Slashdot Mirror
RIAA Unveils Net Tracking Tag for Online Sales
openbear writes "A story over at MSNBC talks about the Global Release Indentifier (GRid). It is a code akin to the Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code found on a CD or cassette tape in stores. Each track will be distributed online with an individual GRid serial number and will be reported back to rights societies and collection agencies sold or transferred."
... be embedded in CD audio tracks and used to track piracy or... Used to show which versions of songs are crappy quality, RIAA Fakes, etc....
What, me Tweet?
encode to OGG/MP3. No problem.
and exactly what kind of file format can this tag be imbedded into? in order for it to work you have to have a transport medium. Yet another brilliant idea from the people who brought us Hillary Rosen.
Look at the header from the article:
A music industry trade body launched on Monday electronic identity tags to keep tabs on Internet music sales in a bid to compensate musicians and song writers as more of their works become available online.
If that isn't leading I don't know what is. They specifically do not mention the RIAA and are trying to portray it as compensating the poor artists as opposed to saving music industry executive's asses.
trouble. Really, the best way to stop music piracy is to keep releasing crappy music, no one will want it anymore, not even for free. (oh yeah, and release everything that's at least 10 years old into the public domain, that'd be real swell)
The G stands for Get, as in GetRid of the RIAA.
(B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
the code to remove the tag has already been written and is avilable for distribution.
Yet another reason not to buy CD's anymore!
Not that there is much worth buying these days anyhow
Wonder whats next?
"Sir, we're happy to sell this new album to you - just piss in this specimin jar and supply a drop of blood on the application provided..."
Jeez!
-- If at first you don't succeed, lie!
Great. Now will Microsoft search my hard drive for files without this tag and call the FBI?
-insert a witty something-
It sounds like an industry-approved ID3 field. I'm assuming this 'net barcode' would be paired with some new file format, something that weaves the ID into the music itself rather than tagging it on as an afterthought.
I'm not sure how they plan on compensating artists with this plan, since there doesn't seem to be a *payment* mechanism. It strikes me as a first step towards 'Music Audits' in which a hard drive is scanned for the works of particular artists.
--v
Indentify? What, is the unique ID so that the RIAA can indenture you while you work off the money you owe from your MP3 collection?
Did you read the article? This isn't an attempt to curb piracy. While the MSNBC article is a bit unclear as to why this needs to be done, here's what was said, "But music officials have complained that sales-tracking systems in place at the moment need to be standardised so that online sales, though small at the moment, can be better recorded." This isn't a way to put a tracker in an mp3 so the RIAA can track down the person who is distributing it but merely a way to keep track of sales.
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
and thats why having a nice firewall that blocks programs from outbound transmission is crucial.
"This mp3 was stolen.
This mp3 was stolen.
This mp3 was stolen.
This mp3 was stolen... and she loves me!"
http://www.remix.net/
Industry "fact sheets" make reporting so much easier. Now I have time for another nap.
The article seems to get the basic premise of this wrong. A UPC code describes only the product; the buyer is still anonymous. The only reason a reseller would have to buy millions of GRid's would be if each track sold was unique (as opposed to each type of song sold). Either the RIAA's layers did a good job of fooling Reuters, or they just didn't understand the implications of this... and the implications are exactly what they deny-- that songs bought on the internet could be tracked to the buyer if they ever end up being shared.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
"Jessop cautioned that GRid is not designed, nor is it intended for, keeping track of songs that wind up on online file-sharing networks, a major source of music piracy."
All this is is a way to track online sales of individual tracks. Nothing to do with CDs, P2P, etc.
"People" using "unnecessary" quotes should be "shot".
in a bid to compensate musicians and song writers as more of their works become available online
Oh wow! They're expressing concern that the money goes to the artists... did I miss something here?
More like they want to be able to track exactly how much is due to them, while still screwing the artists concerned... funnily enough 'GRid' sounds like an Aussie way of telling the RIAA to go crawl back down into the hole they came from.
Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
the same folks who still can't develop a business model that allows for quick and easy digital delivery of songs.
the mp3s i make from discs i buy, on the other hand, will have no Grid tags, so this really isn't a threat to p2p music sharing as we know it; it means that we (theoretically) won't be able to trade tracks we've downloaded from sony.com.
well, who needs them anyway?
besides, this stuff is pointless, they'll never be able to close the anolog hole.
disponibile
its not for tracking files on file networks, so far. But if this is used to track files downloaded from a certian place, say www.my_cool_site.com and it ends up on Kazaa or whatever, would my_cool_site.com get charged more?
