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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.
It does when they put about 4Gb of them in their home directories, you know the ones that get backed up at night and are generally less than 200Mb. And don't say to get more backup capacity, it was the extra length of time required as opposed to storage space that was the problem.
Jaysyn
There is a war going on for your mind.
I've got it running from a Linux box right now - IIRC, I had to add a bunch of perl modules, but that wasn't a big deal. I never bothered with the Java applet, as the CGI front end works well, maybe that was the hangup.
Other than that, it seemed to be just a collection of the standard command-line mp3 utilities.
I also tried Darwin Streaming Server, but that didn't do the bitrate stuff either.
Cheers,
Jim in Tokyo
-- My Weblog.
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
um...okay man. If you work and 8 to 5 job with a break and an hour for lunch you must not have a real IT job. Because I've been in this industry for 3 years and I've never worked a 40 hour week.
It's getting on 11 PM, I know I'll be here until 3 and have just enough time to collect my personal effects from my hotel, check out and catch an early flight across three time zones to go back home for the first time in three weeks.
So, what job do you have?
Oh yes, and I am downloading MP3s right now on a corporate net. Bite me.
"Teachers leave us kids alone
Couple of things you should learn now rather than figuring it out as you go:
1. Keep your nose clean. The larger the organization the more important this is especially as you move up the ladder. Some people will use anything they can to screw you over for the next promotion, your job, etc.
2. If you do not know the policy on something (internet usage, mp3s, running linux servers rather than MS just to make your life easier cause MS is unreliable, etc.) ASK! It is always good to cover your ass. You assume if they have problems with something they will tell you. Not necessarily. See #1
3. You are replaceable. The days of the network gods are over. I once interviewed for a place a year ago. They wanted someone to admin their UNIX(Sun, HP) and Windows boxes. I asked them what happened to the person who was there before. Ends up this guy is a real *NIX zealot who absolutely refused to touch a windows box as if it would give him leprosy or something and told them to get someone else to do them. Well they were taking his advice but rather than hiring a person to take care of the Windows box they were looking for a replacement for him. I didn't get it but last I heard the guy was working in a small computer store putting Windows ME on computers (talk about tragic irony!)
4. Smart companies don't have a dress code but smart employees dress well. Ideal minimum is Gap khakis and golf shirts. Looks are everything. One company I worked at didn't have a dress code and there was one guy who would always show up wearing sweat pants or a metallica tshirt. He couldn't figure out how come people were always being promoted around him. It's like black plates; food doesn't look appetizing. It also gives you an edge over anyone else, including at raise time.
These are some things I have picked up and I am sure there are a lot of others who can agree with this. It may suck for some of them, but it is common sense.