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EMI and Sony Lose Lawsuit Over Crippled Music Disks

neves writes "A brazilian consumer has sued EMI and Sony, and won! The reason was a copy protection technology in the best seller album "Tribalistas" that didn't play in his car. You can read about it in Folha de São Paulo (babelfish translation here), brazilian biggest newspaper. They must be very afraid, since EMI vice-president defended the company himself in a lawsuit involving less than US$ 350,00. A more detailed report is in my music site Agenda do Samba & Choro (babelfish here), where we release some of the lawsuit files to make it easier for others to sue them. Since last year, we are calling for a boycott (babelfish) of copy protected albums. The companies appealed, and said that they will take the case to the Supreme Court, because it is a 'question of principles'. The consumer is sueing them again, because all new EMI albums in Brazil are being released with copy protection and won't work in his car."

407 comments

  1. Funny by T40+Dude · · Score: 4, Insightful

    how the the indutry's seep pockets didn't help them in court ( at least in Brazil).

    1. Re:Funny by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 3, Funny

      The previous post was brough to you in association with babelfish

      --
      Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    2. Re:Funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You sure typed that up fast! Should've spent another 2 seconds reading it over maybe.

    3. Re:Funny by Fred_A · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It didn't help them in France either where they (well EMI) have recently lost in court. Two other lawsuits are pending against Sony France and BMG and another series is in preparation.

      The court ruled that the customers had been decieved as to the nature of the disk, the corp tricking them into believing it was a regular CD. EMI now has a month to appose a label on all modified CDs saying "Warning, this disk cannot be read on any home or car player".

      I still think they should have hit them at the wallet where it hurts but it's not part of the culture here (not yet).

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    4. Re:Funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Quite ironic! Wait...I better go read that 100 page article to see if that is correct. How ironic...

  2. EMI AND SONY SO FUCKING FAIL IT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0



    You love t.

  3. Yeah! by tds67 · · Score: 0
    Before all the records come in this format, she is necessary that the people take an attitude: He has boycotted records anticopy!

    Yeah! Fsck records anticopy!

    1. Re:Yeah! by calags · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, fsck doesn't fix the filesystems for these crippled cds :-(

      Try using the dump command instead.

      --
      Never attribute to stupidity what can be construed as a monopoly preservation tactic.
  4. CarMac! by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 4, Funny

    so if I hook wheels to my G4, I can sue too?

    --
    Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
    Africus aut Europaeus?
    1. Re:CarMac! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hhmmm, A G4 with wheels. No one will take you seriously driving a ricer. So. no you can't sue.

    2. Re:CarMac! by Redbw6 · · Score: 1

      I know....I think it's kind or silly that he sued and won because he couldn't play the CDs in his car. What if we all just put G4s on our cars...would we all win?!?!

  5. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, as you US guys don't matter for us brazilians, we too don't matter about you guys, so...

  6. Help, my brain hurts by Skater · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you find that this process is little thing, the recorders you do not agree.

    I'd like to read the articles, but...

    --RJ

    1. Re:Help, my brain hurts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll fix that, for US$ 350,00

    2. Re:Help, my brain hurts by Guppy06 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Someone set up us the bomb!

    3. Re:Help, my brain hurts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Portuguese to English
      Portuguese to Yoda

      Oh! I just selected the wrong translation.

    4. Re:Help, my brain hurts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny, here in Brazil until 5 years old children can read the article without translation.

      "this message has been translated to english by google"

    5. Re:Help, my brain hurts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >> Funny, here in Brazil until 5 years old children can read the article without translation.

      Funny, here in Brazil even 5-year old children can read the article without translation.

      If youre going to mock them, you got to be understood by them first.

      Seu banana! (You lame!)

  7. Re:Tribalistas sample by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I didn't know the goatse guy made music...

  8. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by kayen_telva · · Score: 2, Informative

    and ?
    I didnt realize the only things that matter
    in the world happen in the US.

  9. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by shepd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yeah, but if selling these defective CDs becomes illegal in Brazil, USians could always import all their music from there if they want to be guaranteed error-free CDs.

    --
    If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  10. Crippled disks? by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 4, Funny

    August or September is marked for the third album of Otto, already baptized "Without Gravity"

    Well if you put Holy Water on your CDs what do you think's gonna happen when you try and play them!?

    --
    Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    1. Re:Crippled disks? by Arker · · Score: 1

      August or September is marked for the third album of Otto, already baptized "Without Gravity"

      Well if you put Holy Water on your CDs what do you think's gonna happen when you try and play them!?

      I think 'christened' would probably be a better translation. ;)

      --
      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
      Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
    2. Re:Crippled disks? by Jim+Nugent · · Score: 1

      Well if you put Holy Water on your CDs what do you think's gonna happen when you try and play them!?

      If you put it on, and wipe with a clean cloth, you can remove some smudges, but Holy Water that you find in churches has a tinge of Baptismal Chrism (oil used for annointing) in it so it might leave a strange residue.

      Most important, don't try this with water from the River Jordan!

    3. Re:Crippled disks? by suwain_2 · · Score: 1

      Isn't it the River Jordan that many claim has healing powers? And if so, would it heal the crippled CD and enable it to play?

      --
      ________________________________________________
      suwain_2 :: quality slashdot p
  11. Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This shows one of the main limitations of the laissez-faire capitalism that USia endorses over the more rational policies implemented in the rest of the world. When corporations are as unfettered as they are in USia, getting them to agree on things like CD-ROM standards is a herculean task - each corporation is assured that it has the One True path.

    In Brazil OTOH they're more used to being told what to do by more socialist governments, and the idea of a standard is more easily applicable to the way they work within regulations anyway.

    1. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      Ok I'll be the goof

      what is the ia supposed to be ?

    2. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      America - Brazilia - Canadia = USia

    3. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      Sorry Must have missed that event

      Let me know if Boston and Miami Amalgamate. ;-)

    4. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well considering the abject poverty of most of brazil and its 9,000 GDP and europe's stagnation I believe I will take the united state's way of doing things.

      They can keep their cds that can play in a car.

    5. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by daniel23 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't speak Portuges so I'm at a loss as to explain this en detail but it reminds me of other renaming of that "USA" moniker I've seen (like VSA, amiland,..) which I tend to explain as the expression of the speaker's/writer's enstrangement towards the militar/political/economical conduct of said country by writing its trademark in a strange way.
      Call it an linguistic attempt of anti-propaganda.

      --
      605413? Yes, it's a prime.
    6. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by cait56 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Don't defame the laissez-faire approach.

      I don't endorse it, but to be fair most laissez-faire economists still believe that market participants have to label goods and services accurately.

      Even a laissez-faire capitalist recognizes that selling a "CD" that will not play in a standard CD player for what it is - fraud.

      Republicans on the other hand can probably come up with some idea why this is a good thing.

    7. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not that I disagree with you, and sorry for being blunt, but getting Americans to understand _any_ basic day-to-day standards is a herculean task!

      Just the other day we had an interesting discussion in which we find that the USA, Myanmar and some other small islands (Tuvalu??) like inches, feet, ounces etc.

      The rest of the World is wrong in adopting metric units.

      Have a nice day.

    8. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no... true laissez-faire capitalism would not allow shit like the DMCA, in fact some folks might argue that copyright itself is just a big goverment authoritarian waste....

    9. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by clueless_penguin · · Score: 5, Insightful
      This shows one of the main limitations of the laissez-faire capitalism that USia endorses over the more rational policies implemented in the rest of the world.


      Let's see, Sony is from Japan, Vivendi Universal from France, BMG from Germany. What's that about the US? This anti-American BS is completely pointless, not insightful. The US has no monopoly on greedy capitalism.

      --
      Use the spatula, Luke
    10. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by lubricated · · Score: 1

      wtf is USia are you refering to the US and Asia. I'm not sure why you hink asia has this same problem.

      --
      It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
    11. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by swv3752 · · Score: 1

      WTF is USia? Are talking about the United States of America? Proper abbreviations would be: U.S.A., U.S., USA, US, United States, or even in our arrogance- America. You are not insightful, you are a troll.

      --
      Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
    12. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sony Music is an American company, just because Sony started in Japan doesn't mean the entire company is run from there.

    13. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 1
      The US has no monopoly on greedy capitalism.

      Maybe not, but the US is the undisputed leader . See Bill for an explanation.

      --
      You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
    14. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And Libertarians are the Master Race(tm), right?

      Thought so.

    15. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by WeblionX · · Score: 1

      Which bill, the green one or the one with the green?

      --
      (\(\
      (=_=) Bani!
      (")")
    16. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by jd142 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's a way of distinguishing between American, encompassing all of the countries that make up the Americas and the United States. If you say America suffered an Earthquake, which America do you mean? North or South? It's a level of precision that's growing, mainly because other countries on the American continents don't want to be lumped in with the US.

    17. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get fucked you piece of shit.

    18. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not a monopolist, but it is the ringleader.

      Sorry if that offends.

    19. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by I+am+Emmitt+Smith · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't the term USA or even just US be just as good? This doesn't explain the need to change to USia for me.

      --
      *The Bill of Rights - void where prohibited by law
    20. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You people don't get it do you. In a true capitalistic economy, corporations don't pull out unfair tricks, tactics, and practices on the compeition or the consumer because its bad for business. This is because monopolies shrink the opportunity for growth in a massive way.

    21. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by jd142 · · Score: 1

      I forgot to point out that it should be written USian, using the -ian suffix to denote the adjectival form. USA or US would be the noun form. For example: USian policies towards drug laws are stricter than Canadian. The US has sent an ambassador to Canada to discuss the differences.

      Oddly enough, many people using the Internet take a lax, shall we say, approach to grammar and spelling. ;)

    22. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup. That's why all these anti-piracy, anti-sharing, pro-DMCA bills are jointly/bipartisan sponsored.

      It's all the Republicans fault. We've got a winner here 'yall.

    23. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "US policies" not only doesn't sound stupid, but it's even shorter. Bad grammar and spelling are the Internet equivalent of body odor.

    24. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by jd142 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Ah, but you wouldn't write "We are going to discuss Canada laws" you'd write "We are going to discuss Canadian laws". You'd append the -ian suffix to the adjective. Consider these two sentences:

      1) We are going to discuss Canada policies.
      2) We are going to discuss Canadian policy.

      The first would mean that we are going to discuss our policy about or towards Canada(maybe we want to punish them for letting people smoke pot or something). The second means we are going to discuss the policies promulgated by and within Canada (maybe we want to discuss ways they've implemented their foreign policy). Two different meanings, two different forms of the word to denote those two meanings. It is more precise and eliminates ambiguity and vagueness.

    25. Re:Limitations of USian capitalist model by aoliva · · Score: 1

      Heck, they don't mean CD as in Compact Disc, but rather as Crippled Disc. :-(

  12. Excellent news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Thank God someone had the initiative to actually do something about this! My only contribution has been to vote with my wallet, not purchasing any music that comes in a crippled format and encourage others to do the same. As much as I hate the "just sue them" philosophy, it seems to have worked in this case. Perhaps the time has come for us to vote with our lawyers rather than our wallets.

    1. Re:Excellent news! by keirre23hu · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I too am boycotting ALL major label releases, not just because of the crippled disks, but also because of the whole RIAA/Napster/Kazaa/Verizon/Grokster/etc issue... Just curious though, am I the only one who thinks it is sad that the only place where the labels are invincible in court is the US? I think it will be damn near impossible to beat then in court. The best thing that could happen is more people just quit buying from them. Eventually they will get the message. Its funny though, because the crippled CD's do not even prevent copying.. just makes them less useful.

    2. Re:Excellent news! by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Here here!

      I know Philadelphia has a fairly large number of unemployed Lawyers. Surely one of them would take up the charge. Hell, I'd set up a fundraiser to pay the court fees.

      Although, the folks to be doing the suing should really by Phillips (and ironically) Sony. They license the CD logo and the CD-Audio trademark. Producing materials that cripple the standard is grounds to have a license revoked.

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    3. Re:Excellent news! by civilizedINTENSITY · · Score: 1

      Vote with my wallet: Like, "When they only to feel in the pocket, will stop with these attitudes anticonsuming."

    4. Re:Excellent news! by Almost-Retired · · Score: 3, Interesting

      ISTR that Phillips put the industry on notice over 2 years ago, that the CD could not carry the 'logo' we've all come to ignore if it was copy protected.

      In case you haven't noticed, the CD or Conpact Disk Digital Audio logo has all but dissappeared from the display bins, even at CitGo/7-11.

      If it doesn't carry the logo, it gets dropped back in the bin like the trash it is.

      Re your sig, I started programming on a 1.79 mhz RCA 1802 cpu, where it took 8 of those 1.79 mhz cycles for one machine cycle. You had it good, or you had it bad, depending on ones point of view. That cpu was a most unusual one, having features that were well before its time that made programming rather productive if used. I generated a new academy countdown for tv commercials with some simple TTL circuitry and 6 bytes of dma per vertical scan. Your 8088 couldn't do that with 10k of code.

    5. Re:Excellent news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you read more you would know that the phrase is
      Hear, hear

    6. Re:Excellent news! by Martin+Blank · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The labels are not invincible in the US. They lost the first round of the Kazaa case in Los Angeles, when the judge decided that the legal uses of Kazaa outweighed the potential illegal uses.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    7. Re:Excellent news! by Quikah · · Score: 1

      None of the last 3 CDs I have bought in the last month have carried the logo. They are all REAL CDs too.

      --
      Q.
    8. Re:Excellent news! by Sanction · · Score: 1

      If only "voting with your wallet" actually had an effect. The problem is that the company has no idea why you didn't buy, so has no clue on what to do to get your patronage back. In this case, though, they'll just use it as an additional drop in sales to support their claims of widespread piracy. With these bozos, a boycott works against us.

      --
      Well I'm the doctor and I say you're dead, so shut up and take it like a man!
  13. Not only that ... by telstar · · Score: 0

    ...he's suing them because all the music was in another language!

  14. In related news.. by Kwil · · Score: 5, Funny

    ..President George Bush has recently announced that the CIA and FBI have received "reliable information" from Microsoft and the RIAA indicating that Saddam Hussein has relocated to Brazil, hotbed of godless Communism and Linux supporters, where he is currently setting up WMD factories with funding from Osama Bin Laden, who is expected to be arriving there shortly to personally oversee the distribution.

    The President has announced that he is specifically not taking the nuclear option off the table, though he declined to comment further on what exactly he meant by this.

    --

    That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze

    1. Re:In related news.. by Eythian · · Score: 1
      where he is currently setting up WMD factories with funding from Osama Bin Laden

      Typo? Don't you mean WMP factories? :)

  15. Worldwide fight ? by borgdows · · Score: 5, Informative

    EMI has just lost a trial about copy-protected CD's in France too (and the consumer association behind it is now suing Sony and BMG).

    you can read the complete article at : http://linuxfr.org/2003/06/26/13036.html/ (in french)

  16. GOATSE, (nt) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (nt)

  17. Under US Law by oaf357 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    These CDs are illegal... the RIAA hasn't gone as far as saying that but they've said that if you buy a CD and want to make a copy of it for use in your car that doing so is okay.

    I hope it does go to the supreme court so we can get rid of these CDs that infringe on my rights.

    1. Re:Under US Law by sofar · · Score: 1

      who gives a shit about US law? the US will continue to astound the world with these silly super-DMCA laws while the rest of the world gets at least a bit of value for their (insert local currency). We laugh, knowing that US law will never become world law.

    2. Re:Under US Law by oaf357 · · Score: 1

      Well. The DMCA hasn't been tested in the US Supreme Court either. Hopefully, someone will take it that far.

    3. Re:Under US Law by doktor-hladnjak · · Score: 1
      Maybe I'm missing something here, but how are these crippled CDs exactly illegal? Personally, I don't like the record companies doing this, but they have a right to sell their crippled products if they want to. What we should all really be pushing for first here, is to require some sort of labeling though. This alone will probably be enough to sink sales of those releases, which is why the record companies aren't willing to do it on their own.

      It's the whole customer deception thing that bothers me, but is that clearly illegal by US law?

    4. Re:Under US Law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      whats with the attitude, dipshit?

    5. Re:Under US Law by oaf357 · · Score: 1

      Fair Use is what makes it illegal.

    6. Re:Under US Law by staticdragon · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm not sure if the argument is the same in Brazil but here the reasoning is that all music CDs are labelled with that little "Compact Disc" symbol which means it complies with the red book standard for audio CDs. Copy protected CDs still have that label, but they don't completely conform to the standard.

    7. Re:Under US Law by zenyu · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We laugh, knowing that US law will never become world law.

      Ummm, yeah, only the 150 and growing signatories to the WTO will be subject to TRIPS, plus what 20 pending applicants. Hell the TRIPS treaty even mentions countries may be as liberal as the USA by 'allowing' american style "fair-use" exceptions to 'intelectual property' (The single quotes are mine, the double quotes theirs.)

      Unless you plan to live in Cuba you ignore your rulers in the American congress at your own peril.

    8. Re:Under US Law by Forkenhoppen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      How about "Enhanced CDs" that don't carry that label? Will they still play in my PC?

      I was looking at Weird Al's "Poodle Hat" in the store the other day, but was confused as to whether or not I could play it in my PC without some Windows-only copy protection thing kicking in, because there was no "CD" symbol on the case.

    9. Re:Under US Law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      New Metallica disc is the same - no CD logo. Haven't had a problem in any player though.

    10. Re:Under US Law by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      They're only illegal if the owners of that logo (Is it Philips? They seem to own the VCD and SVCD logos...) revoke their right to use it.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re:Under US Law by Nerull · · Score: 1

      I've heard of some 'Enhanced CDs' having copy protection, others do not. Some 'Enhanced CDs' are just normal music cds with a data track added (which normal cd players can't see), so that when used in a PC, something on the cd will autorun and have 'special offers' and the occasinal music video, etc.