But honestly, once it hits P2P, that doesn't matter since it'll be all over the place in a matter of hours.
What, me Tweet?
Doesn't this presuppose that RIAA allows a viable online sales model to develop? Given the overpriced, crippled vendors of music feebleware, I just don't see it happening.
Jessop cautioned that GRid is not designed, nor is it intended for, keeping track of songs that wind up on online file-sharing networks
So really, they have just figured out a way to do this:
resellers would be charged an annual fee of 150 pounds ($245.10)
Yeah, that sounds about right.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Valient effort from the "other side" to track^h^h^h^h^h spy^h^h^h protect consumers, but what prevents "rogue pirates" (aka consumers) from ripping to WAV/AIFF and then converting to lossless/lossy format of choice?
This looks like a last ditch effort to regain control of the digital media revolution, if you ask me.
If a man's character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business. -Thackeray, William
What's preventing users from transcoding the audio file into another format which doesn't have this serial number "feature"?
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
On Monday, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) reported a 3.7 percent decline in recorded music sales in the fourth quarter of 2002...
When I first read that, I thought it said British Pornographic Industry.. that sure changed the tone of the article...
Nothing! RTFA!!! This isn't an attempt to stop piracy!! This is a means of tracking sales - so once it has been sold from an online retailer, the ID number isn't an issue. You can encode it into mp3, upload it to Kazaa, and distribute it to your heart's desire. Why can't anyone read the article???
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
The basic idea (because I know you didn't read the article) is that online retailers can issue unique IDs to track online sales. If used properly, this could prove that internet sales DO work and MP3s are GOOD for the industry. The article also states that it's not an attempt to curb/track file sharing.
Now, the flipside is that this is the RIAA. They probably have a devious use for the ID, probably just so they can prove they have a system in place. Whether or not they'll be manipulating the numbers in their favor and implementing a tracking system is another question, but knowing their past history, it wouldn't surprise me.
And finally, was I the only one, or does "International Federation of Phonographic Industry" look like "International Federation of Pornographic Industry" on first glance?
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
I would be more than willing to participate if someone were to start a business with the RIAA to allow us to buy individual songs online in a copyright protecting format (provided compression keeps it small, and sound quality CD or better)...
The technology is out there, many have demo'd the ability already. What we need are a few to start partnering up, and battling for our love.
Guess it's partially the recession that people don't want to start these risky dot com businesses, but I think it has a chance.
I would gladly pay a small price for a digitial copy of a song I liked, so that I can get the song, not the entire album that sucked.
Would also like to see a system implemented where bands official fanclubs can get discounts on that bands music, the ability to purchase for download high quality video (so that we can burn them to DVD)...
There are endless posibilities, if someone had the confidence to go out and implement the technology rather than just showcase.
These "tags" will be stripped out the day this hits the wires.
These people seriously underestimate the resolve of teens.
My kid is 17. Here is what he tells me. He won't buy CD's because if a CD has a song that he likes there will be 12-15 songs on there that he thinks SUCK. In other words he's paying ~$15 for ONE SONG. He would rip that one song to HDD and compile his own CD to use in his car with only the songs that he likes.
But, at ~$15 each and being limited by law to only working a max of 20 hours a week at minimum wage he can't afford too many CD's.
Thus enter Kazaa. He can leech all the songs he wants for free and burn his own mixes for his car that suits his taste.
And forget that stuff about buying music online, he can't do that as a kid and I don't have or use any form of banking system. I live strictly by GREEN CASH ALONE and have nothing at all to do with any financial institute in any form. Despite that fact, even if I did have credit cards or bank accounts I would never use them online for any reason, ever. Nor would I permit him to use my accounts.
Kids are smart, far smarter than the people that try to maintain their grip on the music industry.
NOTHING that they can devise will stop piracy, ever. If something must be paid for there will always be someone that will find a way to get it for free.
The digital age is Pandora's box. It's been opened and there is no closing it now.
I predict to see a tool to strip the tags on freshmeat the next day..
Could this be similar to a custom watermark on each individual song or piece that's sold?
How tamper-proof will this be? If all of the on-line sources that will be selling musing/videos/whatever are to be expected to issue these watermarks, the standards would have to be public, or at least very darn near public.
If the standards are even close to being public, perhaps someone could figure out how to remove and or alter these watermarks.
