Slashdot Mirror
Cracking Down on MP3s at the Office
jhaberman writes "News.com has a story
about how corporations are now starting to crack down on networked MP3's, not
necessarily for the reasons you might think." Talks about legal issues,
as well as bandwidth issues, and the simple issue of employees wasting
their employers time.
Just like you shouldn't be playing Flash games at the office either. Quit stealing time from your employer and start working.
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots." - George Bush
There's no reason to have a fileserver full of MP3's on the company dime. These days it's tantamount to having porno on the corporate fileserver.
Luck favors the prepared, darling.
Talks about legal issues, as well as bandwidth issues, and the simple issue of employees wasting their employers time.
Good. I can hardly wait for the "music wants to be free" and "find another job, man" commentary from the hordes of slashbots who've never had a job.
Sigh.
--saint
hehe that's what an ipod is for :)
ryan
Banning Slashdot at work. Refresh. Post. Repeat. :)
If we don't fight for ourselves no one will.
"Some of these corporations, we are told, have their own little networks--that is very clearly illegal."
--RIAA President Cary Sherman
Man, I hope this one was taken out of context!!
Where I work we're not allowed to download them but they don't care if we have them especially if we show they came from CDs we own.
I can understand it, legal issues, bandwidth and a time waster. Makes sense to me.
The Anti-Blog
from the but-i-need-those-tunes-to-live dept.
.... Breathe out .... Breathe in .... Breathe out ...."
CmdrTaco - I think you'll be fine. Last I checked, you're not a blonde female, and your mp3's arent repititions of "Breathe in
I have mp3's at work on my computer because I keep all my CD's at home in a 300 disc changer, and have ripped them all to my mp3 server at home. If I want to listen to an album, I'll download it from my FTP then listen to it for a few weeks before I delete it. It takes me no more time to queue up an album in Winamp than to swap between CD's like other people do at work for music. If I'm not pirating or sharing files, why can't I listen to mp3's?
Hi, Micro$oft sucks real bad, but linx rulez man. Linux is so good and so cool. Only smart people use it. sometimes I use windoze, but its 'cause my boss is a narc, and he makes me. I love linux. Theres this other stuff called *BSD, I think I will do it next. Until then I will keep letting the windoze MCSE guy at work stuff my mouth with his cock.
There is plenty of HD space to go around, a few gigs of MP3's aren't such a big deal. And most of my coworkers love listening to ZZ Top, TMBG and Bach on heavy rotation. The only thing I can really see them objecting to is stealing IP on company time but come one, everybody does it!
When I read this, I didn't think it was news, pretty much anyone who has had a professional job can say, yea we aren't supposed to use our work computers for much besides work (Doesn't mean you do always use it for work, you always have some leeway.)
Typically, the RIAA receives tips about alleged illegal file swapping through its anonymous tip line. It then threatens legal action and asks companies to stop. So far, the tactics may be working.
That is what scared me... how BSA like the RIAA is. Anonymous file sharing tip line? So some disgruntled employee anonymously says they traded MP3s and they go after the company. That's just a new low for them.
The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
My company takes a hardline view on anything to do with the computers. The IT guy who was running a pirate software and mp3 server was quickly dismissed. And even the few who have installed software have been fired. We don't have the MP3 problem because our computers sound drivers are disabled by admin. If someone was industrious enought to enable them it would be pretty obvious what you did and would quickly be without job.
"Beware the squirrels"
And it's the two usual reasons again.
1. Bandwidth Hogs
2. RIAA on the arse.
Where does it say it's some other reason?
It's so easy to block by IP and port at the firewall, I can't believe that more companies don't do it. Sure, it won't stop the wonks who know that Apache on their cable-modem-equipped home boxen can be set up to do proxy forwarding, but it'll stop most non-geeks.
ACHTUNG! Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.
Show me Developers that have time to troll Lime/Gnutella and such at work, and I'll show you an ineffective manager every damn time.
ACHTUNG! Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.
At my workplace, the woman in the cubicle neighboring mine plays Hanson and Bette Midler mp3s off of her personal server on open-air earphones for 5 hours straight. Everyone within a 10 foot radius hates her because of that. Even the boss tells her it's reducing our performance-ever since she set up that server, our productivity and innovation has gone down dramatically. The boss decided to shut down the server to get us back on track, but the RIAA got to him before he had the chance.
:)
We're probably the only people glad that the RIAA is cracking down on businesses with mp3 filled servers.
Sigh. Why doesn't the RIAA just admit that they have found a new business model in the post-mp3 world: it's called extortion.
"We'd very much like corporations to think about their obligations to respect the intellectual property rights of our artists and labels," he said. "Some of these corporations, we are told, have their own little networks--that is very clearly illegal.
So corporate networks are illegal now thanks to the RIAA. Guess I better sell all those spools of CAT5 on eBay and stock up on floppies.
they were cool and setup an old dell box running nt server and used it as mp3 server, they did this cause of all the customer services reps downloading streaming audio.
course we never told the boss unless she reads this
http://www.guild.com
best web company i ever worked for
Cause that's what people working for corporations are, wage-slaves, right? Two things are required for slaves to row that boat:
1. Whip: No one WANTS to work for someone else, but they have to because other options of putting dinner on the plate aren't always feasible. Because dinner is foremost on their mind, the whip is not required.
2. Beat: that dude at the back of the boat has to pound that drum so everyone knows when to row. You listen to music while you jog, you listen to music while you're relaxing, you listen to music on your way to and from work. Rhythm isn't required for you to work, but it relaxes you to the point where your alienation from your species being isn't so bad..
There's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be allowed to listen to music at work if you've got a pair of headphones and your work b0x has a sound card. It keeps time as your labor produces capital. That must be good for business, right?
[o]_O
..music increases productivity, as long as it's kept at sane volume levels and doesn't annoy the people around you.
I can't see workplaces eliminating music. I'd have a hard time seeing them eliminating mp3's, at least on personal workstations. (Fileservers, perhaps.)
What I could see them attempting to stop is downloading mp3s. Not because the RIAA is being whiny as usual, but because it takes up bandwidth that's paid for with the company's dime.
