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Student Gets PC Confiscated For Distributing MP3s
MagicYoshi writes "Ziff Davis has this story about Oklahoma State University confiscating a student's PC after the RIAA complained that he was distributing copyrighted music and movies." This doesn't make any sense: why would you go after this kid? Shouldn't you sue the people who wrote his operating system and FTP server? *cough* *cough*.
What he did is illegal.
Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
It also doesn't say anything about other people copying those works. In fact, it doesn't say much at all. That's the wonderful thing about the Constititution. It's written in such vague language you need the Supreme Court to ultimately decide which of the 10 gazillion interpretations of that sentence is the true binding one.
What the fuck do you want? The RIAA shouldn't go after a service that is a haven for music piracy and they shouldn't go after music pirates? Maybe you'd like them simply to spend millions of dollars producing, promoting and distributing music then give away CDs just like AOL. No, quite honestly I'd prefer for the RIAA to go away, die completely, and let the actual content producers (read: "artists") take control of their own product back. Nobody's asking for giveaways. I think most of us are just a bit tired of grabbing our ankles for the sake of RIAA's profit margins.
Read my stuff.
Yet, surprisingly enough, this is the only method with which you can teach some people.
Personally, I can't stand people who
a) know they are doing something illegal
and
b) know that the only reason why they get away with it is that legal action against them is too much hassle. Hiding behind the masses if you will.
A little personal accountability is nice at times and there's nothing better to remind you of this than realising that the person whose life is now screwed up could have been you ( yeah, "make an example" ).
Nobody would really care if napster were shut down permanently. Sure, you'd move over to another service, which is hassle. But if you were being sued yourself, now that'd be a completely different matter...
The D00d
He was prosecuted by the federal government under federal wire fraud statutes, but the case was dismissed because the judge found that copyright infringement cannot be prosecuted under the wire fraud statute.
I wonder if the DMCA has superseded this precedent (though the Massachusetts case may not apply in Oklahoma), which seemed to make FTP sites into "common carriers" in the eyes of the law. More information here.
I am relieved to find that the competent officials not only seized the students computer, but also his scanner and printer. Thank GOD. That man had the capability to start copying and distributing WRITTEN PICTURES AND WORDS!!! Nice one, OSU, nip piracy in the bud.
LOL! You should get a Score: 5, Funny for that one. ;)
Connah
Connah
"Your mouse has moved. Windows NT must be restarted for this change to take effect."
SOunds like a bunch of idiotic winblows admins
crowded around a Unixbox trying to figure where to click their little mouse.
um .. everybody has the power to issue subpoenas. What you need to do is go down to the country court house where the crime was committed and request a subpoena. Granted, being a huge organization the riaa can prolly make the wheels of the court house spin a little faster, but they arn't *that* unique.
He wasn't just some Warez d00d. He hardly had *any* studio material. His site consisted almost entirely of live/rare/acoustic stuff. I've known/been trading rare stuff with this guy for a long time now.
So, just add copying MP3's to the growing list of things that people like to do but are illegal. Things that can drain millions of dollars from the economy in legal fees, court cases, high prices from artificial scarcity, costs of creating pointless encryption schemes, pointless police busts.
Doesn't it make sense that the way to create value in our economy (ie, make money) is to see what people like to do, and then figure out a way to profit from it?
Not that I feel particularly sorry for this kid, but I wonder what the RIAA is going to accomplish in their grand scheme of things.
I wish I had moderator points right now =)
-- Dr. Eldarion --
I think Taco was being facetious...
Woz
Is it civil disobedience when I drive 75 miles per hour on the highway? Nope, not in Colorado (speed limit is 75MPH :)
Seriously, I disagree that this is hypocracy. Like I've argued a bit already in other threads of this discussion, nobody's asking for a free ride. Well, okay, some probably are, but I'm not one of them. I don't want to steal from an artist. I also don't want to pile more money into middlemen who don't deserve any of it!
Who should get prosecuted? The technology or the individual? NEITHER! Nobody should be arrested for wanting to listen to music without shelling out money to pay for a manager, publicist, ad agency, and other such useless folk.
Something has to change -- it certainly isn't getting any better now.
Read my stuff.
That's nothing --
My roomate in HS had his computer confiscated simply because someone called up the university, accused my roomate of running software the caller owned (some "talker" software), and threatened to sue. He never even offered to produce evidence that his claims were valid, yet the university acted anyway.
After having delt with college computing facilities as a student and having worked at one, as well as hearing from friends who have done the same, I can speak with some authority. If the claims even appear to be valid and unless the computing center feels like risking relations with the other departments by putting the whole school in a situation where legal proceedings could be brought, they will likely do whatever the complainers say.
What could realy make my day is publishing companies going after Public and University libraries and Xerox corporation.
In fact I think I'm going to go after them myself.
The fact that somewhere some unwashed graduate student is making copies of my scientific papers (my flesh and blood, so to speak) with the quality very close to the original and shares them with other unwashed graduated students (and may be, God forbid, reads those copies in the bathroom) and public and university libraries geting shitload of money on copy fees and Xerox corporation selling those godawfull machines make me loos my sleep and apetite.
I feel violated.
regards
- Back off man. I am a scientist
I think they kinda missed a couple of people. Like the other million college students which are distributing. I hope they go for the ones who are distributing the Backstreet Boys first. then I wouldn't argue
Get paid to code OSS
It is a known fact that the record companies charge artificially high prices for music
It's a known fact that every business charges more for it's goods and services than it costs to produce, it's called capitalism. Any industry that doesn't turn a profit (save startups) won't last very long. While I agree that the record companies take the point and run with it, they're in business to make a buck, just like everyone else. And I agree with the original poster: if this was me or you, getting some songs to listen to, that's one thing. But advertising anonymous access is just asking for trouble.
The Good Reverend
...and you break them - you're gonna get in trouble when you're caught.
Civil disobedience is one thing - but if you take it to far you may end up being a martyr for your cause.
BlackNova Traders
It depends on whether he was using a Win98 system with Serv-U FTP or if it was a Linux box with Apache. Hell, it could've been NT4 with Microsoft FTP (that one won't let you use the REST command to resume downloads!).
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
Billionaires for Bush or Gore
They're hoping it will have a chilling effect for other students/universities.
"See, if you distribute MP3's we're gonna getcha no matter if it's one or a million."
Warning! Keep Out of Eyes! Wash Out with Water! Don't Drink Soap! Dilute! Dilute!
No, because he deliberately used the OS and FTP to do something illegal. Let's go after all knife manufacturer's, even the ones who make butter knives.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Once again, I'm quite sure Taco was being facetious...
Woz
MP3's in the news? NO WAY!!!
I was just talking to my friend about how a GPL wasn't being broken and nothing about MP3's was on slashdot. I thought something was going wrong. Can we stay away from these articles? They are getting REALLY REALLY old, and its the same-old stuff. Slashdot is getting to be more like "news for nerds interested in the MP3 scandal and the GPL" than "news for nerds. stuff that matters"...
-- "Almost everyone is an idiot. If you think I'm exaggerating, then you're one of them."
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
What they don't tell in the article is that 99.9% of the mp3's this kid had were rare/live/acoustic songs. He had maybe 2 or 3 studio albums on his site that people have uploaded.
it was siezed. The student is facing criminal charges, so they siezed his computer so they could do forensic stuff to it. Much like a car might be siezed if they thought you killed someone.
/*
*Not a Sermon, Just a Thought
*/
*Not a Sermon, Just a Thought
*/
I'm sure he's running Windows or something, but imagine if he was as 1337 as all of you and running Linux, and the RIAA started suing all the major Linux distro companies?
Ooh, there's something to suggest... It's open source, so it must be evil.
--
Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057
[o]_O
only legal.
This is a bad, bad precedent to set...
Shouldn't you sue the people who wrote his operating system and FTP server?
The RIAA and MPAA wish to thank you for your insight. Indeed, we will very soon unleash our blood-thirsty lawyers on all persons who work or have worked on "Open-Source" network software, including their parent operating systems. Such software is not tolerable in a modern, free, capitalist world.
From now on, everybody is required to run Microsoft Windows(tm) software and pay a mandatory fee of $399/month as a provisional royalty payment for listening to sound and music.
Thank you.
/max
-- It's always darker before it goes pitch black.
Ignoring your mainly pathetic, ignorant, uneducated and obviously whiny central point - let me also dash your desire for Scram disk.
...
So you've got this encrypted volume with ultra super duper mega uncrackable security. Even the NSA can't break it - the only way in is by knowing your way obtuse and totally freaky weird password.
Guess what - it'll be effortless for police to get in. Why? Because they'll ask you for the password. Simple as that. "Joe, what is the password?" they'll say and expect you to answer correctly. You don't/won't? The judge will order you to or be found in contempt of court. Don't/won't? You'll go to jail - later be asked again. Still won't? You'll be found guilty of obstruction of justice and put in jail. Upon release you'll be asked again - won't do it? Repeat the above. AND you don't even have to be guilty of the original charge. No one cares at that point.
Oh - decide you want to install some "insto-delete-it-and-overwrite-it" software? Cops come in and you hit Ctl-Alt-Shift-Z and even the NSA can't read the drive. Into jail you go for destruction of evidence, obstruction of justice AND they'll prosecute you anyway and they will claim they say this or that on your system and have screen shots and print outs andyou'll have NOTHING to counter with other than "No, you're lying but I erased my proof cause I wanted to but I'm innocent."
So, Shmoe - feel better
Compressing audio with the MP3 algorithm, storing such files, and playing them back is certainly not illegal.
If you don't have a license from Fraunhofer/Thomson, making, using, or selling MP3 files is patent infringement.
<O
( \
XGNOME vs. KDE: the game!
Will I retire or break 10K?
No, quite honestly I'd prefer for the RIAA to go away, die completely, and let the actual content producers (read: "artists") take control of their own product back.
The content producers who own their own copyrights have spoken loud and clear about how they feel about sharing music.
I have no idea where the mistaken assumption comes from that artists are OK with their music being pirated. it's just one of those slashdot myths I guess.
Hell, I'll even round them up for ya.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
We have (or rather, had) the same problem here at UIUC. Before the networking guys imposed a 500MB/day transfer limit on each computer in the dorms, a frighteningly large percentage of the campus bandwidth was being used for MP3s. (If I remember correctly the statistic was somewhere around 10%!)
Also amusing is the fact that computers in the dorms here regularly show up higher on the bandwidth usage than ANY of the other machines on campus, including research computers and machines at on-campus organizations such as the NCSA, which does HUGE amounts of data transfer for their computational simulations.
Check out the by-day bandwidth usage statistics here.
kugano
First of all, it says that the article is from By Cecily Barnes, CNET News.com, not Ziff-Davis, and it's on YAHOO!
...to download MP3 music files and even several full-length movies.
...
As far as the article:
(snip)
The seized computer gear included 105 gigabytes of hard drive space, of which about 40GB were made available to visitors. Assuming the average music file occupies about 4MB, the student could have had approximately 10,000 songs available for download.
Hmm, he's got both FULL LENGTH MOVIES and music files on his system. That means it is quite impossible for all of the 40 gigs available to the public to be nothing but MP3 files. DUH!
As far as the student, he is a moron. If you plan on running an ILLEGAL MP3 SITE on THE UNIVERSITIES BANDWIDTH, you cannot honestly expect to continue running it for an extended period of time without somebody (like the sysadmin) noticing that you are being a bandwidth hog.
I find it interesting that the RIAA is going after him as opposed to the MPAA for distributing illegal movies as well.
I am also somewhat glad that the RIAA had his account pulled. Look at this quote:
"He was advocating other people to download the music and upload music he didn't have," said James Alexander, an OSU assistant director. "He'd been advertising in chat rooms and we decided to notify the police."
SPAMMER! DIE!br>
Legal info: The points of view represented above are those of I and I alone. Not those of my friends, relatives or parents, who are deeply offended.
Kris
botboy60@hotmail.com
Nerdnetwork.net
Kris
botboy60@hotmail.com
Nerdnetwork.net
The only two that I can think of require seperate, add on equipment.
Add some hidden cameras thought the neighbours' apartments, and you have a possible crime.
Add a VCR or DVD player, move the television next to the window, and you may be violating copyright. (public viewing)
Aside from that I cannot see how use of a television can be a part of a crime.
THIS JUST IN
RIAA sues clerk for humming, whistling. Details to follow...
-----------
end communication
cnet also ran this story, and there was this choice quote;
Everett Eaton, public safety director at OSU, said the department obtained a search warrant from the Payne County District Court in Oklahoma and seized the student's computer equipment.
