"After two months of trying to crack the code -- a process that involved factoring two huge prime numbers"

Yes folks. We are just so damned good, we can actually factor prime numbers!

At least it's close by media standards.

Gauss factored a prime number once. He just stared at the poor thing for ten minutes and it broke into pieces, sobbing.

Gauss also once proved the quadratic reciprocity law using a piece of string, a ham sandwich, and an old shoe.

> ... two months of trying ...

This amuses me, it makes it sound like he was guessing random numbers. There was no "trying" it was a single attempt that happened to take two months.

Also, you know you're a nerd when you see 'WSJ' and think Weekly Shonen Jump.

Oh, so it's not weekly shonen jump? This makes more sense now!

I prefer geek, not nerd. ;-)

I want a metakernel for TI-89 and TI-Nspire CAS

hpcalc.org/details.php?id=213

I seem to remember one other article that was published a little while back that had a comment from TI (though I can't remember which one). It was also very short, something to the effect of “The TI-OS software is copyrighted. We will protect our intellectual property.”

There's one that says: "Lynn Windle, media relations manager for Texas Instruments, declined to comment on the case. 'I'd like to refer you to our DMCA take-down notice," she says. "It lays out our position in this matter, and we have nothing more to add at this time.'"

Yeah, that's the one I was thinking of.

Is there any reason we can't send out a press release? Maybe tilt some articles in our favor, get some TV coverage...

Why would 'we' need to? And what would 'we' say? What articles have their been that haven't been in their favor?

The EFF is handling this and yes they do make press releases. When there is enough of an update someone can get something onto slashdot which is good for a massive amount of publicity.

The coverage they are getting is snowballing and thats a good thing. Sit back and enjoy the show.

As yesterday's front page Wall Street Journal article makes clear, TI calculator hobbyists have every and any reason to want to hack their calculators. So why is TI sending cease and desist letters to people publishing the signing keys needed for installing custom operating systems? The company says that they are protecting their intellectual property, but for the reasons set forth in the letter the Electronic Frontier Foundation sent to TI (available on our website), publishing signing keys doesn't violate the law. TI tacitly accepts our view because they didn't respond to that letter, or to our subsequent DMCA safe harbor counter-notice, and our clients' posts are back online.

Everyone's case is different, but if you got a cease and desist letter demanding that you take down a post containing or discussing any of the currently released signing keys for one of TI's unencrypted operating systems, you may have the same legal grounds for resisting TI's demands. To learn more about your Coders' Rights, visit the URL above.

Jennifer Granick
Civil Liberties Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation

I've heard that TI continued to send C&D letters, but maybe I just misinterpreted it.

They have, even though they still have no legal basis. They did this to Astrid Smith, who filed a counter-notice, and his content was restored two weeks later without any further intervention by TI (as of this writing).

One thing I am curious about is if the laws and protections in Sweden would allow Ticalc.org to host the keys

I don't know what the actual Swedish law says, but we've been told not to host the keys on this server, though we are allowed to post a link to another website with the keys on them.

Told by whom? TI?

By The Powers That Be at ticalc.org, to be on the safe side.

Somebody should set up a tor hidden service with a simple Apache web page.

Why bother? They are already publically available numerous places.

Besides, once something hits the web it's impossable to "erase" completely. There's always going to be someone, somewhere with a copy to republish.

Good, bad, or indifferent the keys have certainly been out long enough that it's going to be "out there" for good.

If nothing else, they have a permanent home on Wikileaks and http://brandonw.net/ calculators/keys/