Hmm, very interesting. I buy a song from MSN. I read the file into a scrip that I hacked. I change the watermark in some way. I then turn around and sell it under the table. The buyer takes the song and then in turn sells it, or whatever.
Sometime later, someone gets raided by the SPA,
MPAA, or whatever. They audit the songs. They find a few with the watermark that I altered. Their trail will be lost or steered into some poor victim whose watermark I 'stole' to alter my songs.
A possible solution to this would be to have a secret algorithm to generate the watermarks. This would have to be implemented in tamper-proof chips or, perhaps, a tamper-proof device that goes between your computer and the network; ie; a special NIC card. The card would know who you are and what song you are about to release. It would then generate and record the water mark in it's secret way before the song is sent on its way.
The logistics of this solution would be challenging. The devices would have to be distributed, cataloged, and recorded. Who has which special NIC card would have to be recorded in RIAA'a TIA infrastructure. Of course, this same infrastruction would have to record each subsequent sale/disposal of the card. The security of the cards would have to be impeccible.
Good luck to you all!
Luv
Mark
Cleara
Estimated time before a "DeGRid" app appears on the 'net, completely removing the offending number from the file?
I say 6 days from first retail release!
Everyone here is freaking out because this is another way to track people, and man it's a blatantly obvious one. But do you really believe that the techies and people working at the RIAA are that stupid? Like really?
The RIAA wouldn't do something so obviously usable as a tracking method and then deny it. They didn't in the past. When they were violating your rights, they were up right and in your face about it. That's why so many people despise them. They don't try to hide what they do.
I think this may be a legit way for them to just track for internal records and all, and yes, I am pretty sure they as well as you have thought about the possibility of tracking individual downloaders with this. But like someone already said.
MP3 -> Wave -> MP3 , no more tracking code.
Or even better
Clean CD -> MP3 , No tracking code.
I think that logic would be clear to anyone. Including the RIAA.
The sky isn't falling, the RIAA is just playing some games.
~ kjrose
Do I really want some slimy company/association of companies knowing that I like Switched on Beethoven, Vivaldi, Creem, and Elvis? And what times I like to play them on what machines on my network? I think not. No matter what the developers of this tag say, it will evolve to that use as the RIAA gets even greedier, and the artists will still be enslaved.
If they want to implement a solution that works, they must make the music affordable to the point where it is not worth the cost, not the effort, but the cost, to pirate it. There will always be those who accept the challenge to break whatever encryption/tagging scheme they come up with. As long as the potential profit for the professional music pirates to produce their product is greater than the cost of the equipment and the materials, large scale industrial music piracy will occur.
We run an ASP with music sales where they are watermarking mp3 files during the encoding process. That way they can see if their files make it onto file trading networks. Since the watermark is encoded into the actual track, you can't remove it by converting to Ogg. It's already an mp3.
I don't think it is a bad idea. At least they are selling the files in MP3 format. The only people who would have anything against this would be those who download music they haven't paid for.
IMHO.
He just wants to find out what nifty stuff he can do with it.
sheeeesh!
Seeing how the media companies solutions are always half-baked, it'll be quite interesting to see how this bites them in the ass. And who they point the finger at while trying to deny their own crapulocity.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
True enough, the RIAA spokesman reportedly said "This will have no effect on the quality of the recording".
In the early 80's wasn't the name GRID "Gay Related Immune Deficeincy" renamed AIDS "Accuired Immune Deficeincy Syndrome"
RIAA maybe trying to imply something?
Sorry - I meant lawyers, not layers. But, it could be their PR people spinning it, too, so maybe it's appropriate.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
yeah right then why a GRid on downlaods and web streams from MS andothers if you are not afraid that conetent will not end up on P2p networks?
typical RIAA FUD!
Don't Tread on OpenSource
The GRid is a point of sale identification so that the seller can identify which track has been sold and then send the appropriate $ to the recipient (RIAA member).
You can view this as the thin edge of the wedge in a scheme that will probably work to get a "Palladium" like system in place.
Bob buys track 9 from CD X from Amazon. Amazon records the GRid and forwards the appropriate share to RIAA member reponsible for producing the track. Bob is happy because he was able to access the track.
Later Bob will be investigated for file shareing. He will not have the GRid's to prove he bought the file. The GRid's are not part of the music track. The RIAA will say but "Palladium" can solve that. Bob will ask to have "Palladium" implemented so that he does not have to go to jail.
I vote 6 *HOURS*...
Anyone got the bookie odds on how long it'll take to figure out how to strip this off a downloaded file?