Ordered a server today - was told not to scrimp. It has about 700GB of diskspace and needs about 50GB.
Put your mp3s on a CD then you will waste no bandwidth.
Also for any employers reading here... wasting a few mins a day playing with some music [e.g. setting it up] is insignificant compared to the efficiency of a comfortable employee.
E.g. if the employee is having a decent time they will work harder and probably make fewer mistakes. If you force them to wear a uniform and upsell popcorn [e.g. my job] then they won't do a super great job.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Penis and linux go hand in hand. Welcome home brother, we are all faggots here. Linux and open source are all about gay promiscuous sex.
Networked MP3s is the key here. If you're sharng your collection with people who don't own those CDs, that's illegal. Whether or not it's unethical is an exercise left to the reader, but I don't think anybody can logically debate the legality.
I know the kneejerk reaction is to scream "But MP3 is just a file format!" If what you say is true, that you're not allowing others to access your music, then you have nothing to worry about - you're covered under fair use.
-- "Complacency is a far more dangerous attitude than outrage." -Naomi Littlebear
About two years ago, my employer banned all music at work. I work in an automotive facility--not like where you get an oil change, but like where you get engine blocks bored and stuff. (To be more accurate, it's where prototypes of various machined parts are made for testing and stuff. Also, as a sort of side job, a lot of repair work is done, because there's big money in it. Think about it... make a hole a bit bigger and charge the poor shmoe $400 to do it.) You could say that prior to about two years ago, there were practically "no rules." This meant that in every corner of the facility, employees blasted their stereos with all their favorite music. In one corner of the shop, you heard Metallica, in another, Mozart, and in another yet, that stupid noise that some people call Pop. And there were about twenty other zones like this. At the various computers, which are all connected to the 'net through a LAN, employees downloaded countless songs through every system known to man, whether IRC or through web pages or whatever, and burned these on CDs to play everywhere in the shop. It was commonplace for someone with a computer-related request which takes one minute to fulfill to also ask for whatever songs, which would take about an hour of someone's paid time to find and download. People brought art projects into work--I am NOT kidding! The boss was always running around giving people instructions, because all the data was literally in his head and he didn't empower anybody to make decisions, so while one person had his attention (and twenty others were chasing him around for attention), everybody else was messing around. And somehow (don't even ask me how, because I can't explain this to this day), this company remained very profitable. Probably because a ton of work DID get done (though it was nearly all done in overtime, or by the boss in the middle of the night). The problem was that the company operated at perhaps 10% of the efficiency that it operates at now.
Well, let me get to my story, yo. So the boss, one day, got pissed off because a bunch of jobs had been scrapped, due to errors made by his various employees (40 of them), so he got pissed and banned all music. It's been that way ever since. (Oh yeah, and about two years ago, around the same time as this ban, he brought in a professional management team that understands the business quite well, and this increased profits to nearly twenty times the original amounts. I won't say whether the lack of music had anything to do with it, but I'm trying to say that I can see where these bans on whatever in the workplace come from. Sometimes, you just gotta get shit done.)
I gotta go shut down my cache!
Or let's get jobs at MS and trade files!!!
-aicra
The computer is NOT a device specifically designed for the copying and storage of audio files... according to the law....(DMCA) these people didn't violate squat and their lawyers SUCK ASS and gave away millions to the RIAA.
I have no argument against companies banning illegal copies of music/software/et al on company property - those sort of risks are born of decisions individuals make and should remain personal. That said, various claims of loss of productivity and bandwidth loss at best rationalisations to prop up a decision already made or, more usually, an attempt by the bean counters to squeeze more work out of staff.
Maximum efficiency and productivity is not the result of maximum effort - there is a point at which more effort reduces efficiency as fatigue sets in, concetration and comfort levels drop etc. While I accept that some companies may have problems where staff are wasting time, trying to cure this by prohibition will have similar effects to the alcahol strategy of the same name.
Allow staff there small comforts. By all means ban illegal copies (and hence P2P networks) but do so for legitimate (ie legal) reasons. Monitor bandwidth, but if you prevent employees from using a resource that the company makes liberal use (and probably misuse) of, then they will become resentful. Even more so if they are told that they are to be prohibited from listening to music to increase their productivity. If staff are unproductive it is more likely to be from poor management, poor organisation, direction or motivation than it is to be from having too much bandwidth or listening to music. Fix the problem, not the blame.
People are not machines, no matter how much this Indistrialised workplace would like them to be. Treating them as such may have short term gains, but is disatrous long term.
When you pay close enough attention, it is possible to find many instances where an activity or behavior is not necessarily the most appropriate allocation of company resources. We could be facist about what activity we allow, though I think it would pollute/dilute the friendly attitude we want to encourage in our employees. I think that it comes down to the corporate environment those that hold purse strings are attempting to foster.
We strictly deny music downloading/streaming/trading over the LAN. There is the legal perspective of licensing and outside pressure (we do pay ASCAP and BMI handsomely in our business) but the real reason is because of the impact it can have on our network and physical system resources (I can't afford to put CD-ROMs in everyone's box just for tunes). However, we encourage listening to whatever helps your specific style of working through a standalone deck so long as it doesn't distract your coworkers. I have some experience in the hospitality industry and I would relate an experience from our kitchens: we feed our employees from our overage in production. It is our experience that when we give to employees there have much less desire to take. Control your shrinkage proactively, so to say.
We expect our employees to give their best effort for greater than one-third of their waking hours, and in return they deserve to be given our best effort to make their experience as positive as possible. I think that the same attitude can apply in many aspects of how you manage your staff, whether it "letting" them listen to music instead of the hum of an HVAC or any other corollary to their day that helps people feel better and accordingly, be better employees.
Technically any non work related material on a company computer is not allowed. But if an employee has mp3's on their PC's no one cares. It's the file servers we care about. Late last year I started searching for MP3's and other media files on our file servers and found around 6GB worth in our company of 700. Including MP3's I found plenty of porn. Including some very sick stuff. I just deleted all the files. I did this every few weeks and soon people got the message. At one point I found a female employee with lesbian porn in her home folder. She was fired.
