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RIAA, MPAA Instigate U.S. Naval Academy Raid
LaikaVirgin writes "After receiving a letter from 'four entertainment-based lobbying associations', the U.S. Naval Academy has seized nearly 100 midshipmen's computers that allegedly had pirated media. It's good to see that the armed forces know who's really in charge."
1) Write free software.
2) ?
3) Sell the service of anal sex to gay men.
4) Profit!
Instead of selling the software itself we should sell the service of anal sex.
"So unless they had a search warrant, how were they able to seize and search the computers?"
That's a very good question. And an even more interesting question will be "what is the limit of damages that can be claimed in a lawsuit against the agency doing this illegal search and seizure?"
Why is the RIAA seemingly unique among enterprises who are generally afraid to take ANY controversial action of ANY kind, for fear of being sued? Abusing police power against Navy Academy cadets? Taking computers which could conceivably contain data that requires clearance to access? Pissing off future military officers? Pissing off their FATHERS, who are CURRENT military officers?
This just isn't the kind of action that I would recommend as "wise", if I were the counsel for the people responsible. Seems quite a risky business.
It might surprise you, but folks who have entered the armed services don't have rights. Seriously. I'm sure you've heard that so-and-so signed his life away to the Army? Well, what actually happened was that upon entering the service, the individual gave away his/her own rights to protect the rights of others.
Sure, some people don't like this fact. But it's important that our military have clear understandings that they are not out on a joy-ride and they can't leave whenever they like. They are the property of the govenment and officers do have the authority to use deadly force on a soldier who won't obey orders (at least in time of war). If you're ever drafted, or you sign up for the service, you don't have the right anymore to complain about first ammendment violations and the like (except in protecting others' rights) because frankly, the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to you.
Long, cute, or funny Sigs are just another form of over compensation, used by geeks, nerdz, etc.
Just put an end to their whole propoganda "we are going to get everyone and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law" shit. If there is one thing on earth you don't fuck with its people with the power to make it very difficult for you to operate. The US Naval Academy (as well as other military institutions) has stronger ties to business, schools and government than the RIAA/MPAA/etc/etc could ever dream of. These are the people that have strong influential power when it comes to basically anything regarding basically anything. Not only that but these institutions harbor great ill-will to anyone threatening the "future of our country" over something they'll see as extremely "trivial".
Also, once you piss one military institution off unless it's a battle between divisions (army vs navy etc) then none of them like you. I can already see alot of top brass talking about these Lobbying institutions especially since Thanksgiving is coming up. The word will spread and friends of friends, families who have made service life a career will hear about this. It will spread to public servants etc and this one action seriously just damaged any pull the RIAA/MPAA/NMPA and the Songwriters Guild had with government. Especially considering the state of affairs on the table now. Not only that but the owners of the equipment that was seized will truly remember this especially if they get article 15's as well as not knowing if you're fucking with the next (insert influential power here) or if one of those young men/women has a father/mother/aunt/uncle who happens to be a congressman or senator or what have you.
The military academies have a very strict code of honor. For a midshipman to be caught with something like pirated music would probably result in summary dismissal from the academy.
Evidence presented by the RIAA that midshipmen were engaging in illegal activites like this would really cause the administration of Annapolis to investigate quite carefully, and be VERY upset if this sort of thing was going on.
I feel sorry for these people - if they are caught with pirated music, their careers at the Naval academy are done.
In reality P2P is neither piracy or theft or copyright infringement.
Some of the recording industry's biggest stars, such as Madonna, Mick Jagger and Eminem, have joined coalitions to combat the wholesale theft of music. The industry claims this threatens the livelihood of everyone from artists, songwriters and manufacturers to sound engineers and record-store owners and clerks.
I feel for these people, I really do. I say we set up a Paypal account to help keep Mick, Madonna and Marshall (emineminem?) fed and clothed. Oh sure, take me to task on this but honestly, shouldn't the RIAA present better examples than pampared, multimillionaire recording artists to make their case. I mean c'mon, Mick Jagger could never sell another record in his life and still live like a king, same with Madonna. This RIAA FUD is preposterous. These people can afford to buy their records, I can't and neither can a lot of people I know, that's just the sad reality of things right now. So I'm a thief, well I guess that's just a matter of perspective isn't it?
- As others have noted, the middies had to have been smoking something to put anything on P2P from the Academy.
- The Academy just qualified for the Pearl Harbor Memorial Security Award by actually having an wide-open network.
- The Content Cartel just caused an entire year's worth of middies to get flushed down the tubes. People Who Count won't forget what this particular witch-hunt cost.
In the long run, this cost the Cartel so much good-will that it will take freaking million$ in bribes^Wcampaign contributions to repair the damage.Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Hacking the Network
It is no different from walking into the campus bookstore and in a clandestine manner walking out with a textbook without paying for it.
Actually, it is. It's like going into the campus library whenever you need to read a book, rather than going to the bookstore. Or borrowing the book from your friend. Or, at worst, borrowing the book from a willing friend and then photocopying the chapters you were interested in.
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Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
It's not piracy because they're not raping and murdering on the high seas.
It's not theft because there's no missing property.
It is copyright infringement. But some would argue it falls under fair use.
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Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
You're mistaken, the piece is copyrighted. The score itself isn't, but the recording of whatever ensemble was playing it is copyrighted.
The great advantage of having a reputation for being stupid: People are less suspicious of you.
This whole affair just goes to prove one of the great truisms of post-soviet russia:
"Everything they said about communism was a lie, but everything they said about capitalism is true."