"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is there," Eaton said. "After we finish that review, we will evaluate the amount of substance he was distributing."
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Exactly! Nobody is above or immune from the law, not even the lawmakers. And the best way to get laws changed is to become a lawmaker!
-Citizens for the election of Andrew Dvorak to a seat in Congress representing the 1651213th Congressional District.
Why isn't this a /. 'Your Rights Online' article? Where is the legislation that gives them this right? When was it granted?
"Open code, in other words, can be a check on state power." -Lawrence Lessig
Obviously this person had enough material in distribution to constitute a major violation. After all, they're not "blaming the messenger" on this one. I'm OK with that. What I mean is that Napster, ftp, IRC are just tools, like plenty of others with potentially misguided uses. You don't sue the makers of Slim Jims because crooks use them to illegally open car doors. You don't sue the makers of radar detectors because people use them to get away with speeding. You don't sue the makers of guns because people use them to shoot other people. It would be simply unjust to take away the legal uses of such tools, EVEN if misuse is widespread. It's pretty hard to refute this argument, in my opinion. This case is something else entirely -- they're prosecuting the accused. No problem there. The message - don't be stupid about MP3's, and above all, don't get caught!
Quite simple. I never said I don't want to pay for the artist's work, I just don't want to pay for managers, advertising, and other such middle-men. How much money do the artists really see out of the (minimum of) $15 one shells out for a new CD? A few cents? Smeg that. I'd pay something reasonable for an album, perhaps a few dollars, but only if it goes straight into the artist's pocket. Is that clear enough for you to grasp or do I need to get out the crayons? And as far as asking the RIAA to set an example, you're damned right I still insist they do it. Shouldn't be tossing rocks when they live in a shiny glass house. Can you honestly say you believe that everybody who works for the RIAA, including the very same people pushing all this litigation, are totally innocent and have never copied a CD? To phrase it a different way, do you really think the owners of the major record labels have to pay for the albums their companies produce? Didn't think so.
Read my stuff.
On the one hand, you say "he was doing something illegal, good thing they got him". On the other hand you say that you do legally the exact same thing. The fact that the mode of distribution differs in your eyes is an immensely hypocritical rationalisation. The law doesn't care and wouldn't make that distinction - you (and I) practice the same copyright infringement as he does (he wasn't selling this stuff for profit). That's why you should be concerned.
Don't confuse legality with morality (and don't assume anyone else will agree with your morality anyway).
> Intellectual property is theft
Oh please. Are you saying using someone else's concepts such as math and physics is theft?
Intellectual property rights are neither.
The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property Rights
This doesn't make any sense: why would you go after this kid?
I know you all have some silly ideas, but there is this thing called holding people responsible for their actions. I know its been passe for the past 20 years or so, but it really isn't such a bad idea.
I for one would be incredibly entertained if they started going after individual Napster users for copyright violations...It would be great
Judge: Your defense, Mr. er, Eleet Haxor
Haxor: Information wants to be free! I'm stickin' it to the Man!
Judge: Interesting... (gavel slams) Guilty as Charged!
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
The campus police did not just choose to confiscate his computer. They were able to get a search warrent allowing them to sieze his computer equipment.
I aggree though, that it would be very wrong for the campus police to sieze his equipment without any search warrent or anyother hint of due-process.
Come test your mettle in the world of Alter Aeon!
The student didn't get his PC confiscated for distributing MP3. He was busted for distributing copyrighted music he didn't have the right to distribute (doesn't matter if he owned the original CD or not).
/. or EFF...
When some warez kiddies are busted for posting copies of Office 2000 - why doesn't the community rise up to protect him declaring: "Computer User Arrested For Distributing RAR files!" They are coming after the RAR format! They want to stiffle our ability to compress! Those bastards! They are trying to slow us down by making us send larger files! It's a plot by the ZIP format MiBs! They want to make us use large single ZIPs instead of chasing down and making repost requests for Photoshop55DoD.r32 or the SFV file.
Oh the hypocracy! I like playing a game. Every time I read about "Save Napster" or how it should be legal to steal music and distribute it - I just replace the appropriate words/terms with those for warez. Gee - don't ever see that on
db
Thanks for playing, but you're not exactly "in the know". 1) This kid built up almost his entire collection of *Live/Acoustic/Rare* mp3's on a modem/dsl line at home. 2) He didn't just let anyone leech off his server. He creates accounts for other people who have lots of rare/acoustic songs that he doesn't have and trades with only them.
This kid wasn't exactly a bandwidth hog, and you sound like an idiot when you make unfounded claims like that with *no* evidence what so ever.
in the case of MP3s I think a vast majority of people KNOW they are stealing but don't feel bad about it.
I think the vast majority of people in jail for theft knew they were stealing but didn't feel bad about it.
Just because you've been here a while doesn't mean you have anything worthwhile to say. :)
Seniority doesn't always work.
Malk-a-mite
First,let me say that I am a student at OSU. Until recently, the campus has been pretty cool about mp3's, letting napster run rampant ( we havent had the problems of it sucking all the bandwidth). Now we find that they are gonna go after an mp3 pirate. OK fine, they are legally obligated to do so after they are informed that such a thing is taking place. My problem is the fact that cracking runs rampant on campus and there is little if any enoforcement on that. I have forwarded attack logs on several occasions (none of the attacks have been successful so far), and have heard nothing from them. Aren't they legally obligated to do something about that? Its attempted breaking and entering, which is a crime I'd consider more serious than copyright infringement. In my opinion, they need to stop wasting their time with this RIAA bs, and actually do something of service to the students, like maybe help stop the cracking on campus. Once they do that, then if they feel the need to be the RIAA's lapdog, thats their business. Do what the students and state government pay you to do, provide a safe and reasonably secure network. Then worry about the rest.
"My head hurts, My feet stink, and I dont love Jesus." -Jimmy Buffett
This cannot be equated with distributing violations of the GPL, because there is no non-commercial reason to distribute a violation of the GPL. You are specifically allowed to distribute GPLed software in binary form only for non-commercial use.
ok then your [sic] infringing on my copyright! Could you as [sic] me next time before STEALING my comments for your own?
I'm a friend of his. I have known this individual for quite a long time. He told me about his computer being confiscated the day it happened.
Thanks for saving me the trouble of expressing that. You did it better than I would've, anyhow.
-Waldo
People are going on about how mp3's aren't illegal.. I mis worded.. Mp3's are legal if you own the albums and blah blah blah you know all that stuff.. but What he was doing with the mp3s was illegal. Therefore, he should be punished.. Maybe not having his computer taken away, but going to find, *.mp3 and deleting them all. :)
-TimmyC, Tech Guru
Billy: Sorry teacher... The RIAA confescated my PC. Teacher: That's the stupidest excuse I have ever heard, report to the principals office!! Billy: But.. Damn, I should have just said my dog ate it.
Free Online Woodworking Resources Directory
The point of the case against Napster seems to be that of personal / fair use (i.e. giving a copy to a friend... who might buy the CD anyway later). The fact that it is an FTP server of such a magnitude seems to fall outside even that.
/.) are committed to software (and IP as a whole) being free regardless of copyright issues. In short they say we value free (even pirated) beer. I say we value free speech more (and any free beer is a welcome bonus).
More worringly for me is the fact that a large number of comments are aimed at the RIAA, which, while many may be valid, makes me fear that we are unwittingly, just endorsing their claim that the open source movement (those who participate
Karma makes sense. It makes a lot more sense if you add reincarnation.
Have you been to a large college lately?
After visiting a large number of universities I have come to the conclusion that all college students are pure evil. They drink, party, rave, destroy valuable goods and now distribute MP3!!!... all in the name of fun.
They travel in packs... so make sure you take something to deter them in the event you are seen. I recommend either a small amount of illegal substances (mp3 or drugs) and to toss these in the oppossite direction you are fleeing.
Be safe, Be aware, just dont use Be.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
The campus police at the State University that I'm most familiar with are actually deputies of the local County Sherriff's office that are given new uniforms. The University pays to rent the employees from the Sherriff's department, but I don't believe they're actually employees of the University.
-
aw, come on man...all the cool kids are gettin' their degrees from the University of Oklahoma at Portland.
My only question is why a post like that was moderated up to 3. Is this the day the teddy-bears have their picnic or something?
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
It is a known fact that the record companies charge artificially high prices for music, and the artist sees very very little of this money
And how many of this kids 40+ gigs do you suppose was filled with new, unappreciated, or otherwise struggling artists? Or do you suppose this was 40 gigs of Metallica, Madonna, Master P and similar high-profile artists, who have no trouble making money under the current system?
People who steal from the rich (record companies) and give to the poor (college students who enjoy music) are seen as modern day "Robin Hood"s and are considered heros, just like the legendary person.
First of all, Robin Hood, at least how you know him, is a work of pure fiction. If there ever was a real-life basis for Robin Hood (something that is debatable by historians), he likely was nothing more than a common thief. The fact that he happened to be stealing from an unpopular king is probably the only thing that made him famous.
Second, let's get a little perspective here, shall we? We're talking about the theft of music CD's via the MP3 file format: a luxury item. Let me repeat that: A Luxury Item. You can live without music. You can make your own music, or only listen to music created by those who don't try to sell it at exorbinate prices. Go downtown in an city of size on Friday or Saturday night, and you can hear a live bands all night for a few dollars cover. Attend local music festivals, and hear more music than you can probably listen to.
But please, do not point at a $15 Metallica CD, and cry to everone who will listen about how wrong it is to charge such a price, and how you must steal it to defeat the evil record companies. That's just pathetic.
"But I totally disagree with going after his OS maker and FTP software writer. That is just plain DUMB."
I hope you are trying to be funny. Taco is also trying to be funny! IF you have been keeping up with the napster case you would see a humorous irony in his statement... He in no way meant for people to take him literally. Hello? I think you need to get back in the game.
I urge anyone who is outraged by this to join the DigitalContent PAC, a new grassroots organization that will represent the rights of citizens with these issues.
http://www.egroups.com/group/DigitalContent
DigitalContent PAC
OliverWillis.Com
An Operative with an Agenda
Yes, he had 40 gigs of *LIVE* and *ACOUSTIC* performances - not studio albums. There is nothing criminal in have 100 gigs of harddrive space either. I have 60 gigs to store the mp3's of all the CD's I own (as well as to have large amounts of space free while doing video and sound editing). People here on slashdot need to quick jumping to conclusions based on knowledge they *don't* have.
I didn't mention Napster in my post at all. Napster wasn't mentioned in the story submission either. Any inferred connection between the two is a product of your imagination.
If anything, I should be guilty of -1: Offtopic instead of unwarranted linkage of the two.
do anything except claim that your desire to get music for free is some sort of noble cause.
I never claimed in my post that I want music for free; indeed, I have no such desire. For the past three years I have completely boycotted all North American record labels and music produced by such labels, but I spend plenty of money on CDs made outside of North America.
Free music is not a noble cause and is not worth the risk of civil disobedience. Free speech is.
> ...beg in the street or work on
> something else to survive.
Some of the best musicians I know have jobs during the day.
Music is important in the lives of all people in all cultures. Creating and listening to music is something that all people do, and the way this has been corrupted by the music "industry" is sad.
The fact that people will argue for the economic "rights" of musicians today just shows how far capitalism has been ingrained into American lives.
There are things more important than money, and there are actually musicians out there that realize this.
Being a martyr involves getting killed.
What the fuck do you want?
I want free music, dammit! That is what this is all about, isn't it? So why not just admit it?
Hello, my name is Barney, and I don't want to pay for music.
"It starts becoming a major world issue when record and movie companies buy laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which say that I cannot even listen to SDMI music or watch DVD movies except under their terms."
Don't buy the product if you don't like the licnese. It's morally wrong for you to tell others what they should do with thier own property.
The problem is that the license not to use DVDs on unlicensed players is created by enacting criminal legislation, rather than being negotiated at time of sale, and affects more than just people who buy DVDs.
If you think it's morally wrong to tell others what they should do with their property, you should certainly agree that it's morally wrong to pass a law preventing a person, who might not have ever purchased DVDs and therefore would not be subject to any agreement with the MPRAA, from distributing a program which they have a license from the author to distribute, merely because it is possible to use that program in a way that might break some third party's agreement with the MPAA.
"It's a major issue that even if I have the technical skills to circumvent their restrictions, I can't utilize or publicize those skills for fear of turning into a Jon Johansen"
Don't break the law, and you'll not have any problems. Simple.