Shop smart, Shop S-Mart.
...will be a worm that randomly generates GRids and sends them back to the RIAA. Thus killing two birds with one stone: screwing with all the M$ L0z3rz, and DDoSing the RIAA.
Why do you think that RIAA music is crappy?
Have you heard me sing in the shower lately?
That would change your mind.
I just got a $200.00 surcharge on my rent because the landlord had to replace the full length bathroom mirror that broke while I was singing.
Such as life
Cleara
... what exactly is stopping me from removing said identifier from a track I download?
how is this going to stop people from encoding the sound into an mp3 file? even if there is a digital lock on encoding you could still go from you speaker out to line in on your sound card and encode the track. (much like making mp3's from cassette tapes...)
So, how about this - mp3's have tags in them, and if your stuff shows up repeatedly online, then you eventually get busted. In return, NO copy protection is used, and you can have copies anywhere you want, so long as you don't share them. No spyware either.
Honestly, I think that's the best deal we're likely to get.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
Yes this seams nice to be able to get the music just as you buy it, but what happens when your hard drive crashes (yes people should back up, but they don't) That is why a CD will still be best, you can rip it and have it, but if you lose the mp3 you still have the hard copy to recreat the mp3. /home/mpop nothing in /mnt/jukebox will be backedup)
Infact since I have the CDs I don't bother to backup my mp3's if I lose them I just re-rip, I do backup my other user files (anything in
Now maybe if they will charge maybe $1 more for a cd and let you download the music now, so you get the music now, and still get the hard CD later, for backup reasons.
...if you are stupid enough to use Windows Media Player and/or the .wma format.
Semantically, that makes you not an artist then. Please don't label yourself with a term that obviously does not apply.
Ideally, an artist is someone that creates an expressive work because they feel an innate need to do so - not because they get paid for it at the end. Those people that get paid to create are businesspeople that can compose or create, not artists. A successful artist may be able to leverage her/himself into the latter; the latter trying to be the former is what defines the music industry today.
Following the more traditional models of experiencing art, you can then choose to (a) make it available to me on per-visit basis, like a museum, and charge me a nominal fee for my visiting duration there, or (b) make a proof or copy available to me for a more substantial amount of money so I can enjoy it at my leisure. Be aware that the amounts in (a) and (b) will be quite small (and possibly even 0) until you are accepted by broad peer review.
Combined with freedom of choice and a generally capitalist society, good artists are floated to the top, while poor artists are sent back to school to learn something they can handle.
Gallic Wars - Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.
Hundred Years War - Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare: "France's armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman."
Italian Wars - Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.
Wars of Religion - France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots
Thirty Years War - France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.
War of Devolution - Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.
The Dutch War - Tied
War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War -Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.
War of the Spanish Succession - Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.
American Revolution - In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare: "France only wins when America does most of the fighting."
French Revolution - Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.
The Napoleonic Wars - Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British footwear designer.
The Franco-Prussian War - Lost. Germany first plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France's ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.
World War I - Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States. Thousands of French women find out what it's like to not only sleep with a winner, but one who doesn't call her "Fraulein." Sadly,widespread use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French bloodline.
World War II - Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.
War in Indochina - Lost. French forces plead sickness, take to bed with the Dien Bien Flu.
Algerian Rebellion - Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare: "We can always beat the French." This rule is identical to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese and Esquimaux.
War on Terrorism - France, keeping in mind its recent history, surrenders to Germans and Muslims just to be safe. Attempts to surrender to Vietnamese ambassador, fails after he takes refuge in a McDonald's.
The question for any country silly enough to count on the French should not be "Can we count on the French?", but rather "How long until France collapses?"
Observations: 1.)Going to war without the French by your side is like going deer hunting without your accordian.. You are leaving a lot of noisy useless baggage behind. 2.)Europe caused WWII by trying to appease Hitler during the 30's and refusing to enforce the Treaty of Versailles 3.)With "friends" like this...Who needs enemies.
Remember it's just data. Eventually the codes will be stripped out of the song. It's just like DVD encryption.
With the GRid initiative, resellers would be charged an annual fee of 150 pounds ($245.10), for which they can issue an identity tag to millions of songs sold online.
Each track will be distributed with an individual GRid serial number. Like a bar code, it will be reported back to rights societies and collection agencies so that artists can be compensated for sales.
So, a retailer must pay the RIAA $250 a year to track and compile how much money the retailer must pay to musicians?
Wow! It's the official RIAA we'relosinggroundsoletsscrewthellittleguys get-rich-quick scheme!