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
Not that it's any surprise around here, but this statement is a flat out lie. It would be one thing if the recording industry was engaging in a constructive debate somewhere, or at least sticking to facts, but instead they've chosen to deceive and lie to protect their way of doing business. Why can't our government recognize this and stop catering to this corruption? (I have a few ideas, but that's another story.)
This is very different from "walking into the campus bookstore and in a clandestine manner walking out with a textbook without paying for it." For one thing, it's not very clandestine - or at least there's no specific effort to make it such. Secondly there is no tangible good being "walked out" with. A closer analogy would be walking into a campus bookstore (better yet, a friend's house), and reading a textbook without paying for it. But, of course, that wouldn't serve their interests. Obviously this isn't a clear-cut issue, but lying to the public to get their way is just disgusting, and displays a remarkable lack of integrity, IMO.
So, I think we can now safely conclude that the RIAA has an operation mounted inside the NAVY, how else do they know which computers to point out (I assume the NAVY has a little firewall, or are academy systems directly connected ?)
MP3 Search Engine
cuz you Canadians already had your asses owned by the Brits...
Verdi's Rigoletto may be in the public domain, but you're not downloading that. You're downloading a recording made by an orchestra and choir. And the rights for that recording are still in place.
Bach's Goldberg Variations are also in the public domain, but Murray Perahia's recent recording on a Sony Classics' CD isn't. That one's still 22.50.
You're paying for the orchestra and conductor, not the notes.
I'm almost about to consider it a troll, but I'd rather believe you've listened to a little bit too much newspeak.
DRM may prove who owns what, but it will not matter. You will no longer "buy" or own any CD or DVD you have, despite owning the media it's on. It will simply be licenced, under the licence "negotiated" between the CD/DVD and your trusted computer. Most likely you'll get a EULA-clickthrough the first time you put it in your computer, if at all. It's not like you accept or decline the region restrictions on your DVDs either.
And you can no longer ignore it, legal or illegal EULA, as your DRM hardware will enforce it on you with no way of circumventing it without committing a federal crime under the DMCA.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
No, they are not locking down networks because of the **AA, they are locking them down for the cost of bandwidth.
Most colleges do an excess of 1500GB+ of data each day through their Internet link. Now, imagine you are the guy in charge of handing out this bandwidth....I am friends with mine.
Reducing P2P bandwidth cuts your job time probably by 3/4.
What path would you take?
No, it's like sneaking into the campus movie theatre or the amusement park without paying. Or jumping the turnstiles on the subway, so you can get a free ride without paying. It's about avoiding paying for something that cost someone else money to provide. How is that not theft of service, again?
>;k
As soon as someone downloads music that they would have otherwise purchased, there is a theft of the money that would have been paid.
I was going to go see a movie. A friend told me it sucked. I didn't go see it. Was that theft? Meets your definition.
How about if i was going to buy a book, and a friend stopped me on the way to the bookstore to tell me that they already owned the book and could borrow it from them? Again meets your definition.
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Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
You are partially right, the difference is they are on Shore Duty which means they can hire an attorney to represent them at Mast. When you are on the ship you are screwed, because that option of legal representation is not given to you when you are underway! And I know because I am a 20 year Navy veteran who has been to Mast (as the "main attraction") and has sent his share of people to Mast. It depends on what they are charged with under the UCMJ, because a slick lawyer versed in Military Law could probably get them off very easily. Considering who goes to Annapolis, money will not be an issue. What will be an issue is publicity, which the Navy and eventually the RIAA will want to avoid because the taxpayer "foots the bill" for the military, and with the emphasis on fighting terrorism, Iraq, etc., the last thing the RIAA wants is to be on the front page spouting their half-baked "we have been violated" crap, protecting the rich (namely themselves) and trying to prosecute future military officers who don't make squat until they are actually commissioned. Downloading music is real low on the "radar scope" as compared to selling secrets, in other words real crime!
It's not theft because the costs to make it are fixed. The first CD cost 2 million dollars, every other CD after that cost about $1, and every time somebody who WOULDN'T have BOUGHT it listened to it it cost NOTHING. You can't apply the same rules to information as you do to physical goods, they are too different in nature.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
The userbase always degrades into a "It's not theft, it's ______" spat with no new ground broken in these discussions. Why not acknowledge it is what it is and that it's illegal and move on to talking about what happens to sailors who are caught? Compare that with the consequences of your average college kid. Anything besides the usual. There have been enough of these articles and "discussions" here that you'd think things would E-volve.
And how long are the editors of Slashdot going to continue posting these copyright infringement stories with a tone of "these people are victims," or "the RIAA is evil BECAUSE they're telling so and so to crack down on this"? I know the RIAA is evil, but not because they go after people who steal from them. Napster et al are NOT civil disobedience for 99 out of 100 people. I agree the Napster revolution was necessary, but the follow through, and the manner in which it was conducted have been so misguided that they are not having a positive effect. And the Slashdot editors aren't helping to fix the message. If the Napster generation had a clear and earnest message, they would get more done.
Small point: Military personnel may not make disparaging remarks about politicians, the government, or superior officers in any situation where those remarks may become public knowledge. Bitching about the crap that's been dumped on you, the idiot ninety-day wonder in command of your unit (who couldn't pour piss out of his boot if the instructions were written on the heel), the circus at Fort Fumble (aka the Pentagon), and the rest of Dreamland-on-the-Potomac is a long-standing tradition in the military. But that's all private, inside the family, and stays outside the performance of your duty; they'll come down on you for letting it out in public, and God help you if you actually address your remarks to a member of the media...