But the law in question, by your own statement about the morality of telling others what to do with their property, is immoral. Distributing or creating a program that decrypts CSS-encrypted material violates no one's property rights. Even if it is possible to use it in such a way, that should not be grounds for its creation and distribution to be prohibited by law.
Really? Over here it's because someone is downloading an ISO of some Linux distro.
In other words, stop complaining.
I have a positive modifier on Troll. When I mod someone Troll their karma should go UP!
and it was dumb, they mentioned i was stealing from so and so, and i had 1 mp3 of them. they get all pissy about the maybe 50 major label ones i had, mostly covers, and a lot of the ones they got mad about, were legit, i had the cd sitting not 6 feet from me.
since then, i leave it just for access by my friends, and we try new things out, and then we go spend tons to expand our huge cd collections. and i havn't once gotten notice about that.
i still don't know what the music industry is complaining about. i don't watch mtv, or listen to the trash on the radio. mp3 is how i hear new things. it's not the new things they want me to hear i guess.
i've bought more cds from downloading the albums, or a couple of songs, than i have any other manner. i think i've bought 1 cd from the radio, about 50 because my friends showed the bands to me. and about 150 because i checked them out in mp3 beforehand, and i buy it as soon as i have the cash and can afford the cd.
but, i guess they'd rather me not buy anything at all if they won't let me hear it. so, maybe i will just stop buying for all the good it does me.
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"don't smoke, don't drink, don't fuck
at least i can fucking think"
Minor Threat
You are not playing back the material, you are playing back the contents. You seem to have greatly confused contents and material. There is nothing stopping you from spinning the disc in a machine, just like there's nothing stopping you from throwing it against a wall.
What there is, is a law stopping you from reading the contents, which you claim no right on.
It might not be the right law, or morally correct, but it's there, and it's what they decided to do. Either live with it, or do something that is not illegal to protest (stop buying DVDs might be a start).
iain
"Life is unfair, kill yourself or get over it"
What's the logic here? The programmers didn't write the OS and server with the intent that the kid would use it to break copyright laws. The kid, however, did use them to do so, so of course he's going to get in trouble. What's the part that doesn't make sense? If you do something wrong, you get in trouble.
As far as going after the other millions who do the same thing, they have to start somewhere. They can't nab all child pornographers at once but they're sure as hell going to get one at a time.
Defend what the kid did if you want, but it's currently illegal. He gets what's coming to him.
Love, Stu
Some of those blue laws are still inforced. The 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick Supreem Court case upheld a Georgia anti-sodemy law. The Court ruled that there was nothing unconstitutional about regulating sexual interactions between consenting adults in private. I have two friends who got tickets in Austin for oral sex. This guy was getting a B.J. from his girlfriend in the front seat of his car while parked in a supermarket parking lot. A cop happened to walk by at just that time. He got two tickets, one for indecent exposure and one for oral sex. She got a ticket for oral sex. It is important to note that in the Bowers v. Hardwick case, all three branches had to agree for the charge to hold.
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Im not trolling I brought up sex because it best illustrates my point.
You can have your documents (Yes, the files on your hard drive are documents) subponead. Just as if your ledger is inside a safe, the courts can make you open the safe to get the ledger, you can be forced to unencrypt your documents.
Failure to do so is considered to be contempt of court. There is no maximum amount of jail time for contempt of court.
I understand that it is a tool and do agree with that. But unfortunately, it is hardly ever used for legal trading. Most people who use Napster use it to trade copyrighted work that is illegal to distribute. Until there is a way to combat that use effectively, I see nothing wrong with shutting Napster down. Of course, I'm not the judge.
Love, Stu
Was is civil disobedience when Thoreau refused to pay taxes, or was he just a punk trying to save himself some cash? He went to jail for it, and pointed out that anyone else should be prepared to do the same if they choose to protest a law they believe to be unjust by violating it.
Your claim that they don't care to pay for music doesn't pan out in light of the record profits posted by the music industry since the introduction of mp3 technology and Napster. Students are still buying music, they're just listening to mp3's as well. On the other hand, if music sharing is in part a form of protest against documented price fixing by the industry, or protest against what are perceived to be unjust copyright laws, then there is clearly an element of civil disobedience. Protesters, however, should be prepared to pay the price for their cause.
Having to borrow a friend's machine to play Unreal probably doesn't qualify this kid as a Martyr. If he were incarcerated for several months without a trial, then perhaps he would be, even without a cause. Ask Kevin Mitnick about it.
2) Campus police.. are they 'real' police? Can they sieze things? (I honestly have no idea.. someone fill me in?)
In this case, I don't think this is an issue. Their administration was notified of a possible crime, handed it over to campus police, (who real or not, often "investigate" most non-serious/non-violent campus crimes) who obtained a search warrent. It sounds to me that everything was handled properly as far as his rights go. (I still wouldn't want to be him right now)
Come test your mettle in the world of Alter Aeon!
Oh yeah - and it wasn't just distributing anything/everything to random people. He allowed people who had rare/acoustic/live stuff to trade to upload to his site and in turn he'd give them access to his site. It created a *small* community of traders who loved acoustic/live music. I for one was very thankful to this individual because he allowed me to get many acoustic versions of songs that I likely would not have been able to find anywhere else.
Actually it makes me feel safer. The police (the real ones, the ones with the guns) have told me bluntly, "We don't go on campus." The campus security force doesn't actually *do* much of anything, and when they tried to shut down our event last year, we just bluntly refused. At least thet's the situation where I am.
I have a positive modifier on Troll. When I mod someone Troll their karma should go UP!
1) Well, it IS illegal.. and he WAS doing it... so what's the big deal?
Actually, if it was for non-commercial purposes, it is legal, and your post, being slanderous, is illegal. Should we now have the right to sieze your computer, too, since there is evidence you might have committed a crime.
2) Campus police.. are they 'real' police? Can they sieze things? (I honestly have no idea.. someone fill me in?)
RTFA. Everett Eaton, public safety director at OSU, said the department obtained a search warrant from the Payne County District Court in Oklahoma and seized the student's computer equipment.
3) [...]If his HD was encrypted (or at least the relevant portions), he would be in better shape.[...]
Not really, since in order to distribute the mp3s, the computer would have to be able to decrypt them automatically. Plus, the police don't need proof to confiscate things, just evidence. I don't even see anything about charges being filed, and chances are, they'll offer the kid a deal of some sort. Disciplinary probation, loss of housing, and charges dropped. That's what happened to people I knew at college who got caught with drugs, anyway.
ok then your [sic] infringing on my copyright! Could you as [sic] me next time before STEALING my comments for your own?
do you understand what the "*cough* *cough*" means? It's called sarcasm.
Now put your little dick back in your pants before you hurt yourself.
- Toby
It is a known fact that the record companies charge artificially high prices for music, and the artist sees very very little of this money. People who steal from the rich (record companies) and give to the poor (college students who enjoy music) are seen as modern day "Robin Hood"s and are considered heros, just like the legendary person.
So the solution is to steal from record companies and maybe even put them out of business some day (haha ok I'm just dreaming here). At the same time we should support artists who sell their music directly over the internet, and pay for their work. Even some record companies might be worth supporting-- those who are known to give a substantial amount of the profits back to the artist.
This is all about the *RIGHT* way to go about protecting copyrights rather than the way the RIAA is persuing MP3.com and Napster, or the MPAA is persuing DeCSS.
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Ben Kosse
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Ben Kosse
Remember Ed Curry!
The thing that many people are complaining about is that current legislative process does not necessarily mean majority rules. Professional lobbying and campaign donations have diluted the laws passed from being good for the nation to being good for one's supporters.
Granted, the above post was a little bit juvinile(sic), but that does not necessarily make all the opinions expressed wrong. It is most certainly possible to buy votes, and that is the way our legislative system works now and will work for some time. I think the time that it will stop is about the same time that the people living in a country cease to be known as "consumers" and start being called "citizens" again. Maybe that day is still a long way away...
"He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."
If someone operates a public ftp server that allows users to upload files, can they truly be held responsible? Wouldn't this be the same as someone posting a copyrighted text to a messageboard? They can be asked to take it down(i.e. the people hosting it), but their computer equipment will not be seized.
Although pirating copyrighted music is a bad thing, I really hope that one of two things happens. Either they find all of the music on his site to be from cd's he legally owns, or that all of the music is from artists that have supported digital music. That would make the RIAA look like the paranoid organization that they truly are.
if i download music from the internet, im not taking anything. There is no less after, than before i listened to it.
There is no less music... but there is less money. If the artist does not say whether they want it distributed in MP3 form, then someone should ask, and whatever the artist says should be respected. Without respect, there is no civilization...
MP3s aren't ideas. MP3 itself is a medium that a particular amount of WORK can be stored and transfered in. The artist should be compensated for their work, right? You're compensated for your work for your employer, and you compensate other's work every time you buy something from a store. Why are artists excepted from the compensation rule that our (my?) society runs on? Does my .sig answer my own question?
As for the slavery bit... your perceived freedom of downloading something makes that artist a slave... an uncompensated worker. Are you for slavery or against it?
___ CmdrTHAC0 ___
__CmdrTHAC0__
In Soviet Russia, Spanish Inquisition doesn't expect YOU!!
Overall I am against people stealing music.
That being said their is the one area where I feel the RIAA can kiss my ass -- And that is:
If I can not walk into my local record store and either find it on the shelf -- or order it out of that "big yellow book" (I.E. -- out of print OR never in print) then it should be FAIR GAME for anyone to trade as they wish...
Yea -- I would love to see them pull some ex-rocker from the 80's away from his job at the carwash to side with the record label in a suit to drag me down for trading songs from his 1982 LP that sold about 3000 copies and has been OOP since then.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Disney would go after those soccer moms in a heartbeat.
And why should there be any fallout? The kid was committing illegal acts and they busted him. Big deal.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
Why do you say it is legal for non-commercial purposes? Becuase of the AHRA, that states that 'use of a digital recoreding device by a consume rfor non-commercial purposes is not actionable?'... doesn't hold up; computer aren't covered. The AHRA states that using what it defines as an 'audio home recording device' is permissible. Digital devices under ahra must follow the SCMS (serial copy management system.. you know, those 'copyright' and 'original' bits in mp3 headers that nobody uses.
THe AHRA specifically does not apply to computers.
As for #2.. why condescend on me? It was simply a question, not a statement.
As for an ecnrypted HD.. siezing a computer and telling the jury 'look, i'ts encrypted' is a LOT different than telling them 'look, he has all these mp3s'
As for confiscation.. they would have confiscated it anyway. THe point is they would be able to do less with it once they got it.
2) Here in MD, the police at a state school are yes, real police. Private colleges I dunno -- I'm guessing they're Keystone Kops.
I'm sure it varies depending on the school, but at MIT, our private campus police are all deputized by the county, and can thus do the same things that government-paid police can do.
They make it sound as if he was trafficking drugs from his dorm! And why a 'forensic review' of the hard drive? Can't they just do a search for *.mp3? :)
> want to try and live, and not have the masses
> dictate it for them?
If you think that being on a major record label equals self-determination for an artist, you're sadly mistaken.
I think musicians should have the same ability to decide how they live as the rest of us -- ie, not much.
Or, life sucks, and music is how we deal with it.
civil disobedience is when one knows that a law is enacted and goes against that law in a knowingfull way but is totally willing to dealing to with the society's rules against such a crime. usually civil disobediants protest knowing that they are breaking the law and are willing to get the consequences for doing such an act in an effort to show that the law against such an action might throw a wrench in the works to enable a change.
most of those that use napster do not do so for such an action. i cannot presume to know why those do use the service (other than my own, which is to find out what other folk artists are around and then buy their albums if i like their work).
in general, the use of napster and all other types of media exchanges are not the act of civil disobedience, but are the acts grown from getting things for free.
if i were to to create a blockade on all mp3 transactions on the Internet, this action would be an act of civil disobedience. if i were to create a free medium to grant mp3 transaction and grant my own personal information for arrest, that would be an act of civil disobedience.
an anonymous act of downloading would not be an act of civil disobedience, any more than an anonymous undisclosed bombing of a federal building to show that the federal govenment of the USA is corrupt. in the USA, we call that terroism.
There is a line, which isn't that fine.
They need those managers, lest they need to learn about business rather than concentrate on what they're good at. And those producers help them out a bit too, tweaking the sounds in the studio... And all that money for advertising that was spent is undoubtably the reason that you heard of the band in the first place, and hence want their CD. And i don't know where you live or what not, but i've bought plenty of brand new CD's recently for $12.49 to $14.99.