    12. Re:Under US Law by Almost-Retired · · Score: 1

      I do for one, because I live here. And I can tell you right damned fast that if the congresscritters actually listened to something besides their wallet, that law would have been laughed out of existance before it ever got out of committee.

      When that thing was up for discussion I sent my critter my views on it, and its damaging effects on technology in general. He voted for it anyway, and he has not had my vote since.

      And you are right to see that law as the technology smothering law that it is.

    13. Re:Under US Law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I think the argument lies in that a "CD" should play in any "CD player". If it does not play in all "CD players" than it must be something other than a CD. But it was advertised as a CD. (Enhanced CD still denotes CD).


      Perhaps they should avertise them as NCD's. Not CD's.

    14. Re:Under US Law by kaltkalt · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes it is Philips, and Philips has already said they cannot use the logo on non-standard discs.

      --

      Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
    15. Re:Under US Law by bsharitt · · Score: 1

      I was able to easily rip the CD with my iMac without it locking up.

    16. Re:Under US Law by jrockway · · Score: 1

      Weird Al's "Running With Scissors" CD is the same; it has a "hidden" data track with an amuzing movie on it. It rips (er.. ripped) fine on my Linux'd iMac.

      --
      My other car is first.
    17. Re:Under US Law by edwdig · · Score: 1

      Most CDs dont' have the CD logo on the outer case. Especially the ones with fancier cover art. What's common is the logo will be on the plastic inside the case that holds the disc in.

      So the logo is pretty meaningless anyway, if you can't see it until you've opened the disc.

    18. Re:Under US Law by Alan+Cox · · Score: 1

      US fair use is actually more liberal than a lot of places btw

    19. Re:Under US Law by neves · · Score: 1

      This isn't true. Copy protected albums (they aren't CDs) here don't carry the CD Audio logo.

    20. Re:Under US Law by jred · · Score: 1

      I've noticed that more & more new "CD"s that come out *don't* have the symbol on the label. I recently purchased some crappola CD for my daughter, and none of the 3 that she picked out had them.

      I was concerned, since she listens to everything on her PC, but they played fine, and ripped fine. I don't know what that means, unless they're phasing out the CD logo for future plans.

      --

      jred
      I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage...
    21. Re:Under US Law by zenyu · · Score: 2, Informative

      US fair use is actually more liberal than a lot of places btw

      De-Jure yes. I wish Europe was as enlightened in this respect.

      De-Facto no. You have fair use, until you use it.

      One university I attended, New York University, is under a very strict settlement with the major book publishers because they were sued agreesively by them. After many of the professors named died of heart attacks, presumably from the stress, NYU settled out of court. They now have an office that licenses excerpts of texts for use in the classroom and prevents professors from using outside copying services. Some professors do use Kinkos for their own unpublished books, but this is seen as an act of civil disobedience. A friend of mine has worked in licensing at MTV(Viacom) and Rolling Stone and EVERYTHING goes there, the concept of free use is ignored in part because even a frivalous lawsuit is costly. Remember this is the country where the guy who designed someone's garden sued the makers of the Batman movies because they only got the owners permission to use the garden. The reason they blur people's T-Shirts on the "Reality TV" shows and all the furnature looks bland in the USA is not because they don't want to give anyone free advertising, but because they couldn't get the permissions. Even their Tech "News" segments on have to get the manufacturers permission.

      You're freedom of fair use ends when you are first sued, either because you have money or because you are a thorn in someone's side. If the company that owns over a third of the broadcasters in the USA can't can't practice fair use, the teacher in the classroom can't copy an essay, and campers need to license campfire songs there isn't much left to the doctrine of fair use.

  18. "Consumers" have no "rights" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Flamebait

    Your rights, such as they are, are outlined in the license agreement that you accept. If you do not accept the license agreement, you have no right to use the music. If you use it anyway, you are a felon. This crime is far worse than rape or murder, because it strikes at the heart of the system of natural incentives which drives our free economy. Any "rights" that the vendor chooses to grant you are gifts, pure and simple, and you certainly have not earned them. The vendor has sunk millions of dollars of capital into developing the product. They have every right to expect a return on this investment, and the fact they are generously allowing you to use the music at all is more than you probably deserve. Your role in this culture is to pay them for the work performed by their employees, who are damned lucky to have jobs (and almost certainly don't appreciate it). Pay up and shut up.

    These "rights" of the "consumer" are like the "rights" of women or animals; it's an absurdity on the face of it. Slashdot has no business wasting our time with this leftist garbage. It says up there "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." Is that what this is? Decidedly not. Competent "nerds" (technical people) are by definition conservative Libertarians, for two reasons: First, they are productive individuals and the principle of rational self-interest proves that they will not support the socialists. Second, they are by definition intelligent and logical people (they work with logic all day, do they not?) and therefore they cannot be fooled by liberal myths and nonsense like so-called "heliocentric" cosmology, "evolution", or the redistribution of wealth (organized coercive parasitism). A leftist nerd is a contradiction in terms, and therefore cannot exist.

    1. Re:"Consumers" have no "rights" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      now you see what happens when you masterbate too much

    2. Re:"Consumers" have no "rights" by Izago909 · · Score: 1

      Lesson #1. America isn't free economy and hasn't been for a long time. It is a capitalist economy which is simply a glorified pyramid scheme. Those at the top make sure they stay there. "Screw the people at the bottom because the society I take so much from doesn't owe me jack."
      At least in communism and socialism everyone is screwed equally and not given false hopes of a better life. Compassionate conservative must mean they wear a comforting face when they rape you for everything you are, and ever will be, worth.

    3. Re:"Consumers" have no "rights" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I'm terribly sorry old chap, but it is my opinion (and likely the opinion of a vast majority of the world) that murder and rape are "worse" crimes than following some license agreement that seems to exist only in myth. (Can't find a single one in any store bought CD's I own.) I am happy to learn about this. Slashdot did not waste my time. Seems an awful lot like you just want to supress this information. (Music exec are we?)


      Organized coercive parasitism? Hey now, big words there, pal! My question is this, when do I get my refund for all the $300 heating bills I got when Enron ripped off half the country? Who is a coercive parasite? You got it all backwards, you guys are the parasites, we are CONSUMERS. Right?


      I can't decide if parent is serious or trolling. If you are serious, I shudder at imagining the path in life that led you here.


      Vox


      BTW- C'mon, admit it. You logged in and modded yourself up.

    4. Re:"Consumers" have no "rights" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      At least in communism and socialism everyone is screwed equally and not given false hopes of a better life. Compassionate conservative must mean they wear a comforting face when they rape you for everything you are, and ever will be, worth.

      There is always someone that is taking advantage of the masses. Be it the CEOs of a capatalist system, the Hitlers of socialism, or the Stalins of communism. Government (and organized religion for that matter) exist for the sole purpose of maintaining the status quo, and more importantly imposing a false sense of hope. If you want a system where there is no oppression, suppport anarchy.
    5. Re:"Consumers" have no "rights" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, here he is again, that commie Hitler!
      Kewl to catch revisionism in action...

  19. Re:Tribalistas sample by kayen_telva · · Score: 1, Informative

    Im not touching that with a ten-foot pole !! Why the f@#!$ di you use tinyurl ??/ Heres the real link http://www.allbrazilianmusic.com/en/reviews/review s.asp?Status=MATERIA&Nu_Critica=855

  20. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But the music will be in Brazillian.

  21. I wonder.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Hmm... Wonder what I could do with 350,00 dollars? I'd probably try to purchase that extra zero.

    1. Re:I wonder.. by Arker · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Hmm... Wonder what I could do with 350,00 dollars? I'd probably try to purchase that extra zero.

      Pretty sure that in US terms it would be 350.00, but it's not a typo. Sound odd?

      In a lot of countries they reverse the roles of the comma and the period in numbers. Confused the hell out of me when I first saw it, but it's true. $350,000.00 is written $350.000,00 for instance. Disturbing, isn't it?

      --
      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
      Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
    2. Re:I wonder.. by saunder3 · · Score: 1

      Some languages, including French and apparently Portuguese, use a comma as the decimal place and a period to delimit sets of three digits to the left of the decimal.

    3. Re:I wonder.. by green1 · · Score: 1

      >In a lot of countries they reverse the roles of the comma and the period in numbers. Confused the hell out of me when I first saw it, but it's true. $350,000.00 is written $350.000,00 for instance. Disturbing, isn't it?

      from my experience that's not quite true... usually they use the , as the seperator between dollars and cents however they usually do not use the period elsewhere in the number, they will either write it straight out $350000,00 or use a space $350 000,00

    4. Re:I wonder.. by pVoid · · Score: 0
      Many metric systems use that notation. In fact, the US is the only place I've seen it ass-backwards.

      See? It's just perspective.

    5. Re:I wonder.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not in most countries of europe. We DO use the . to make longer numbers more legible. In fact I've never seen a space used in this way, there only seem to be two systems and they reverse the role of . and ,

    6. Re:I wonder.. by Habbie · · Score: 1

      And so does Dutch and several other European languages. It annoys the hell out of me (being Dutch myself), with people mixing and matching at will.

      You'd think the mathematics would one day realise that they're making a mess. How do you write non-integer coordinates in a competent system?

      (0.5, 0.8)

      How do you write them with a decimal comma?

      (0,5; 0,8)

      Give me a break!

    7. Re:I wonder.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      s/timber/timbre/

    8. Re:I wonder.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, you guess right.

      This, unless Im very wrong, is an European tradition, used by English and Germans.

      This is another dumb thing about which we could talk and set a common standard to make communication less prone to confusion.

      It also reminds me of that billion confusion -- in some places it means 10e6, in others 10e9...

    9. Re:I wonder.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      HAh ahahah...

      This is my sig version 4 now, thanks to corrections like yours...

      Woohooo for my attentiont to detail... I wonder if I could work for NASA.

      -pVoid

    10. Re:I wonder.. by myrdred · · Score: 1

      Hmm... Wonder what I could do with 350,00 dollars? I'd probably try to purchase that extra zero. Wait... so if you use up the 350,00 dollars to buy a zero, you won't have any of those left.. and uh you'd just have the zero you purchased with them. Smart.

    11. Re:I wonder.. by bigmouth_strikes · · Score: 1

      In a lot of countries they reverse the roles of the comma and the period in numbers. Confused the hell out of me when I first saw it, but it's true. $350,000.00 is written $350.000,00 for instance. Disturbing, isn't it?

      Let me tell you what is disturbing: that people in some countries can't read a number with more than 3 digits without asking to have them grouped by a , or a . .

      --
      Oh, I can't help quoting you because everything that you said rings true
  22. What is the Legal Framework of the Judgement ?? by leoaugust · · Score: 4, Interesting
    If confirmed, the sentence would generate jurisprudence for that if they oppose to the technology of "controlled copies"

    I would be interested in knowing as to what the logical reasoning and the legal framework of the case was.

    Was the winning based on something substantial, or could it be just overcome by the CD producer putting up a disclaimer sticker on the CD saying the "this might not work on certain devices." Basically the intention is to understand the depth of the victory.

    Could somebody help with some links or any more info??

    --
    To see a world in a grain of sand, and then to step back and see the beach where the sand lies ...
    1. Re:What is the Legal Framework of the Judgement ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I live in Brazil. The CDs DO have small print on the back saying that they may not work on some personal computers, Macs included. But nothing about cars, DVD players, Discmans and other stuff. However...

      Put the CD on a Mac (I'm running OS X) and 2 partitions are mounted: The first one with the 'player' used to play the disc on Wintel PCs, and the second one with the audio tracks. Drag them to the desktop and... voilá! Instant rip!

    2. Re:What is the Legal Framework of the Judgement ?? by Fuzzy · · Score: 0

      Mac OS X users, MOD THIS UP!

      Great news and great "INTEL" for the platform. May also provide some hints for the Open Source Mafia on a way around the DRM blocks.

      Fuzzy
      [Old but still interested]

    3. Re:What is the Legal Framework of the Judgement ?? by neves · · Score: 1

      They sell it with a sticker that says that the album can't be copied, not that it can't be played in some legally bought CD Player.

      The problem is that they are deceiving the costumers. They sell something that looks like a CD, feels like a CD, smells like a CD, but isn't one.

      EMI says that they change the album if it isn't working. But:
      1) Don't put int the label the phone to call if you have problems
      2) Ask you to post the album (and paying for it)
      3) You have to wait a couple of weeks to be able to hear your legally purchased album
      4)If you have problems sending the CD for them, them you are at your own.

  23. copy protection doesn't work by Pompatus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Copy protection is like the war on drugs. It doesn't work. It's been tried for at least 20 years and the problem has only gotten worse. Remeber code wheels? And then the classic "page 36, paragraph 3, line 7, word 2". It only serves to make life more difficult for the legitimate user.

    The real solution to stop piracy is to drop the prices on software, music, and movies to a reasonable amount. A friend of mine was offered a free copy of Windows XP and turned it down because he got such a large student discount (I think $20) that it didn't matter to him. Before anyone points out loss of profit from discounted prices, if more people acutally BUY these things at a discount instead of grabbing them off Kazza, these companies would make the same money that they do today.

    --

    ----
    Squirrel ... It's not just for breakfast anymore
    1. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Darthnice · · Score: 5, Funny

      Customer: I'd like to buy MegaSoft Doors 2K3
      Retailer: How does $200 sound?
      C: Way too high.
      R: Then $100?
      C: I'll pass.
      R: But that's a deal! The last guy who was in here paid $150!
      C: Would you take $20?
      R: If I say no are you going to download it from Kazza?
      C: Yep.
      R: Where is the pre-crimes enforcement division when you need them?

    2. Re:copy protection doesn't work by GammaTau · · Score: 1

      Copy protection is like the war on drugs. It doesn't work. It's been tried for at least 20 years and the problem has only gotten worse. Remeber code wheels? And then the classic "page 36, paragraph 3, line 7, word 2". It only serves to make life more difficult for the legitimate user.

      I believe that one of the major reasons in introducing new copy restriction technology is to get the legal system to protect that technology. The technology itself might not be so effective but if circumventing the restriction and the software and/or tools needed to circumvent the restriction are illegal, the otherwise ineffective restriction technology is actually much stronger.

    3. Re:copy protection doesn't work by sugus · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Before anyone points out loss of profit from discounted prices, if more people acutally BUY these things at a discount instead of grabbing them off Kazza, these companies would make the same money that they do today.

      That is ridiculous.

      Do you have any idea how much time and effort these multi-million dollar companies spend on pricing their products? You think they just randomly pluck a number from the air?

      They choose a price to maximise profits. They're not stupid...just immoral.

    4. Re:copy protection doesn't work by 403Forbidden · · Score: 1

      yeah but 67+% profit margins ARE stupid.

    5. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >just immoral

      huh? what does "morality" have to do with this? companies exist to make a profit. period. morals, good or bad have nothing whatever to do with it. period.

    6. Re:copy protection doesn't work by vicviper · · Score: 1
      Do you have any idea how much time and effort these multi-million dollar companies spend on pricing their products? You think they just randomly pluck a number from the air? They choose a price to maximise profits. They're not stupid...just immoral.

      I don't understand why it would be immoral. If it were medicine, I could see how one could consider such a practice immoral, but in this case it's just music.

    7. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Glendale2x · · Score: 1

      The real solution to stop piracy is to drop the prices on software, music, and movies to a reasonable amount.

      I disagree, to a point. I think the real solution is to stop trying to sell mindless drivel. Until then, they aren't getting my money.

      --
      this is my sig
    8. Re:copy protection doesn't work by vicviper · · Score: 1
      Copy protection is like the war on drugs. It doesn't work. It's been tried for at least 20 years and the problem has only gotten worse. Remeber code wheels? And then the classic "page 36, paragraph 3, line 7, word 2". It only serves to make life more difficult for the legitimate user.

      I don't aggree with this analogy because the 'war on drugs' has the effect of raising the price of drugs. The price of software is set, and it's the copy protection that is supposed to discourage/prevent the casual unauthorized usage. I don't think that a better copy protection scheme would necessarily raise the cost of the software it was 'protecting' (not taking into account that the software may cost somewhat more because of the costs to develop the protection scheme.) I also don't understand what has 'gotten worse', copy protection, or the circumvention thereof. If I follow your analogy, the war on drugs doesn't work, so drug use increases; copy protection doesn't work so circumvention has also increased?

      The real solution to stop piracy is to drop the prices on software, music, and movies to a reasonable amount. A friend of mine was offered a free copy of Windows XP and turned it down because he got such a large student discount (I think $20) that it didn't matter to him. Before anyone points out loss of profit from discounted prices, if more people acutally BUY these things at a discount instead of grabbing them off Kazza, these companies would make the same money that they do today.

      I don't see the lowering of software prices as the solution to all software piracy (aka copyright violations) because the incentive of cheaper yet profitable software does not rise above the zero-cost of a warez version. While there definately would be an increase in the number of the software bought, there will always be those that won't pay any price.

    9. Re:copy protection doesn't work by digidave · · Score: 1

      "Do you have any idea how much time and effort these multi-million dollar companies spend on pricing their products? You think they just randomly pluck a number from the air?"

      Then how come games, for instance, are almost all priced withing $10 of each other? Surely there are huge differences in cost of development. Software is priced at the absolute maximum the market can bare. If you can sell 1 million copies at $20/piece or 500,000 copies at $50/piece, then you price it at $50 because you'll make more even if you sell less.

      In short, they don't spend any money pricing their products, they just look at the product next to it on the shelf. Specialized apps are the exception, and you'll notice that they're priced WAY higher than anything else because they don't have as much competition.

      --
      The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
    10. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 1
      yeah but 67+% profit margins ARE stupid.
      Not to the record companies...^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h ^h

      No. Scratch that! Indeed, 67% is stupid. Anything below 3000% IS stupid!!!

