless anymore, I'll just say "someone."

It just gets worse and worse every day.
 
Honestly I'm not sure if they'd lose a single sale over this. People who buy these books want the books.
 
I think the odds of the person being caught are very small. I mean, who sends their camera in to be serviced?
 
My thought about all this crap is... who cares? The book is out now and every publisher associated with it along with J. K. Rowling just made a kajillion dollars. If I were them I would be popping champagne bottles and eating lobster and caviar. No matter that I don't like champagne, lobster or caviar.... :D
 
UrielDagda said:
My thought about all this crap is... who cares? The book is out now and every publisher associated with it along with J. K. Rowling just made a kajillion dollars. If I were them I would be popping champagne bottles and eating lobster and caviar. No matter that I don't like champagne, lobster or caviar.... :D
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Psht, why do that, re-invest the money back and make more money.
Also, the probability that they will find this person is low.
 
c4eater said:
If the offender is caught, I suggest punishment outside of the US, so Bush has no opportunity to pardon him/her.
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You'd only have to worry about that if the offender was a member of the Bush Administration.
 
bbz_Ghost said:
Big Brother is watching... so make sure you don't go snapping photos of anything anymore lest a few years from now you end up having a knock at your door from some FBI agent asking about your whereabouts years past when you snapped what you thought was a totally innocuous picture of some building that just happened to be blown up by someone with a grudge...

I won't say the "T" word since it's meaningless anymore, I'll just say "someone."

It just gets worse and worse every day.
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Baseless paranoia is so cute. Aside from whining on message boards, what are you doing about, what you think is, such a horrible (future) problem?
 
What makes you think I'm not one of the people writing the code that makes such monitoring possible? :)

"You're late with your power bill. And call your Mom."
 
note to self: never buy a canon product again, since they waste company resources on prosecuting stuff that isn't related to their products.
 
drizzt81 said:
note to self: never buy a canon product again, since they waste company resources on prosecuting stuff that isn't related to their products.
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I agree. Why should I give my money to someone who might later cause me big trouble without any reason.
 
Canon's on my bad-list now too.

They're going to use personally identifiable information that was provided to them to perform a service to try to track someone? I'll take invasion of privacy for $1000 Alex.
 
drizzt81 said:
note to self: never buy a canon product again, since they waste company resources on prosecuting stuff that isn't related to their products.
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Rebel44 said:
I agree. Why should I give my money to someone who might later cause me big trouble without any reason.
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Agreed,this stinks,but I have heard that Samsung does it as well.


airbatica said:
And this is one advantage film has over digital photography....
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Very True !!! :) I still use film.
 
Do they honestly believe that the person who did this wouldn't/couldn't modify the Exif data?

Admittedly, many folks/criminals are stupid, but I'd imagine the individual who did something as big as this had thought things through and done some research.
 
Because the model is three years old, the device would likely have been serviced at least once since it was purchased
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I thought that was a little scary. I'd like my camera to last more than 3 years with out breaking during that time frame. Not exactly the best thing to say "our cameras usually break after 3 years so if the person got it fixed well have a record of it".
 
if he/she does get caught, I am sure they will say that their camera got "stolen" prior to the release of the book online
 
Honestly, I doubt they have any real intention of going after the person. The whole secrecy thing is just marketing to make more sales.

I must say, I love the book. Fantastic reading.
 
FK Harry Potter, that is nearly irrelevent.

The relevent item in the story is the instant VANISHING of privacy when you're own camera rats you out.

As a consumer I assume (cough) that Canon includes a setting to DISABLE the fingerprinting of the photo's? yes? no? :mad:

So much for even considering Canon products.... ever. Now who's POWNED. :eek: :p :D

Ntw Obermann was right, but he missed an opportunity that ms Rowling didn't :p
 
xX_Jack_Carver_Xx said:
FK Harry Potter, that is nearly irrelevent.

The relevent item in the story is the instant VANISHING of privacy when you're own camera rats you out.

As a consumer I assume (cough) that Canon includes a setting to DISABLE the fingerprinting of the photo's? yes? no? :mad:

So much for even considering Canon products.... ever. Now who's POWNED. :eek: :p :D

Ntw Obermann was right, but he missed an opportunity that ms Rowling didn't :p
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Exif data is created by virtually all digital cameras.
This thread is a perfect example of why I don't leave Genmay.:(
 
Nemesis999 said:
Canon's on my bad-list now too.