You have a point as far as the RIAA is concerned, but he was still using the University's bandwidth which is unfair to other students using it for legitimate reasons. It used to always piss me off when the networked slowed to a crawl and I couldn't get my work done, so I have no sympathy.
Solved that problem: encrypt the disks.
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i haven't heard of this happening before (anyone less ignorant than me out there?) lets just hope this is not a sign of things to come, as it can't be that hard to track people like the guy at oklahoma state...
Hehe, Thanks :)
-TimmyC, Tech Guru
And how was what this kid doing not illegal?
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Easy. Pick up your TV and throw it at someone. If it hits them, it becomes the instrument of an assault ;)
he was advertising in chat rooms and whatnot, thats like a drug dealer walking around screaming "Buy your drugs here!". people like that usually deserve to get caught.
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|-_-| . o O ( bEef!)
isn't the mall industry involved in a type of over-selling in an effort to rectify any unwanted merchanidice lifting? what do they do to make sure that these known occurences do not effect their current standings?
they add to the current prices to which we buy. have you ever bought a few VHSs from the local walmart? they seem a little overpriced, don't they? case in point.
industries inflate prices (somewhat) due to the likelyhood that someone will confiscate their merchanidice in an unlawful fashion.
is this happening with the current CD and DVD sales? i doubt it, but it doesn't mean that it isn't why they are doing such things already.
It's strange that Slashdot has gone from news for nerds, to Give Us What We Want Regardless, for nerds.
/. users?
Hear me out here. This kid had 40 Gigs of HD space dedicated to mp3s he was distributing, advertising on chat rooms and what not for people to visit, and asking them to upload mp3s he didn't have. All of which, apparently, he didn't have rights to. This is flat out piracy. And it wasn't the RIAA or any outside groups which said "sieze his computers", they just pointed out the fact that a student at OSU was doing this.
OSU steps in, gets a warrant, and siezes the guy's stuff to investigate. Probably slap some criminal charges and aid in any civil suits the rightful owners may have. What is wrong with this?
The guy broke the law, majorly. He knew he was doing wrong. So why are people UPSET that this happened? Because they want free music. Not everyone, but there are too many who think that music should be free, always.
Also, there are people in this discussion jumping down the throat of the RIAA. The RIAA didn't say confiscate the computer or peripherals, didn't say "Please make this kid an example". No, the university did this themselves. So if you're upset, yell at the school, not at the RIAA.
But my really big bitch is that a vocal majority will complain to high heavens when people violate the GPL or other free resources and methods, trodding on the rights of those hard-working programmers and designers, but will also complain to high heavens when companies and people protect their copyrights, trademarks and patents by suing or sending C&D notices. What happened to the priorities here,
Why is it okay to steal music and movies and software if it aids you or doesn't cost you anything, but it's not okay for others to steal your music or moview or software if it's provided for free? You can't have it both ways without sounding like hypocrits.
So to all who post stories or comments which happen to go both ways, pick a side to stand on, or you'll forget which side to be on when a choice has to be made.
Dragon Magic
Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
Honestly, though, I hope this guy fights back like a sunuvabitch and hits as hard as he can. Illegal or not, I absolutely can't stand some big nasty company (or gov't agency) strongarming someone just to "make an example" out of him/her.
This student was no different from the average w4r3z d00d. For the past few months Slashdotters have been saying the RIAA shouldn't go after Napster because they are providing a service, now the RIAA goes after a person who is distributing thousands of MP3s of copyrighted work and advertizing for his wares in chat rooms and the RIAA is still wrong?!?
What the fuck do you want? The RIAA shouldn't go after a service that is a haven for music piracy and they shouldn't go after music pirates? Maybe you'd like them simply to spend millions of dollars producing, promoting and distributing music then give away CDs just like AOL.
Frankly as a college student, who frequently sees network bandwidth eaten up by people like this kid who had 10000 songs on his hard drive then advertized for total strangers to come saturate his campus' network, I have no sympathy for him.
Call me paranoid, but if they confiscated his computer for distributing both music and movies, well, why does the RIAA care about movies? They're music, right?
Call me even more paranoid, but I'm worried that the two evil organizations, the RIAA and the MPAA, are working together. To restrict media only to those who pay $17 per CD? To stop the distribution of all new VCR-type devices?
Soon we'll have the MAA--the Media Association of America.
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GPLed POP3/IMAP/SMTP to Web/WAP gateway
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Tonight on Fox: Deadliest Executions Part XVII
BTW, am I the only one who is bothered by the fact that state colleges have their own police force? I can see the practical need for policing a large group of people, but I see a real conflict of interest here, from the perspective of the surrounding community (college police are controlled by the college) and the students (police and professors, all working together...)
No, I'm much happier with a police force specifically for a campus than with a municipal police force. First off, think about how many potential crimes go on at a university. The police blotter at my school was always at least ten times as long per week as the municipal one. If I was a city cop, I wouldn't want to take part in that either. Secondly, campus police have, first and foremost, the protection of the student body in mind, not the protection of the city government (which I think is a bigger conflict of interest). Thus, you find that campus police are much more lenient on matters than their municipal counterparts. Finally, you don't have to deal with those nasty bureacratic funding deals. University cops get paid largely with university funds.
And besides, I guarantee you that those university cops aren't doing the forensic analysis of that kid's hard drive, unless of course, their analysis amounts to 'Quick, Jimbo, download all this kid's music before the Feds get their hands on it'.
Well I suppose that the university has reasons.. Good reasons as well. For one, Mp3's are still "illegal".. So someone having illegal stuff on university grounds Im sure is not a good thing. He is also taking their bandwidth correct? There's another strike against him. :) I don't think the university cares if you have some Mp3's.. BUT if you are running an FTP and openly distributing them.. I don't think they shine on that. So they were pretty justified.. Hell, it's their T3. ;-)
-TimmyC, Tech Guru
The fact that this guy was advertising in chat rooms for his wares (*cough*) makes me lose any sympathy. It's one thing to copy some movies and songs and share them with your friends on an ftp server, I do it and I'm sure many other slashdotters do the same. But the wholesale distribution to anonymous people is just plain silly. And I'm sure that the university's computer policy doesn't allow people to run ftp servers or distribute copyrighted material.
No sympathy at all.
"He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."
Now on another note...
As it is, entertainers get way too much money for what they provide. They're just people too. Nicholas Cage doesn't deserve to make, in a week, what a medical doctor makes in a year. Where are our priorities? Why aren't the people that are saving lives making $11.5 million each year?
Mark all Metallica albums down to $6. When the record company makes less money, so do(es) the artist(s). Sorry Lars, no spinach and tuna soufle` and no more flying to and from Europe on a whim. And you might have to suffice with one or two houses. Oh pity.
Illegal instruction error processing .signature
20million? sure why not? I'm sure there are coporations out there that are just dying for that contract.
Hell we already got the highest ratio of free people : jailed citizens (143:1), why not go for broke eh?
-- taking over the world, we are.
You seem to be saying that you would have no objections at all to a law that illegalized the act of opening and reading a book whose paper you own.
Attitudes like this scare me. Really
No, I would happily do something not illegal to protest. Write letters complaining to people.
Not buy the book/DVD etc.
I have no intention to buy a DVD player of any sorts
until these issues are sorted.
I also spread the decss source, as it is legal to do so here (to the best of my knowledge).
One of the main problems, seems to be,
the geeks that are complaining (and rightly so) about the removal of freedoms, are then turning round on the other hand, and buying all the DVDs they can get their hands on
and complain if the latest release isn't on DVD format.
2 passwords:
One decrypts the drive...
The other reformats it.
*oops*
Computer equipment can and is seized when used in connection with a crime, and this isn't exactly the first time computers have been confiscated.
:-P
On a different note, the wording of the statement amused me slightly.
"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is there," Eaton said. "After we finish that review, we will evaluate the amount of substance he was distributing."
Amount of substance? They make it sound like he was distributing drugs. Maybe they're checking the hard drive for traces of white powders
"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is there," Eaton said. "After we finish that review, we will evaluate the amount of substance he was distributing."
Makes it sound like he was making and distributing crack or something. Nothing like associating this guy with drug dealers and pimps to make him look bad to joe average.
Ask any author why he/she writes. If he/she says "I do it for the money" you can bet your life savings on the things written by that person is crap. Copyright is a system to ensure that artists can be artistic more, not to give then a lot of cash.
Hey Taco if the kid used Linux do you think you would have made such a biased, stupid comment like you did?
I think there's a grey area in many people's minds as to copyright laws where they involve digital media. There seems to be a prevailing mood that "It's only data on a computer, how can it be property?" in people's minds. I know a guy who would never rob a store or a person, yet who burns program CD's for software worth real money in stores, without the slightest twitch of conscience that I can discern. My personal opinion, biased though it is: Raising prices due to software piracy only causes a vicious spiral; the more expensive the software, the more people will say, "Nahhhh, I ain't paying $50 (or whatever) for THIS." and go burn it. If it only cost $30, I wonder what higher percentage would fork it over. I remember back in like 1995 or whenever, DOOM cost $40.00 when ordered from id, or cost $0.00 if you typed "pkzip a:\doom.zip -& c:\games\doom\*.*" and made disks for all your friends. =P Not a tough choice to make. You know why people always speed? Because traffic laws are poorly enforced. People will do whatever they can get away with.
Of course, many wouldn't buy a program even if it cost a mere $5. It's the principal of the thing. Some of them object to paying a cent where they can manage to get it free, and hang the legality or lack of same. ;)
(Some would argue we were talking about mp3's not software, but what's the difference between EnterSandman.mp3 and Doom.wad? Different uses, both data. Actually, one difference - one of them *doesn't* bring Napster down on you like a ton of bricks.)
There is the contention that copying and distributing things for free is not illegal in some regards (at least I've heard that), but it could also be argued that that supplies the product to someone who would otherwise have paid for the product, thus damaging that company's sales, if not actually breaking copyright laws. I personally don't know whether the RIAA is going to die out over this one, or grow stronger. Whichever it turns out to be, it's likely to be quite precipitous. Personally, I would prefer a world in which artists (of every kind; writers, musicians, painters, etc) are guaranteed a living from some public trust fund, so they don't have to worry about food/shelter/etc, and can concentrate on doing what they do best, which is providing us nonartistic schmoes the beautiful things that make life worth living, for free. But of course, the trouble with any such plan is actually setting it up, which is where it all falls apart.
(Oh and by the way you misquoted Ben slightly. You must pronounce it in proper Guinessian fashion. "Twisted and eeveel.") =P
Kasreyn, (wondering if my post made any sense)
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger
I can't see how the school has any legal ability to take away his computer. His net access (which they are providing) sure, but not his computer. They didn't have any sort of warrent, and if they did they wouldn't have any legal right to take his property.
"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is there"
:)
So we can assume those movies refered to were Adult in nature can we? They're unlikely to want to review his Metallica collection after all
0daymeme.com: Great stuff.
That certainly does change the way that I see the issue, at least. From what I gathered in the article, there were also many full length films on the server. Can you confirm or deny this?
I am very much in favor of the widespread online bootleg and rare track community, as there is often no other way of keeping this information around long enough so it will still be around when the tapes fall apart.
Obviously, as far as the police and the RIAA are concerned, there only needs to be *one* piece of copyrighted material on the server for it to be a violation, but I know *I* for one do not hold that view. Also, it would still be a violation of the school's internet policy, but that sort of thing has been happening since the dawn of federally funded university internet connections.
"He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."
Well, at the school I did my undergraduate in, the connection was slow as heck (only a T1), and constantly maxed out. The internal network was fine, though. Since I wanted to be able to surf the net at a reasonable speed, I considered setting up an intermal mp3 server. That way, students could just get everything local and leave the T1 for surfing. I never did it, but thought it would be a great idea. I should have suggested that Info Tech set up an official server for this purpose, and have it writable so the students can add mp3s to it. In relation to your comment, he provided everyone at his school with a rather fast connection to a good mp3 server. Since that's mostly what students download anyway, he did them a favor. Of course, if he was making a big dent in the campus bandwidth, a good netadmin would track it down and fix the problem long before the RIAA gave them a call. Of course, we know netadmins like mp3s as much as the rest of us...
Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
Yesterday I thought they weren't going to go after individuals unless they mass distibuted. boy was i wrong.
Someone ever tries to kill you, you try to kill them right back!