    11. Re:copy protection doesn't work by 5prite · · Score: 2

      and then when you turn to page 36, ah ha... the page has a full page advertisment of the software only

      and then you think, where the .... is paragraph 3, line 7, word 2?

    12. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where is the pre-crimes enforcement division when you need them?

      Uh, somewhere here I think ;-)

    13. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Rares+Marian · · Score: 1

      1. The circumvention has increased.

      2. People x price tends to remain constant. The more people that pirate (by downloading) increases the people that pirate (by distributing). The pirate distributors become more visible (there's plenty of places that have no software whatsoever clouding the scene).

      3. Whining about money you could have made is well arrogant.

      --
      The message on the other side of this sig is false.
    14. Re:copy protection doesn't work by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "The real solution to stop piracy is to drop the prices on software, music, and movies to a reasonable amount."

      You'd think that the massive effort by consumers to develop channels to supply the demands that the RIAA refuses to fulfill would be responded with by lowering of prices and increases in value. I guess that when you're an oligopoly, you don't pay much attention to supply and demand.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    15. Re:copy protection doesn't work by sugus · · Score: 1

      Why is it that so many people fail to grasp even the most fundamental basics of supply and demand?

      In a competitive market, prices will always be pushed towards an equilibrium price.

      Think about it. If you charge too much, you won't sell enough copies to make up for the increased profit per item sold. On the otherhand, if you charge too little the extra copies you sell won't make up for the lower profit margin.

      It's all to do with price elasticity. How much does a change in price affect the change in demand? By how much will it decrease if i increase prices? By how much will it increase if I decrease prices?

      Obviously in this case, prices are very elastic because of people's expectations. Everyone "expects" to pay a certain price for their games.

      There is always an optimal price that maximises profits and any company that fails to realise this is in trouble. It might not make such a big difference for a small games developer, but large corporations would never ignore this.

    16. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "If it were medicine, I could see how one could consider such a practice immoral"

      I can't. Everyone is free to make medicine, start their own companies to make medicine etc. If I start a company myself, who's to tell me what I can charge to my own products? Just medicine, you say? What about food? I mean, you've clearly drawn the line at music (something which plays a far greater part in my life than medicine, given that I don't get ill other than little colds which I treat with vitamin C and water), but what else is it immoral to profit from?

    17. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Threni · · Score: 1

      So how do you explain the classical record label Naxos? All their disks are £5 in the UK. Does it cost the same to make a recording of one person playing the piano that it does to record a whole orchestra?

      "There is always an optimal price that maximises profits and any company that fails to realise this is in trouble."

      So £5 maximises profits? You don't think they`d do better at £8?

    18. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Do you have any idea how much time and effort these multi-million
      dollar companies spend on pricing their products? You think they just
      randomly pluck a number from the air? They choose a price to maximise
      profits. They're not stupid...just immoral.
      >
      >
      How much time and effort? Not very much that's for sure. Have you noticed that ever since DeCSS and P2P software came out there's been a rash of dvd's being priced at 5.99-8.99?

    19. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I disagree,

      I would happily pay say £5 for the 'real' CD if it played everywhere and allowed me to rip it so I could listen to it on my PC. I am not however paying £15 for a load of crap where I only like on tune or £3.99 for 3 tracks on a single.

      It amuses me that the record industry enforced the maximum of x tracks on a single so they could sell two versions of a single rather than one.

    20. Re:copy protection doesn't work by vicviper · · Score: 1
      I can't. Everyone is free to make medicine, start their own companies to make medicine etc.

      While everyone is free to make medicine, such a thing is unlikely; the skills, knowledge, materials, etc. needed to perform such a task would be beyond the ability of most people. If I start a company myself, who's to tell me what I can charge to my own products?

      For the most part, no one save yourself. While there are situations that the government or other authorities may set limits on what can something can be sold for, the retailer almost always sets their own price (market conditions aside.) However, the question here is one of morals: Should this product be sold at a price to maximize profits? I belive that when this question is asked of music and medicine that raising the price of medicine to maximize profits would be considered immoral because as the price goes up, so do the number of people who will not be able to obtain it. Music on the other hand is not needed by some to live.

      Just medicine, you say? What about food? I mean, you've clearly drawn the line at music (something which plays a far greater part in my life than medicine, given that I don't get ill other than little colds which I treat with vitamin C and water), but what else is it immoral to profit from?

      I did not drawn a line, I chose one example. In doing so, I did not said it was immoral to profit from selling medicne, but possibly immoral to maximize profits. A very simple test to determine if maximizing profits is possibly immoral is the question "Will raising the price cause people to die?"

    21. Re:copy protection doesn't work by sugus · · Score: 1

      So £5 maximises profits? You don't think they`d do better at £8?

      I have no idea what your point is.

      I admit I've never heard of this label, but if that's what they have chosen to charge then they must have some reason for doing so.

      What makes you think they'd do better at £8? Am I missing something? You make it sound like it should be obvious.

    22. Re:copy protection doesn't work by danoatvulaw · · Score: 1

      and then when you turn to page 36, ah ha... the page has a full page advertisment of the software only
      and then you think, where the .... is paragraph 3, line 7, word 2?


      funny, classic sierra gaming suddenly comes to mind....

    23. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Cryolithic · · Score: 1

      somebody reads gpf

    24. Re:copy protection doesn't work by JGski · · Score: 1
      Same argument actually: should lower prices vs. should stop selling drivel. The value of the product doesn't match the selling price of the product.

      increasing the value will result in price matching value, or

      decreasing the price will result in price matching value.

    25. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Threni · · Score: 1

      Naxos (Naxos.com) is a label which does classical music. It started of just doing well known pieces by the big composers, but now sells a lot of avant-garde and obscure piece too. It's an excellent way of discovering if you like a piece/style/composer.

      I'm suggesting that they could make more money by selling at a higher price, but want a name for good quality music at low prices, and so that its not worth the effort of ripping them off with copies. It's notable that many of the major labels now have budget ranges.

      Sorry if I was/am unclear. Its the Jagermeister.

    26. Re:copy protection doesn't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Immoral? You're not only an idiot but some kind of deluded idealogue. Hardly surprising to find you on slashdot!

  24. is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by isolenz · · Score: 3, Funny

    The way I look at this

    US$ 350.00 - A little bit of money, but waste of time
    US$ 350,000 - A lot of money, well worth the lawsuit
    US$ 35,000 - A fair bit, still worth the lawsuit

    BUT WHAT THE HELL IS US$ 350,00

    -isolenz

    1. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by kryptkpr · · Score: 4, Informative

      People in countries other then yours commonly use a , instead of a . to seperate their "dollars" from their "cents"... whenever you see something like $ 350,00 (particuarly when this figure is quoted in the foreign media) and it doesn't make any sense to you, simply replace the offending , with an .

      --
      DJ kRYPT's Free MP3s!
    2. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by servoled · · Score: 5, Informative

      Brazil uses the "," instead of "." to denote the decimal place, in fact a lot of countries do. Therefore, this would be $350.00 (three hundred fifty dollars and zero cents) american.

      --
      "I have a porkchop, you have a porkchop. I have a veal, you have a veal".
    3. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Note that in pretty much every country outside of the united states, a ',' is used in place of '.' in these numerical figures.

      in the US we say $350.00, pretty much everywhere else they say $350,00

    4. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that's brazilian notation. it means $350.00 in US terms. they use that notation in many countries in europe.

      learning a bit about other countries doesn't hurt anyone ;-)

    5. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by Wild+Wizard · · Score: 2, Informative

      6 Civil Special Court of the River determined that the companies change the copy and pay indemnity of R$ 1,000 to the consumer. EMI already appealed.

      hmm brazillian $1,000 dollars is what was awarded
      using this convertor i get
      345.639 USD

    6. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by Wild+Wizard · · Score: 1

      actually the correct symbol for the english readers is given in the babel translation but whoever did the /. brief stuffed up their currency conversion

      and as a given rule if you are going to state a figure in say USD than you should format the number as it would be normaly seen in the US, and that goes for any other country

      ps Australian and we use "." for cents and "," for readability of large values

    7. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and as a given rule if you are going to state a figure in say USD than you should format the number as it would be normaly seen in the US, and that goes for any other country

      I doubt that many Americans would format an amount in foreign currency by using a . to delimit thousands. In fact I doubt that you would, though I may be being unfair as I don't know you at all :)

      ps Australian and we use "." for cents and "," for readability of large values

      Pretty much any English speaking country does I would have thought. It's not specifically a currency thing as you seem to be implying.

    8. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by isolenz · · Score: 1

      Yes, this is what confused me, I am the original poster, and I have not been everywhere, but have been to New Zealand, Australia, throughout south east asia, carribean, through the states, and through all the UK, and live in canada. And I didn't quite understand the ',' notation, although I do now realize after various people posted that I have not yet been everywhere and that some places do write unfamiliar notation with currencies. Hrmmm, well, news to me.

      -isolenz

    9. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by GigsVT · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      If they're going to convert to US dollars, they should convert to US notation too.

      We put up enough with their unicode crap making our life more difficult (half the recent bugs I have found have been because of unicode support). They could at least have the decency to use proper formatting.

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    10. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by cleber · · Score: 1

      Brazil uses Real, not dollars.
      We don't have Brazilian Dollars, we have "Reais".

      So it was US dollars.

    11. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is dumb. Do they write or say "One thousand. two hundred", or "One thousand , two hundred"?

      As for the decimal point, do they call it a "decimal comma"??

    12. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We say 2 dollars, 25 cents. Do you say "2 dollars.25 cents"?

      Yes, we say "decimal comma". We just say "comma" most of the time, though.

      Now, come on, you have to admit "decimal point" sounds weird, no? :-)

    13. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      tar xvzf mpg123-0,59r,tar,gz
      tar (child): mpg123-0,59r,tar,gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory

    14. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why give the number of cents, anyway? Maybe this guy could have pushed a bit more and sued for $350.25 or something: that would *really* have given EMI/Sony something to think about.

      It seems to be an American thang. Here in Blighty we'd just write £350.

    15. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      Nah. Here in Blighty we'd write £212.19.

    16. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      Note that in pretty much every country outside of the united states, a ',' is used in place of '.' in these numerical figures.

      Yep, with the exception of Canada, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and much of Asia.

    17. Re:is US$ 350,00 a lot of money, or a little? by EnigmaticSource · · Score: 1

      >500.00 Means they can't send the corporate drone lawyers... It suddenly enters the relm of small claims, which is a greater inconvience for a large corporation than say settling on a 10,000.00 lawsuit.

      The time, effort, and general pain of small claims court actually makes a small number of $350.00 suits more damaging than one multi-million dollar suit.
      --
      Morning - no Coffee - Forgive Typos

      --
      The Geek in Black
      I know my BCD's (when I'm Sober)
  25. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by paganizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Maybe this is a joke, but...
    Wouldn't your posting this information on slashdot:
    "buy your CD's from Brazil in order to get media that isn't crippled" ... be considered, in all actuality, as a violation of the DMCA? you are informing people of a way to violate copyright protection schemes.
    Just a thought.

    FREENET=FREESPEECH

    --
    Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
  26. Oh RIGHT. by Faust7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The companies appealed, and said that they will take the case to the Supreme Court, because it is a 'question of principles'.

    It is difficult for me to read this sentence and not be a little angry at its blatant hypocrisy. "Principles" indeed:

    The vice-president of EMI, Bannitz Luiz, affirms that she is inevitable will happen problems in situations of implantation of new technologies. "the consumer complains, we changes the product. But it is lamentable that certain people use this as extortion form "

    Right, because not being able to listen to a CD in my car is an "inevitable problem." And suing them because I can't do this is "extortion." Exactly what principles do these companies subscribe to? (Don't answer.)

    The only principle involved here is an affirmation of one's rights as a consumer.

    1. Re:Oh RIGHT. by Crashmarik · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well you have to remember

      When the consumer sues its Extortion.

      When the RIAA sues its protecting your property rights

    2. Re:Oh RIGHT. by cabalamat2 · · Score: 1

      Right, because not being able to listen to a CD in my car is an "inevitable problem." And suing them because I can't do this is "extortion." Exactly what principles do these companies subscribe to? (Don't answer.)

      I hope the appeal court changes the $350 fine to $350,000.

    3. Re:Oh RIGHT. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      why stop at 350,000? the minimum payout should obviously be 350,000,000,000,000 (trillion for those of you who lack the gift). those riaa sure love the word trillion

    4. Re:Oh RIGHT. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The companies appealed

      They didn't appeal, they appealed against it!
      They certainly don't want to appeal it.

    5. Re:Oh RIGHT. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That works everywhere. Why are you surprised?

      When Al Qaeda blows up an office building, it's terrorism.

      When the US Gov't bombs TV stations and hotels, it's a legitimate act of warfare.

  27. They may have won the battle.... by Penguin2212 · · Score: 1

    They must be very afraid...

    This will be a small victory, but I don't know how much of a long term effect this will have. Certianly, this won't have much of an impact in the United States or elsewhere.

  28. I didn't buy it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I was in Brazil in March and I almost bought the Tribalistas CD when I saw the notice that it was copy protected.

    If I can't copy the songs to my MP3 player, I won't buy the damn thing. I imagine they've lost a lot of sales.

    By the way, all of Tribalista's songs are available in Kazaa, proving copy protection doesn't work. Talk about the medicine being worst than the disease.

  29. mod up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    mod up

  30. Re:Tribalistas sample by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who's the dipshit that rated this "informative"?

  31. Setting a precedence by OzTech · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I haven't read the story, but this bloke is on the right track. When we buy music CD's, we are in fact purchasing a license to listen to the audio content, along with a fee for the media the licensed content is supplied on. What we end up owning is the media, and a perpetual license to listen to the content. If the media becomes damaged, our license to listen to the content is still valid. Therefore, we should be able to duplicate the content ro protect our investment in the license fee we have paid to listen to it. In summary, we are paying to listen to the music, not the media it is supplied on. By not allowing us to protect our investment, we are in fact being ripped-off. I for one, wish that more people would realise this. If they did, then perhaps more people would start to take a stance to protect their rights, when they realise that we are in fact being ripped off. The real pirates are the companies who are forcing us to purchase multiple licenses to listen to music, for which we have already paid. We need to make the courts, and policitians aware of this double-dipping that is being snuck in under the guise of "protection from pirates" In my view "Media Pirates", are people who duplicate and sell for profit, not individuals who are simply trying to listen to something they have paid a license for.

    1. Re:Setting a precedence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please mod parent up - it's insightful.

      Many thanks.

      - Vaguely Anonymous

    2. Re:Setting a precedence by Qzukk · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What we end up owning is the media, and a perpetual license to listen to the content.

      That thought right there is what seems to scare the big guys the most. See, what they want is for you to own nothing after putting down your hard-earned cash.

      They don't want you to own the cd iteself, because then you could give it to someone else since it is your physical property. They most definitely don't want you to own a perpetual license to listen to the CD, because then they couldn't charge you for each time you hear the song.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    3. Re:Setting a precedence by Pendersempai · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure that when you buy a CD you're just buying a CD. There's really no license involved. Because of the copyright on the material, you cannot copy it. The record labels can. Therefore, they do the copying and sell them to you.

      The problem is that they sell this copy suggesting that it is an audio CD when it isn't. An audio CD should play in one's car CD player. It can't because it isn't an audio CD; hence, false advertising.

    4. Re:Setting a precedence by ChaosDiscord · · Score: 1
      When we buy music CD's, we are in fact purchasing a license to listen to the audio content, along with a fee for the media the licensed content is supplied on. What we end up owning is the media, and a perpetual license to listen to the content.

      Assuming you're in the United States or a country with similar laws, this amazingly wrong. (If you're not in the US, just ignore this, your milage may vary.)

      When you buy a music CD, you are purchasing that particular copy of the music. You can, in general, use that copy, that thing, just like any other thing you purchase, say, like your chair. You can loan it out, sell it, give it away, break it, use it as expected, use it in unexpected ways, and generally do what you wish.

      There are a few small restrictions on what you can do, those are laws (and copyright in particular). We'll ignore most of the laws (for example, it's illegal to kill someone with a CD or a chair), and focus on copyright, since it creates the restrictions on what you can do that most of us care about. Notably, copyright laws do not say "The holder of copyright has nearly infinite control over copies and you can do almost nothing with it unless granted." It doesn't even say "You get a perpetual license to enjoy the content yourself, but no other rights." No, copyright law doesn't have anything to say about most uses, including listening to your music CD. However, copyright law does say that you can't distribute copies of the work. There are some other fiddly restrictions, but that's the key one.

      Don't let the content industries control our language. You do not need any sort of license to use copyright restricted materials that you have purchased.

      (As a side note, this is why the music CD publisher doesn't need to provide you with any way to back up your investment. You purchased that one copy, and if it fries, well, too bad. Of course, if you can figure out how to make a back up, it's still cool, just like you can "back up" a chair (it's a bit harder, but possible.))

  32. Looks like by mikeophile · · Score: 2, Funny

    Brazil has really got EMI by the macarenas.

  33. Modded up Informative TWICE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    3y3 4m t3h b3$t tr011 3v3r!!!!!111 lolol stupid slashdot mods. just give up. the trolls win.

  34. Brzailians have their priorities right by thelandp · · Score: 5, Funny

    Consumers are copying music ... No es nada

    Music company puts in anti-piracy system ... Who cares

    You can't play music in you car while trying to seduce the seniorita ... LAWSUIT! Revolución!

    --

    -- the only thing we have to fear is really scary things
    1. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by UnuMondo · · Score: 1

      Um, you know Brazilians speak Portugese, not Spanish.

