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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."
It is finally starting to work well enough to be useful. It still needs people to create mp3-specific freesites to allow people to find mp3s easily, but this could be the motivation.
--sex
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
That some of the know-nothing managers will forward these boilerplate memos onto their charges without any changes??
ALSO, how many managers will take their threats for real?
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
I wouldn't want people I was managing screwing around with p2p software at work.
For managers, this is going to be a no-brainer.
In the UK, it's not unusual for people to have Internet connections at home that are just as fast as those at work. I have 512mbps broadband at home and am considering upgrading to 1mbps, which will be 4 times faster than I have at work.
If I wanted to download a lot of music, I'd SSH to a machine at home and do it there where it's faster. I guess it's different in the US though where lots of companies have T3 connections.
I'd also have though that a lot of large organisations (e.g. Fortune 1000 companies) would already have "downloading music/video" policies in place, and the smaller companies would be the ones with people doing things like this.
Anyway, if you need to spend time doing stuff like that, you're job must not be interesting enough - you employer should tackle that problem first!
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What the fuck does this have to do with my rights online?? My "rights" in the workplace are limited all the time at work.
My company has blocked access to p2p applications, all sorts of website, and limit my access to my PC. Should I be crying about my rights being violated?
Where is it part of my rights that I can illegaly download music at my desk, thereby wasting bandwidth and company time?
SIG:Slashdot: indymedia for nerds.
Honestly, compared to the usual shit these two organizations pull, sending out recommended procedures is really not so bad. Of course, (not having read the memo) I'll assume they made some "threats" against those companies that don't implement said procedures (as per their 'usual shit').
If they kept themselves confined to asking companies to police themselves, and "enlightening" the public to the plight of their failing business model, I wouldn't really hate them. The problem is that they insist on buying laws and bullying other companies into proping up their fading legacy.
Down with Saudi Arabia!!!
Companies will take action and institute policies against downloading copywritten materials. This will be their defense against the company being liable for the downloading.
The RIAA/MPAA is doing this to aim at deep pockets that can order lots of people to do, or in this case not do, specific acts.
Fight Spammers!
How much will it cost the RIAA and MPAA to send out all these letters? How much money will they save/make by stopping the "theft"?
I am a viral sig. Please help me spread.
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!
Here's my message to those who would decry this as another RIAA/MPAA evil act:
Just remember, kiddies, that most large workplaces don't even CARE WTF you're doing on their computers, as long as it isn't work related. Using company equipment for non-work-related activities is grounds for dismissal in many firms, so the RIAA really shouldn't have any resistance here. They're lobbying for a different idea, but will have the same result.
------- "From bored to fanboy in 3.8 asian girls" ----------
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
I happen to be a business owner.
MY bandwidth and My PCs are just that - MINE.
Don't like it. Don't work for me.
Maybe I don't want to be sued just because you are a thief. Personlly I think most of the IP laws are crap but that doesn't mean that I desire(or have the money) to be the fucking test case just because you are NOT adult enough to *gasp* ask my permission before you put MY company at risk.
So after I fire your ass I'll have your ass arrested for theft of MY bandwidth and MY storage space.
Is THAT adult enough? You self-centered little troll.
I sorry that you think that putting the rules down in writting is a "childish" act. It isn't. It is what adults do. Adults don't assume what others should know or expect. They explain out in front what is and isn't expected. Why? Because some people like yourself will assume that employment GIVES them the right to do it. It doesn't. Only if the employer is willing to allow it. And if he is then he should put THAT in writting too.
Slashdot, home of supporters of free software, free music, and free speech.Except for Moderators that disagree with you.
Wow, I'd fire him immediately if I were his boss. He just opened up the company to massive litigation. It'd be akin to the phone company saying "we're going to monitor phone traffic and don't want common carrier status anymore". Moronic.
This is in no way anything like the telco doing that. I think that is an excellent way to curb the behaviour. If you want the music at work, bring in your CDs or even your own computer (geez, a headless P2-233 with 64M of memory would be more than enough) and leave it off the fucking corporate systems. It's not opening up anything to litigation, as the computers are already property of the companies, and can be used for whatever legal purpose the company wants.