Apparently it did, because I still don't get it. What is the right way to protect copyrights? I see nothing wrong with the way the RIAA is pUrsuing Napster, so maybe that's the source of my problem. I'd love it if you could explain it to me.
Love, Stu
I am not saying you fabricated this, but if we are to take you seriously then you must tell us the source of your information. Are you a friend, one of his users or him?
"It's very simple," said an RIAA spokesman. "He was distributing MP3s and violating copyright. And, in line with our new `zero-tolerance' policy, we will be seizing the tools of copyright violation: in this case, the fingers he used to type with, and the eyes he used to confirm his crime with. The surgery is scheduled for next week."
The spokesman denied that this was too harsh a punishment. "Oh, give me a break. It's in the Bible, after all. And don't forget that this is a temporary seizure. We will be keeping the eyes and fingers in cryogenic storage, and after one year we will return them to the student. We even pick up the tab for the surgery. Pretty sweet, if you ask me."
Free Software Foundation guru Richard M. Stallman could not be reached for comment. A source close to him said that he was "frantically trying to uninstall his copy of Gnapster."
Carousel is a lie!
In college, many of my friends and I do transfer music online. However, when somebody sets up an FTP server with 10,000 MP3s, using campus bandwidth, and gets enough traffic for the RIAA to be able to find his site, he deserves to get busted.
In the process of building up his collection, this student was hogging bandwidth that could have been used for academic or less bandwidth-intensive personal applications. Every once in a while, the network at my campus slows to a crawl and I *know* it is because somebody planning a party has decided to download 50-100 MP3s within the span of a few hours.
I would be upset if the RIAA harassed a casual MP3 user with only a few hundred files occasionally shared over Napster. But, this was an "always-on" FTP server with an inordinate amount of bandwidth. When somebody is so blatantly disrespecting all parties involved, I have no sympathy.
ByteMyCode.com: A Web 2.0 code sharing community.
Beyond the bizarre idea that "sucking up bandwidth", or even copyright violation is grounds for search and seizure - sure, the University owns the connection. It'd be perfectly reasonable for them to pull the connection and not return it unless the student provided some evidence that he wasn't going to engage in this behaviour any more (probably involving voluntary access to his equipment). Seizing it goes way over the line, and it's particularly galling that it was performed by campus rent-a-cops instead of the real police. That kind of delegation of police authority never bodes well IMO, especially when the real police are already acting as industry schills in this case.
I happen to be a student at Oklahoma State University myself, and while I am aware of plenty of other students who have been in trouble for MP3 distribution, most of them just had their network access cut off. The article in the campus newspaper on this particular incident, which can be found here, mentions that unlike some other campuses, however, OSU's CIS department will *not* censor traffic and will *not* scan the network for "illegal" shares. To quote the assistant director - "We are not Big Brother, we are not a censor, but we won't turn a blind eye."
Incidentally, the dorm that this student lived in had just been wired with ethernet and was one of the last dorms on campus to have this done.
=================================
I pledge allegiance to the flag...
of the Corporate States of America...
Umm where do you get THAT idea?
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
> I'm on your side
;-)
Doh. I must of missed the emoticon on the end.
Actually I've read the license on all my DVD's, and NONE of them restrict playback with DeCSS or require an "authorized" player. So I'm not violating any licenses or laws if I use DeCSS to view them.
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
Or, some people care about it. Why should it be "news for nerds who are sick of hearing of mp3s?" I like the idea of articles posted for all types of people, not just for myself. There are quite a few articles on /. that i don't look twice at. Though, by your logic, i should go to the comments page and post a comment about how the subject is stupid to me, and therefore shouldn't be on slashdot at all. riiighhhtt...
get 0wned. irc.w30wnzj00.com
So let's see, the kid distributed someone else's property without their permission. He broke the law, and campus rules, and got slammed for it.
I can guarantee that if someone distributed Linux without proper permissions, violating the GPL or something, you'd all jump on his back.
I support the distribution of music over the Net wholheartedly. But, the music and movies do belong to someone, and taking it from them is stealing.
Defending people who are obviously guilty just because it deals with "the Internet" serves no more then to dilute the cause and make you look like fools.
NOTE: My apologies if there is another post here with the same subject - a minor misclick on my part.
So do the MIT police get badgenumbers like 1.276e-27?
This next song is very sad. Please clap along. -- Robin Zander
My bad. On the other hand, all those midwestern states all look alike ;-)
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I got busted back in 97 for running an FTP out of my dorm just like this kid. The coolest part was that the RIAA actually faxed my univeristy president about me! I was listed by name and IP address. I felt so special.
I first became worried when I noticed attempted logins from the Network Security Office at our school. I prompty booted them out and shut down the server. But alas, it was too late. 20 minutes later I noticed my connection was gone. And a week later I was in Judicial Affairs getting bitched at by some old woman with bad breath.
I lost my dorm connection for an entire year because of that. So now I no longer distribute MP3s, I just take them. I paid my dues dammit!
So anyway, my whole point is that the RIAA has been going after individual students for at least 3 years now. This is the first I've heard of a confiscated computer though.
-=God Hates Me=-
add two vcr's or record to vcr from the dvd player and you've got copyright infringement (remember the fbi warning at the beginning of the movie?)...
also, suck free cable from a neighbor's feed or something to your tv and that's another crime...
eudas
Blessed is he who expects the worst, for he shall not be disappointed.
I'm all for it, but we have a problem. Most of your truely 'net savy users think that they ahve some kind of privacy that they aren't willing to give up in order to really make a difference.
The kid broke the law, and he broke the campus rules, and the only way to clear him of that is to have the rules changed. Yes, it sucks, and No, it's not really fair. But if no body cares enough to make formal complaints, if no one takes this personaly, then it Will keep happening.
We can blame a lot of different people for why the system is wrong, but instead, let's try to come up with a solution. The artists are bound to the corprations, the corps don't know how to make money off the MP3's, and untill we show them how, they're going to fight us. It won't be easy to implement and force this kind of change, but who else is going to do it?
Let's not forget that one of the major tools of the pirated music comunity was distributed for free, full release, and NullSoft was bought for How much?
Earthman
Say it to me face w/ out wasting space...
Amidst all the confusion in that post, all I can say is, huh?
Sharing copyrighted music in the form of copying has been illegal for a long, long time. Sharing using Napster means that they are making a work available for copying.
Yes, there will always be some someone copying someone else's work without owning a proper copy, there is no way to end it. There are ways to reduce the amount of wholesale ripoffs that use the net, and it is within their rights to do some of it.
I am not saying that the fascists in the RIAA or MPAA are doing a good thing, but there's a limit to all things, at both ends.
Lets face facts, 99% of napster traffic is copyrighted material. FTP does not specifically search and index copyrighted material. I bet a very very small amount of all ftp traffic is used to distribute warez, compare that to nearly all of napster traffic.
Maybe taco should have read the schools network policy of not being allowed to distribute illegal/copyrighted material before he makes such dumbass comments.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Not by abuse of government! An anarchy doesn't have a police force you can sic on the kid. It also doesn't have laws that are bought by the corporations.
I have a positive modifier on Troll. When I mod someone Troll their karma should go UP!
I don't think that there's much historical dispute that there *was* an Earl Robin of Loxley who didn't get alon with the king. But as to what he di, that's another matter :)
.:)
However, the "evil taxes" he fought were one of the best things that happened for the people anywhere in Europe for a couple of hundred years in either direction. These taxes were tto fund the King's courgts founded by Richard and John's father (whose name I forget. Another Richard?), which were the basis for teh little guy having at least *some* chance. Previously, all matters were heard in baronial courts--so you sue your evil overlord, and he gets to be the judge as well. The courts funded by that tax developed the Common Law of England, which ewe use today in almost all the english speaking countries.
While I'm at it, Richard (the "good" king in the tale) was one of England's worst, but he ameliorated this by being out o fthe country for almost all of his reign, while "evil" Prince (later King) John was probably one of the better ones--he also signed the Magna Carta, albeit at spear point. And Maid Marion? a fictional character from a french poem a centruy later, who somehow left that poem for the greener pastures of a legend about a nobleman turned brigand who stole the people's chances at justice . .
hawk
I see a lot of people here are being suckered into using the term "theft". M$ use this term to make it sound like a serious crime when people copy their software, the music industry use the same tactic. Now the general nerd comunity are using the term to describe copying.
Copying something is not theft. Theft is taking something, that does not belong to you, with the intention of permanently depriving the owner thereof. I do not believe that this student had any intention to permanently deprive anyone of anything. The industries would like you to believe that these people are depriving them of profit but this is also a blatant lie. These students are, generally, getting something they cannot afford and therefore there was no potential profit lost. If this copying had not taken place the students would have gone without.
This whole concept of "theft" is a spin to make a minor offence into a serious offence in order to gain more control. Please call it what it is and stop making out these guys are gangsters just because they copied a few records. I used to use a tape player when I was a kid and I taped my friends records!!! Do you have a VCR? Have you ever taped a film? then lent it to a friend? Have you ever taped a record? Are you a thief?
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
And yes because some money-hungry corporation gets a law passed then the already-thin police budgets now have to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on a professional forensic analysis of some student's hard drive.
They probaly go for the "soft" targets in order to make it look as though they are doing some kind of decent job.
And for those of you that still go to the movies (not everyone is going to boycott completely), for every dollar to spend doing so, send a dollar to EFF. So if you go to 15 movies a year at $7 each, send an extra $105 (15x7) to EFF, above and beyond what you would otherwise give. That will allow them to fight back.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
The thing that many people are complaining about is that current legislative process does not necessarily mean majority rules.
Indeed with the current situation you are very unlikly to get laws representing majority views
Professional lobbying and campaign donations have diluted the laws passed from being good for the nation to being good for one's supporters.
Some of the organisations doing this represent big business, but by no means all.
It is most certainly possible to buy votes, and that is the way our legislative system works now and will work for some time.
The fault is as much with the police and judiciary. A simple refusal to operate such laws would send a stronger message than any ammount of lobbying.
A better, though less likely solution would be the conviction, for High Treason, of any legislator who puts lobbiests before the state. (In the Case of the US the "state" is, or at least should be, the written constitution.)
OK, so they accused a student of illegally distributing copyrighted material. Fair enough. Did they have proof? Did they have proof that those downloaders were not withing fair-use rights (meaning, of course, that they had already purchased the material being download, and keep in mind that they are also innocent until proven guilty)? Or, failing that, did they have proof that this guy hadn't purchased the materials he was making available? Or, failing even that, did they have proof that he was intentionallymaking these available, as opposed to simply having lots of stuff on his machine, which was then 0wn3d by some l33t Skr1pt k1dd13 who set up a server without this guy even knowing (as I understand, it was a Windows box after all...)
If they could prove any of this, then I have no problem with what they did. In fact, I applaud them if they had proof of wrongdoing; this is how such cases should be handled. Punish the guilty ones, rather than just everyone.
If, on the other hand, they had no proof, and simply sent a baseless accusation, then this is nothing more than presumption of guilt, and I can't support that. It's unconstiutional, and even if it weren't it would still trample the rights of innocent people, now in danger of being arrested just because some fat-cat record execs think you might be stealing from them.
----------
Don't like a law, try to have it overturned. But, fighting by disobeying the police and judges is a very hard way to fight. Not impossible but you had BETTER *KNOW* you are right! Civil disobedience has failed far far far far far far far more often than it's succeeded in history. Are you THAT sure that stealing music is legal?
Whatever the failure rate of "civil disobedience" the ability of ordinary people to overturn laws (especially those backed up by a powerful lobbying group) is very, very, very limited, Regardless of how unjust they might be, regardless of what some written constitution might say.
Actually, no, the reason copyright laws exist is because the majority of elected representatives support them (or did support them at the time they were written).
Possibly a majority of those legislators who actually voted on the issue.
A small majority of American people actually vote, and those who do are usually voting against someone as opposed to for someone.
Also remember that organised political lobbying groups typically have far more infuence over legislators than voters anyway.
StegFS allows you to have mandatory number of data layers. w/o knowing password there is no way to determine how many layers are there. They ask for password, you give them one. Or two. Or five. There is no way to determine if you had given them passwords to all layers of data.
Obama 2012: our incompetent asshole is slightly less of an incompetent asshole than the other incompetent asshole !
Contents of the post are that the student used a DSL line at home to run an FTP server for his friends, not anonymous, that collected and shared rare acoustic music.
It's kind of hard to judge these comments in a vacuum. I wish that there were some more run of the mill comments on MoooKow's page. Something smells.