      --
      GPG Key ID: 8C444E97 Fingerprint: E7BA D851 9714 8D97 C4F9 1777 8168 6913 8C44 4E97
    2. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by cleber · · Score: 1

      Brazilians speaks PORTUGUESE, not SPANISH!!!
      Please, understand this!

      And our capital is "Brasilia", not "Argentina"!
      Thank you.

    3. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We dont speak Spanish in Brazil. Nor does France speak Spanish.

      But Argentinians speak Spanish (actually Castillan, IIRC), with a very beatiful accent.

      Try there.

    4. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by daniel23 · · Score: 1

      [] You do realize they don't speak Spanish in Brazil

      --
      605413? Yes, it's a prime.
    5. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by Wooky_linuxer · · Score: 1

      we DO NOT speak Spanish in Brazil, BTW.

      --
      Where is that guy who'd die defending what I had to say when I need him?
    6. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By the way you wrote "Brzailians" is obvious you could never tell who speaks what.

    7. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by bucky0 · · Score: 1

      Not to be pedantic, but brazillians don't speak spanish, they speak portugueese. :)

      --

      -Bucky
    8. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...um...senioritas? as in "women of a certain age" as the French say? older women in US?

    9. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by Imperator · · Score: 1

      That post was twice as funny because Brazilians speak Portugese.

      --

      Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.
    10. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Younger women.

      Señoritas, I believe, in Spanish... Senhoritas, in Portuguese. Same sound, different writing.

      Literally, it would mean "a little lady".

      In Brazil, a "senhorita" is an unmarried lady, usually young.

      The equivalent of German "Fräulein" and English "Miss".

    11. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought it was called `Portugese Spanish`, such is the similarity?

    12. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where's the ob. Simpson's quote?

    13. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't play music in you car while trying to seduce the seniorita

      Freudian slip!

    14. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by thelandp · · Score: 1

      Sorry about that, and thanks for the correction. Oh well, and I was so proud of getting the punctuation correct. D'Oh!

      --

      -- the only thing we have to fear is really scary things
    15. Re:Brzailians have their priorities right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would be funny if Brazilians spoke Spanish instead of Portuguese.

  35. Clear Labeling by jcsehak · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I said it before, and I'll say it again - there's nothing wrong with copy-protected CDs - as long as they're clearly labeled as such. Label them and let the consumers decide, I say. Cases like this should really fall under false-advertising precedents.

    --

    c-hack.com |
    1. Re:Clear Labeling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Surely there _is_ something wrong with copy-protected CDs if at the same time all blank media is "piracy-taxed"?

    2. Re:Clear Labeling by dk.r*nger · · Score: 1

      I said it before, and I'll say it again - there's nothing wrong with copy-protected CDs - as long as they're clearly labeled as such. Label them and let the consumers decide, I say. Cases like this should really fall under false-advertising precedents.

      Sure. But what about the ignorant "I like this music, so I'll buy the album anyway, because it works on my stereo" people? The same people who'll say "Oh, limitaions on free speech? I don't mind, I won't critisize the government anyway" ..

      Democracy needs enlightened people to speak up!

    3. Re:Clear Labeling by jcsehak · · Score: 1

      I think you underestimate the general public. I'm pretty sure that once they hear stories of how these new CP-CDs won't play in their car stereos (or computers or whatever), sales would plummet.

      Usually when I'm buying a CD, I can only afford one at a time, and it comes down to a decision between 2 or 3. Well if I know one is copy-protected, it makes the decision that much easier. Just like with those stickers that say "censored version."

      --

      c-hack.com |
    4. Re:Clear Labeling by jfbus · · Score: 1

      Well, it depends on the country.

      In some countries (like France), customers have a right to be able to make a backup of their data. Which means copy-protected disks are against the law...

  36. babelfish everywhere. by arcanumas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Babelfish translation too much in story is.
    Reading article i not can.
    Like Yoda speaking am.

    Help.

    --
    Slashdot Sig. version 0.1alpha. Use at your own risk.
  37. SCO!!! by RayOfLight · · Score: 1, Funny

    Obviously SCO has caused some inspiration! ;-)

    1. Re:SCO!!! by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 1

      You read the post about the Nose Pirates, didn't you?

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
  38. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by rocjoe71 · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Translation: Brazillian case law means little *TO ME*.

    --
    Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
  39. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the pun doesn't translate itself well. a pity, I was laughing to guffaws.

  40. Remember.... by Nemus · · Score: 1
    After a victory, it is considered proper form to refrain from gloating over your opponent.

    However, its perfectly acceptable to insult their lineage, mock the size of their respective genitalia, and generally make them feel inferior to you in every way, which, of course, they are =).

    I'd be surprised if something like this managed to happen in the US though. Theres to much lean and sway in the judicial system for megacorps. If it did happen however, I can only liken Sony and EMI to a three year old sent outside into the world's largest hailstorm/tornado that hit a razor blade factory. Megacorp-Puree' anyone?

    --
    Mod Points: Helping you keep your opinion to yourself.
  41. heh heh by August_zero · · Score: 1

    I love the smell of sarcasm in the morning, really I do.

    --
    On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
  42. Re:In related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    would "Playing disabled music disc" be any better?

  43. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by jonblaze · · Score: 5, Informative

    No.

    Sec 103 of the DMCA amends Title 17 of the U.S. Code to prohibit circumvention of a technological measure that effective controls access to a work.

    It then goes on to define the relevant terms thusly:

    "(A) to 'circumvent a technological measure' means to descramble a scrambled work, to decrypt an encrypted work, or otherwise to avoid bypass, remove, deactivate, or impair a technological measure, without the authority of the copyright owner; and

    (B) a technological measure 'effectively controls access to a work' if the measure, in the ordinary course of its operation, requires the application of information, or a process or a treatment, with the authority of the copyright owner, to gain access to the work."

  44. $350 by SHEENmaster · · Score: 1

    or 3.5E2 in /. terminology.

    --
    You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
  45. annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by Gunstick · · Score: 2, Interesting

    All CD's I want to buy I take them to the cashier. Then I check if they have the mention "CD Audio" and if not or if it says "wont play on PC" I leave them there with the comment that those don't work on my system and that I'll download them as MP3 from the Internet instead :-)
    Shop will have to put them back themselves. It's their fault if they sell faulty items.

    --
    Atari rules... ermm... ruled.
    1. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by wadetemp · · Score: 1

      All that does is makes all the people in line think you're an ass for knowing that discs exist that won't play in your computer, yet waiting until you get to the cashier to check. It doesn't make anyone eschew copy protection, or teach anyone to do the same thing... it makes them eschew you, and teaches them to write you down an ass. It makes some minimum wage cashier who has nothing to do with copy protection have to restock the disc which if, was not something you wanted to buy, should have been left in place.

      A less socially repugnant thing to do would be to not go to the store in the first place.

    2. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by Izago909 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I used to run a register and I *HATE* people like you. Like the cashier has a damn thing to do with it. You put them thru more work for something they have no control over. Think, brother, think. Is he or she going to say anything to the boss? I doubt it, they are just there trying to make a buck on minimum wage and couldn't care less. By the end of the day, what you did will just blend in with the rest of the fools. Maybe you should find a better way of protesting.

    3. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 0
      Well, fuck **YOU**. This means you have something extra to do for your minimum-wage buck, and if your boss ain't gonna happy about it, though fucking noogies, boy, 'caus if he wasn't trading in defective goods, it wouldn't happen.

      Now, if everyone would have a shit-fit at the cash whenever they find that their b0rken CDs are crippled and it really gives bad vibes through the stores, maybe the record stores would not sell b0rken crippled CDs.

      That oughta give a message to the record companies.

    4. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by mrscorpio · · Score: 1

      The cashier's boss doesn't care or have any pull either, unless it's a mom and pop non-chain store (doubt it). They sell what is trucked in from corporate hq.

      Try writing a letter instead of making some minimum wage person's life more difficult (I also used to be a cashier).

      Chris

    5. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by Almost-Retired · · Score: 1

      The fix for that is real simple. When the customer starts objecting, hand him/her over to the supervisor/store owner/whomever is in charge.

      As a min wage peon, I don't think your having to put up with me when I'm unhappy (and thats not at all pretty) is in your job description, and I'm all too happy to have the 'discussion' elevated to someone who should give a shit. Its the only way to send a message, and be heard far enough up the chain from the poor minwager at the counter that it won't be forgotten at quitting time. Hopefully...

      Pass it off to the boss, its his decision, not yours anyway. When he gets enough of it, he'll fix it.

      In the meantime, he is paying you the same amount per hour to restock the rejected items as he is when you are at the register, so I'm not sure I see the problem there. Treat it as a break from jerky customers like me.

      As far as the initial outburst that got managements attention, and its effect on you, be aware that I will often go back and apologize to you because I'm fully aware, and you should be too, that its often fake anger, designed to get the managements attention in the first place.

      Its unfortunate that one often has to resort to such actions to make a point, the point being that if he wants my money, he will give working product. He is an ass who passes that job off to you. Find another job if you can and let him know that you know what sort of people he seems to be.

    6. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many music stores have their buyer, at the store. While things like end displays and featured CDs/artists are sent down from HQ, much of the non-mainstream selection is due to this guy.

    7. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 1

      I don't think your current actions perform anything except give you some self satisfaction, and give the clerk a "some asshole came into line . . ." story and possibly pissing the clerk off to where they'd think about getting you arested (you did admit to a felony with the downloading).

      Instead of being annoying, why don't you do something more useful like printing a flyer talking about the problem, and what to look for, and recommending people not buying any albums that are marked like that? If you're serious about the problem, you could even research a few albums and list the ones you know to have copy protection on your sheet. If you go this route, you may want to check your rights on where public space ends and the store's private property begins. Sadly enough, your rights to protest even in this benign way are now in question. Oregon was trying to get protesters labelled as "economic terrorists."

    8. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by DanBrusca · · Score: 1

      I don't see it making the minimum wage person's life more difficult. It's not like it's causing them to work unpaid overtime, they're still doing the same hours in the day.

      If cashiers were having to deal with people dumping their CDs on the counter all day then I'm sure that would reach up the food chain. I think internal pressure from employees is more likely to achieve results than letters from the public.

    9. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It makes some minimum wage cashier who has nothing to do with copy protection have to restock the disc which if, was not something you wanted to buy, should have been left in place.

      It doesn't "make" them restock the sheleves. They're being paid to do it. If anything, increasing the workload adds to their job security.

    10. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by Gunstick · · Score: 1

      > I used to run a register and I *HATE* people like you.
      Well nice from you, but *I* am the customer and you want *MY* money. You should do everything to get it.
      You should be happy I don't take anymore the faluty items at home and return them the next day and ask for a refund. *THAT'S* more work.

      Shops should simply stop selling data disks in the CD-audio section. They should put them into the software section where they belong. Then I won't complain.

      Georges

      --
      Atari rules... ermm... ruled.
    11. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by Izago909 · · Score: 1

      All of these are dreams. First of all, I'd like you to find a low level job ANYWHERE that pays overtime. Not one of my jobs I had durring school would let us work overtime. Hell, I was fired from Warehouse music for accidentally getting 2 hours overtime. Besides, would you bitch to someone at the drivers license branch for your property taxes being too high? Why not, they are the same government?
      As for as cashiers reaching up the food chain, its obvious you have never worked entry level for a large company before. If I had ever done this I could expect anything from being ignored and shrugged off to told to quit my whining and get back to my register. I can't think of any retail job where employees pull more weight than a customer.
      These days computers do the ordering and people just take the boxes off the truck, and others stock them. I dare you to find a non-commission cashier who gives a damn if they lose a sale or not. It was my jobs as a cashier that made me decide that I will not work with the public for the rest of my life because there are just too many idiots out there. Everyone wonders why the young generations are so cynical. Look at the people they have to put up with. Sure you meet some really nice people, but one a$$hole will make a stronger memory than 5 kind people.
      If anyone wants to make a statement, do what normal humans do and ask for a manager. Until then, give me your money or quit wasting my time because you're holding up the line. As a cashier, I could't care less about how hard your life is.

    12. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by Izago909 · · Score: 1

      I have written letters to politicians and record execs, thank you. What have you done besides make the wrong statement to the wrong people? Did you ask for a manager? They might care you know. I gaurentee you that teenager dosen't give a damn about how hard your life is, because he or she has their own problems and you are just adding to their antisocial, cynical nature. I couldn't get a way with it, but I can't tell you how many times I wanted to scream "I don't give a f@©k" in the customers face. If anything, they will NOT tell their manager just to spite you and your kind. I know I did.

      If an idiot screams, and no one cares, does he make a sound?

    13. Re:annoy the shop, leave them at the counter by Izago909 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ahh, but youmiss my point. Cashiers must ring up sales and restock returned items. That's it, no more, no less. Unless they make commission (very doubtful) they don't care if you spend your money. They don't want your money, the store wants your money. They still get paid anyway.
      I'm glad some people on here got the point. If you want to make a statement, unless you want it falling on deaf ears, find a manager. I bet the cashier would be more than happy to get one for you.
      And if you want to know the honest truth, 9 times out of 10 they will probably side with you; but thae the downside to being powerless, disposable labor is they can't do a thing for you. The only thing that giving them a hard time will do, is make them stop listening.

  46. Barking Cats by The+Monster · · Score: 5, Insightful
    there's nothing wrong with copy-protected CDs - as long as they're clearly labeled as such.
    Except that they aren't even 'CDs' anymore if they're crippled this way. Phillips and Sony worked out the standards for compact disks, and (thank God) Phillips doesn't have a music-publishing business - they've warned the major labels not to call these things CDs or use the Compact Disc logo.

    A copy-protected 'CD' is a contradiction in terms.

    --

    [100% ISO 646 Compliant]
    SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.

    1. Re:Barking Cats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      um...that was the original poster's point, genius. that's why he also said:

      >Cases like this should really fall under false-advertising precedents.

    2. Re:Barking Cats by seth_k · · Score: 3, Insightful

      We know this, being up on such issues, but the average music buyer does not. Jane Q. Public expects that what she buys IS a CD and will work in any player/drive she owns. Instead she ends up with a shiny, high-tech coaster.

      Another related problem is that real CD's usually aren't labeled as such on the outside of the jewel box. You can't be sure it's the real deal until you've taken it home and opened the package. I've checked my own collection and none have a CD logo on the outside. It's invariably on the inside and/or on the disc itself.

    3. Re:Barking Cats by mousse-man · · Score: 1

      What would happen if Philipps started sueing all the companies that produce 'copy-protected' CDs (also called "Un-CDs" in German, see CD register from the publisher of the well-known c't magazine (in German)) for using the word 'CD' which is very, very probably copy-righted?

    4. Re:Barking Cats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Compact Disc-Digital Audio logo is a trademark. Only substantial creative works can be copyrighted, and four words that are mostly functional don't cut it.

    5. Re:Barking Cats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Philips, doesn't have a music-publishing business? I guess you don't listen to much classical. Philips has many great releases, under their name and the Decca label.

      Decca and Philips Classics

      Oh, and just one L in Philips.

  47. Tell the artist directly by darnok · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I went along to a show last week, where the artist was performing songs off his latest, copy-protected CD. After the show, there was a stall selling his CDs at the back, so went back to check it out.

    Sure enough, out he came to sign copies of his CD for those who were going to buy a copy. I worked my way to the front with a copy of his CD in hand, and handed it over. I pointed out the copy protection notice, then said "although I really liked your show and your new stuff, I'm not going to buy a copy of your CD since I can't play it on my PC or in my car".

    He looked a bit shocked, and asked what I was talking about. I said that the copy protection would prevent me from playing the CD on my PC or in my car, and that since that was where I listen to music 99% of the time, his CD wouldn't be much use to me. I handed him one of my business cards and told him to call me if he wanted to talk about it further - there was a bunch of people behind me waiting for their CDs to be signed...

    I got the impression that he either didn't know his CD was released copy protected, that he wasn't sure what copy protection actually meant for a CD, or that he was surprised that someone like me (a 40 year old, normal looking guy, not an obviously raving half-wit) would confront him with something like this after his show.

    I also got the impression that he was going to look into it further - he's a 40ish guy also, with a fairly niche appeal and presumably wife/kids/mortgage etc. like the rest of us. He probably didn't like hearing a fan tell him people couldn't play his music in the car or at their PC.

    I'll check out his CD in the stores again in another month or so to see if it's had the copy protection removed.

    1. Re:Tell the artist directly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      doubtful. Unless it's specifically spelled out in contract (and it wouldn't be),the distributor can distribute on any medium or format.

    2. Re:Tell the artist directly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Care to name who that artist was? This sounds entirely made up. I could be wrong, but I believe copy protection so far has been limited to mass-appeal artists who don't sell and sign themselves "at a stall after the show".

    3. Re:Tell the artist directly by darnok · · Score: 1

      I was in two minds about naming the artist, and decided not to. He seems like a decent sort of guy, and I think he was genuinely surprised that I wouldn't buy his CD because it was copy protected. In particular, I don't want to feel responsible for his Web site being trashed by irate script kiddies. He's Australian, and it's not Steve Irwin or The Wiggles ;->

      If he's signed to a major label (as distinct to just being distributed by a major label), maybe he's being used as some sort of test case by the label to gauge people's reaction to copy protected CDs. At the very most, he's not likely to sell more than a few 10s of thousands, so I could see that the label might not care if a few hundred or so people complain. The label might, however, be able to work out that e.g. 2% of people complain, decide whether that's acceptable or not, then plan the release of larger-selling artists based on that.

      Alternately, maybe they're trying out some new sort of copy protection, and want to see whether it can be cracked or not and how quickly copies appear on the P2P networks. Again, it'd be smarter for the label to try this with a smaller, more obscure artist than one of the label's headline acts.

    4. Re:Tell the artist directly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      OK, thanks :-)

      Is he on this list? Or that one?

      If not, and your point is to encourage people to tell the artist directly, this might help...