Stop what stuff? Creating a pleasant environment to do your job? There is nothing illegal about having music on your computer at home or at work.
Agreed on the pleasant environment but there is nothing in my employee handbook granting me the ability to use the company systems for anything non-company related, including playing music whose legality is in question. It's not up to the company to prove that you own the CDs, and in fact I bet that given the choice between policing that or outright forbidding mp3s, they will chose the latter every time.
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
But Seriously, I agree with most of what The Man
has to say from a purely (owning the network
and having to deal with all the bullshit)
perspective. I'm all for anything that's going
to mean that I don't have to waste a considerable
amount of time writting/revamping scripts to look
for the latest file sharing software. A few places
I've been already have strong stances on this stuff
because it costs a company a SHITLOAD of money for
bandwidth to support the 15 girls in customer
service, 10 guys in tech support, and ALL the guys
in admin that are downloading 30 gigs of movies,
mp3s, and warez a day. My opinion is, what happens
out of work is out of work. Do that shit at home.
Hell, I don't care if you bring a cd you burned
at home to work with your 200 alan jackson songs
on it. Just don't create work and trouble for me.
Stick to playing solitaire and minesweeper and all
the other important things you do on your wintel
machines. Save the bandwidth for important things
like first person shooters.
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
Since this sounds like something that well-managed corporate networks should be doing already (maybe not individal audits, but blocking p2p), this may just be a symbolic act so that later they can say, "Hey, we even sent out letters to all these companies......blah blah" and make up some case for themselves in court.
Most (if not all) have bradband connections - and students - no money and in the RIAA's usual target audience - probably download much more music.
If you're having trouble finding the "suggested memo" on the RIAA's website, here's a mirror.
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
Well, you are stealing their shit. And it is shit, least-common denominator teenie-bopper crap.
Maybe if people would get off their asses and explore the net for local bands they can go watch live, 99% of which will give you their mp3's online so you'll come see the shows.
No artist has ever made a cent off record sales, they make it from CONCERTS. So stop feeding the beast, and feed the artists. Go see something local, buy the Tshirt and CD at the concert if you must.
Stop all your damn whining about how people get mad when you steal their shit. You have two options, but you have to vote by spending your money. Stealing or bitching about it are both not voting at all.
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
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.
As long as the Freenet project continues distribute its main download in the form of a Java class and not platform specific binaries, it will *never* work well enough to be useful to people in the same manner that Kazaa, or even Gnutella are.
You can whine and kvetch all day long about how wondeful are, but the simple fact of the matter is that the fact that you have to install a virtual machine to run Freenet makes it useful only to people who understand how to install a virtual machine.
There are ways to compile Java to platform-specific binaries that don't require a virtual machine to run. The freenet project should make binaries like this available for download for PC and Macintosh. Doing otherwise is shooting themselves in the foot for the sake of shooting themselves in the foot.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
I just heard on Time Warner cable channel today, in a pitch for AOL/Time Warner's digital cable service/road runner, that you can "download movies on demand" and "trade songs with families and friends" as part of their pitch for selling their service.
Time Warner is part of the MPAA/RIAA. Very interesting to hear that they are pitching "trade songs with families and friends" as part of road runner. What type of applications do you think they are talking about when they mention "trade songs..."? What applications other than p2p are the general public aware of when it comes to "trading songs..."?
Is AOL/Time Warner pitching p2p file sharing as a reason to get their service?
Can someone capture the audio on this commercial and email it to one of the groups that are fighting for fair use rights in Washington?
While your thought is admirable, I have to go ahead and disagree with you. I understand that the home user is the one who typically downloads more then the office user, and that they pose more of an infringer. But from a cost/benefit analysis standpoint alone, they would never start filing suit against more then a handful of home users. Litigation is expensive as hell, and they would have to sue millions of people to make it worth while. Not to mention that they'd be suing a bunch of judgment proof individuals. The real money they hope to get is from the corps for contributory/vicarious copyright infringement - they have the deep pockets. If they are just doing this as a scare tactic, then it might be an effective way to get the average person to stop trading mp3's for fear of liability, but to actually follow it through on a large scale would be completely cost ineffective in the long run....