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The RIAA and MPAA Target Day-Job Downloaders
BrianUofR points to this USA Today article, which says "the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America are sending a six-page brochure this week to Fortune 1000 corporations with suggested policies -- including a sample memo to workers warning them against using company computers to download songs and movies."
--sex
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
Dear fellow workers (and soon to be ex-workers).
.avi and .mp3
We the managment of [INCLUDE COMPANY NAME], have felt it necessary to assert our position in regard to file sharing as dicated by the RIAA and MPAA of America.
You, the much loved workers of [INCLUDE COMPANY NAME], are from this day forth given the notice, that any contraband (aka shared files) ending with the following (but not limited to) extensions are hereby seen as illegal.
Extensions :
If for any reason any file ending with these extensions were found on your desktop or backup media, we would be forced to report you to the good companies listed above and further report you to our good government. You will be reported as terrorist file sharers who are affecting our great nations economy by sharing the files ending in the said extensions.
The lawyers representing [INCLUDE COMPANY NAME], RIAA and MPAA could at no point be sued or counter sued for any loss. You withhold the right to class action lawsuite, trial by jury and any sort of criminal charges against the companies that own the said file extensions.
Any tools that you use to create, display or duplicate the said file extensions are from this day forth labeled as tools of terrorists.
Thank you.
[INCLUDE NAME OF COMPANY CEO].
Someone should make sure all the copies of M$ Word the RIAA and MPAA use to create these memos are licensed and accounted for.
I was just about to take a temp job with a Fortune 1000 company just so I could sit around all day using the company computers to download movies.
NOW they'll probably impliment some sort of official policy of displeasure with such pursuits.
Damn you RIAA.
KFG
The RIAA and MPAA Target Day-Job Downloaders
That's it, I'm switching to the night shift!
I swear to god, every time I read something like this I have a flashback of being a kid and watching a cartoon character trying to plug up a leaking dam with his finger, then the other, then a toe, then the other toe...
Valenti does look a lot like Droopy, you have to admit.
Valenti
Droopy
Or if we're going for apropos over strict resemblance...
My
Limekiller
It's was only a matter of time for this to happen.
Individual companies have already contacted those businesses with a lot of "personal time" being spent on corporate networks. My own company was approached and mildly threatened by Sony because of P2P sharing.
Our IT people blocked the ports, and threatened us with various forms of violence if we shared/downloaded media. No distinction was made between legal or illegal downloads (if there really is such a thing).
Personally, I feel that home is the place to steal music. Work is for stealing software.
That last was a joke. Laugh. It's funny.
-- clvrmnky
Do they forbid copied audio CD-Rs as well? How can they tell? What happens if your media player caches data on disk? In memory? Better disable access to the CD-ROM drive completely, remove the USB ports, and cut off the network, so that illegal material can't possibly get anywhere near a company computer. Anything else risks massive litigation.
" I wouldn't want people I was managing screwing around with p2p software at work."
I totally agree. I get SO pissed when my EFnet chats get lagged because the office warez monkeys are maxing out the T1 just to get mp3s and isos! People need to get cable!
Here's what this really means:
1> People who work in Fortune 1000 are usually bored stiffless by institutional dreariness of the large company. Or they have become completely transformed by Dilbert syndrome into robots on the outside and boiling-with-rage just-destroy-it-see-if-I-care attitudes on the inside. Having a 1000-to-1 pay ratio between the top executives and the average Fortune 1000 worker ensures that there is a lot of this kind of feeling. Thousands of employees turn to P2P in the workplace just to get through the meaninglessness of the day. As long as the work continues to get done, it's not really a big deal.
2> Management gets a blanket threatening letter from the RIAA-MPAA. They immediately enact a policy saying that there will 'zero-tolerance' of any P2P or non-work-related computer or internet use by employees. The people who use P2P KNOW that their work is not affected by their listening and downloading and simply ignore this edict. Since everything is illegal in America now it doesn't seem to make any difference anyway, just as much work continues to get done as before.
3> The system administrator reviews the download records of all the employees and finds the people who continue to use P2P.
4> * The system administrator goes to each of these people (possible hundreds) and says that unless they give him $100-$200 a month, their names will be turned over to management for termination.
5> The system administrator gets tens of thousands of dollars a month from shaking down the employees due to management's stupid 'zero-tolerance' policy of something that hundreds of people are doing in the company.
6> The system administrator has an unfortunate accident. Someone deliberately drove their car over him in the company parking lot. Nobody saw anything. Word starts to circulate in and out of the company that there was a very profitable organized shakedown going on. Management refuses to tell the police anything to avoid scandal.
7> The word going around reachs the local Mafia crew. They 'persuade' management to install one of their people as the new system administrator. The shakedown continues... the Mafia gets the money...the employees get to download P2P...and nobody cares about what happens to the company.