    5. Re:Tell the artist directly by darnok · · Score: 1

      No, and no.

      When I get my ^&*((ing server working again, and can do something more coherent than swear at stupid IDE discs and the idiot who designed them, I'll read through those sites properly and see where and how to add him in.

      (Armed with fresh cup of tea and screwdriver, he descends into the depths of his office to do battle yet again...)

  48. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    just most of the things that matter happen here then the rest of the world tries to be like us and at the same time hate us.

  49. pay my legal fees plus 10% by SHEENmaster · · Score: 1

    and I'll challenge the law for you.

    --
    You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
    1. Re:pay my legal fees plus 10% by oaf357 · · Score: 1

      LOL... Just sue for damages AND cost of litigation.

  50. Fine them all their money by cabalamat2 · · Score: 1

    What would be a reasonable fine for the music corporations to pay?

    Given that they recently forced a student to pay over his life savings, the vile evil filth should have the same done to them -- force them to turn over all their assets, including all their money, property and intellectiual property.

    1. Re:Fine them all their money by ncc74656 · · Score: 1
      What would be a reasonable fine for the music corporations to pay?
      $180 million would be a start...though given their ability to pay, maybe it could be adjusted upward by 3 or 4 orders of magnitude.
      --
      20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
    2. Re:Fine them all their money by Planesdragon · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Given that they recently forced a student to pay over his life savings

      Life savings? We're talking about a friggin' college student!

      Forgive me if I don't have sympathy for someone who lost the pennies they saved up from working for four years while living at home.

      Music corporations, which employ thousands of people and, at the least, entertain a significant portion of the populace, don't deserve to be destroyed. Litigated to be honest, yes. Destroyed? Hell no.

    3. Re:Fine them all their money by Centinel · · Score: 1
      Music corporations, which employ thousands of people and, at the least, entertain a significant portion of the populace, don't deserve to be destroyed. Litigated to be honest, yes. Destroyed? Hell no.

      I gives a damn if they go under. The whole mp3/p2p controversy wisened me up to the sleaze and cultural sewage the whole entertainment industry is.

      Fuck Hollyweird

  51. mod parent up by daniel23 · · Score: 1

    as it answers the question! informative

    --
    605413? Yes, it's a prime.
  52. If it doesn't work, can I sue? by garyebickford · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "The consumer is sueing them again, because all new EMI albums in Brazil are being released with copy protection and won't work in his car."

    I'm regularly plagued with software that has been written by Windows-centric morons that won't work on my machine. Can I sue them? Can I sue Microsoft for all those buggy FrontPage-generated web pages?

    More seriously, If I used NTFS using non-MS file servers, could I sue MS for tweaking their version of Kerberos so my file servers don't work with XP? (Caveat - my understanding of that situation is minimal, I may have stated it incorrectly. But the idea...)

    --
    It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
    1. Re:If it doesn't work, can I sue? by shepd · · Score: 1

      >Can I sue them?

      If they advertise on the software "Works on any Computer", or don't mention that it requires windows, yes.

      Does most windows software say that?

      I doubt it.

      You see, some of these CDs aren't properly labelled as NOT being fully compatible with CD playing equipment.

      --
      If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  53. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 2

    Isn't "brazillian" officially called Portuguese ?

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  54. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by elpapacito · · Score: 1

    Probably Brazilian readers find it meaningful

  55. We have a saying here in Brazil... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When were really pissed off about someone or some company...

    "Lets beat them with a dead cat until it meows".

    Damn! I just bought a Sony! Ive been had!

  56. Seriously, can the editors do their jobs please? by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Your Rights Online: EMI and Sony Lose Lawsuit Over Crippled Music Disks

    Music Disks?

    Ahem. Compact Discs, Hard Disk Drives. It's not that hard to get right.

    I'm sure someone will mod this down as flamebait but, seriously, would it kill the editors to do their jobs and actually edit the articles that get posted?

    --

    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
  57. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  58. Re:The irony of standardization.. by cabalamat2 · · Score: 1

    An irony of "standardization" is that that some of the pro-open standards crowd insists on using the comma-to-indicate-decimals notation that has is used essentially only in northern europe. it's time for that convention to die.

    Since when is Brazil in northern Europe?

  59. Re:The irony of standardization.. by veddermatic · · Score: 1

    The Irony of America is that they think that they way they do everything is the "right" way. Kinda like you bitching that some "idiots" measure stuff in Metric.

    The comma as seperator is far more prevalent than "just" in Northern Europe. I think it'd be safe to say a large portion the population of the world uses it.

    --
    Department of Homeland Security: Removing the rights real patriots fought and died for since 2001
  60. Re:In related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    no. the politically-correct term is "differently-abled" music disc.

  61. Did you ever notice... by earthforce_1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It seems to be the developing countries that "get it" and make legislative and legal decisions which are in the interests of the public at large, as opposed to multinational cartels. What we really need is for many such countries to pull together and speak with one voice when it comes to international trade. Our system will only be fixed when you get a lot of people really pissed off. If the RIAA runs around suing college kids for astronomical sums of money, and enough people get stuck with CDs that won't play, then it will raise the visibility level enough to get this on the front burner.

    I am strongly in favour of globalization, but it must be done with the interests of the public, instead of large vested interests. That means doing away with crap such as region coded DVDs and damaging tariffs. I should be able to travel whatever products I choose from anywhere I want, excepting only really offensive stuff like narcotics and weaponry.

    --
    My rights don't need management.
    1. Re:Did you ever notice... by vanyel · · Score: 3, Insightful


      I should be able to travel whatever products I choose from anywhere I want, excepting only really offensive stuff like narcotics and weaponry.


      Baptists: ...excepting only really offensive stuff like pornography, dance music and things about those perverts
      Nudists: ...excepting only really offensive stuff like clothes
      Muslims: ...excepting only really offensive stuff like Jewish things
      Jews: ...excepting only really offensive stuff like Islamic things
      Loggers: ...excepting only really offensive stuff like spikes
      Earth First: ...excepting only really offensive stuff like chainsaws

    2. Re:Did you ever notice... by Wooky_linuxer · · Score: 1

      You're nuts. Multinational cartels win pretty every lawsuit in Brazil also. That's just the first instance. But I quite agree with you.

      --
      Where is that guy who'd die defending what I had to say when I need him?
    3. Re:Did you ever notice... by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 1
      It seems to be the developing countries that "get it" and make legislative and legal decisions which are in the interests of the public at large, as opposed to multinational cartels.
      That's why they are still developping countries.
    4. Re:Did you ever notice... by Danj2k · · Score: 1
      That means doing away with crap such as region coded DVDs and damaging tariffs. I should be able to travel whatever products I choose from anywhere I want
      I don't think that DVD region coding is a particularly good example for the point you're trying to make. Anybody who cares about getting DVDs from another region can probably find out how to defeat it without too much trouble. Indeed, many DVD players sold in non-US countries are region-free anyway.

      A better example would probably be things like console games. I own a modded PS2, not because I want to be able to play copied games or download them off the net or whatever, but because I want to play imported games which will either never see a release here (e.g. .hack, Xenosaga) or won't be released for months/years after the US release (as happened with Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X). At least Nintendo is setting a better example in this respect - the GBA continues to have no region locking, and they approved the third-party "Freeloader" utility for the Gamecube, which allows play of import games. If they can do it, why won't Sony and Microsoft do it?

      What is the point of region locking anyway - if I buy an imported version of a game, they still get the money, right?

    5. Re:Did you ever notice... by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      What is the point of region locking anyway - if I buy an imported version of a game, they still get the money, right?

      Perhaps they can't get away with selling it for as much in another country, so you can buy it cheaper there. Or perhaps they want to postpone the release (and hence, ability to play the game) in your country for a while, so that demand is greater when they finally do release it.

      All in all, it's a fairly safe assumption that the point of region locking has to do with 'assholish greed'.

    6. Re:Did you ever notice... by mccalli · · Score: 1
      At least Nintendo is setting a better example in this respect

      Nintendo sets an appalling example with the Gamecube however. Heavily region-locked, and the majority of releases are never ported to other regions. Even their most popular stuff, such as Animal Crossing, often never gets a European or Australian release. And the lag is enormous - there was a huge gap between the release of Metroid Prime and Zelda in the US before their eventual appearance in Europe.

      Cheers,
      Ian

    7. Re:Did you ever notice... by Danj2k · · Score: 1

      Um, I don't know if you missed what I said after that sentence... as far as I know, because of the special media and format and stuff, software for the Gamecube has to be approved by Nintendo before it can be published, and they allowed Freeloader to come out, so that's what I was referring to when talking about the example they were setting.

    8. Re:Did you ever notice... by mccalli · · Score: 1
      ...as far as I know, because of the special media and format and stuff, software for the Gamecube has to be approved by Nintendo before it can be published, and they allowed Freeloader to come out...

      Freeloader is the exception that proves the rule. The reason Freeloader was so long coming out is because Nintendo explicitly -dis-approve of it, and refused permission for manufacture. Datel had to go elsewhere, hence the huge delay.

      I am told (by newsgroup posters, admittedly unverified by me) that the latest 1st party Gamecube titles are not bootable by the current Freeloader, so it looks as if Nintendo are trying to work around its existence.

      Cheers,
      Ian

    9. Re:Did you ever notice... by deblau · · Score: 1
      I am strongly in favour of globalization

      I'm in favor of globalization too. I earnestly look forward to the day when we in the US finally get what the rest of the developed globe overflows with today: common sense.

      France: love ya, baby. Way to stick up for what's right. Keep designing new maid outfits and I'll love ya forever.

      --
      This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
  62. Re:In related news by Izago909 · · Score: 1

    Does this mean it's OK to call differently abled people cripples again? They did such a good job of making PC the norm, and now risk riddicule again by taking offense to something that has nothing to do with them.
    It's very hard to take an eraser to the american lexicon, especially when you keep drawing attention to it.

  63. See how funny: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    O paciente passa bem após a cirurgia. (The patient is doing well after surgery.)

    Clicking last week on Googles automatic translation:

    The patient passes well after surgery.

    My condolences...

    1. Re:See how funny: by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      Actually, i'd read that as 'the patient passes well, after surgery.'

      So they had constipation?

  64. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If all Slashdot readers were like you, all we'd get in the message forums would be:

    "Hundreds of fileswappers being sued by the RIAA means nothing in Malaysia."

    "US-China space race? Duh, I'm not American or Chinese, so this is a useless article!"

    Please.

  65. Re:The irony of standardization.. by mumblestheclown · · Score: 2
    The Irony of America is that they think that they way they do everything is the "right" way. Kinda like you bitching that some "idiots" measure stuff in Metric.

    Except that I'm not an American. Still, your gratuitous anti-american comment fits in well in slashdot, the land of gratuitous slander.

    What percentage of the world do you think still uses the comma separator? I estimate that is less than 15%. Asia does not. North America does not. Much of europe does not. Even my german research colleagues don't use it in their academic work any more (though they are an international group and may be a bit of an exception).

  66. I second that by wadetemp · · Score: 1

    I'm sure someone will mod this down as flamebait but, seriously, would it kill the editors to do their jobs and actually edit the articles that get posted?

    The editors should left the ",00" off of "$350" also. I swear, half of the comments are about that. It's been educational and all, and that's how the poster posted it because he/she's probably from a country where that's the decimal separator, but the fact that the suit was an exact dollar amount is irrelevant to the story, and should have been left out. A more meaningful set of conversation threads probably would have resulted. /Watches self as he adds to the meaningless series of posts about this.

  67. Why is the euro going up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Europe is stagnating why is the euro going up?
    I dont understand, please explain it to me.

  68. Please explain it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am living in Europe (Frankfurt am Main) right now and I am paid in US Dollars, which is not good. I wish I was paid in Euros!

  69. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well most of the things do. Sorry if that's unsettling for you.

  70. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by daniel23 · · Score: 1

    It's called Portuguese in English speaking countries and the USA.

    --
    605413? Yes, it's a prime.
  71. -1 Redundant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For every single article appearing on /. that uses the very common European notation, there's always half a dozen idiots that think they're being funny about the comma thing.

    If I were to start posting:

    "Hey, we use commas to separate decimals in my country. So that kid was sued for 12 dollars by the RIAA! Har, har har!!!!"

    ...I'd me modded down as -1 JACKASS. And rightly so.

  72. Damaged by puntloos · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Actually there IS something wrong with this. Making a CD 'Copy Protected' this way is essentially the equivalent of digitally 'scratching' some or all areas of the CD -right- up to the point that another light scratch will make most CD players start to skip. Computers and computer-like devices will start to choke earlier (which is the point, I suppose) but 'real' audio players can't read the audio properly either and GUESS (often not exactly correctly) what the audio should be. This definately causes audible differences between the source recording and what will come out of your CD player. (high-frequency nuances will be the first to go since CD players do the audio equivalent of 'smoothing' or 'blurring') And, as said, CD's have always been advertised as being (somewhat) scratch resistant, the media that will last a lifetime! Won't you be surprised when you leave your CD out-of-the-box on the table once and pick it up carelessly. How Ironic that after a year the copy you nabbed off this week's napster clone and burned to CD could sound a lot better than an 'original'. Anyway, copy protection clearly violates a few Dutch laws that state (essentially) that buying something is entering into a contract with fair expectations. Non-technical minded people do not expect a CD to be mutilated and not damage resistant when they buy them. Since that is what record companies do not tell you. I hope that a lot of people will take legal action here.

  73. Why this is a dangerous precedent by kmweber · · Score: 0

    Unless a guarantee was made that these CDs would work in his car CD player (which there may have been, I don't know), this guy really has no room to complain. Companies don't have an obligation to make products that suit you perfectly, you know.

    --
    "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"
    1. Re:Why this is a dangerous precedent by ejaw5 · · Score: 2, Informative

      If the CD in question carried that "COMPACT disc DIGITAL AUDIO" logo, that is the assertionn that the CD will play in any CD player also bearing that same label. On the flip side, the CD player manual will state that it plays any CD with the endorsement.

      --

      $cat /dev/random > Sig
    2. Re:Why this is a dangerous precedent by NewtonsLaw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unless a guarantee was made that these CDs would work in his car CD player (which there may have been, I don't know), this guy really has no room to complain. Companies don't have an obligation to make products that suit you
      perfectly, you know


      I disagree.

      Consumers buying a disk that looks like a CD, smells like a CD and might reasonably be expected to perform like a CD, have the right to also expect that that disk will play in any machine that carries the official Compact Disc logo -- that's what standards are all about.

      The fact that the music industry has deviated from the standard, yet hardly go out of their way to explain that customers are no longer buying a Compact Disc, is deceptive business practice -- something most countries' consumer laws consider to be an illegal act.

      If it's good enough for a pack of cigarettes to carry a large, obvious warning, why can't music disks be tagged in the same way by law. The current fine print that says "Enhanced Audio Disk" or whatever just doesn't cut it.

  74. Re:Seriously, can the editors do their jobs please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    No Music Disks. ed got it right.
    The music pigopolists are now referring to 'Music Disk' so they don't get caught on a technicalilty about redbook CD standard compliance, and loosing their case before it starts - misrepresentation is bad when consumers complain.

    The courts should then say something about such protected music. Royalties are lowly taxed for works of art, that also infer certain rights to the owner. If protected, then the product becomes a 'product', and FULL taxation should apply - as its not a royalty thing anymore.

    Now the Misic Co's could withdraw all redbook CD sales from Brazil, but then the consumer could serve a letter of demand off the music company to supply, and after a couple months of waiting (inability to supply) make or purloin his own copies.

    You wonder why the Brazillian minister does not hint 'You treat us as a third world country flogging adulterated product, and you had better expect us ONLY to enforce action against like goods sold in YOUR country' - ie blind eye mode to crippled CD knockoffs.

    With good reason too. It will cost a shitload of foreign currency to supply every Brazillian with an old CD player, with a new 'Music' player for the next 40-50 years. National pride issues at stake too.

    In principle, 'not of merchantable quality' 'unfit for use' sping to mind under the British sales of Goods act. They guy should also ask for an 'injunction' restraining publication of 'noncompliant music disks.

  75. oh please by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Republicans on the other hand can probably come up with some idea why this is a good thing.

    If you seriously believe that the Democrats wouldn't do the same, you need to wake up and smell the fucking coffee.

    Stop the partisanship and recognize that both parties have serious issues.

    --
    Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    1. Re:oh please by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 0
      Republicans on the other hand can probably come up with some idea why this is a good thing.
      If you seriously believe that the Democrats wouldn't do the same, you need to wake up and smell the fucking coffee. The scariest thing is that the dems are MORE LIKELY to do that kind of thing than the reps.
    2. Re:oh please by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 1
      Perhaps, afterall, the DMCA was drafted and passed under a Democratic administration.

      --
      Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    3. Re:oh please by Tycho · · Score: 1

      You seem to have forgotten the Republican Congress.

      --
      Impersonating Tycho from Penny Arcade since before there was a PA.
    4. Re:oh please by Samrobb · · Score: 4, Insightful
      You seem to have forgotten the Republican Congress.

      With a Democratic president. Clinton could have vetoed the bill. If he had vetoed it, it would have been DOA - neither party had the strength needed to pass the bill over his veto. So, yeah - the Democratic president had a lot to do with the DMCA getting passed.

      <shrug> It probably wouldn't have made a real difference, anyways. The problem with the current state of politics in the US is that the vast majority of the population thinks that everything is divided on party lines, and that "Democrat" and "Republican" continue to mean something; when in fact, the majority of professional politicians in the US pay attention to monied interests (big business, big media, big unions) and no one else. When you have a Congress that's split 50/50 "Democratic"/Republican" but 80/20 "monied interests"/"we the people", something like the DMCA is going to manage get passed.

      --
      "Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgement." Job 32:9
    5. Re:oh please by cait56 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you get past posturing being above politics, you'll quickly realize that both parties do indeed have very serious flaws and limitations.