I stopped the auditing for a few months and the mp3's came back. So I deleted them again. And that's the policy. If you put MP3's onto company file severs they get deleted without any notice. No extra software required to do the searches either. Were on NT/2000 so I just PC Anywhere or terminal server into the server and do a search locally for the offending file types. I can do all of our servers on a friday morning while eating and having my morning tea or coffee.
Go do anything besides sitting in a cube and you'll be lucky if you get to do any of this..
Free Mac Mini
I work for PENNDOT. We are not allowed to browse for personal reasons, or listen to music, period. Why should I be allowed to? I'm at work to work, not to play. Jesus, I'm a teenager and I understand that.
IT workers say the same thing--that the songs are already out of the proverbial jewel box. Like universities, companies may have to learn to live with a certain amount of media on their networks.
For any but the biggest networks this is easy to stop. Institute a policy of NO filesharing programs and NO unauthorised MP3's and Movies's. Do random checks of company computers at night. If contraband is found write them up, and tell them that if found again, they will be fired. Check that employee's machine again after 2 weeks, and one month later. If they resumed doing it, they are an idiot and should be canned. I would imagine after the first employee got canned, this practice would have a tremendous effect. This isn't that hard of a problem to solve.
You are dealing with a limited environment, in which you have physical access to all the machines involved. Every company should do it, if only to save money on bandwidth.
std::disclaimer<std::legalese> sig=new std::disclaimer; sig->dump(); delete sig;
Oh, well, I guess they would be cracking down for the reasons I might think.
[
You are wasting the companies bandwidth by d/l them from home.
Why not just reburn a couple of them and bring them in? CD's are only 10 to 20 cents right now. And it would be much nicer to the company network traffic.
You're filling up my backup tapes! Save them to your local freaking drive! Like I do!
It's unpatriotic. I'll never let them take away my MP3 of "Let the Eagle Soar".
Check out Webplay.
You can set up variable-bitrate streams from your home to your office - then you have no incriminating files left on your office's disks.
For instance, you can listen at 48k during the week during high net usage times or at native bitrates at night or on the weekends.
Even with my iPod, it seems that the song I want to hear is always at home on my server - this solves it nicely.
Cheers,
Jim in Tokyo
-- My Weblog.
I just turned 16. I started my first job 3 weeks ago. I have admin access to every server where I work, and my workstation. I have root on the Linux system that I set up for the company. I simply FTPed to my system at home and downloaded all my oggs. I then installed WinAmp, and everything is fine. My bosses(I have two) are both complementing how hard I work.
What employers need to realize is that things like a dress code, and crummy music hurt job performance. A friend of mine at work can do four times the productivity that he does, but as he says, "I'll give them better work when they treat me better." While I don't doodle and such during work, I do understand where he is coming from.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Doesn't Entertainment mean "fun" and "enjoyment"? The RIAA are sucking the soul out of entertainment with stuff like this. Next they'll probably try to introduce indoctrination into primary schools, so we'll end up with the next generation feeling guilty if they even hear a song whilst walking down the street and they haven't payed their relevent royalties to the artists.
--- Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit? | Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?
Taken only slightly out of context:
he said. "Some of these corporations, we are told, have their own little networks--that is very clearly illegal."
I was told somewhere that some companys have their own big networks too. It's amazing how companies set up networks that allow users to share data and increase their productivity. Since there is a potential for them to share mp3 files accross those networks, they must be illegal.
At what point did having a computer at your home or office with a networked connection suddenly make you suspect of illegal activites.
My company already pays the RIAA in various capacitys untold 'royalties' (or whatever they are called) every time we buy CD-Rs for that oh so potentially illegal copying of important business related files for backup purposes. (The fact that we don't use work machines for mp3s has nothing to do with it.. we are suspect).
Now, aparently, if somebody on our work network happens to download and distribute mp3s, we'll get charged again.
Who gave these jokers that kind of power? And what can we do to take it away from them.
The Internet is generally stupid
Woot! What was that number again? The last company that laid me off is going down! That'll learn them! :)
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
As an employee I have snatched my fair share of MP3's from the web while at work. Needed something to do waiting for the tech calls to come in and while on the calls :).
The funny thing is that my boss at the time was a funny guy. The first day I went to work and was being processed thorugh HR yada yada, I was sent to the sysadmin(this was at an ISP). He sat me down and handed me what he cooled my toolkit. An employee manual for the techs and an IDE removable drive bay with a five gig drive in and mount brackets.
The drive I was informed was so I could transfer large amounts of data between work and home with ease.
After getting to know him he explained to me it was easier buying a five gigger for every tech to keep his leeched WaRez/Mp3,p0rN, collection on instead of on the company servers. We each had to sign a waiver that the use of the drive was only for business use.... It was an intresting work around. A pretty cool boss. He loved music.
On the other hand as a sysadmin I agree with the legal issues. Keep it off my network. If you listen to music, you better have a job that doesn't recquire you to answer the phone or recquire any aural cues for your post.
I had another boss that didnt mind us listening to music but we all had to pool the cds and vote on them and only listen to one. Good policy.
But if anyone runs in an office with 200 workstations all with labtec speakers grunting out tinny tunes, Garth Brooks, Goo Dolls, Bare Naked, and a hodgepodge of others, is truly a virgin in an industry.
Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
This doesn't seem like a big issue. It's not surprising in the least. My workplace (educational institution) has had a firewall for quite awhile now to keep outsiders out. I've never been able to run file-sharing programs. It's just easier at home. Using WinMX, it looks like most folks are modem, cable or DSL anyhow.
We don't have the MP3 problem because our computers sound drivers are disabled by admin. If someone was industrious enought to enable them it would be pretty obvious what you did and would quickly be without job.
That's fair enough. I'm lucky enough to have admin rights to everything, but on the other hand know that if I download MP3s all day, the bandwidth bill will rack up and my boss will get pissed off. I was at a client's the other day (large multi-national), and they had a 50GB server full of mp3s and the like. They're safe because the admin who put them there can hide behind a screen of anonymity in a company that has enough $$ to buy a continent.
Moral of the story: Don't bite the hand that feeds you!
****
Too many Sigs will give you lung cancer.