Under the Constitution, the information content of published music, movies, or other works is not the property of the publishers, but of the people. Copyright is an arrangement where the public temporarily restricts its own rights, to a limited extent, to provide an incentive for authors to create more works that will benefit the public. It is not a recognition of any "natural property right", and your term "their own property" thus goes against the Founders' intent for copyright, and 200+ years of law.
However in that 200 odd years the concept of copyright has been modified drastically. The original drafters would never accept the current length of copyrights, restrictions on "derived works", the ability of corporate entities to masqurade as people. Let alone just about any part of the DMCA.
MoooKow makes some very interesting points in this thread, but MoooKow has not posted to any other treads in a long time. Just go look at his User info page and see for yourself. Are you for real?
Heh. That's quite a load of bullshit. There were a _lot_ of musicians during the middle ages. In fact, if you could memorize songs and stories, you could make quite a bit of money. There are stories about such musicians that wandered throughout Europe, welcome wherever they went.
But not much has survived because there really wasn't a method of musical notation yet (that was developed by monks and took a while to become widely used) nor recording music.
In the realm of art and literature much more has survived, and all of the works of the ages (including the vast majority that did not survive due to fires, need for construction materials, religious wars etc) were copyrightless. Copyrights didn't exist (at least not the kind you're thinking of) until the 17th century. Are you telling me that there were NO creative works until then?
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
I normally don't comment on spelling...but the way you misspelled distribution is too funny. Rob being the key word here, it seems like any way a musician looks at it they lose if they are in it for the money. Right now the RIAA gets their claws in them, or some new way of distributing music may come along and the artists will eventually make less money than they think they deserve then also. I think there is a lot to be said for finding a way to make the price of making music cheaper for the artists, and help them advertise locally on the radio and such, or have contests (eg. Star Search...bwahahahahah!) that will let people go on TV and advertise themselves while under the guise of a contest. I think we would have a lot higher quality music than we have now. I'm pretty tired of bands thrown together by record labels that think they know what we want to pay for. Maybe the TV shows that have those contests can be specialized and hosted by popular artists...'Gwar Search' for example would be my idea of quality entertainment.
Mas vale cholo, que mal acompañado.
napster-corp provides napster-service via napster-program and napster-servers to users.
mp3-d00d provides mp3-service via ftp-program and ftp-server to users.
same same.
and, since corporations are legally considered entities, and individuals are considered entities, i'd say we have a match.
eudas
Blessed is he who expects the worst, for he shall not be disappointed.
But you are breaking a law, the DMCA. You aren't allowed to circumvent a copy protection mechanism, and DVDs use a copy protection mechanism(CSS).The only way you can use them is with a player that has the key, and only the people who make DVDs can give them to you. Therefor, you need an "authorized" player to legally play them.
Ewige Blumenkraft.
According to this Wired News article, this isn't the first time something like this has happened in Oregon. This student could very possibly end up facing criminal charges as the one in the Wired news story did.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Yep. Mitnick was, last I heard, involved in just such an issue. He wants his stuff back (having done his time) but the government won't release it until he divulges his passwords. And since it's information that he knows that could implicate him in further crimes, he's well within his rights to clam up.
The trick is that the govt. is not giving his stuff back despite having no proof that they'll find anything.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Why should anyone care about the distibution of MP3?
Why should we care about some crappy artist's piece of work which in all probability, will be forgotten over the next few years anyway? Don't we have bigger and better things to worry about? I guess not. I guess that nobody cares about anything except what the media forces them to hear.
But, whatever happens will happen. It would be a shame if we lost the battle for MP3 and internet technology. If we were forced to use a network technology that had a strict morality built into the design. That would be a tragedy. Right now, the internet doesn't differenciate between different bits of data. Data is Data is Data. If the internet were able to differenciate, and know what type of data was being transmitted, think about how that would impact the ability of the RIAA to stop MP3. The only I see this sort of policy change going into place, is if the mega-mergers get even bigger, because as long as no single entity has more money and sway then the rest, then this could never happen to the internet tech.
Where this is going
Right now, the internet is a huge anarchy, has been since birth. Someday it might have to be more civilized in order to increase effienicy. This day maybe sooner then you think, so make sure that the battle for MP3's is more then that, it a battle for our freedom online. Our freedom to have this anarchy, and use it however we please. Our freedom comes at a price, right now, this price is very low. It seems to me that we will have to pay much more in the future for our freedom.
Lets leave out the legality/illegality of what the kid was doing. What disturbs me here is that the UNIVERSITY obtained a search warrent and seized things related to this issue. Since when is the university a police power of this sort? To be sure, Campus police must have deputy power to enforce law and order on their campus, but for this stuff?? It is an open question as to who was committing anything anyway. Well gotta run now, gotta fund raise for our new gym down at 'ol holmstead, gonna meet some real important entertainment folks and don't want to piss em off none...
I admit that sharing mp3's files, that originated from copyrighted material, is wrong.
BUT...., all these cases are the result of the music industry exploiting the music lovers.
If they weren't so fucking greedy, and say, well, you can download every song for 50c, everybody would still spend the same amount of money like we do now, but have a lot more of music to enjoy.
secondly, the CAMPUS POLICE ???? What kind of nazis are they for doing this, couldn't they give a warning or something like this..?
There are a few people who realise that if they play a fair game, the rest will follow.
vinylat33
Well... I've got this cd in my computer, oh! I just made a mp3 of one of the songs. Now I've got this copyright'd mp3 on my computer! oops, I gave it to my friend, via the internet. Friend likes it, he buys cd. Quick SOMEONE ARREST ME!!!
You guys think this case is bad? This is nothing. I wish more people knew what is going on.
A family member of mine works in the Office of General Consul for the California State University system. The RIAA sends their requests for student information to this family member. The RIAA was told to go get a subpeona. So guess what? The RIAA got its friends in the California legislature to give them the power to issue their own subpoenas. I am not kidding. The RIAA has the power to issue subpoenas in the State of California.
Generally, campus police do *not* answer to the university, at least not in a police function. In some states, they're actually local deputy sherriff's, in others, they're a branch of the state police.
ANd then there's University of Chicago, a private school with an actual police force--it was part of teh deal that kept it from moving west and merging with Stanford. The local constabulary was famously corrupt at that point, and UC demanded the separate force (paid for by the city and/or county, iirc) as a condition.
It's even worse if in the future more and more people communicate by sending large chunks of multimedia data to each other in verbatim.
:).
One might say that in that case very little of it is created by the sender and so redundant. But we could have said the same about the alphabet.
If bandwidth increases and humans are augmented/enhanced to cope with it meaningfully it might just happen.
Instead of sending ASCII, people could be sending multimedia streams as base symbols. Go to the next level.
If that happens, would sending the chorus of a particular song overlayed with news broadcast as a joke be copyright infringement?
The concept of "Intellectual property" is not scalable - it puts drastic limits on our capacity to think and communicate.
I hope it would go away soon. For sure something else has to be put in place to reward (not compensate) those who create new and good stuff. Compensate is the wrong term - it gives the idea that the creator suffers loss. Reward is the better term. In the future I could perhaps supply URLs to better say what I meant. But for now this would have to do
Link.
Now, as a result of reading the discussion, I'm unclear on two things.
First of all, is copyright infringement an arrestable offence in his state?
Secondly, a lot of /. posters have commented on how the fellow was arrested. Do the Campus Police at that university have arrest authority, or did the real civil police come into it at any point?
I'd be interested in knowing.
If you think that being on a major record label equals self-determination for an artist, you're sadly mistaken.
Napster is free. Napster screws them harder than the RIAA if it becomes the dominant distribution model. The masses shouldn't demand that all artists automatically arrive on Napster. "Voting with your feet" was meant in reference to moving to the product/distribution model you like, not kicking the teeth in of the one you don't like. But lots of people seem to have the motto, "Fuck you, RIAA! (Wheee, I'm breaking the law!) Sorry, [artist of choice], I'm fucking you, too, but it's for a good cause." The creator of the work should get the choice: if they think Napster is good, let them support it.
So... how 'bout we end all the hoopla by declaring the RIAA a public utility and regulating them to the moon and back?
___ CmdrTHAC0 ___
__CmdrTHAC0__
In Soviet Russia, Spanish Inquisition doesn't expect YOU!!
so they're going against individuals now, hey be my guest!!!! i live in an island in the caribbean where 9-something % of the population have no idea what mp3 is. So go ahead, be my guest m right here i have plenty of files,i just wish i could hear the conversation between the MPAA and the police here... hehehe :P
Istigkeit -"is-ness" being and becoming & i'dfiying it with the mathematical abstraction of the idea
is an encrypted filesystem. Would it really be difficult to have the OS reside unincrypted and the /usr could be un-encrypted at boot. I have never actually tried to encrypt a directory but it seem that this couldn't be too difficult. It might take a long time, but how often do you really need to reboot a linux box. The Bad Guys(tm) can com in and when they take the box to their offices....they get random noise.
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
Everett Eaton, public safety director at OSU,
Thank GOODNESS that this threat to public safety has been removed. We all know that distributing MP3s can lead to date rape in fraternity houses, underage drinking, and alcohol poisoning.
"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is there," Eaton said. "After we finish that review, we will evaluate the amount of substance he was distributing."
Oops! Sorry about that irony up there, Eaton. I didn't realize he was distributing illegal substances. My mistake - good thing you jumped in there!
BTW, am I the only one who is bothered by the fact that state colleges have their own police force? I can see the practical need for policing a large group of people, but I see a real conflict of interest here, from the perspective of the surrounding community (college police are controlled by the college) and the students (police and professors, all working together...)
This sort of thing is pretty common. The only odd thing is that its comming from the RIAA.
If you live in the dorms at any university with a nice connection and keep your eyes open you'll hear of this sort of thing often. The majority of the time its warez/porn ftps that result in siezed computers. The mp3 sites are usually told to just stop. I personaly know of three people where some version of this has happened in the past.
You seem to be saying that you would have no objections at all to a law that illegalized the act of opening and reading a book whose paper you own.
Attitudes like this scare me. Really. The usual antidote is to point out Stallman's article The Right to Read as an illustration of where we're heading (and, in many ways, where we already are).
do something that is not illegal to protest (stop buying DVDs might be a start).
Believe me, willfully breaking laws is a last resort. I haven't bought a DVD player or drive yet (the only ones I can afford are region-crippled), and I'm seriously considering moving to a country where so-called "protest" actions such as promoting and distributing DeCSS would be perfectly legal.
-=God Hates Me=-
I know, I know, he was (allegedly) distributing copyrighted material. I know, it's illegal. But a lot of the posts regarding Napster/DeCSS lately have been castigating people about posting their thoughts on how to stick it to the MPAA/RIAA.
It's not about getting free MP3's or being able to view DVDs on your Linux box. I don't give a shit about being able to do those things. What I do care about is a mega-corporate entity telling me what I can or cannot do, and what kind of software I can or cannot possess. I'm damn near 40, and all my life I have despised those who attempt to control others. I work with (and for) these pricks in suits, and I understand that they are not a force for good in this world. I just give them a wide berth when I can, but love seeing you guys stickin it to them. I have 2800 MP3s up on a Napster share most of the time, just on GP.
Anyway, it's late. Goodnight.
It's not like campus police don't have anything better to do. How many rapes and muggings are there in a year?
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-
And yes because some money-hungry corporation gets a law passed then the already-thin police budgets now have to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on a professional forensic analysis of some student's hard drive.
Is this what the founding fathers had in mind when they penned "no unreasonable search and seizure"? You know he won't see that hardware returned until it is no longer worth its weight in scrap metal.
What if some company passes a law that not tying your shoelaces is a crime? Are the police gonna start prosecuting that one?
This seems like a breakdown in separation of powers. How many blue laws are still on the books but wholly ignored by the police? Laws about sodomy come to mind, or spitting on the Sabbath. Sure, the legislative branch handed us this piece of crap we call the DMCA, but I blame the executive brance for becoming a private army at the beck and call of corporations. If I was a police chief and some company called to complain about a kid sharing music...I'd tell them to take a number and where to stick it.
Feh. Just my two cents.
Still, makes you want to go install Scram Disk as soon as possible.
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
my, my, you've got a temper. :)
...
What I meant to imply was that it's difficult to believe that someone who pissed the nobility off enough that they held him at spearpoint and forced him to sign the magna carta could have been a good king. At the very least, he wasn't a good politician
Um, does this mean that the FBI is going to kick down my door and take my computer away? I thought they only did that to child porn people. It's nice to know that illegal MP3s now have the same status as kiddie porn. Isn't America great?