      But they are very different flaws.

      If you think Democrats are prone to immunize large corporations from truthful labeling in the marketplace then you haven't been paying attention.

      There used to be a wing of the Republican party that really believed in the strength of the market system. They've been gone since Reagan. So it's true that neither party has sufficient faith in a true free market, but the ways that they interfere with the market are very different.

    6. Re:oh please by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 1
      I refer you to what Samrobb said here

      --
      Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    7. Re:oh please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does this coffee ENHANCE the fucking? If so, where can I buy some?

    8. Re:oh please by majorflaw · · Score: 1

      Newsflash: The Clinton Justice Department went after our dear friends at M$ and won. When Clinton left office the only question was how many pieces M$ would have to be broken into. Since Bush took over, it seems that the Justice Department has had second thoughts about actually enforcing an important legal victory. I'd kind of like to know how much money M$' directors, shareholders, employees, etc. contributed to the Bush campaign. Naaah, I'm just beig paranoid.

  76. I think you've confused by Hamster+Lover · · Score: 1

    MORONIC with IRONIC.

  77. Re:"Funny" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    but you forgot ...

    5.) ???

    6.) Profit!!!

  78. Move along people. There's nothing to see here. by MTriper · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What most people don't realize is the different reality that Brazil represents. Down here you better take care and protect your own business and interests, there's a lack of the sense of community, people and government are not part of each other and even the people side is formed of independent slices who live very different lifes almost like in parallel universes. Wages have no relation what so ever to taxes or the general cost of living, gasoline for instance is something that Brazil produces 80%+ of it's internal demand, yet it the government charges it's own people about DOUBLE the price you would pay in the US. Add to that the fact that the minimum wage is the amount which the majority of Brazilians have to live off is equivalent to about 1/10th of the American $5 / hour. Regarding the music industry, in Brazil over 70% of all CDs sold are PIRATED COPIES mostly found at street vendors or even at some very well known shopping malls. The situation is so out of control that is becoming somewhat difficult to find a music retailer like was so common in the 80's - early 90's. You can buy ANY CD down here for R$5.00 or about $1.75 US Dollars, that includes Brazilian and international music discs and any software or movie you can think of. That's all available in every street corner of all the major cities. Imagine that, it beats all the golden arches and 7 elevens put together. Now if you take that into consideration you might start to appreciate why artist and music labels down here are even considering that route. I DON'T think copy protection is the answer and I am not preaching for it, I just want to make sure some of you out there hear the other side of the story and become aware of that fact that we are talking about a country were every citizen and company are left to fend for themselves. Brazilian laws should not affect American justice and if it ever does you will all be in deeeeeeeeep 5H1T Sorry for the rant and the bad grammar.

    1. Re:Move along people. There's nothing to see here. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Do you believe that the labels and artists are really so clueless that they want copy protection solely as piracy-deterrence?

      I'm not buying it. That's just the PR argument.

      It's especially true of the type of organized piracy in Brazil that copy protection will do nothing to hinder it. This has been going on for years in many countries, and I simply refuse to believe that the labels really think they can hinder anything other than casual copying.

      Remember, the labels are the same people who don't want to respect the first sale doctrine or fair use rights.

    2. Re:Move along people. There's nothing to see here. by jrockway · · Score: 1

      Can these copy-protected CDs be ripped to ISO format and then distributed and burned? If so, it's damn bad copy protection. (Yes, MP3s are slightly more convienient, but a 650M download costs me nothing and a $20 CD costs me $20. So the downloaded ISO wins).

      --
      My other car is first.
    3. Re:Move along people. There's nothing to see here. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That reminds me... Distribution of wealth and services is a good thing.

  79. Re:The irony of standardization.. by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 1
    The comma as seperator is far more prevalent than "just" in Northern Europe. I think it'd be safe to say a large portion the population of the world uses it.
    Right now, if I climb on the roof of the building next door, I can see the USA. But we (officially) have to put commas to separate the integer from the mantissa...
  80. corporations by zogger · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Corporations inside the united states are also supposed to serve the public interest. that USED to be important. One of the reasons we had a revolution was because the english corporations were gouging the people here, so we revolted. check the history of the english east indies company and the boston tea party. Corporations are supposed to be GRANTED a license to incorporate, it's not an automatic "right" they have to a collective of people to form an artificial person with any "rights". INDIVIDUALS, human beings have born-with rights, organizations of people organized for the purpose of conducting some business have duties and responsibilities and it's a granted license after application, and do NOT have born with rights because their corporation is a fiction, it's an artificial person, and a long time ago a few judges got bribed by them for them to say their corporation was "alive" and had "personhood".

    The deal is, it's too easy and hardly ever have corporations been dissolved, which is also the right of the government (meaning we the people) to do. IF we did that easier and according to law,when these artificial person corporations cease being of the public benefit because of excessive profiteering, we wouldn't be seeing all these abuses and gougings. We regulate commerce in this nation, so YES, we could easily decide if a company was violating the terms of the corporate charter by "making too much profit", ie, "gouging" the people and by so gouging would be in violation of being of benefit to society, and that definetly falls under morals and ethics. that's reason we have so many problems now, attitudes such as you espouse, where "profit" is the ONLY factor in an incorporation. It is ONE factor, but that's the one seized on, but it's not supposed to be the only factor.

    For an obvious example, Microsoft needs their corporate charter dissolved, IMO, blatant long running gouging and selling broken software and committing felonius acts. These large music and movie companies, again, chronic serial price gouging and actually engaging in fraud and deceit and bribery (payola). They should have been dissolved a long time ago and the boards of directors chucked in the pokye and disallowed from being in any other corporations, ever. And corporations donating money to political campaio\gns? That's pure bribery, anyone can see that, illegal as all get out. Buying votes, it should be illegal as hell and the ones who engage in it strung up as traitors, both the recipients and the givers. I'm completely serious,struing up, hung, treason charges, this "bribery as legal" is insane, it's nuts, it makes a mockery of the vote, and now we have a professiobnal class of politicians who's sole job is to garnner as much bribe money as possible, then to use slick PR advertising and controlling the government as a shared junta to make sure they stay in their positions to be bribed. We need to lose that stuff, like yesterday, and rein in these out of control INTERNATIONAL -not "US" but international- corporations who gouge the US citizen. Do that to a few hundred or so of the most abusive corporations and corporate/government crooks posing as "leaders", and the honest ones could make the money then, still be profitable, and consumers wouldn't be taken all the time, and the nation as a whole would be better off.

    The other way, the way it's run now, is some weird form of international corporate anarchy based on bribes and blackmail mostly, it doesn't exist inside our constitutional framework, much as some people think it says that. The US is not organized anarchy, it's a union of organized individuals and states, based around that union, organized for some modicum of common good and benefit, defense, and trade. But the trade is supposed to not only be profitable for the companies and indidividuals inside those companies, but ALSO good for the nation,it's SUPPOSED to be an equal deal there, ie, they are SUPPOSED to look out for the nation, not just their international "bottom line". That's not to say they can't make m

    1. Re:corporations by intermodal · · Score: 1

      well put, my good man! Welcome to the friends list.

      --
      In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
    2. Re:corporations by mblase · · Score: 1

      Corporations inside the united states are also supposed to serve the public interest.

      I'm sorry, you lost me from the first sentence. Where in your little pocket dimension did you get a wacko idea like that?

      Corporations are supposed to serve their own financial interest, period. That's capitalism at its most basic. The only difference between a corporation and any other business is that a corporation is a legal person as far as the courts are concerned, but nowhere in that definition is "supposed to serve the public interest" written down.

      Idealism is good, but get your dreams grounded in some kind of reality before you expect other people to ride along with you.

    3. Re:corporations by zogger · · Score: 1

      you are welcome. I replied to a reply elsewhere in this sub thread, you may find the reference url interesting. I think a lot of people have the mistaken notion that somehow corporations are an end all and be all of business, and that anything is OK as long as it's profitable. My take on that is, I'm a human being,not some sort of ferengi anything goes creature,and also I am citizen of my nation, I have born with rights AND duties, one of those duties is to make sure I don't shaft my neighbors with fraud disguised as "business". I can conduct business, but I shouldn't ...well, screw people over in the process and hide behind flocks of lawyers and a complicated set of daisy chained corporations, nor should I bribe politicians to make laws, and so on. Nowadays the bribe is carved in stone, it's not called a bribe, but it looks, acts, and functions as a bribe.

      I have respect for honest business people,who know of and value their part of being inside our society, our organization of individuals and states. I have nothing but contempt for "citizen of the world" non patriotic corporate profit thirsty and blood thirsty pirates,the addicts, the ones with no conscious, especially ones that masquerade as being "US" people. I frankly think those sorts of people are traitors and terrorists, and their artificial constructs ending in "Inc" should be considered as inimical foreign powers and treated as such. I think we should go back to the original constitutional ideals of having corporations harder to begin, and easier to end and dissolve, on a case by case basis, depending on their value and worth to society as a whole, not just their personal bottom line.

    4. Re:corporations by sugus · · Score: 1

      It's a sad world we live in.

    5. Re:corporations by CashCarSTAR · · Score: 1

      I appriciate the feeling, but I would go one step further.

      Why is it, that individuals are expected to keep to the highest level of moral being, yet when it comes to buisness, we can throw all that out the window, all in the name of profit?

      What is legal, and what is not aside, morality is a very important thing in a society. Extremely important. However, what are we teaching our youth? Forget video games, music, whatever media, we teachour gets to get whatever you can get while the getting is good. A majority ofthe social ills in our society can come directly down to that ethos! Why is it bad when it's for me, but ok when it's for you?

      Now, I'm not a communist, I believe in a free market. But I think people need to be held to good moral standard. A company that is gouging consumers, is strictly immoral, no matter what you want to say about it. A company that is above-board, creating a product people want, selling it at a reasonable price and making a reasonable profit, is acting in a very moral behaviour.

      Terrorists might be too strong, but they are a social virus. As parents, educators, leaders, we need to speak against this in the strongest terms we can think of. We need a real return to morality, not this Sunday-dress shit we see now.

    6. Re:corporations by zogger · · Score: 1

      yes, you have the gist of it exactly. We have mistakenly given "personhood" to these artifical corporations, so therefore they must be held to a sense of ethics and morality. it is not all dollars and cents when you get down to it, although the Ac I was replying 5to insisted that was corporations "only" motivating factor. I agree with that, it's reality now, I think it's extremely wrong, it promotes greed and avarice as a virtue when they are not, and needs to be radically changed back to being of the public intertest, which is part of normal morality and ethics. "Anything goes" as long as it's profitable is anathema to me. I use money, I don't love or worship money.

  81. Languages and dialects by yerricde · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Brazilian" is a language mutually intelligible with "Portuguese".

    To many linguists such as Dr. John McWhorter (author of The Power of Babel, ISBN: 0716744732), "a language" and "a dialect" are synonymous. Defining "language" as a set of mutually intelligible dialects fails because mutual intelligibility happens on a gradient. It's possible for A and B to be mutually intelligible, and so B and C, and so C and D, but not A and D. Chickasaw and Choctaw "languages" are mutually intelligible but called separate "languages" because they were spoken by nations with separate armies when they were first recognized by linguists of European descent. The reason English is a "language" and Ebonics is called a "dialect" is that Ebonics doesn't have a department of defense behind it.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  82. Carmack! by yerricde · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, but id Software might sue you for trademark infringement.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  83. The executive branch couldn't stop the DMCA by yerricde · · Score: 2, Informative

    Like other bipartisan bills, the DMCA and the Bono Act would have passed even if then President Clinton had vetoed it. Both bills passed each house by a voice vote, which takes 80.1 percent of each house. (The Constitution provides that 20 percent of either house can force a full vote in that house.) Overriding a veto takes only 66.7 percent of each house.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  84. VSA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Venal States of America

    1. Re:VSA by daniel23 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      > Venal States of America

      For example, though in the context I found the use of VSA it merely translated the acronym from Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika.

      --
      605413? Yes, it's a prime.
  85. Aham... Relevant part by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >> Translation: Brazillian case law means little *TO ME*.

    More or less :-) accurate translation:

    Noise: Consumer wins suit over "Tribalistas"

    Consumer from Rio_de_Janeiro state Paulo Henrique Andrade won, on a first trial, a suit against Marisa Montes agent company, EMI records and Sony manufacturing, for supposedly having damages from buying the "Tribalistas" CD.

    Andrade states that his disc, legally bought, didnt work in his cars CD player, also purchased in a legal way. An anti-piracy device would be the cause.

    The 6th Special Civil Tribunal (?) ruled that the companies replace the copy and pay an indemnization of R$ 1000 [about US$ 350, equivalent to 2 car CD players here] to the consumer. EMI has already appealed.

    If maintained, the sentence would provide legal basis for those who oppose the "controlled copying" technology, already incorporated by EMI in all of its releases, aimed at inhibiting illegal computer-made copies of its discs.

    EMIs vice-president, Luiz Bannitz, says problems are unavoidable in situations of new technologies deployment. "The consumer complains, we replace the product. But its regrettable that certain people use that as a way to extort", he complains.

    Marisa Monte, owner of the Phonomotor label [and singer in the Tribalistas trio], which released the CD, remains silent about the case.

    --

    The rest is news about other CD/albums releases, apparently unrelated to the suit.

  86. Where is the pre-crimes enforcement division by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's called an indictment for conspiracy. How about the clown who conspired to produce devices to watch DishTV for free? Going to jail for 5 years and $500/month fine for not selling a single infringing device, but could have in the future.

    1. Re: Where is the pre-crimes enforcement division by The+Analog+Kid · · Score: 2

      You can reprogram the cards and unplug the receiver from the phoneline, and then just reprogram it every month and then you get free Diret T.V. with all the porn channels you can imagine.

  87. Essentially != geographically by yerricde · · Score: 1

    Since when is Brazil in northern Europe?

    Brazil was settled by Portuguese people. The culture of Brazil derives heavily from the culture of Portugal. So Brazil is "essentially" northern European.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
    1. Re:Essentially != geographically by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Brazil was settled by Portuguese people. The culture of Brazil derives heavily from the culture of Portugal. So Brazil is "essentially" northern European.
      The last time that I looked at a map, Portugal wasn't in northern Europe, either.
    2. Re:Essentially != geographically by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you even know where Portugal is on the map? Dumbass.

    3. Re:Essentially != geographically by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OK, mod him down to -1.

    4. Re:Essentially != geographically by Space+cowboy · · Score: 1

      Brazil was settled by Portuguese people. The culture of Brazil derives heavily from the culture of Portugal. So Brazil is "essentially" northern European.

      A fine and particularly cogent argument, sir, with perhaps one small flaw...

      Portugal is one of the most Southern European countries, North is usually denoted towards the top of the map, not the bottom.

      --
      Physicists get Hadrons!
    5. Re:Essentially != geographically by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I made a mistake. So sue me.

      -1 redundant?

  88. An alternative to boycott... by fstat(pipe) · · Score: 1

    Maybe if the masses went out and bought a known protected CD when it came out then returned it immediately. This would not only send an anonymous message about your position on this practice, but it may give the record execs a false sense of the recording's popularity, at least for the short term.
    I did something similar when I purchased a Zombie album at Wal-Mart only to find it was the edited version when I unwrapped it. But I just couldn't bring myself to touch the Celine Dion CD when it was discovered to be protected. Can you play these things backwards?

    1. Re:An alternative to boycott... by Cid+Highwind · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Maybe if there were one store in this universe that would accept returned CDs, that would work. As it is, you get another copy of the same (crippled) album, or you get escorted out by mall security.

      --
      0 1 - just my two bits
  89. Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe the day will come when I will have a chance to buy a CD from the RIAA, at least when they start producing honest to god (and Philips) CDs.

  90. English translation by iksrazal_br · · Score: 1
    Rio consumer Paulo Henrique Andrade won, in the first round of court appearences, an action against the company that produced Marisa Monte [Ed. very popular Brazillian artist], EMI record company and the Sony factory, for supposedly having been wronged in the purchase of the CD "Tribalistas".

    Andrade confirmed that his disc, bought legally, didn't work when playing the cd in his car stereo, also aquired legitimently. The deposit of anti-piracy technology on the cd was the cause.

    The 6th civil court of Rio determined that companies involved replace the CD and pay R$1000 {Ed. ~U$314] EMI already appealed.

    If confirmed, the given sentance will generate momentum for those opposed to copy-control technology, already included by EMI in all of their releases, with the objective to prevent illegal copies of their discs by computers.

    The vice president of EMI, Luiz Bannitz, confirmed that problems are inevitable with any new technology. "The consumer complains, we change the product. But its regretful that certain users use that as a form of extortion against us."

    Marisa Monte, owner within Phonomotor, that launched the CD, has kept silent about the case.

    iksrazal

    1. Re:English translation by ColaMan · · Score: 1

      The consumer complains, we change the product. But its regretful that certain users use that as a form of extortion against us."

      Au contraire, Luiz Bannitz, it sounds more like you are changing the CD format to extort US.

      --

      You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
      There is a lot of hype here.
  91. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    oh my, there exist anyone more egocentric then an american ?

  92. Its not illegal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If they don't put the Compact Disc logo, I don't know if they did or not but they probably did.

  93. Re:Brzailians have their priorities..(corrected) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Consumers are copying music ... Bah..

    Music company puts in anti-piracy system ... O que ? Bah..

    You can't play music in you car while trying to seduce the tchutchukinha.... LAWSUIT! Revolução !

  94. Laissez faire? Not in USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
    First, good for the Brazilian courts. Common sense is nice to see.

    Several replies to this article have mentioned the US's laissez faire capitalist system. It isn't. Capitalist, yes; laissez faire, no.