They're going to use personally identifiable information that was provided to them to perform a service to try to track someone? I'll take invasion of privacy for $1000 Alex.
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To track someone who broke the law you mean... Regardless of the merits of said law, which could be (and have been) debated forever, I don't see this as a case of big brother because an actual crime was in fact committed here. I see it as no different than tracking someone wanted for a crime by their trail of credit card/ATM use or something like that.
 
Oh darn. Now the Insurgents / smugglers of IEDs / nor snipers in Iraq, will use Canon products to photograph their handy work for uploading to the web, least
their identity be discovered.

Oh wait, we could just ask reporters.
 
I think the only way the camera could possibly be traced even if it had been serviced would be if all camera repair places/manufacturers were required to report each and every camera they serviced, and/or if there were some national (worldwide?) notification system looking for rogue cameras used for illegal activities.

Somehow I just don't see that happening. It would add a very complex layer of bureaucracy, legal enforcement and unnecessary expense that would, of course, have to be financed by raising digital camera prices/repair costs.
 
Lethal said:
I think the only way the camera could possibly be traced even if it had been serviced would be if all camera repair places/manufacturers were required to report each and every camera they serviced, and/or if there were some national (worldwide?) notification system looking for rogue cameras used for illegal activities.

Somehow I just don't see that happening. It would add a very complex layer of bureaucracy, legal enforcement and unnecessary expense that would, of course, have to be financed by raising digital camera prices/repair costs.
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While I agree with you, all their saying is that it's possible not that it's practical.


tvdang7 said:
i dont get how he will be caught? whats meta data?
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Meta data is information embedded within the a file that isn't part of the working data. Such as the author of a Word Document, or IDv3 data in an MP3.
 
munkle said:
I thought that was a little scary. I'd like my camera to last more than 3 years with out breaking during that time frame. Not exactly the best thing to say "our cameras usually break after 3 years so if the person got it fixed well have a record of it".
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All this Canon bashing is hilarious :D

The camera doesn't have to be broken to be serviced. In the article they said that a Canon Rebel 350 was used, which is a dslr which after time will get a dirty sensor and will have to be brought in to be cleaned (serviced). Any dslr from any company after use and depending what enviroment it's used in and if the lenses are changed a lot, will need to have the sensor cleaned. It's a fact of life when using a dslr. Some of the newer dslr's have self cleaning sensors such as the Digital Rebel XTi but not the 350.

EXIF data exists on every digital camera out there. Not just Canon's. Photographers use the data to examine their pictures, also to pass on info to other photographers. There is a way to get rid of it in post prosessing but in this case it seems as if the guy/gal didn't get rid of it since they know what type of camera was used.

Being a very amature photographer the EXIF does come in handy, but on the other hand I don't like the idea of bringing in my camera for servicing and then have them grab the serial number and my name and sending it off, all to be used at a future date, for what? I don't know. The idea of being anonymous is slowly becoming a thing of the past.

And if you really want to read this book, don't d/l it from a torrent site. Buy it or borrow it from a friend. Remember when borrowing a book from a friend was no big deal?
 
twatt said:
All this Canon bashing is hilarious :D

The camera doesn't have to be broken to be serviced. In the article they said that a Canon Rebel 350 was used, which is a dslr which after time will get a dirty sensor and will have to be brought in to be cleaned (serviced). Any dslr from any company after use and depending what enviroment it's used in and if the lenses are changed a lot, will need to have the sensor cleaned. It's a fact of life when using a dslr. Some of the newer dslr's have self cleaning sensors such as the Digital Rebel XTi but not the 350.

EXIF data exists on every digital camera out there. Not just Canon's. Photographers use the data to examine their pictures, also to pass on info to other photographers. There is a way to get rid of it in post prosessing but in this case it seems as if the guy/gal didn't get rid of it since they know what type of camera was used.

Being a very amature photographer the EXIF does come in handy, but on the other hand I don't like the idea of bringing in my camera for servicing and then have them grab the serial number and my name and sending it off, all to be used at a future date, for what? I don't know. The idea of being anonymous is slowly becoming a thing of the past.

And if you really want to read this book, don't d/l it from a torrent site. Buy it or borrow it from a friend. Remember when borrowing a book from a friend was no big deal?
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Anonymity: take a number, have a seat with the other numbers. We'll call you if your number comes up.
 
Tabs said:
To track someone who broke the law you mean... Regardless of the merits of said law, which could be (and have been) debated forever, I don't see this as a case of big brother because an actual crime was in fact committed here. I see it as no different than tracking someone wanted for a crime by their trail of credit card/ATM use or something like that.
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look at the overall trend, the government seems to want to track everything we do. Take the red light cameras, some stores track cc purchases and the send ya junk mail just from the info on the cc account.It's just a matter of time before thing start looking more orwellian, and that is not something i'm looking forward to. Just too depressing.
 