Ever since I read about the computer room "security system" used in Stephenson's Cryptonomicon -- you know, the one that involves turing the doorway into a giant electromagnet -- I have been itching to implement the same thing. Of course, I don't think the apartment manager would like me ripping out the door frame to my room...
Two questions for discussion: Would a system like the one described actually work as intended -- that is, would it completely wipe the computer? And: Has anyone out there actually built such a system?
"I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. I'm all out of bubblegum." MSE USC APX AIA CSI CASp
Sue the gun manufacturers for shooting deaths. Yeah, that makes sense.
shane
"Shouldn't you sue the people who wrote his operating system and FTP server?" And if someone sells drugs from their car, should we not confiscate the car, but instead sue the car manufacturer??
Ah, but by going after the guys who wrote Napster, they're *essentially* going after "the people who wrote his FTP server".
If it's absurd to go after one, it's absurd to go after the other.
Did they have a warrant to take the computer? Or did he just forfeit it to them? I would think that since it is his personal property they can't just up and take it. If they did, when did college supervisors become higher than the law?
--
In related news, the student's body was stripped of electrons, after a schoolmate pointed out that it was theoretically possible that he was storing infinite numbers of MP3s in them.
"It was a real tragedy," admitted Everett Eaton, public safety director at OSU. "Fortunately, I was across town at the time, so I wasn't caught in the blast as the resultant plasma explosion wiped out half the campus, leaving the remainder a radioactive wreck that won't be fit for human habitation, let alone study, for about 50,000 years. The boy did not survive the procedure, of course, but do the crime, do the time, I always say."
I love the last line:
;)
"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is there," Eaton said. "After we finish that review, we will evaluate the amount of substance he was distributing."
Sheesh, you'd think he was a crack dealer or something. What I wanna know is why the cops don't seize the servers of GPL violators, if they're so concerned about copyright violations
On another note, am I correct in recalling that the police in the US aren't allowed to seize a TV from a residence because it's the main method for obtaining public information? Would there be any chance of getting a ruling like that on PCs? (God knows I get a lot more information from my PC than I do from my TV...)
If this is some private web-based chat, GOOD! Those all invariably suck! If it's IRC, anyone know what network the RIAA is lurking around in most?
The manager of systems support was full of it. My computer does not become the property of my isp every time I dialup.
Vermifax
Vermifax
Logout
We're not talking about someone with a few dozen, or even a few hundred MP3s, from his personal collection.
The computer they confiscated allegedly had, even in this day, a large amount of storage (40 Gigs of content was shared, more than 100 Gigs installed). You don't buy 100 Gigs just to keep copies of Encarta available.
The student allegedly made regular requests to the users of his system to send any songs that he wasn't already offering. If he were making the request to fill in a few blanks, like "I haven't heard that new Smashing Pumpkins labelless vinyl, send me some," this wouldn't be seen as a piracy enterprise.
Though his school doesn't block Napster, the school does have a duty to check into allegations made about its students actions, if they're potentially legal. If they didn't, the school would be complicitous, or worse, an accomplice, to any actions proven to be illegal.
Remember, the word alleged means that a claim of guilt has been made, but not proven. That's why stuff gets confiscated in the investigation phase of a criminal case, to use as evidence in the case. If charges are pressed, then he'll face the courts, and that evidence is used against him. If he's found guilty, it will be the elected judge (and jury if selected) that sentences him. If he broke the laws, it was laws passed by elected legislators and executives.
[
If you don't like the laws that are being made, buy your own, or start a lobby group, or vote Nader, or do anything except claim that your desire to get music for free is some sort of noble cause.
Lobby group costs too much. Laws cost even more. Voting for Nader won't fix this. What the RIAA is doing ain't exactly noble. What you're essentially telling the previous poster is, "shut up".
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
There are things more important than money, and there are actually musicians out there that realize this.
Shouldn't we let the musicians decide how they want to try and live, and not have the masses dictate it for them?
___ CmdrTHAC0 ___
__CmdrTHAC0__
In Soviet Russia, Spanish Inquisition doesn't expect YOU!!
Nope nope. The DMCA does not say that I am not allowed to USE a device that circumvents a measure restricting access to a copyrighted work. It says that I am not allowed to traffic in or distribute such a device. Big difference.
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
Irrelevant actually. CSS isn't a protection measure, no matter how much they claim it is. If we are going to allow them to claim whatever they want as protection, they could write "Do not copy" on the disc with a pencil, call it protection, and thereby render criminal all those who traffic in or distribute pencil erasers.
See that "Preview" button?
Sharing copyrighted music was until rather recently only illegal if there was a profit involved
I think I forgot about that, but the case I can think of was related to software. I don't know how similar it is. It was pretty much a loophole because they didn't think of people doing wholesale copying without a profit motive, something that didn't happen until the BBS days IIRC.
Now, copying for others without a profit only limits your liability.
I believe the Berne Convention was the treaty that did that in, or at least started that change, signed in 1976 I believe.
If we want our way we must protest in a responible, and effective manner. Remember that at the Boston Tea party the point was to refuse to take the tea on the King's terms. Rather than steal the tea, it was tossed into the harbor. The one man who tried to steal some tea, was stripped naked and sent home.
That "protest in a responible, and effective manner" culminated in a war. Are you ready to fight?
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
-Man cannot survive except through his mind. --Ayn Rand
And miss the chance to piss more oregonians off? No way!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Really funny!
I'll even use a lame acronym to describe how funny this is.
ROTFL
Why don't musicians distribute their music under GPL type license or somthing like that? It could be downloaded for free, but if you get it for them you get a jewl case and lyrics printed on glossy paper!
What the heck is this:
"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is there," Eaton said. "After we finish that review, we will evaluate the amount of substance he was distributing."
Eaton, OSU's "public safety director," is using drug-war terminology about intellectual property? People who distribute music are like drug dealers?
Lucky he didn't do jail time.
http://www.kuci.org/~brianm/mp3.jpg
has it occured to anyone but myself that the reason they did this (and I seem to recall them saying they'd target a specific individual within the next 12 months) to scare people?
Therefore, by /. posting this article, I believe that they are (unintentially) _helping_ the RIAA!!! :(
SSL Certificate
the grateful dead shows that I have are completely sanctioned by their owners. as long as I trade shows that I (or some other non-profit hobby taper) taped, there's absolutely nothing illegal about sharing these tapes as mp3's. this is merely one example (sufficient to show just 1 counter-example..) of how your above statement is wrong.
commercial recordings are another matter; distributing them is currently held to be illegal (or some level of badness; I have a problem with the word illegal used in such a harmless thing as trading past performances saved as files)
but when you record your own sound,music or when the owner of that sound,music declares the work 'public domain and not-for-profit', trading such mp3's is most certainly 100% legal.
--
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Just because something can be used illegally does not render that item illegal, particularly when that item can also be used to distribute "speech." It doesn't matter if there is a way to combat it effectively or not, Napster is not inherently illegal. You have admitted this already. Since Napster is not inherently illegal, nor is the use of Napster sufficient or necessary for you to be partaking in an illegal action, there is no reasonable standing to demand it be shut down.
--
Ben Kosse
--
Ben Kosse
Remember Ed Curry!
Within the next four months, a student or "other individual found downloading illegal MP3 tracks" will go to jail "as a clear signal that piracy will not be tolerated in the US."
So my question is, do American jails have enough room for 20 million pirates?
Matt
Fairtunes
I submitted this story last night but didn't get any credit for it.
"Shouldn't you sue the people who wrote his operating system and FTP server?" And if someone sells drugs from their car, should we not confiscate the car, but instead sue the car manufacturer??
Finally, the RIAA is acting within it's reasonable rights. What we need is more of this, and an end to fighting technology tooth and nail and demanding a zillion special hardware based locks.
I'm astonished that his disclaimer on this do0ds site didn't work for him. :)
Ex. <i>Welcome</i>... *yadda*yadda*...<i> don't sue me</i>... *blah*blah*...<i> unless I have given you an account personally, you do not have permission</i>...
These younger administrators place their legality in this phrase. I wouldn't be surprised if they gave away their first born in a disclaimer.
remember this article napster hurts album sales? and this one pirates steal negative 1.4 billion from music industry
lose != loose
There is another issue that isn't being addressed here.
I have Moody Blues "Every Boy Deserves a Favor" on 8track, on Vinyl, Cassette, and CD.
How many times must I buy it before I am granted the rights to play the music. Am I required under the current record recording EULA.
Am I required to purchace another copy as soon as a new standard comes out. What must I pay before I am grated the right to backup somthing I purchaced on CD. If I own it on cassette, am I required to purchace it on CD?
MP3's are great because music I own on non-cd formats can be downloaded and played into the ground without wrecking the origional.
At about $12-$15 a pop when it's new, over the past 20 years this would me thousands of dollars.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is there," Eaton said. "After we finish that review, we will evaluate the amount of substance he was distributing."
Geez, that quote makes him sound like he was running a meth lab or something.
--GnrcMan--
Yeah like let them dictate how we live.
No mp3s. Bad bad computer. Eating away at profit margin. Destroy Napster.
Hey why are they boo'ing me at the MTV VMA?
......
Either way, if you download an mp3 from an artist its usually to check it out. Not to make duplicates upon duplicates of entire cd's.
Just think back to the last time you went to the music store. All those cd's you don't know what they are, you're not buying them at all. Now if you had a song or 3 from them, maybe you'd purchase some of them.
I just think it puts a lot of pressure on artists to put out good work instead of shoving it as hard as they can down our throats (MTV/Radio).
As opposed to here (View by choice Internet)
my thoughts exactly....
Get paid to code OSS
I'm sure he would have been using Linux, if it had the capability to play the material he was distributing
Okay, let me qualify my statement. Nobody I know uses it for legal purposes. Maybe Michigan is filled with law-breaking citizens (as are all the geographic locations of the people with whom I'm spoken through the Internet).
Love, Stu
Remember that story? For those who don't, basically its the future and the government makes everyone "equal". If you're strong, you are weighed down by weights. If you're attractive, you must ware a hideous mask. I'm not saying MP3s are legal or moral, everything in this instance was done by the book. But the world is changing, and its time to rewrite parts of the book. I think its time for some serious political/legislative reform when it comes to how technology is handled. If the laws that rule the land cannot keep up with the pace of how fast technology is changing, we're going to see more of these situations. Like someone mentioned earlier... if they confiscate everyone's computer who is distributing MP3s, do they have someplace big enough for millions of PCs? Also... is it just me or is everyone out for blood when it comes down to money? The recording industry makes scads of money. If they eliminate all illegal instances of mp3s in the world, they would make even scads more (which is what they really want, you can never have enough money.) But on the other hand, if everyone in the world had strictly illegal mp3s and never bought cds, then there would be no more music industry, and no more commercially available music, right? There has to be some middle ground where a compromise can be attained. As in music would be more (legally) free than it is now, and the industry would give up maybe just a small fraction of that chunk of money that exsist in their pipe dreams. I think we need to let M$ and the RIAA and the MPAA know that the meaning of life isn't really "He who dies with the most money wins."
FLR
It starts becoming a major world issue when record and movie companies buy laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which say that I cannot even listen to SDMI music or watch DVD movies except under their terms.
It's a major issue that even if I have the technical skills to circumvent their restrictions, I can't utilize or publicize those skills for fear of turning into a Jon Johansen.
It's really a major issue when a judge dictates to me that I can't even post a hyperlink to a file named decss.tar.gz (as in the Kaplan ruling), just because it might constitute contributory infringement.
I'd like to change the laws within the system if I could, but at this point our so-called democracy is so corrupt with corporate influence that frankly I don't have much chance of achieving anything legitimately.
Amusing language... are mp3s "controlled substances" now? Are they on the Schedule I list?
-hk
Therapy is expensive. Bubble wrap is cheap. You choose.
It is ridiculously easy to confiscate someone's property even in this country. All the campus police had was a search warrant. Are we to trust police to be able to distinguish between, say, anti-government songs and stolen copyrighted music?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
No mp3s. Bad bad computer. Eating away at profit margin. Destroy Napster.
That's what the RIAA is saying, but not all artists agree.
Just think back to the last time you went to the music store. All those cd's you don't know what they are, you're not buying them at all. Now if you had a song or 3 from them, maybe you'd purchase some of them.
I usually avoid buying anything.
More to the point... I'm officially for Napster and the artists, and against the RIAA and the attitudes of some of the /. posters.