    If the US system were laissez faire, then the government would keep its bought-and-paid-for hands off the economic system. We would have a Free Market system, which is at its core a laissez faire system. It means keep your hands off and let the marketplace decide what products and companies survive, and for how long. Capitalism is not synonymous with a free market, nor is a free market needed in a capitalist system. Actually, they are incompatible.

    Folks, the Republicans don't want a free market or anything resembling 'laissez faire' approaches to capitalism. They want what the Democrats want, a system that favors their big-money supporters. The only difference is who those supporters are.

    Please, when you bandy terms about, at least have some idea of how to use them in context, and how the real world works.

    Have a nice war,
    Mal the Elder

  95. 350 USD in Brazil would buy you... by dark-br · · Score: 1


    42 cds or 360 600ml bottles of beer. Thats 216 L of booze.

  96. Slashdot is Liberal!!!!!!! by DigiShaman · · Score: 0, Troll

    What the FUCKING HELL!! Perent get's modded 4 on insightful, and Ender Ryans post get's modded Flamebait. Gee, for a bunch of smart geeks, your liberals are sure fucking retarted.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  97. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by zakezuke · · Score: 1

    It's a crime to circumvent copy protection.
    It's not a crime to avoid it, well not yet anyway.

    --
    There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
  98. Maybe I'll sue as well!!! by ColaMan · · Score: 2, Funny

    I bought a CD and it didn't work in my car either.... SUE!! SUE!!! SUUUUUE!!!!!

    I just won't mention to the judge that I don't have a cd player in my car :-)

    --

    You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
    There is a lot of hype here.
  99. One question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where do we contribute to his legal fund?

  100. Re:The irony of standardization.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most people on the planet use a decimal comma.

    The USA however, which is an inconsequential little country on the edge of the world, close to falling off, insists on using a decimal point and even does measurements in the antiquated British Imperial system.

    Poor sods...

  101. tchutchukinha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hahaha! Ive lived to see this on /.

  102. Eh, Americans are way behind here... by missing_boy · · Score: 1

    with their fucking mph and gallons and ounces and all that shit. Get with the program and SI units: as a matter of fact, Clinton officially declared SI the units of choice in 1991.

    1. Re:Eh, Americans are way behind here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's wrong with good old miles: it's much easier to work out that 40 miles is going to take me about 40 mins at about 62.5mph than 65Km at 100Kph are going to take me 0.65 Hours which is....errm.

      When we get to use the metric calendar of the year of 10 months of 3 weeks of 10 days each, and each day of 10 hours, each hour of 100 minutes and each minute of 100 seconds (as invented during the French revolution, but only lasting 13-14 years before Napoleon reinstated the Gregorian calendar in France) as opposed to the non-metric year of 12 months of about 4 1/3 weeks, 7 days a week, and each day of 24 hours, each hour of 60 minutes and each minute of 60 seconds, I'll quite happily abandon the mile

      PS I'm no American.

    2. Re:Eh, Americans are way behind here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Clinton was president in 91?

      Asshole

    3. Re:Eh, Americans are way behind here... by missing_boy · · Score: 1

      Oh, maybe it wasn't Clinton in '91... Who was it then, or is the year wrong? They had this poster in the customs office at the border declaring SI units the official set of units in the US from whatever-year-it-was. Jerk.

    4. Re:Eh, Americans are way behind here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your a fucking idiot. We are IMPERIAL. We need to be different. If you want to sit there and be a fag, using your prissy (SI) metric measurements, fine. Do that. Don't be knocking on my miles, ounces and yards. It is faggots like you that give the rest of the metric world a bad name. GO BACK TO INDIA YOU BLOODY FAG!

  103. DRM data on non-DRM systems by moncyb · · Score: 1

    DRM uses encryption. The only way to read DRM content is to have the key, crack the key, or be running an "approved" system. Just using a Mac (or Linux) won't get around the encryption. It may work for "copy protection" (also known as deliberately defective disks), but not DRM.

    1. Re:DRM data on non-DRM systems by cyt0plas · · Score: 1

      1) Copy-protection can be accomplished through DRM. The two are not necessarily seperated.

      2) DRM can be accomplished through other means than crypto (although crypto is usually the most effective means). DRM could technically be done by making a 8 inch triangle-shaped CD. It wouldn't be encrypted, but you still would have no rights with it.

      3) If it _were_ protected by cryptography, it still wouldn't play in the car stereo anyway. Nor, for that matter, would it play in any other standard stereo. I suspect this would be even more grounds for a lawsuit, if it was being sold as an "CD".

      --
      Contact Me (got tired of viruses emailing me).
    2. Re:DRM data on non-DRM systems by moncyb · · Score: 2, Informative

      I don't think you know what DRM is. It is a form of copy protection which uses encryption and tracking data to make sure you can only copy or use the "product" as many times as the "creator" wants. Since when has DRM been used without encryption?

      How would your triangle shaped CD work? Even if they have a serial number on it, not everything is connected to the internet to check how many times it has been played. Is there an area which is writable? If so, the players are going to be damn expensive because they need to have a CD-RW burner capabilities as well, otherwise it wouldn't be able to track copies/plays.

      If it _were_ protected by cryptography, it still wouldn't play in the car stereo anyway.

      Obviously. DRM doesn't work with normal audio CD players. DRM is a completely different thing and requires special players.

      I think you are confusing DRM with various other forms of copy protection (like many on slashdot). DRM (in terms of music) is meant as a replacement to mp3s, except the DRM system will make sure you only have one copy at a time. The big labels supposedly want it so they can sell music on the internet and allow "consumers" to download the song, transfer it to a portable player's memory, and take it with them. All without being able to give multiple copies away, and the song may expire after a certain number of plays. No CDs involved.

      One of the problems is it will be bundled with secret programs. If you read some of the news stories and press releases about it, they plan to bundle in censorship software to delete "unauthorized copies." Who is to say they won't delete a smaller competitor's work? No one except the DRM maintainers will know why it disappeared. They'll also need to read people's files to do this. Who is to say they won't use the information they gather against competitors or to blackmail people?

    3. Re:DRM data on non-DRM systems by cyt0plas · · Score: 1

      "Effective" DRM so far has always used cryptography. Technically speaking, DRM does not have to use it at all. Rights refers to the abilities you have with said content. Management means taking them away from you. After all, you have them to begin with - the only thing they can do is take them back away. Connections to the internet/other network services are only needed to make it more effective. I have a number of pieces of old software which used bad sectors or other mechanisms to prevent copying. The application in question was not encrypted at all. The installer simply checked for the presense of certain markers on the disk, or the program itself did. Some even allowed a certain number of installs. As for my triangle shaped CDs. Why would they need to be writable? Suppose I had a patent on triangle-shaped CD readers (and CDs), and I only licensed it to devices incapable of making copies. Tracking is not necessary, and I am limiting the number of copies you can make. 0 is a perfectly acceptable number (at least to some copyright holders). As for limiting _how_ the content can be played back, that is also trivial. If I only license triangle CD player patents to devices which are designed to play in cars, I have limited the places where people can play their audio. Nowhere in the definition of DRM is encryption a requirement, nor is effectiveness. It's about "Digital", "Rights", and "Management"(read 'taking'), all of which my Triangle-shaped cds encompass. Technically speaking, copy-protected Audio CDs can still have DRM. They do _not_ have crypto (at least not yet in most retail ones), but they certainly try to manage your rights.

      --
      Contact Me (got tired of viruses emailing me).
  104. Re:there is precedence for international jurisdict by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only on Slashdot could this have been modded up. Ugh.

  105. The french lawsuit is two pronged by aepervius · · Score: 2, Interesting

    First for those which do not know, "que choisir" is a consummer protection association (a non governemental one), a bit like EFF. They argue that this belong to "hidden default" since the consummer aren't warned that those CD do not play everywhere like in car CD, and they were comercialised with the company [b]*KNOWING*[/b] that they would not work everwhere. Second they argue that there is already an anti piracy tax on DVD and CD and thus there is a contradiction between this [protection] and the antipiracy tax. And this contradict the right of consummer to make backup (this is apparently a right in France?). I hope they win, because this would mean one would have to disappear at least in france :).

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
    1. Re:The french lawsuit is two pronged by PhB95 · · Score: 1

      Yes, in France you can legally make copies of music, or movies, for your personal use. You can't redistribute of course, even for free, except to your near relatives.
      Given that right, a tax is perceived on blank CDs/DVDs by the SACEM (french artists association) to compensate the artists for the private copies of their works being made.
      Problem 1: The recording industry may not be required to let the users do ! Except that if they don't, why should the tax be paid ?
      Problem 2: If (when) EUCD gets translated in french law, defeating the protection will become illegal, so we could end up being forced to pay for a copy we are prevented to make.
      That's wy these lawsuits are important, in the end they may induce reflexions on changes in the implementation of EUCD in France.

      --
      One of those Europeans...
  106. commenting on was story by Trepidity · · Score: 2, Funny

    Writting up comment slashdot box into internet commentwise albeit did, however. To read is difficulty I fear.

  107. Labeling of goods by Epeeist · · Score: 1

    "I don't endorse it, but to be fair most laissez-faire economists still believe that market participants have to label goods and services accurately. "

    So why is the US resisting inclusion of information on GM contents in food on the labels of food?

    1. Re:Labeling of goods by Sanction · · Score: 2

      You silly! The US only supports competition when the US will be the winner, otherwise, tariff away!

      --
      Well I'm the doctor and I say you're dead, so shut up and take it like a man!
    2. Re:Labeling of goods by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And why should it be any different? To help other countries too hindered by Socialism? Of course with the new prescription drug legislation, you can almost call the U.S. a welfare state.

    3. Re:Labeling of goods by Sanction · · Score: 1

      But I thought, under capitalist dogma, competition was never to help someone, but always produced the most efficient outcome. Or is it that all those countries "hindered by Socialism" can compete more effectively than us in the marketplace?

      --
      Well I'm the doctor and I say you're dead, so shut up and take it like a man!
  108. Its Sad - but I don't buy CDs anymore... by pxpt · · Score: 1

    ...not since I got bitten by the White Lilies Island album by Natalie Imbruglia (UK). Luckily I managed to extricate myself from that situation and I have not bought any more CD's since then. To compensate I tend to listen to the radio, try out tracks from mp3.com, listen to the CDs I have already or make my own music. I used to buy lots of CDs but now zilch, zero, nil.

  109. Here's the corrected translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I had a small house of brokerage on Wall Street... many days no business come to my hut... my hut... but Jimmy has fear? A thousand times no. I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey strong bowels were girded with strength like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo... dung. ...Glorious sunset of my heart was fading. Soon the super karate monkey death car would park in my space. But Jimmy has fancy plans... and pants to match. The monkey clown horrible karate round and yummy like cute small baby chick would beat the donkey."

    -Jimmy James, Macho Business Donkey Wrestler

  110. Re:Seriously, can the editors do their jobs please by slux · · Score: 1

    Musicdisks are something that used to be very common in the demoscene. They were a self-made player and a collection of songs (mods) bundled on a diskette that would then be traded by mail (or at a demoparty) between the scene people.

    Now, even if no-one was selling the expensive CDs (or non-CDs like is mostly the case nowadays) at stores, there would still be music like this example shows...

  111. EMI & Sony countersue Brazil and win... by nzyank · · Score: 1

    It was announced today that EMI and Sony sued Brazil for keeping all of the hot topless babes down there and refusing to export them to LA.

    Said the EMI head, 'What do Brazil's beaches have over LA beaches? Keep US bitches on US beaches where they belong'.

    No word yet from the Brazilian Minister of Travel

    1. Re:EMI & Sony countersue Brazil and win... by galonga · · Score: 1

      BTW. There is no topless in Brazil. Girls have indeed tiny bikinis and they look terribly hot, but they cover their boobs. Sorry dude.

  112. Yeah, who was it? by nzyank · · Score: 1

    This sounds too much like urban legend. How about the name of the artist so that we can: 1. Check the CD out in the store to see if you're full of crap. 2. Back you (and thousand others) up with an email to his fan club (and hopefully to him) when we find out that you're not full of crap. I'd do it even if it was Fred Durst. Telling your story without a name is pretty pointless now isn't it?

  113. Clear Labeling -- not the only issue by fmaxwell · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I said it before, and I'll say it again - there's nothing wrong with copy-protected CDs - as long as they're clearly labeled as such.

    Though I see your point, I have several problems with your conclusion.

    Through copyright, record companies have government-granted monopolies. The reason for this is "to promote the progress of science and useful arts." If I cannot play the music, it is not useful. Record companies should have to choose between copyrighting music or releasing it in a copy-protected form. They should not be able to do both.

    It's not like truthful labelling of a dishwasher. If the energy usage of a dishwasher you were considering was too high, you could just buy a different one. But music is personal. It stirs the soul. If the song that was playing when you and your wife met is only on a copy-protected CD, what do you do? Pretend you were listening to a different song? If you want the latest Goo Goo Dolls CD and find that it's copy-protected by Warner Brothers, you cannot buy a version that is not from some other label. Truth in advertising is only truly useful when the consumer has a reasonable alternative.

    What if I buy a CD and the music falls into the public domain because the copyright expires (It's a theory because, by the time I die, copyright will probably be the life of the creator plus two millenia)? Does the copy protection magically disappear?

    Discrimination. The record companies are actively preventing certain consumers from playing the CDs. What they are saying is "we think people with PCs computers steal music, so we will keep this from playing on PCs." It is analogous to deciding that blacks are more likely to shoplift CDs and then engineering the CDs so that they didn't play in a boom box or car stereo (because of the popularity of those devices within the black community).

    Fair use. Why should a record company be able to employ a technology specifically to prevent fair use? What right do they have to prevent you, as a consumer, from compressing the music to MP3s, copying it to DAT, or making a copy on your hard drive?

    Backup. A CD, like any media, is not impervious to damage. For that reason, people might wish to create backups. I play backups of irreplaceable CDs from my collection. If I cannot back up a CD and it is damaged, how do I replace it? If a sizeable percentage of the price I paid for the CDs paid for a license for me to listen to the music, why should the record company be able to charge me that same license fee again if the CD I originally bought becomes damaged?

    I don't believe that this should be a simple truth-in-advertising case. Because of all of the above, it's far more complex than that.

    1. Re:Clear Labeling -- not the only issue by jcsehak · · Score: 1

      I like the way you think - I'm inclined to agree with you.

      --

      c-hack.com |
  114. Bad translation by John+Harrison · · Score: 1

    I read the artile in Portuguese originally, and skipped the Babelfish version. The quote you cited made me go and check out what Babelfish had done to the article. I read the "we changes the product" part as "we exchange the product". Basically he (he is a he) is saying that they have an exchange program in place if the CD doesn't work for you, and he thinks this should have prevented the lawsuit. I am not saying that I agree with him, but Babelfish makes him look worse than he is.

  115. I rest my case by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

    Subjet says it all

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  116. Isn't That Ironic - pirate CDs work, paid-for dont by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    .

    Isn't That Ironic - pirate CDs work, paid-for CDs don't. Some jagged little pill.

    .

  117. Re:The irony of standardization.. by passion · · Score: 1

    In English, and other European languages, the comma is used as a list separator:

    I like to eat apples, bananas, and grapes.

    Much like how I would say something like this:

    I have 120 thousand, 537 apples.

    It's natural to use the list separator to separate lists of numbers as well.

    I have 120,537 apples.

    Fine, metric is a superior measuring system. Even if I wanted to personally switch over and start using that right now - I'd still have to work in inches and pounds in order to communicate - because that's what everyone else in the US uses. It's like how Europeans need to lean Spanish, French, German, Italian, etc. in order to get around and communicate with others. It doesn't matter if your language is superior to the others.

    Even if the US fully adopted the metric system right now, we'd still need to know how to convert betwen the two - because of the large and important work that has been done with it. Much like how a dead language like Latin is taught to many students, so that they better understand European languages...

    --
    - passion
  118. your revisionism is repulsive by zogger · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You may try to fake out people with your historical revisionism, but your denial of the on going corporate holocaust is a fraud, as is your obvious lack of any historical knowledge. You may wish that "only" profits are involved, but our basic history as a nation proves otherwise, albeit nowadays it's ignored, and profits at any cost is your mantra. It's one of THE main reasons we had a revolt against england and royal/corporate "rule", ie, it was abusive, and it continues to be abusive to this day.

    Here is a simple page explaining some of this fraud

    http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/28/usa.html

    Here is a partial paste from that page:

    The United States of America was born of a revolt not just against British monarchs and the British parliament but against British corporations.

    We tend to think of corporations as fairly recent phenomena, the legacy of the Rockefellers and Carnegies. In fact, the corporate presence in prerevolutionary America was almost as conspicuous as it is today. There were far fewer corporations then, but they were enormously powerful: the Massachusetts Bay Company, the Hudson's Bay Company, the British East India Company. Colonials feared these chartered entities. They recognized the way British kings and their cronies used them as robotic arms to control the affairs of the colonies, to pinch staples from remote breadbaskets and bring them home to the motherland.

    The colonials resisted. When the British East India Company imposed duties on its incoming tea (telling the locals they could buy the tea or lump it, because the company had a virtual monopoly on tea distribution in the colonies), radical patriots demonstrated. Colonial merchants agreed not to sell East India Company tea. Many East India Company ships were turned back at port. And, on one fateful day in Boston, 342 chests of tea ended up in the salt chuck.

    The Boston Tea Party was one of young America's finest hours. It sparked enormous revolutionary excitement. The people were beginning to understand their own strength, and to see their own self-determination not just as possible but inevitable.

    The Declaration of Independence, in 1776, freed Americans not only from Britain but also from the tyranny of British corporations, and for a hundred years after the document's signing, Americans remained deeply suspicious of corporate power. They were careful about the way they granted corporate charters, and about the powers granted therein.