Ladies, form queue here -->
Boy you are acting like joe sixpack would if you tried to take away his beer.
I guess I understood where my boss got this idea when I was looking over his shoulder as he clicked through his start menu today and I noticed he had, among other things, Kazaa and AIM!
It makes me wonder what the point is, I haven't felt the need to do any non non-work on my work computer, I didn't even have speakers until Ineeded to edit some video.
-Zuchinis
Click here or here.
Complaining about being yelled at or fired for wasting the company's money and time is like complaining about having to say the pledge of alliegence when your public education is paid for by the government. If you want to listen to and download MP3s on the job, start your own business. While I agree that being able to listen to music while you're working is a good comfort, its not the end of the world if your company bans it. When I went to high school, it was perfectly all right for 20 students in a classroom to watch streaming rap videos in RM format, which choked our measly T3, but it wasn't alright for me to download MP3s and listen to them.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
So what about this IIS company? I know it's really old news at this point but settling for a million is insane regardless of what was going on. Is this not just part of the RIAA's FUD scheme?
I am feeling fat and sassy
A female employee was FIRED for having "lesbian porn in her home folder"?! While everyone else's porn was just deleted? I really hope this is way out of context, because otherwise your company are assholes, and sue-able assholes at that. In fact, if you found the lesbian porn and set this all in motion, rather than just deleting it, you are an asshole too. Well, actually I suspect you're just a troll, but the point needs to be made.
Freedom: "I won't!"
Many, many employees are allowed to bring cds and tapes to work to listen to during the day. Hell, back in the day, I used to bring a walkman to work when I was writing software manuals. Believe me, it can be hell without it.
At my company we don't allow p2p file sharing (hello proxy!), or using company time to burn cds, but we can't and shouldn't prohibit individuals from playing mp3s on their workstations, especially if they're not disturbing others.
Now swapping mp3's might be a little different. The only way we could stop that would be to prohibit them from sending binary attachments to one another (Ohhhh.... and with the Klez virus and the like it's sorely temping...) so why bother. It would be a minimal inconvenience for them to email the files to each other by broadcasting playlists.
Bottom line is, I've not seen this to be a problem. Employees don't tend to waste time doing this, and if they do, and can still make quotas, get their reports out on time, and maintain a productive work level, then why bother?
Hell, if you think about it, most jokes heard at the water fountain were written by someone, somewhere. Does it become the company's job to police these "copyright violations"?
If they're sending these jokes digitally (as has happen since the telegraph, in a lot of ways the old telegraph system was like the first p2p network) does this mean that they're violating the DMCA?
Are we (as system admins) supposed to police this? And for whom? I mean, really, what makes your (xxAA) copyright any more important than a comedians?
BTW, I heard a good one the other day...
Seems the Pope was drunk on a streetcorner in Santa Monica, and three Mormons stagger out of a local bar...
-dameron
Kind of a folk / blues / jazz thing: Deawyn give it a listen.
I was the unofficial DJ at my last workplace. We all (12 people) sat in a large room, and I'd usually play whatever I was into at the time, trying to mix it up as much as possible, unless someone else brought in a CD for me to play, which took precendence. What made it work so well was that we had a gong policy. Anyone at any time could "gong" a song or album, for whatever reason. It could be a one-time gong (say you're simply not in the mood for it) or a permanent one (if you can't stand the song/CD ). For instance, I played a Johnny Cash CD once, and a coworker came back the next day and said he had "Tennesse Stud" stuck in his head the rest of the day and put a permanent gong on Johnny Cash. So I never played it anymore while he was around.
Basically, music in the workplace can be a double-edged sword. A well-chosen CD can make a hour of hardcore coding at 9 pm go by like nothing. A CD like Hanson can prevent you from doing any work at all, for lack of any spare brain cycles (they're all used up saying "this sucks, this sucks, etc.).
A little goddam common courtesy for your fellow workmates goes a long way. Failing that, "shut that crap off, woman" isn't such a bad idea. Or if you feel like being more polite, just suggest people take turns DJing. Not playing music at all is, IMHO, a poor and counter-productive solution.
c-hack.com |
"What you really want to do is protect people from themselves," --Frank Gillman (Guy who works at company that makes web filters for adults at work).
Bring on the straight jackets, and urine testing.
The job market's tight. Those who haven't been fired outright (like 16,000 WorldCommers were today) are looking at being replaced by H1Bs or having their jobs outsourced to India or China or God-only-knows where. So of course the PHBs are going to stick it to the workers.
There is no justification for loading a company PC with speakers, a web-cam, a ridiculously oversized drive and a 21" monitor.
The software should all be on one server. The data files should all be on another. These are company assets. They should be treated as such.
Files should be checked-out and only to the user that should be authorized to use/modify them, checked-in again, journaled stored for check-out again and backed up.
What the hell are we doing with multi-media capable machines in an accounting department? Singing spread sheets announcing how deep you're in the red?
What's with all these CD-ROM drives? The files should be on the company server. If they aren't, you don't need them. If you do have IT put 'em there.
NOBODY needs diskette drives anymore.
The PC should consist on one CPU, only enough RAM as required to run the permissible apps, a NIC, a sensible flat screen monitor so it doesn't eat up all the desk space.
Printing, faxing, communication connection, storage are all shared corporate resources and should reside on networked servers.
Who needs Windows with all the damn bells and whistles?
A bare-bones geegaw-less Linux distro with OpenOffice or StarOffice and whatever specialized software tools the each user really needs to do their job, pulled off the LAN, should be all a business allows.
The rest is expensive distractions and productivity sinks.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
I have worked as an IT manager at many companies, since long before the time of MP3s.
I have found that 99% of managerial decisions such as "no music at your desk", "no custom wallpapers or cube decorations", etc., lead to a sterile workplace devoid of creativity and innovation.
I recently worked at a firm where personal MP3 use was clogging servers and workstations, to the point where I couldn't do net distributed software updates due to lack of free space on the workstations. My first instinct was to ban MP3s from workstations and run a daily cron job to wipe them from servers. However, I found myself warning and writing up some of our best employees to the point where their jobs were in question.