"From what we know, the device is one of the original Rebel cameras, probably a 350D, and given that they've been out for three years, it's likely the owner would have had it cleaned or repaired in that time."
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ok they say they 'probably' know what it was. if it was serviced, we all know he wouldn't get the original camera back, much like hard drive servicing :D.


but this pretty much blows though.
 
True it is unlikely that the guy will get cought. Most cameras are not serviced do to extreme labor costs. More than likely they can find out when it was made, what store it was shipped to and roughly when it was baught. They then get a list of customers and a list of people that worked at shipping companies that handled the book, stores that had it in stock at the time, and people that worked at the printers. This would likely give them a list of a few thousand customers to link with several thousand employees. It would take some time and money, but likely would give them a short list of possibly 1-5 people. If they really wanted to they could get the person.

Does it matter... NO!!!! The very few people that are willing to download this and read it on the computer is very little. The pictures are not that good and on many of the pages it was hard to see the words near the binding do to the page being curved. I know that Amizon had over 2 million pre-orders and the US was only getting 12 million copies for the release date. Needless to say all 12 million will likely sell all 12 million the first weekend. I would say this might impact less than .001% of their sales and might actually increase sales from extra press.

As for the spoilers... so what. I do not read a book for a paragraph of facts about, but rather for the skill and creativity of the writer. Yes I have a copy that I pre-ordered on Amizon probably 4 months ago. It did not show up until about 3pm yesterday though and with 3 kids I have little time to read. Yes I have all the other books in the series that. I also own the DVD for the first 4 and have seen the 5th in the theators. I am about 200 pages into the 7th book and it looks very good so far. The spoiler has not effected this one bit. It is dark and light at the same time... funny and serious throughout. It is a good mixture and I think is shaping up to be the best book she has writen so far. Yes people die... yes the last spoilers were dead on. Yes the book posted (Sunday I think) is the real thing.... so what. Get the book, read it, and enjoy it.
 
Note to self: don't get camera I took "those" pictures with in to get serviced
 
c4eater said:
If the offender is caught, I suggest punishment outside of the US, so Bush has no opportunity to pardon him/her.
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I doubt that would happen.

Bush was the one that signed the law into place that says theatre ppl can detain and interrogate you if you so much as snap a cell phone screenshot of a movie, and the theatre ppl are immune from civil and criminal prosecution if they do so.

The RIAA and MPAA have bought tons of political figures (just look at the donations from music or movie industries, some websites have that public info on who donates how much to whom). And they've written "draft" laws that end up getting passed verbatim in a number of states.
 
So Canon is volunteering to help hunt down one of their customers who might have violated a copyright? (the alternative is someone else used their camera to do so)

Makes me glad I avoid Canon products. Way to go there Canon, sell out your customers every chance you get. That'll keep them coming back for more.
 
This reminds me of when HP/someone had miniature "finger-printing" generated from their printers, that could act as a GUID.

I'll keep happily buying Canon though; I like their products, and honestly, if you're that fucking dumb to leave EXIF data laying around, you probably deserve to get caught. All cameras generate EXIF data and leave copious amounts of data in there, nothing new. Apertures, settings, etc, it's pretty useful info.

Pretty sure Photoshop (for one) mangles EXIF data anyways, at least for me it does. It poofs after I edit & save. :(
 
This guy won't get caught, lol. If he was dumb enough to leave his "finger prints" behind, then it's his own fault.

I'm surprised Cannon is helping out in this, this whole Harry Potter secrecy thing is a little ridiculous.
 
movax said:
This reminds me of when HP/someone had miniature "finger-printing" generated from their printers, that could act as a GUID.
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"when"? Its still ongoing. And its not just HP/somone, its EVERYONE.

http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/list.php
The only ones I see not doing it are okidata and samsung.
Keep in mind that this is 100% voluntary on the printer companies part.

Nearly all color lasers produce nearly invisible yellow tracking dots on all output pages that identify its serial number. Essentially a fingerprint. It enables "authorities" to track down a particular printed output to a particular printer. Note that this is in the printer hardware. Its quite possible software drivers from places like HP also phone home with printer serial information as well, so they can match IPs to the hardware fingerprint.

Its similar to when Russia had samples of tons and tons of typewriters so they could identify which typewriter did certain output, in case they needed to go after someone for saying something against the government. There was an entire section of the KGB devoted to this task.
 
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