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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
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.
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.
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!
But the question remains, what the hell business does the RIAA or MPAA have telling me how I should administer *my* business. This isn't for your own good in the sense that it'll improve productivity (in fact, being able to listen to music at work and freely use the net often raises productivity). That's only a question of having good employees with interesting work to do anyway.
This is simply a veiled legal threat. It's "do this or we'll eventually get around to suing your ass off". Never mind that it's largely an empty threat - the intent is to invade another business and, through legal chill, affect the way they *do* business. And that's simply unacceptable.
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
So I'm happy to have someone giving ammunition to help put these slackers out of business. The company doesn't need them, and they waste the resources for which I am responsible. Whether they are canned because the CEO worries over his company's legitimate potential liability to the evil conglomerates or because these people are being paid to work and are goofing off instead, means nothing to me. They are abusing company property for personal gain and should be fired. A warning letter like this is a valuable policy tool. That I personally do not care for the conglomerates' heavy-handed tactics does nothing to lessen the validity of their fundamental argument, and does nothing to diminish the value of a document issued by Legal telling slackers to knock off the network abuse.
Your use of Kazaa to steal from those who purchased the musicians is for any reasonable person equal to Microsoft including linux/sched.c in the next version of Windows or to that scruffy-looking man outside stealing my car. All three hypothetical offenders are taking from others without permission. A pity they don't hang cattle rustlers any longer.
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.
What I don't get is how the RIAA plans to enforce this... Unless they for a RIAA gestapo, or something like it. Or put spyware on corporations, which would get them in even more trouble. So there's really nothing they can do about it. Except spew the same old BS they've been spewing, and of course that type of stuff sells on slashdot, lol...
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.
Most (if not all) have bradband connections - and students - no money and in the RIAA's usual target audience - probably download much more music.
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/
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?
Would you stop the guy outside from taking a picture of your car?
Would you try to stop Microsoft from using GPL'd code in a closed-source product? After all, if someone uses GPL'd code in a closed-source product it's just a copy.
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.