My solution was NOT to get these guys in more trouble with management. I was fighting an unwinnable war, and my team was lagging in other duties due to sweeping systems for unauthorized files all day. Plus, we would be shooting ourselves in the foot by getting rid of our best developers just because they wanted to listen to msuic while they worked.
I found an old alpha 233 lying around, slapped a dusty 4 gig drive on it with read only permissions to the net, and called it the Official MP3 server. Every week, anyone who wanted to post new files would hand me a CD, and the jukebox would rotate. Problem solved.
->-
Ooooh no, you can't listen to mp3's at work anymore; boo hoo fucking hoo. As a young geek in a small town with no avaliable tech jobs; do you all know what i do to pay for dsl/insurance/better computers? I flip burgers. And do you know what? We don't get to listen to mp3's at work. ***GASP*** As shocking as it sounds, we dont even get a radio, because we all need to hear what Mrs. Soccer Mom wants on her cheesburger. Some of you people bitch and moan about the "lack of trust" the employers have in you... Know what? Shut the fuck up. I'm lucky if i get a 30 min break when i work an 8 hour day. Some of you people have it WAY too good. Im sure there are a few other /. readers who agree with me here. You people need to be grateful that you can sit in front of a computer, in an air-conditioned office all day (i concede the fact that it IS work, but at least it isnt flipping dead cow over a 500degree piece of metal), a thing that i would do almost anything to do. Instead of moaning over the fact that you can no longer download stolen mp3s (dont even bother me with the bullshit rationalization that its "fair use", 90% of my mp3s are stolen too), be grateful that you dont have some bitch with 8 kids yelling at you because you didnt put extra pickles on her burger.
From the article:
Some studies have estimated that as many as one in five work computers contains file-swapping software.
Really the percentage is probably more like 99%. Any computer that has a web browser or FTP client has file-swapping software on it.
Again from the article:
RIAA President Cary Sherman.: "Some of these corporations, we are told, have their own little networks--that is very clearly illegal."
And some corporations have large networks. I guess that is even more illegal. Everyone! Disconnect the Ethernet cable, and step away from the computer. Networking computers has been declared illegal by the RIAA.
All that aside, they have a point. Most people do use the network at the office for personal use. This is of course the fault of the IT department. If they lay down a policy that the network is for company business, they should set up equipment and software that enforces those rules.
At Bank One in AZ, they have such a policy (network and Internet acesss for company business only), but the restrictions are applied haphazardly. Joke sites are filtered by the proxy along with sites like Dilbert, The Onion, etc. Software downloads are disallowed, but they allow FTP connections and do not block sites like versiontracker.com or download.com. *shrug*. Perhaps a few settlements/suits will cause companies like this to suddenly crack down and actuall impliment their stated policies. Until that time, I know the employees take the view that if the company where really serious about the policies that the IT department would limit/control the offending behaviour/sites.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
I dont download a lot of MP3s at work, I probably have about 10-15 that I listen to and a bag full of CD's, but I think I should be able to download them whenever I want. IS/IT is becoming a shitty industry to work for. I remember the dot-com days when people played ping pong and shot each other with nerf cannons. While this might be why the dot-com days are gone, it really sucks that things are getting ridiculous--like the Sun Microsystems work place where employees have transient workstations. Now no more MP3's. Fuck the man.
all the MP3s that I downloaded are safely burned in CDs and tucked away at home. I download MP3s during work-hours and when its time to burn, I go to work VERY early and bring my external CD-RW, afterwards I delete the files (with WipeInfo) so no traces can be found. The sys-admins don't bother monitoring because they're the ones who introduced me to this kind of shit in the first place :)
"Some of these corporations, we are told, have their own little
:-D
networks--that is very clearly illegal."
--RIAA President Cary Sherman
Is it just me, or is it somewhat ironic that the RIAA which commonly violates
the Sherman Act has a president by the same name?
I noticed an interesting quirk in Kazaa after using it for a couple of weeks. I turned off Kazaa so I could play Quake. After I connected, I noticed that my ping went from 150 to 230, and that my connection was getting intermittently lagged every few seconds.
:)
I did a little sniffing around and noticed that even though Kazaa was off, lots... and I mean LOTS of people were trying to talk to the port that Kazaa was using. It took about a day for that to calm down.
I can't believe it, I was getting so many people trying to talk to Kazaa that it was affecting my connection! If that happened at work, the network manager would hunt me down. One thing that really sucks (at least where I work...) is that if the connection acts wacky, the bigwigs that sign my check think that it's a failure on my part. Go fig. For some reason I'm supposed to be able to fix the ISP's probs before they notice.
I'm not endorsing music trading being banned, but I do understand why a sysadmin would like to avoid use of such programs. That's before getting into the legality of it. Execs act like not being able to get their email is worse than their car not starting.
Piece of advice to those of you tempted to use Kazaa at work: There's a very good chance that the network admin will come to your desk and ask what you're doing. heh.
I'm curious if anybody has any insight into what's happening here and if it happens on other P2P progs.
"Derp de derp."
by reading this article!
back to work!
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
Is it just me or are they spending a ridiculous amount on these boxes that do the bandwidth limiting? Don't most of the Cisco boxes they're probably using already have most of those capabilities (e.g. limit traffic for this port) anyway.
It seems like someone could whip up a linux box with the same capabilities for $3-5K (including some sort of smart NIC that could filter faster). Up to $49K seems ridiculous. On the other hand, maybe that's what they're doing.
The companies know full well that the machines are multimedia capable: music/porn/jokes/trailers etc enhance productivity; people work better when they have a little fun. So long as its not officially endorsed, and lip service is given to cracking down from time to time, then everybody is happy.
So whats the big deal?
So Mary pissed you off?
Log on to Mary's system.
Copy some choice offending material to her "home folder".
Next Friday, bye bye Mary.
Bad Alen, Bad.
Sadly, I have worked in a place that disallowed listening even to legit CD's with headphones. The idea being that it isolated you from what else was going on in the office and you couldn't hear the phone/pages. It wasn't understood that sometimes "virtual isolation" was teh way to get work done. That's really the only negative comment I have about the place... overall it's a good company with pleasant staff and (eek!) ethical managers.