Napster is good because it promotes sharing. Sharing in real life (need bigger HDD... grr) has introduced me to Shadow Gallery, Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, James Galway, and Joe Satriani (wrt JS, earlier is better... "Engines of Creation" blows!)
The artists are good because they produce the music.
The RIAA is bad because they end up making retail charge $40 for a couple of CDs (Rush: Chronicles) to make a profit.
The attitudes are bad because they don't agree with mine. I'd prefer to bang my head against the wall than read anything else saying, "I'm not taking anything. There is no less after than before I listened." (Anybody that says that should compare the money they make selling their code with that of giving it away.) The list goes on, but I'd rather not ramble.
I just think it puts a lot of pressure on artists to put out good work instead of shoving it as hard as they can down our throats (MTV/Radio).
Good point... pretty soon we can replace the artists on these media with the automated songwriting programs featured in _1984_.
___ CmdrTHAC0 ___
__CmdrTHAC0__
In Soviet Russia, Spanish Inquisition doesn't expect YOU!!
This sends a clear message FUCK OKLAHOMA! They've arrested a student for running a web server and other students for running a cat 5 cable. FUCK OKLAHOMA STATE! I believe all faculty with a conscience should quit and the students should withhold all payments to the school immediately. FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE (courtesy Lars I'mRich)
Form Confirmation
Thank you for submitting the following information:
Type: Other
Crime_DetailsArea: Other
Location: it was in a computer lab
Time: 9-16-2000
Suspect_Name: it was a student
Name: John
Phone: Doe
email: (404) XXX-XXXX
Information Sent: Send Information to the OSU Police
I saw a student download mp3s from a website.
Descriptionabout 5'10". Had brown hair and was wearing a t-shirt. He also wore shorts.
OtherHe was downloading Metallica and Dr Dre mp3s.
Under the Constitution, the information content of published music, movies, or other works is not the property of the publishers, but of the people. Copyright is an arrangement where the public temporarily restricts its own rights, to a limited extent, to provide an incentive for authors to create more works that will benefit the public. It is not a recognition of any "natural property right", and your term "their own property" thus goes against the Founders' intent for copyright, and 200+ years of law.
As for copies of music, movies, or software that I purchase over the counter, those are my private property, and it is morally wrong for publishers to try to take away the rights that I have under common law and copyright law as the owner of a legitimately-acquired copy of a copyrighted item.
LoL! I hope we get some more submissions.
--
--
He lives in a world where those who do not run the client software of the omnipresent meme are unacceptable.
This doesn't make any sense: why would you go after this kid? Shouldn't you sue the people who wrote his operating system and FTP server? *cough* *cough*.
You should be truly embarrassed to post such FUD on your web server. The RIAA has never gone after a product (since Diamond Rio); it has only gone after services. Napster is a service; although it has a program to interface with it, the thing being targeted is the service (the server which maintains the name queries), and not the program. Likewise in this case, they are not attacking the protocols or the products (OS software, FTP server), but the operator of the service (the student).
It is extremely offensive for you to suggest that the RIAA has a history of attacking products and not services. This is simply not true. The RIAA has never gone after anyone who wrote software implementing a protocol or an operating system.
What's even more scary is that this distinction was clearly spelled out in both the RIAA legal briefs (which were posted on Slashdot) and Judge Patel's initial decision (which Slashdot chose to censor). Do you even read the links that are posted and submitted to you, or just the headline?
Excuse me? Isn't that like paying for music with out permition?
Linux is liccensed to be distributed as widely as posable...
I guess it is posable to distribute Linux with out permition (binary only... and changes to code with no source provided)
Just as it is posable to buy CDs with out permition (Buy black market CDs instead of CDs made by the recording company) but it's not very likely to happen...
In my view it's less a problem that this one kid got cought and more a problem that ONE kid got cought.. not 1,000...
More effort is put into Napster than is put into hunting down pirates..
This one kid had put such a massive demand into his FTP server (from the comments it seems stuff you don't find on Napster or in the stores for that matter) that the RIAA couldn't ignore it.
He attracted such attention he'd have his connection pulled one way or annother.. Illegal or not...
How would it look if the RIAA ignored this kid?
But they do in effect ignore the vast majority of such FTP sites...
They do want to protect revenue stream..
From the comments it seems the music industry realises the full potental of Napster and knows that if Napster were allowed to develup on it's own unhindered the music industry themselfs couldn't provide a similer service and compleate on FAIR MARKET...
Basicly in my view the RIAA should go after people like this kid far more often than they do..
I don't actually exist.
"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is there," Eaton said. "After we finish that review, we will evaluate the amount of substance he was distributing." Hehehe...Now the guy is "distributing substance".
Connah
Connah
"Your mouse has moved. Windows NT must be restarted for this change to take effect."
In a way... I agree with you in wondering why this just this kid. Makes me kinda wonder. But maybe they figure it might set precident. But I totally disagree with going after his OS maker and FTP software writer. That is just plain DUMB. That's like saying, Microsoft/*nix/OS/2/Sun/etc made me do it. No one made him violate IP laws. He made a consious (spelling?) decision to. He chose to distribute mp3's. There were no evil hate rays coming from Bill Gates Eyes. It's the kids own damn fault.
Lately taco, You've missed the boat on quite a few stories. Come on, get back in the game. Think.
Several thoughts come to mind.
1) Well, it IS illegal.. and he WAS doing it... so what's the big deal?
2) Campus police.. are they 'real' police? Can they sieze things? (I honestly have no idea.. someone fill me in?)
3) For all our wonderful 'technology', the stuff we use to do MP3, the stuff we think is 'revolutionary' and should be used.... we all too often overlook encryption. 2 things could perhaps help this guy. If his HD was encrypted (or at least the relevant portions), he would be in better shape. Strongdisk, for instance, has a nice feature where you can set up ghosted emergency filesystems such that if you supply one password, you get the real one, if you supply the 'emergency' password, you get the fake one, destroy the original, etc. This idea could be expanded on greatly..
3) Encrypted/authenticated sessions. You know what? Look at big warez sites these days. THe passwords don't get just 'handed out' all over. IPs are filtered, connections are proxied, and you don't get it unless you are part of a group, or 'know' somebody. WHy? Because what they are doing is illegal. Sharing mp3 should follow similar rules.
4) Hmm. What if 3 friends and I all get together and decide to have a 'shared' music collection online, that only we four have access to, so we pool all our stuff together.. is this illegal also? Should it be? I mean, if we all lived together, we could share a CD collection...
5) Secure comm protocol. We need a way to archive, database, and share files in a secure manner. Authenticate that the person who grabbed them had a right to do so; that traffic should be encrypted. IT also needs to employ some sort of.. damn. I forget the word. Deniability? No.... that feature of cryptographic communications that would prevent a third party from proving that a transaction ever took place? We need that.
~~~~~~ WANTED ~~~~~~~
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-
The evil, dreaded BARD ARTURUS OF RHODES.
For the crime of singing the song "Oops, ye didth it again" in the Olde Tavern of Havernook on the morn of the fifth day of the eleventh month, without remittance of expected royalties to His High Lord the Duke of Media.
Offered reward of 1000 gold pieces.
Known to be travelling in the company of Robin of Locksley (a.k.a. Robin of the Hood). Reward for incidental capture of Locksley shall be an additional one hundred pence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't laugh, if RIAA develops time travel this is how the story will go. And Disney will make an animated feature about it where Bard Arturus is hung and all the kingdom rejoices.
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
Remember the fella who stole internet access by running a CAT5 cable from a hub in a storage closet to his computer in his dorm room? (I was there to see that.) Now this.
t ories/computer.html
h tm), they were saying that entire Willham complex would be demolished in three years! ..but that fizzled, and now they have internet access.
..WAIT! That IS Suzy! (*spank* *spank* *spank*..)"
OSU NEWSPAPER ARTICLE:
http://www.ocolly.com/issues/2000_Fall/000914/s
THIS guy lives in Willham Hall, which just got wired for network access this past summer. Willham is one of the Freshman dorms, and Freshman are stereotyped to go absolutely nuts with the Internet. That's why the university was reluctant to have the building hooked up. (I used to live there three years ago. All we could use on the PBX phone system were defective external 9600 baud modems.)
ACTUALLY! Because the university built (and are still building) new on-campus apartments (http://www.reslife.okstate.edu/pictures/new/new.
Here's a pic for refrence:
http://www.reslife.okstate.edu/suite/18.jpg
The new building down in front are one of the new apartment complexes, the two highrises in the back are the Willham complex -- the closest one is the men's dorm (where all this news is happening!) Maybe they decided not to demolish Willham because the new apartmenta are FIFTY FEET AWAY! Therefore, a construction/demolition problem led to the university giving into demand and installing internet access, which when combined with hyperactive Freshmen, led to the RIAA crawling up OSU's ass.
As for the ZDNet article, I like this quote:
"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is there," Eaton said. "After we finish that review, we will evaluate the amount of substance he was distributing."
All I can think of when they say "Oklahoma Forensics":
Jimbo: (browsing through 'My Documents/My Pictures') "Hey Bubba, check out the tits on this chick!"
Bubba: "DAMN! I ain't seen tits like that since we sold that one heifer, Suzy.
I claim no property rights on the content of a DVD disc, but I assert full property rights on the material the disc is made of. If I have the technical skill to play back the material with my own computer (not copy, just play back), this act should not be illegal, as it currently is.
To illegalize this act amounts to the record company telling me what I can and can not do with my computer and my plastic disc, which is exactly the thing that you decry as morally wrong.
Don't break the law, and you'll not have any problems. It's a slippery slope once you have situational morals.
Slippery slopes are dangerous but sometimes you have to take the risk. With enough skill, you can keep yourself from falling down.
Unquestioning obedience to an unjust law is just as bad for society as blind disregard for just laws. Our segregation laws would not have improved if Rosa Parks hadn't broken one. Voting alone wouldn't have done it: minorities are always outvoted by a majority.
I actually agree with the original poster--free music is not on a par with civil rights. However, the issue that matters to me is free speech, and free speech is.
Actually the article did not say he had 10,000 songs. In fact, it stated that number more for shock value than anything else. The article actually said: "The 19-year-old's computer system--including monitor, keyboard, two CD burners, scanner and printer--was removed earlier this month from his dorm room after campus police determined he was operating an FTP server site that allowed visitors to download MP3 music files and even several full-length movies" And this: "The seized computer gear included 105 gigabytes of hard drive space, of which about 40GB were made available to visitors. Assuming the average music file occupies about 4MB, the student could have had approximately 10,000 songs available for download." Wow, that sentence has the words "Assuming". "average", "could", and "approximately" all together. So in reality, the person has 40 gig of files available. Depending on the format of the movie files and quality, one movie could me anywhere between 300 meg and 1.5 gig. So if the student had 10 movies, which could be several, or even 20. He could have a ton of non mp3 used space. But I digress, the point was, he probably didnt have anywhere NEAR 10,000 mp3's.
alright mr. "i'm the president of the riaa's personal cocksucking slave," did you happen to notice that the individual student targeted here is also not a service? the riaa may have never gone after software vendors specifically because of their software, but they hadn't gone after individuals before either. their attack plan was against, as you said, the servers allowing the connection between users and subsequent distribution of "their" property. harassing individuals is a new step. who's to say that the next step isn't attacking software?
Interesting the way the music on the the guy's hard drive was described as a "substance". That's what the RIAA and MPAA are pushing alright - "substances". The big news here is that the media cartels are figuring out (after the FBI laughed in their faces) that they can hide behind chicken-shit, cash-whore universities as a de facto police force and say "oh, are kids going to jail? all we do is send letters".
I've got nine letters here myself for the RIAA and MPAA: G E T F U C K E D. Your attempted hijacking of internet music and film distribution is doomed -- you're pissing in the Colorado river and asking everyone to start sand-bagging the shoreline. The great fear of the movie and music cartels is that their ten-billion dollar businesses will turn into one-billion dollar businesses. Do your part to help make their nightmare come true.
Everyone running and patronizing Napster/OpenNap/Freenet/GNUtella/web servers needs to ratchet up the distribution, promotion and consumption of the work of net-friendly independent musicians and filmmakers. Stop buying the shlock music and paying to see the inane films that fund these corporate pimps and their armies of cocksucker lawyers.
These two cartels, rotten to the marrow, are now exploring crossing the line you always knew they would and are trial-ballooning actually sending you to jail to protect their media distribution monopolies. Don't roll over and take it, turn up the heat.
Stay Informed:
http://www.indymedia.org/
Night