    Early American charters were created literally by the people, for the people as a legal convenience. Corporations were "artificial, invisible, intangible," mere financial tools. They were chartered by individual states, not the federal government, which meant they could be kept under close local scrutiny. They were automatically dissolved if they engaged in activities that violated their charter. Limits were placed on how big and powerful companies could become. Even railroad magnate J. P. Morgan, the consummate capitalist, understood that corporations must never become so big that they "inhibit freedom to the point where efficiency [is] endangered."

    The two hundred or so corporations operating in the US by the year 1800 were each kept on fairly short leashes. They weren't allowed to participate in the political process. They couldn't buy stock in other corporations. And if one of them acted improperly, the consequences were severe. In 1832, President Andrew Jackson vetoed a motion to extend the charter of the corrupt and tyrannical Second Bank of the United States, and was widely applauded for doing so. That same year the state of Pennsylvania revoked the charters of ten banks for operating contrary to the public interest. Even the enormous industry trusts, formed to protect member corporations from external competitors and provide barriers to entry, eventually proved no match for the state. By the mid-1800s, antitrust legislation was widely in place.

    In the early history of America, the corporation played an important but s

    1. Re:your revisionism is repulsive by ralphclark · · Score: 1

      Well, when you put it like that, it makes a lot more sense. But I don't know where you got the idea you were pushing earlier, that today's untrammeled multinationals are somehow like foreign powers working against US interests.

      This is actually a global problem; people in Europe are just as much under the corporate thumb as you are, and just as uncomfortable with it (see the current hoo-ha about the proposed EU software patent law for example). And moreover, these corporations do seem to be mostly US led, so I don't see how you can conflate this with some sort of foreign threat.

      I suppose you must have been hoping you could leverage some kind of patriotic response amongst your own countrymen. But, if you try to sell it like that then I suspect all you will achieve is to alienate your natural allies - the anti-globalisation movements in other parts of the world. And I really do think it is going to take all of us together to see off these usurpers of the people's power. Enough of this jingoistic nonsense. Your enemy's enemy is your friend.

    2. Re:your revisionism is repulsive by BandwidthHog · · Score: 1
      But I don't know where you got the idea you were pushing earlier, that today's untrammeled multinationals are somehow like foreign powers working against US interests.

      I assume that he meant it in the context of corporations being not agents of some foreign nation, but effectiveley nations unto themselves, regardless of where they're headquarters are located or where they're chartered.
      --

      Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
    3. Re:your revisionism is repulsive by mblase · · Score: 1

      You may try to fake out people with your historical revisionism, but your denial of the on going corporate holocaust is a fraud, as is your obvious lack of any historical knowledge. You may wish that "only" profits are involved, but our basic history as a nation proves otherwise, albeit nowadays it's ignored, and profits at any cost is your mantra.

      Oh, please. I'm revising history? Money is what makes countries go 'round just as much as companies. The search for gold and other profitable imports is what spurred exploration throughout the middle of the last millennium, drove Europe's global empire-building, and led to the arrival of Europeans in the Western Hemisphere in the first place. Excessive taxation is what drove the American colonials to rebel against England as much as anything else.

      If early corporations were kept in check by the American government, it's only because the government didn't need their money yet. Politics changed over the years, and the roles previously occupied by government itself was taken over and improved upon by private companies.

      Your grasp of thirty-dollar-words notwithstanding, I find your argument wholly lacking. Heck, the entire argument for democratic government in the first place is because it uses individual greed and self-interest (namely, the desire to get re-elected by one's constituents) to create laws the public interest. Neither government nor business was ever, is ever, or will be ever assumed to act in "the public interest". Claiming they should is idealism at its most naive.

    4. Re:your revisionism is repulsive by zogger · · Score: 1

      I find our history as a whole to be idealistic. People came here for a variety of reasons, "making money" was just part of it. Freedom of religion and worship, and freedom FROM royals were two primary interests.

      Some people see things all in terms of money, others do not. I am one of the ones who do not, and there are many many more with similar feelings and notions. And there's a difference between honest business and working and making some money and a profit, and outright greed. It IS possible to have the former without resorting to the latter. To my thinking, it's a pity more people and businesses don't realise that.

  119. Folha, "brazilian biggest newspaper"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Folha de São Paulo (babelfish translation here), brazilian biggest newspaper.

    Just for the record... Folha is neither the biggest nor the best Brazilian newspaper. Check the "Estado de São Paulo", for example.

  120. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only thing good that comes from the Portuguese colony Brazil is internet porn of women sucking off horses. The Brazite economy is even still suffering from not having slave labour to depend on, and it's doubtful that any Brazite music is worth listening too.

  121. North Europe: Lat45Degr. N. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    North Europe Long>45Degr N
    South Europe Lat 45Degr N

    Countries like Norway, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, etc belong to North Europe, while Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, etc belong to Southern Europe

  122. No Logo by neves · · Score: 1

    In the news in Agenda do Samba & Choro we publish the internal memo of EMI asking Sony not to make the disks with the CD Audio logo. We also publish a snapshot of the EMI music web page where they call the album a CD. How about this for deceiving the consumers?

    1. Re:No Logo by Almost-Retired · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, in their shoes, when they see the sales backlash from not having the label dislayed, they are going to put it back on & let Phillips sue. Thats of course if they have any customer reports to point them in that direction, otherwise they'll continue to blame the plummeting sales on piracy and press for even more draconian laws.

      They are totally failing to understand 2 things. First being that the public is damned tired of hearing a song on the radio, liking it well enough to go buy the album with its other 17 tracks of pure trash filler on it, and then finding the cut they bought it for and finding that cut is a totally different mix of what is probably a different recording session and it too sucks.

      Second, while I appreciate that we need new blood behind the mikes to keep things going, the overall emphasis is so lopsided against the more seasoned, and therefore probably more expen$ive artists that the old standards who still can draw a sellout crowd anytime they step up to the mike, cannot buy airtime or an album contract for any kind of money.

      Those two effects have caused a serious reduction in the overall quality, both sonicly and artisticly, of whats in the bin at dear old wallyworld, so noticeable that the last few cd's I've bought, were ordered on the network, from artists who wouldn't touch the RIAA with a rifle bullet. And they're making a bit of money doing it. Go check out Janis Ian's site. Its a good example, and right decent music even to this old farts CW trained ears.

      Of course if they get sued, the only defense they could possibly offer is insanity. There seems to be more than enough of that to go around these days.

      I'm repeating myself of course, but whatever happened to good old honesty? It seems to be about as extinct as the dodo bird today.

      --
      Cheers, Gene

    2. Re:No Logo by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 1
      I'm repeating myself of course, but whatever happened to good old honesty? It seems to be about as extinct as the dodo bird today.

      Just remember, lack of honesty is but one side product of our bandwidth deprived media system. When I say bandwidth deprived, I don't mean they don't have a large swath of frequencies on which to carry a signal.

      I mean that they deliberately force all signals to be condensed to 30 second soundbytes, interspliced between commercials. With the level of "compression" required to make a message fit under those constraints you couldn't be honest if you tried.

      Hey just try explaining ANYTHING in a 30 second soundbyte.

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    3. Re:No Logo by Almost-Retired · · Score: 1

      Touche'

      I think you are probably at least 150% correct. As a broadcast engineer, I know full well the battle for the eyeball is made or broken in 30 seconds any time of the day or night, and has been that way since they invented the first remote control that actually worked.

      But don't blame it all on the media, and bandwidth starvation. There is as much of a bandwidth limit on the receiving end (the human receiver that is) as there is on the sending end.

      The humans ability to absorb info varies some from individual to individual of course, but being on the upper side of the curve, I've found that my bull shit detector seems to work quite well at least 95% of the time. Even so, I do business with some of those types simply because I can let them run down, and then rebutt their blather in such positive terms they haven't any defense. At that point, their bluff has been called, and we can deal. And strange as it may seem, some of those have turned out to be pretty darned good friends over the years.

      Maybe they aren't used to having somebody say yes, stick out a hand to shake on it, and once its shook on it WILL be done. But thats how I work 90% of the time. The other 10% I get it in writing. Safer that way when they cannot deny it :-)

      --
      Cheers, Gene

  123. Re:The irony of standardization.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think you need to learn how to use ironic....
    http://slashdot.org/articles/03/06/28/ 2038247.shtm l?tid=133&tid=186

  124. In related news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a troll was modded down as Flamebait.

  125. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey retard, we're Americans.

  126. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by macdaddy357 · · Score: 1

    A victory anywhere is good news. A judge in Brazil understood that what the labels are doing is wrong, and wrong is still wrong everywhere. Chances are good that courts all around the world will rule the same. The price fixing lawsuit, and a judge's refusal to shut down Morpheus and Grokster suggests that U.S. courts will agree with the Brazilian judge when the ruling comes down in Dickey V. Universal Music Group et. al". The recording industry are a bunch of racketeers who don't deserve our patronage. Don't Buy CDs.

    --
    How ya like dat?
  127. A quick summary of this story. by clarkie.mg · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As the texts are in french, here are the interesting points about this story :

    1. There are not one but MULTIPLE lawsuits on that matter in France. The lawsuit ruled this june was brought by the "Consommation Logement et Cadre de Vie" (CCLV) association against EMI. There are pending lawsuits against sony and BMG. Then there is another french consumers association ("UFC Que Choisir") who sued EMI France, Warner France, Universal Pictures Video, Fnac and Auchan (the two latter are distributors).

    2. The court just tested CDs of ONE artist and constated they could not be READ by some devices although the system was stated to prevent COPY.

    3. The ruling stated that EMI had one month to put a label on that CD stating : "Warning, this CD cannot be read on every reader or autoradio".

    4. EMI appealed.

    5. the judgement is on this site.

    6. Another article about the situation in Belgium where I read that an asshole from IFPI says "there is only 4 to 8 complains for 10 thousand CD" so it is not a problem. Lawsuit coming ...

    --
    Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education. Bertrand Russel
    1. Re:A quick summary of this story. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So the French are finally doing something useful? I'm surprised they didn't surrender when EMI tried to fight back!

  128. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by shepd · · Score: 1

    >Hey retard, we're Americans.

    Interesting.

    When did Canada, Mexico, Peru etc. implement a DMCA then?

    They haven't, so you can't possibly say all Americans would want to buy from Brazil. You can't even say a majority of Americans would want to buy from Brazil.

    Go look at a map. Notice there's a North, Central, and South America. You did take grade 4 geography, right?

    --
    If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  129. OMG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wont be acid with you because its Sunday.

    But...

    We say "I have 120 thousand _and_ 537 apples".

    Lists are separated by commas because you _want_ to say you have different things on both sides.

    Saying 120,537 apples, although common practice in the USA, is not coherent at all with the arguments you presented. Duh!

    Also, saying that you have to use inches because everyone else uses them only assures everybody that you are incompetent, as a nation, to change for better.

    This is a much bigger problem than the units one.

  130. Should we hop in bed with Orin Hatch? Duh. by tjstork · · Score: 1


    It's a computer fan web site, and the Republican answer to internet issues is to have Orin Hatch come out and say that big business's have the right to blow up people's computers. How could any sane programmer go along with that?

    Both political parties are completely worthless. The Democrats don't care about the people any more than the Republicans care about the free market and small businesses. Like, if Homeland Security didn't prove that for you, nothing will. Here, you had the "Anti-government Republicans" passing the biggest trampling of individual rights in American history, and the only thing the "we the people Democrats" did was to complain that the new Gestapo wasn't stuffed with enough Union jobs.

    Both political parties are completely bipartisan and cooperative - they both make me sick equally as well. This is no longer a conflict of ideas between two political parties, it's a contest to see which set of crooks get to cash a 2.5 trillion dollar federal paycheck and anyone who is a partisan for either side is an idiot.

    --
    This is my sig.
  131. Nonsense. by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    If enough people did this then somebody would notice.

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
    1. Re:Nonsense. by Izago909 · · Score: 1

      If enough people did this then somebody would notice.

      Yes, maybe so, but not the people who matter and not fast enough. Why give 50 people a hard time over the course of months when giving that 1 'right' person a hard time for a few minutes does the same thing? It would serve no purpose other than self gratification. Don't expect others to do your job. You want you opinion to go to the top? Then take it there yourself, make sure it get's done. There isn't a manager alive who will listen to an employee before they listen to a [would be] paying customer.

      Write letters to politicians, record executives, VPs and presidents of music retailers. It's OK to protest and voice your opinions, just don't waste air by griping to someone who might just have the same opinion as you. If you write a politician about the DMCA, don't write to a city council member, write to a senator. And if you don't like protected CDs in your favorite store, then talk to or write the guys at the top of the ladder instead of giving some poor teenager the 3rd degreee. Don't you think they buy CDs too? I bet the person at the register has the same opinion and has already voiced it to their manager. It means more when 100 differnt people say it than one person saying it 100 times. If you wnt to win a war, then fight it, don't just go through the motions.

  132. you have it exactly by zogger · · Score: 1

    that's exactly what I meant, these multinationals ( a lot of them, just speaking generally) have profits at any cost mentality. I would go so far as to state they start wars for profit, and have for a long time. I am forced to speak as a USian,and I am patriotic for my own nation and union, but the commentary is for all, just I have a US centric interest and a better handle on our history as opposed to some other nations history. I WANT other peoples to be just as proud and "pro" their own nations as I am of mine, and I also want corporations headquartered and chartered inside the US to follow our older historical guidelines of taking the public interest as just as important as this quarters profits. And by public I mean the US public, and any other nation they maybe doing business in. I don't want to be shafted, I don't want other people to be shafted either, I am anti-colonialism and exploitation. I think both are critical for long term wealth production and social stability and peace and prosperity. The alternative is what we have now, and it's not working. Greed and fraud and blackmail and bribery are not respecters of national boundaries, or of their victims rights or dignity. I do not wish to see a world dominated by a dozen or so giant multinationals, who run governments as puppets.

  133. I added a clarification.. by zogger · · Score: 1

    ...below, just wanted you to see it, because you had a legit question that was important to answer.

  134. Nearly all new Finnish CDs are copy protected by jfanning · · Score: 1

    Just about every new CD release of Finnish artists in Finland and also many new international releases are now copy protected.

    The first time they started appearing my girlfriend bought two albums (with different copy protection schemes) and we tried them in the car CD player (the player was factory installed in a 4 month old Peugeot) and neither of them would work. Needless to say she was really pissed off and we returned them immediately to the shop for a refund (and promptly downloaded one album from Kazaa :-).

    The net result being that we have not bought any new releases in months. Together we have a collection of several hundred CDs.

    The publishers have also bought out a pamphlet "explaining" the copy protection. They had the arrogance to make light of the whole copy protection thing as being in the consumers interest and then at the end it points out that the dics may only play in "standard CD audio players" which doesn't include PCs, DVD players and car CD players and even then there may still be audio distortion!!!

  135. Whoops, forgot the breaks. by cyt0plas · · Score: 1

    "Effective" DRM so far has always used cryptography. Technically speaking, DRM does not have to use it at all.

    Rights refers to the abilities you have with said content. Management means taking them away from you. After all, you have them to begin with - the only thing they can do is take them back away.

    Connections to the internet/other network services are only needed to make it more effective. I have a number of pieces of old software which used bad sectors or other mechanisms to prevent copying. The application in question was not encrypted at all. The installer simply checked for the presense of certain markers on the disk, or the program itself did. Some even allowed a certain number of installs.

    As for my triangle shaped CDs. Why would they need to be writable? Suppose I had a patent on triangle-shaped CD readers (and CDs), and I only licensed it to devices incapable of making copies. Tracking is not necessary, and I am limiting the number of copies you can make. 0 is a perfectly acceptable number (at least to some copyright holders).

    As for limiting _how_ the content can be played back, that is also trivial. If I only license triangle CD player patents to devices which are designed to play in cars, I have limited the places where people can play their audio.

    Nowhere in the definition of DRM is encryption a requirement, nor is effectiveness. It's about "Digital", "Rights", and "Management"(read 'taking'), all of which my Triangle-shaped cds encompass.

    --
    Contact Me (got tired of viruses emailing me).
  136. Re:Seriously, can the editors do their jobs please by neves · · Score: 1

    Good explanation, but I wrote it and made the mistake:-). English is my second language, I read it fluently, but it's harder to write correctly.

  137. Sony principles by wadiwood · · Score: 1

    I still don't understand how Sony can make MP3 players to record and play "all your favourite music". And then put copy protection on the CD's they sell. Doesn't this hurt their own business? What's the point of buying an MP3 player if the only legal thing you can play on it is your computer recording of home violin lessons?

    I am fairly sure that in Australia you are allowed to make a copy eg tape of a CD or Vinyl recording for personal use. It used to be really important when vinyl deteriorated every time you played it and was completely destroyed the time your little brother got hold of it.

    --

    -- it must be true, it's on the internet.
  138. Correction by fmaxwell · · Score: 1

    Due to erroneous editing the following sentence from the parent message includes an additional word, shown in brackets:

    "If you want the latest Goo Goo Dolls CD and find that it's copy-protected by Warner Brothers, you cannot buy a version that is [not] from some other label."

    It makes much more sense without that word "not." Sorry.

  139. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by JimFromJersey · · Score: 1

    Uhhh... yeah... Frace "shut-up" to EU nations supporting the US and Belgium, who thinks they can try anyone, from anywhere. It would be okay if they had the muscle to make it happen.

    --
    between the greater and lesser infinities sleep the dreams undreamt
  140. No lawyers involved? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They must be very afraid, since EMI vice-president defended the company himself in a lawsuit involving less than US$ 350,00.

    Did this mean that executives of those music corporations had to defend themselves personally in court without lawyers? In the US, you can't use lawyers in small claims court (usually in matters involving $5,000 or less depending on the state); this statement implies the same. I wonder if I could sue Sony, EMI, etc... in small claims court and drag their executives in.