Of course, RIAA and MPAA workers need their multimedia terminals and bandwidth-hogging software so that they can make sure the MP3 J0hnny D03 is sharing really is an illegal copy of Ripped Off Rappers' new single "Ain't nobody poorer than me, G" before they jump down his throat. Likewise, MPAA needs to make sure the 698 megabyte AVI file m4d c4pp4 shares really is an illegal DivX rip of "Star Wars: Attack of the big AAsses" instead of a byte-for-byte copy of his swapfile.
In theory you're innocent untill proven guilty and you can't really put someone to prison without evidence (unless that someone is a suspected terrorist, of course). Thus, RIAA and MPAA need to be fairly sure that a crime has indeed been committed before they go knocking on Johnny's door. Hence, they need to download the file themselves and check it out.
And finally, I'll give you something that's completely legal. You are allowed to re-post copyrighted text if your post is considered irony, sarcasm or the like. I give you..
The slightly Red Shift Supervisor:
An adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood
..meanwhile, the slightly Red Shift Supervisor had been running around and looking for slackers, and only when he had punished as many as he could did he remember the new guy in cubicle 2-28 and off he went to the second floor. He was puzzled when he found the door open, and as he entered the room it seemed so strange inside that he thought, Oh my God, how entertained someone must feel today, and usually these workers are all so dull and unproductive. He yelled out, "What the hell?!"
But he received no answer. Next he went to the worker and removed the earphones.
There sat the new guy with his headphones blaring in the supervisor's hands, giving him a strange look. "Oh, new guy. What big earphones you have!"
"The better to hear these MP3s with."
"Oh, and new guy, what a big harddrive you have!"
"The better to store my music with."
"And new guy, what a terribly big screen you have!"
"Well shucks, Supervisor, the better to see skinflicks with!"
Suppose I am with my roommate in my room and I play a CD on the boom box. My roommate does not own this CD; yet he is able to "share" in the listening of this CD as I play it. Is this illegal?
Suppose my roommate is in another room and I run a speaker wire from my boom box in my room to the speakers in his room. I then play my CD on my boom box. I hear it on the boom box; he hears it on his speakers in his room. Is this illegal?
Suppose I replace the boom box with a 300 disc CD changer that is capable of playing two discs simultaneously. I play one disc on my speakers and I play another disc on his speakers. Is this illegal?
Suppose I replace the 300 disc CD changer with an mp3 server and the speaker wire with a network cable. I play one mp3 on my speakers and another mp3 on his speakers. Is this illegal?
Where do you draw the line of legality? I don't think it's such an open and shut case that local area sharing of mp3s is illegal, especially in light of the provisions in the Audio Home Recording Act that permit noncommercial copying of recorded material in exchange for RIAA taxes on blank media.
I work with a consulting firm, but the office I'm in is down stairs in a suite of our own away from the suits.
For many months we had all gotten used to having tunes playing on the speakers connected to my box (myself and two others split the cost of some cheap Altec Lansing speakers). At first I acquired some mp3s from a coworker upstairs, then later I ripped a bunch of our CDs to OGG and shuttled them to work on CD-RW...
Recently we reorganized our seating arrangement and it left me and another coworker in a room to ourselves. I took the speakers with me since they were connected to the box I was using...
Well, no more than two weeks and my supervisor was franticly trying to come up with a way that he and the ladies in his area could have some music again!
I told him to simply buy some cheap speakers, but he didn't want to at first... Two days later, he gave me $20 to go to the local computer store and get some more cheap speakers for him!
They're happy now! :)
This user account is inactive account replaced by the PDA
I've discovered that its far preferable to run a Shoutcast server from home and stream 128kbit MP3s to my station at work. With a little bit of SSH jiggery and pokery I can get over the blocked port and have access to my full collection of 300+ albums. No need to sully the corporate machines at all.
On the time wasting issue - yesterday, for some unfathomable reason, I couldn't connect to the Stream. Rather than increasing productivity, I found that the absence of music in my working life caused me to become a jibbering wreck. I spent most of the morning frantically trying to debug the problem, and the afternoon planning how I would investigate it when I got home. Music helps me to shut out the monotony and concentrate on the work.
In the immortal words of the Tavares - Don't Take Away The Music!
http://www.davetansley.com - you proba
Now fuck off, AC, and tend to your boyfriend Sanity
if you start playing Gong, people are going to turn up tripping, smoke hash in the office etc?!
That's the way... Lock down the machine until it's totally unusable.
:)
Actually, all of your locking is pointless anyhow...
copy kazaa.exe explorer.exe
Run it..
Magic eh. Isn't windows security something special
I bring or transfer my own MP3's to work. I might waste sometime playing around with them, but it does not bother me one bit. You see, I am not a smoker, and until they stop taking a ten minute break every half hour, then no body has any right to complain to me about five miuntes of fooling around with some music.
Great Linux Site
When I first read the headline, I thought, "Good, you shouldn't be messing around at work." Then I realized I was posting to ./ at work.
./ at work. But seriously, music can make people more productive (look into Music Therapy). If people spend 10 minutes a day downloading stuff or changing CDs, but are 10% more productive and happy in general, then that's great. I am also the same person that is up for Quake matches after work, or lunch.
I hope they don't start blocking
Tibbon
tibbon.com
I don't give a rat's ass if my employer gets upset about time I spend doing anything, as long as I'm getting my job done! If my employer can get away with giving me no compensation whatsoever for overtime or even for being on-call, to the point that they have to give me days off under the table because they "can't" give me comp time for extreme hours worked, then I don't feel bad taking whatever downtime I can get and using it to relax!
Others haven't been so lucky. Carla Tomino, a secretary at Northwestern University, said she was fired last summer for violating a policy prohibiting personal use of company equipment by
storing 2,000 MP3 files on her computer.
She was a secretary. How "severe" your music sharing indiscretion is from the company standpoint (nevermind RIAA for a moment) depends on where you are. If you rank high in the IT department, or you're a respected employee, chances are you're too valuable to fire for music sharing. You'll find someway around the policy, or you'll get a "heads-up" from a high-up friend before you get busted (if you get busted at all).
