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."

Comments

Quick!

[$$$$$exyGal]

Somebody post the 6-page brochure to Kazaa so I can see it.

--sex

at work?

[astrashe]

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.

Re:at work?

[NetJunkie]

Please explain hos this means treating employees like kids? There is no reason for an employee to be using a P2P app at work. I don't care if you own the CD you're downloading, rip your own at home and bring it in.

P2P apps should be banned just for the security problems alone...not even considering legal liability of the company.

Grow up. Get a real job.

Re:at work?

[NetJunkie]

The problem is legal liability. If I know my employees download this stuff and don't do anything then the company can be liable. I'm not going to get in trouble and possibly fired so people I manage can warez Britney Spears.

Re:at work?

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Yeah, managers who think that their employees should be treated like school-children."

Who says it's about treating coworkers like 'school-children'?

I'm a sysadmin for a small company. I used Kazaa at home quite a bit. I'm against the RIAA's stance on P2P. Despite all that, I don't want it used at work, and I will (and have) told people to remove it. Not because I'm an asshole or because I wanted to use my 'power'. I did it to make sure that my company doesn't invent mindless policies as a result of problems that arise from it. If the net connection gets bogged down and it's traced back to P2P usage, then my company will respond with a strict internet policy. That would suck because my company has a "It's only a problem when it's actually a problem" stance on things like that.

The dude you just got shitty with is right. Don't put businensses into a position where they WILL have to create policy. Especially when it is completely unnecessary.

Here are some of the enclosed brochures

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear fellow workers (and soon to be ex-workers).

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 : .avi and .mp3

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].

Call the BSA

[girth]

Someone should make sure all the copies of M$ Word the RIAA and MPAA use to create these memos are licensed and accounted for.

Cartoon

[limekiller4]

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...

It was only a matter of time

[c13v3rm0nk3y]

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.

What about universities?

[apple-marc]

Most (if not all) have bradband connections - and students - no money and in the RIAA's usual target audience - probably download much more music.

AOL TimeWarner ads say trade songs with RoadRunner

[Anonymous Coward]

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?