Somehow, I don't think that this is going to catch on. Or stop one of the main problems in the industry, price inflation.
and if it does, this is just going to hurt the independants even more. Peachy.
Yet another 11 million dollar invention in an attempt to catch the next 11 year old theive.
Well I guess RIAA's new CEO, whoever it is, has got to show SOMETHING, right?
Anyone actally read the article? Either the article is missing some information or the listed planned usage for this thing is far from what they actually plan on doing with it.
It appears this is supposed to be used so that a retailer can be charged correctly for every download they offer. Meaning a standard method of keeping track of online retail sales. To do this they will encode some unique bits in every file sold online. Sounds bogus already. I do not see the connection between me having a unique coded file and tracking total sales from retailers. Where is the discussion about how my number is reported or disclosed to anyone? Seems to me the real goal is to track a specific file after it is downloaded. They find your file on KaZaa, track it to the retail source, they release your name and bingo, full swat team visit. Maybe you would become the retailer and they will charge you the original downloader for every instance of the unique indentifier they can find online.
I'm not some consipracy theory nut but I can not honestly see the connection between tracking sales and a unique number embedded in a file.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
I'm not worried about tracking. When I go and buy a box of brownies at the suppermarket and use my "Kroger Plus" card, I've been entered into the database, and they know that on February 10th I bought a box of brownies mix.
They do not know that I've taken the brownies and made "Magic Brownies" with some THC stashed in the closet.
I don;t see the GRiD being used to track who downloaded what individual song. All it will show when it shows up on Kazaa is that someone bought this song legally and is sharing a song with a friend or three.
How long will it take for a utility to be released that removes the GRiD from an MP3 or song track?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"
-- The Doctor, "Doctor
...until they embed this Digital Rights Restrictions nonsense into WinXP as an essential service that you can't disable. Just try blocking WinXP's access to the 'net through your firewall.. No internet==no problem. Except that you might want to get networked things done eventually.
Best to wait for the crack.
In this case, it's "Greed Related Intelligence Deficiency".
--
est modus in rebus
So when a track is sold, the appropriate media conglomerate and artist are credited. This is basically the same thing as a UPC code on the products you buy in a store. At the point of sale, the UPC is scanned so that inventory is known on that item. Likewise, when an online retailor sells a track, the ID is read and fed into a database that will keep track of the cut for the music companies. Didn't you read the article?
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
Sounds OK. (no pun)
No different from the number stamped on a copy of a movie to identify which copy from which master it is. If the movie gets ripped it gets traced back to the movie theater and distributor. If the music gets copied and the tag stays intact they can go bitch to the distributor and the person it was sold to.
Always adding the usual provisos:
1. Does the press release match the reality?
2. Is it one step in a bigger nasty plan?
Provided the answers are yes & no, I think this is reasonable. Anyone have more detail?
Just raise the taxes on crack.
It puzzles me to realize that most of these people (RIAA, etc.) would blame file sharing as THE ONLY reason why the industry is experiencing a down turn. I realze that there would be some economic fall out. BUT! How about the fact that 10's of 1,000's of people being laid off has a significant impact on any economy?!?! If my 10 year old son can figure it out, why can't the RIAA figure it out as well? I guess it must be the NEW math they are teaching in school these days...
Forgive me for not trusting the RIAA, but what a line of bull - they think we'll believe that they "need" this to track sales, and for that reason only! That never was a problem when they made their money selling CD's. When I gave my money to Sam Goody and walked out with a CD, the recording studio had no clue who I was, and they still did just fine that way. Why the change?? I'm not believing it.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
the publishers are proposing something that actually addresses copyright violation, rather than a rights grab. A tracking number has problems (what if someone steals your music collection?) but at least is targeted towards true "pirate" publication rather than those scoundrels who make copies to play in the car.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Everyone notice the part where you have to pay $250 PER YEAR to participate in this program? I'd feel a lot better about it if it was an internationally agreed upon standard, like UPCs and EANs, and if it was a one-time fee for each block of numbers that you got. $250 a year is no big deal for big outfits, but for small-time publishers who would benefit the most from releasing their work, $250 is a lot of money.
Who wants to bet that some big retailer is going to charge smaller outfits for the privilege of using the big retailer's tracking tags? If I were a small music publisher, I'd cook up my own open-source solution. Form a consortium, charge $50 for a block of 100 numbers & associated database space, create a new IDv3 tag for MP3s & put out code that would allow users to buy music by clicking on the tag. The only reason for the consortium to exist is to keep track of the numberspace (like with UPC and EAN), and help standardize the incorporation of the open-source numberspace into as many pieces of software as possible.