As upset as RIAA is - the crackdown will never be as severe as they want it. They will always have to accept some degree of higher-ups enjoying MP#'s while they work. But knowing that they think networking is illegal, they probably too thick-headed to accept anything that challenges their beliefs.
Kudos to you for not only the insight, but on showing initiative in developing a workable compromise for your environment. Bravo, indeed.
- White Knight of the Order of Mihoshi Enthusiasts
I'm a software developer in a free-range (read: sans-cubicle) environment -- and headphones allow for a lower interrupt level and fewer distractions. About a dozen of us pitched in for a 60GB drive a year ago and have been filling it with our favorite tunes. We paid for the drive, the bandwidth usage is reasonable, we're all happier and more productive, and everybody wins.
Fortunately mgmt understands this here...
La via sola al paradiso incommincia nel inferno
I work as a network admin at an unnamed university in an unnamed department, one that happens to be blessed with an OC-256 (shared with a few other departments, but still). You'd think we'd have serious issues with filesharing, but we don't. All of the students that use the network actually use it for work. My theory is that these grad students, who are already working their posteriors off to get their research and thesis done, just don't have time for downloading music. I think in the time that I've worked here I noticed one mp3 on the fileserver, and it was attached to an email message. As a further note the only enforcement in that area that I do is ask people when I first give them an account to please not use disk space or bandwidth for music or movies. Maybe people just need to focus on work a little more. This coming from a guy posting to Slashdot first thing in the morning. Hmm....
The CXX's view porn.. I can tell.. I'm the admin.. ;) The dev squad listens to MP3's while they code.. I built them a nice 80gb server..
;)
whatever it takes to keep productivity high right?
"Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."
I do some admin stuff for a 300 employee company in Hamburg, Germany. Ironically, at that location mp3's are welcome.
This is easily explained as follows - there was a general ban on radio receivers. First reason was that it might cause conflicts when people can't agree on a station or two individuals share an office, with one being a person that needs silence to concentrate. The other reason was the simple that fact, that any radio receiver and tv receiver has to be properly registered with out GEZ, an organisation funding the public radio/tv and therefore collecting bucks with anyone owning a receiver. So technically, the cheap receiver in the office might not be registered and therefore illegal. To prevent the general ban was in place.
Then people started to bring in discman's and headphones (the cd drives are config-locked in all boxes, so nothing to gain there). Some employees started bothering management for a solution. Instaling and registering radios for all offices was way out of question. The solution was setting up an old server, equipping it with some employee-sponsoreg large hard disk, and throw that sucker into the server room. Each user got a quote on those networked drives, just for mp3. So the employees could bring in their fav CD from home, have them ripped by the IT dep (cheap scipt utilising FreeCDDB, nearly no manual work) and then stream the files into their OS-supplied media players (although we installed Winamp as well to get rid of the exploit-ridden and memory hungry Redmond products). Sharing of mp3 between users is possible of course, or would you deny lending a co-worker your new CD? The pretty low costs for cheap loudspeakers (where they were not already installed) is a mere fragment of the cost radio receivers would have totaled.
Is that copyright infringement? I think not. And even if it was, it's in the users hands. We made it clear that they had to physically own the CD to have mp3 imported, and that we would not just copy a mp3-filled compact to their folders. So, these people own the CD, but can leave it at home because they have a copy at work. Same thing as having a CD in the living room shelf and car CD changer at the same time - technically it is a rip, legally it is your fair use.
+++ath0
I work from home and on the road; and don't like loading my laptop with a lot of MP3's so I stream everything. I don't *OWN* all of it; but 98% of what I have is available *directly from the artists themselves*, nevermind 'ripping' or getting the song from mp3.com.
Most of you have probably noticed the sudden surge of FYE stores? That's right, the several record chains that were competing are now owned by the same corporation, and discs went from 13 to 18 or 20 dollars a pop overnight. I refuse to pay $20 for the one song I like. If that means getting a stream, or doing without the song, so be it. The recording industry is losing money for two major reasons: the economy itself is in a downward trend and they shouldn't expect their own numbers to be any different when people can't even afford FOOD... and I truly believe the second reason is the horrible 'customer service' they provide. If they treat their customers as they have been, why would they expect us to buy records from them?
I bet anyone of those 'researchers' that they'll find their "network bandwidth problems" are due far less to 'inappropriate use' and far more to incorrectly configured switches, bad cables, and problems with their upstream service providers.
If I go to work in a "real" office ever again, I'll bring my Rio and an earbud with me, thank you.
I think with the interesting people, their lives can't possibly be wrapped up into a nice little package.
- Both myself and my coworkers work better with music.
- To get music, we either have to bring in CDs or listen to MP3s.
- CDs require changing them in the drive, whereas MP3s are automatic as long as you have a playlist.
- Therefore, MP3s are more productive because you don't have to stop to switch the CD in the drive.
She bought it, and so we're allowed to continue. Luckily, myself and my coworker have very similar tastes to music, so it works out nicely.Blog,Twitter
Download your MP3's at home and burn them to a couple of CD's. Go to your friendly neighborhood Wally World or Fry's and buy a $60 Walkman-clone that can play MP3's.
Sometimes the best way to win the argument is to just avoid it entirely.
There are many types of IT jobs.
I sit here 9 to 5, never travel, enviable salary and perks.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I'm supposed to use this computer for *work*?
Dammit, all I do all day is hit 'reload' on
the Slashdot Explorer program.
- undoware.ca
Labor jobs are tough, no doubt. When I was younger, I worked a couple of summers for an electrical contractor. Much of the time I was actually digging the ditches you mention. In the summer. In south Georgia with nats and 90% humidity.
Absolutely, it sucked. One thing about it, though, my brain never got so overwhelmed with mind numbing details that it wanted to climb out of my skull. When programming it often does.
An article just this morning talks about how IT work sucks the soul right out of a person. At the end of a day digging ditches, you feel good. Tired, yes, but you have whole endorphin rush thing from the exercise, as well as a real feeling of acomplishment. The ditch is dug. You can see it is dug. Nobody is going to come along later and ask you can also make it an email sending ditch with instant messaging. It's a ditch. You know where you stand.