Why give the RIAA another $250 a year to persecute filetraders and destroy fair use rights, when for $50, you can help promote a workable system for buying music on the fly (even streaming music)?
You know what I do? I keep MP3 CDs. "Re-Rip"? Ha! Just pop it in and you're good to go. The whole set on my hard drive, one on a shelf, one in my car, if my house explodes I'll be pissed, but I wont have to worry about replacing all those original discs- I can use one.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
Broadband and its ability to get to most people are still limiting the possibilities of such business working out.
Pay-per-view-online and similar things aren't going to be so popular so long as dial-up is the primary access.
Imagine trying to buy an MP3 and taking 30-50 minutes to download it. Each disconnection results in the hassle of trying to download the file again.
Now imagine music videos or even feature length films and how long those would take! Even if all dial-up was 56k, which isn't always the case, it would still take hours to get a relatively few minutes worth of media.
You can't necessarily make a successful business off of college students.
I have 3656.9 Bogomips. How many Bogomips do you have?
and zero out the tag.
Problem solved.
The RIAA is always ruining the fun. I hate them!
Water, water everywhere so let's all have a drink-Homer Jay Simpson
I believe this is why some software includes a key on a sticker that you have to type in. The CD will recognize a whole bunch of keys, but by entering the one on the sticker, you give your software an ID number.
This being said, I don't think we are in immediate danger of getting unique ID's on CDs. Unless someone knows if there's a manufacturing process for writing small amounts of data on a mass-produced CD?
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
These geniuses can't even keep their website online, and now they plan to keep an track-ID database running? I'll believe it when I see it.
They invoke the DMCA.
The next step of course: Every cd player and mp3 player can only play GRID'd files!
There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
most of us won't be able to afford it.
-- Lemmy
My god, from reading this thread you'd think this identifier is the work of satan or John Ashcroft (redundant?). People, before posting the standard knee-jerk reaction to something, why not do a little research.
This is a harmless number & metadata scheme that is intended to identify electronically distributed content since the existing identifiers (e.g. UPC and ISRC) have limitations that don't satisfy the needs of content owners, publishers, and retailers. I was involved in the project so I know first hand this has nothing to do with P2P or consumer tracking.
WinXP?! Because...?
Best to load a different OS, no?
Light a candle rather than curse the darkness, and all that...
I am looking forward having MY (as a customer) personal tracking number assigned to me and embedded in my body as a microchip - courtesy of RIAA.
Oh my shades... when will these guys realize that the bulk of sales come from word of mouth and it is "Convenience" which promotes and sells a product. What they need is something so convenient that people won't use file sharing... why would someone spend 20 minutes downloading music and burning it when they could have what they want on a format which is quicker.
I would love it if they would adopt some sort of Secure Digital card format... I could buy tracks and throw them on there.. quick.. no loss of quality.. no CD to skip.. I could update online, at an HMV or at a kiosk... how would I pay? Credit card, pay cards (like phone cards), or heck.. debit...
I give it 25 minutes till its cracked, another 4 hours for the Windows GUI app to come out.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
They might make a virus to do such a thing!
Would a jury believe that in a court of law???
I think, as someone mentioned in reply, that the difference is one of scale - if they were to only go after the big fish, it would effectively weed out the pirates from the multiple site users. One brightline would be a P2P server - that can pretty much be assumed to be piracy in most instances (if the RIAA can SEE the server, it's public)
Naturally, what this comes down to is "will they EVER endorse fair use." My plan assumes they do, or would - after all, if they can nail pirates, what's the harm in fair use? It completely negates all their arguments except one...namely, that they want us to buy a separate copy for every place we want to listen to the song.
I didn't express it well in my original post, but if the community accepts the tags, it would serve as a perfect litmus test for where the RIAA stands on fair use when the spectre of piracy has been dealt with. In other words, I like the tags idea because it strips them of excuses. We know that "anti-fair-use" is already the position of the MPAA, as Jack was kind enough to provide great quotes like "What is fair use? There's no such thing..." and "If you lose your copy, you buy another..." Let's see where the RIAA stands on this when piracy goes out the window.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
MUCH MUCH safer than using a credit card in a resurant. 70% of CC # theft and fraud can be traced to in-hand usage by a LIVE PERSON, out to rip you off. Next time you are in a your favorite bar or resturant, look closely at the help, odds are at least half of them are on the take somehow.
This gives new meaning to your tip...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Didn't RIAA just spell greed wrong?
How long did it take for them to invent the song id?
Ftards.
no one can take potshots at the golden "analog hole", it remains untouchable.
;-P
any audio file, i don't care how well you secure it, has to be turned into an audio signal at some point to be understandable to the human ear. at which point, the signal can be copied. this will never be preventable or difficult to do for any vaguely committed technically clueless wannabe music pirate.
you are talking about the skillset and the resource level of your average 13 year old. the same 13 year old who has the deepest desire for pop music, and the least amount of money. put 2 and 2 together and you get the downfall of the riaa right there in a nutshell.
when will the riaa get this clue? i mean c'mon, talk about fighting historical inevitability.
what next? implant digital audio chips in people's eardrums and transmit the data through 802.11/ bluetooth?
wait, forget i asked, i don't want to give the recording industry police any ideas... they are so stupid, they'd probably propose that as a reasonable solution
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I can imagin the RIAA putting this technolagy to use in ways other then there recommending. No im not speeking about your standard "you have one, time to blast down your door with C4 and confiscate your compiteR" style though.
They could end up doing something alone the lines of "Well (random artist) since your music is being stolen and you dont care, we will subtract whats taken from your income as to cover our costs"
Then they put the responsablity in the artists lap, and now we actaully are REALLY kickin the asses of the artists.
Granted a bit far fetched but i can imagin it.
And this is pretty much the truth after the concept is boiled down to brass tacks.
Somebody finally got it right.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
you mean i have to install windows to understand that posting?
what has slashdot become... *shakes head*
(no i don't wanna troll. just please someone tell me what it meant)
Free as in mason.
Yeah, but what about all those other countries sharing a continent with France?
Blar.
Spout opinionated FUD first, then don't admit being wrong later. That's the Slashdot way.
It's ludicrous to give access to hundreds of millions of copies of an encrypted message along with tens of millions decryption devices and expect the encryption to remain unbroken.
This one's even easier to break: the same original message (song in this case) produces different results, but results that must produce pretty much the same sound when decrypted (played via a CD player...).
Trouble is, if you don't let it make the connection, you won't be able to listen to the song. Firewall's not very useful then, it it?
No and yes. This is simply a way for the INDUSTRY to track what the hell they are selling. Like the article says, it is akin to a UPC code. UPC codes are not unique across all boxes of cereal, but only across specific SKUs, like between 20 oz Cheerios, 40oz Cheerios, and 16oz Count Chocula, for example.
For you geeks out there, it is a CLASS_ID, not an OBJECT_ID, meaning that the number will be the same across all instances of the class.
For example, when a consumer goes to hoohaa.com and purchases an audio track from the latest Hoodies album, hoohaa.com's product database will contain an SKU number to track the PURCHASE so that they can report to the vendor how many tracks of that song were sold so that the artists (the "manufacturer") can get their money. It MAY be included in the track itself, but it would make it easier to automate the process, since the product itself can be polled when they put the track up for sale online, and no one has to manually enter the number. The number should not vary from track to track of the SAME EXACT song. They may put in a serial number in the download, but that would be something completely different than what they are talking about here (and easily foiled for piracy tracking purposes).
All they are doing is Standardizing the domain of these ID numbers across the entire industry so that the money from the sale goes into the right pocket. This is ESPECIALLY important where there is no tangible object being sold, and thus, no purchasing audit trail from the reseller to the vendor.
Sounds like a smart system to me, and one that has nothing to do with our "online rights"; at least no moreso than the computer industry standardizing on Tech Data's SKU numbers for ordering computer parts. Hmm. Wouldn't that be cool?
-SS "Teach the ignorant, care for the dumb, and punish the stupid."
Number nine.... number nine.... number nine....
on a side note, I do TIP WELL, can we get this crown sized, it pinches a bit on the temple...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Read the article next time...
The Link for the Lazy. No karma whoring...
"But all that means here on Slashdot is that the people who, without meaning it a bit, have been saying 'if you don't want us 'sharing' your IP, come up with a way to vend it to us' will now have to tone it down a bit."