I have MP3s on the hard drive of my workstation. They are not shared, nor are they streamed. They are all from CDs that I own.
I can see that an employer would get their panties in a twist ove MP3 servers on company LANs, and well they should. I also know that I am much more productive if I have music playing.
Did I have a point? If so, I think I lost it.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
I have a relative who works for PennDot. It's amazing anything ever gets done there. 6 months to decide on Printer ink? (this is a true story)
I think they do need some music, something to atleast get them walking faster over there. Shit!
PennDot...The Road Crews are just the tip of the glacier...that about how fast they move...
Please Mark Schwieker! Let PennDot Play! It might increase thier productivity!!!!
Brought to you by Pennsylvainians for Productivity!!!!
Napster I can understand, somewhat...
But going after companies that serve up mp3's on their local network (Not public domain) is just wrong. If I bring a CD to work and tell my co-worker that it's really good and to listen to it for a while is the RIAA going to come after me for copyright infringement. If so, why not shut down all the radio stations out there, I mean there could be somebody recording the broadcast and the radio station should take that into account.
Institute a policy of NO filesharing programs and NO unauthorised MP3's and Movies's.
But with America's education system in such a state of disarray, we have a much more pressing concern. We need to institute a policy of NO unauthorized apostrophes.
the User ID is pancake eatin ninja or some such. check recursiv's friends list, youshould find it.
is kinda unique. we have a server (mine) with a lot of music on it, most (i won't say all) of which i have ripped myself or downloaded due to the loss of the cd itself. the unique part is that we have people who live here at the workplace (fairly remote place), and therefore use the computers after work hours for personal stuff.
:)
having a limited amount of bandwidth, mp3 downloading became a real hog, so here's the solution that has worked for us:
during the day, i block audiogalaxy, kaaza, gnutella and the like, but at 5 pm, the firewall opens up to allow it. given that we already have plenty of music here already, no one has complained - and everyone has headphones on
I have. Response time when you do need a new app sucks. What if we do need to send some multimedia around (training material? something for review before sending to customers?)? What if I need to have an app installed now? Or I need to evaluate a new version, not the version pushed through Netware Application Launcher or whatever stupid system you end up using to run such an environment?
I lost far more productivity from the almost unavoidable delays and stupidity in such a system than I did from the ability to play a music CD or visit a web page. It's a general purpose computer; why cripple it?
That's totally true. Our company policy is to promote the listening ot MP3 for Creative putposes. We have a PHAT pipe and none of us is concerned about bandwith, but we have an unwritten policy that if someone complains about bandwidth loss during critial corporate needs, a simple request is enough to stop it.
We each hae varying tastes in music, and each of us has our OWN collection of MP3 we listen to when we can't stream.
Sometimes we have to "go silent" for packet testing stuff, but that is rare.
FTRIAA
You can't code 8 hours straight all the time. I have done it now and then, but it is impossible to keep up every day. Sometimes you need to stop and think for a while - or your program turns into a mess. And sometimes you need to go out for a walk - to clear your mind of any thought. And when you start coding, it is probably better to have some trance music playing. It helps *me* concentrate on what I am currently doing and let go of the other details - when implementing new stuff. When fixing bugs, I have found out that having the headphones on hurts performance greatly. So it depends on the task at hand.
Physical work is not so brain-demanding. It is harder than office work, but harder for the body. You can't compare the two so light-heartedly, I think.
I run a small business that does web design as well as computer repair and computer networking. For us, it's not a big deal if people are not being productive. This sounds ludicrous but the way we go about things is quite a bit different then most businessess. Basically it's setup as a partnership between myself and my partner in which we split the profits. We both work 9 to 5 and take breaks when we both feel like it. Everyone under us (3 people) get offered a certain amount for a web design task. If they take 8 or 808 hours to do the task they get the quoted amount of money. It's kind of like a subonctracting agreement. With this system, we don't care if they listen to music, or even play XBOX during business hours. If they choose not to work thats fine with us due to the fact that they just don't make as much money as they would if they worked the entire time. You are probably wondering about projects being pushed back by to much Halo or something like that. Every agreement on a project outlines a deadline and fees are charged if it doesn't make deadline. We don't have a problem making deadlines, and our "employees" are happy because they work as much or as little as they have too. One person who wants a new car might take on 3 webdesign jobs in the same amount of time as another who wants 1. I know this is probably not feasible for everyone but for us it works great, and we are turning profits pretty well.
-Ryan
Hmmm, let's see..."legal issues, as well as bandwidth issues, and the simple issue of employees wasting their employers time"...yep, those are pretty much exactly the reasons I'd figure a company would crack down. What were the reasons you were expecting?
There ain't no rules here; we're trying to accomplish something.
For the several replies that questioned the 1/3 waking statement, my thinking was along these lines:
Total hours/year: 8760
Total waking hours/year (as two-thirds of total hours): 5840
Workhours/year: 2000
Ratio, workhours/waking: 0.342465753
Exactly. Sometimes the tracking becomes more expensive than the resource being consumed. A manufacturing company was experiencing shrinkage of certain parts, like screws, nuts and electrical connectors. They gradually increased the level of control of parts issue, until the assembling employee had to request and sign for a "kit of parts" from a warehouse clerk. Their cost of production increased, and the shrinkage only decreased a little. No matter how tight they made the controls, some parts were being stolen. There must have been collusion between different employees.
Then they tried a completely different system. They put 55 gallon steel drums in the manufacturing area and filled each one to the brim with one part. They abolished all tracking and controls. In the first week, some of the drums went down to 50%. Over time, however, the shrinkage (measured on a coarse scale now) has decreased nearly to zero.
I'm not sure if or how this can be applied to corporate bandwidth usage.
Although the company doesn't have an internal network and prohibits use of major file-swapping sites, the employee said AOL Time Warner has yet to block some smaller, more obscure sites where he can find music.
This explains a lot about their service...
lol, I apologise, Mr. English teacher... :) I was in the wrong.
Heck, my boss had me buy a machine and put it on the network so he could put his 40 gigs of mp3s on it to share at work.
Aint life grand?