That's part of the solution, but not the whole thing. The file format needs to be MP3, the restrictions need to be GONE, it needs to be a flat rate, and it must be viewed as a small fee for a small convenience (because that's all it is). At long last, the real market value of individual songs must be addressed. Consider this: If the recording industry had simply cut a deal with Napster and charged $5/month for an "all you can eat" plan, they would get about $150 million per month, as opposed to the $0 they get now. No matter how you slice it, the recording industry has ALREADY squandered over a BILLION dollars in money that they COULD HAVE HAD, for P2P activity that they KNEW would happen ANYWAY! That's alot of money to piss away! Hillary is on the way out (fairly or unfairly) because SOMEONE has to be held responsible for one of the foolish decisions in the history of business.
RIAA doesn't seem to realize that the name of the game is to get the most money. Sometimes this requires sharing the revenue stream with others. If my choice is to accept 50% of a $2 billion market, or retain my 100% share of $0, simple math dictates the answer. I feel entitled to 100% of everything, I have to find away to put my emotions aside long enough to take what is there to be taken instead of agonizing over what the other guy is getting.
At this point, no matter what RIAA does, it will be damn near impossible to earn back even a fraction of what they could have had if they kept Hillary on a short leash. Notice, they are still on the wrong track. Getting paid for every single transfer is nowhere near as important as getting something from everyone who shares.
hey -- you might as well tell him to steal a car because at 20 hours a week, he sure can't make a car payment.
what a load of crap
this is completely different than someone who already BOUGHT the music and wants to have it at home and portable too.
your son is stealing stuff, and it sounds like you think it's great that he's so smart and sticking it to the man.
whatever...
RIAA might not be smart but they aren't really stupid.
no -- the RIAA is probably the stupidest group around these days. They have spent millions of dollars on lawyers to drive away all their customers.
that's really stupid.
The most clever thing they have been accused of doing is tainting the p2p files with bogus mp3s. But, it turns out that was a hoax on a reporter who was so excited by the idea that he ran with the story.
The stupid thing about the RIAA is that now that this p2p tainting idea is out, they are considering using it to further harrass their customers.
they saw that way cool comercial for microsoft .NET.
With the old guy telling him what would be cool, and the tech guy producing it, with microsoft products.
"thats cool"
"cool"
i could go on, but no..
Not if your encoding program respected the number. YOu know it's illegal to have an unlicensed MP3 encoder don't you?
For the rest of us, this could be a RIAA stamp of approval, unless the RIAA wants to make the ID non unique.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
M$NBC got it all wrong because that's the way Media Player worked, remember this and other stories about Media Player making lists of all the stuff you play? M$ never said they were tracking anyone nor did they ever own up to it, did they?
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
It's that time again!
The 33rd Daily Retarded Fucking Moderator awards!
Would the moderator who modded this joke flamebait like to step forward and receive their prize?
And you believe they need to go to the extra effort of putting a unique download ID on each file just so they can count how many they have downloaded? Can you explain why they would need to uniquely mark the files just to count how many they sent? Everyone who believes this, please get out of the gene pool.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
not without global jurisdiction they won't. The DCMA only applies to amerikans. - for now.
I used to have a better sig than this, but I got tired of it
Maybe OGG will become the de facto standard then.....
...http://www.highcriteria.com
Buy Total Recorder, Standard Edition - it's only 12 bucks American. Then you can capture any sound that goes to your soundcard and then do anything you want. Freedom.
I have nothing to do with these good people, I just love the product. Really.
And go to the artist only. I was flipping through the channels a couple of weeks ago. Celine Dion was on VH-1. She was singing AC/DC's "You Shook Me"
Brian Johnson should have some legal recourse to sue the living shit out of her.
If you want to make a slippery slope argument, you need some type of past precedence to cite concerning an entity's behavior. You did not do this. You failed to satisfy any of the needs that would make a slippery slope argument even a bit reasonable. You failed, miserably. When people fail, it makes me want to take a big dump on their faces. But, I was merciful on the day you tripped and fell in your posting attempts. I did not defecate on your face. I chose to instead slap you in the face with my dong. You will learn from this experience, I hope. Unless of course you are some piece of trash - did your parents divorce? If they did, you were the cause, asshole. You drove two people who loved each other apart! You fucking ass-goblin! What an awful thing to do, especially as a kid. You should feel shame! Okay, I think I've explained life to you enough for today. Expect more lessons later my nigga.
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
I emailed Alan Cross to see if there were transcripts of that show available, but according to him, due to copyright issues they can't do that. Maybe they will replay it at some point. If you happen to live in Ontario, there are also some other stations that air the show.
Speak before you think
No, my cousin is named H.R. Geiger. I think you're confused. Who is this Giger character you speak of?
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.