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University Tests Legal File Downloading System

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the another-one-that-is dept.

philospher writes "Dorm students at Northern Illinois University are testing a legal file downloading service. It is made by Ruckus Network, and was developed by a group of MIT students. NIU pays 5$ a month per student, and the students can get music, movies, TV shows, local content and community features. Sounds a lot better than having the RIAA sending you a court summons."

80 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. Good idea by NG+Resonance · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd pay for a service like this. Not too expensive, and keeping me safe from RIAA/MPAA attacks.

    1. Re:Good idea by Proc6 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      This is like the third time in 24 hours I've read this analogy and it's really lame.

      If you don't pay mafia protection fees, then "bad things happen to you".

      If you don't pay the RIAA for its monthly fee or buy it's content, then the only things that could happen to you (such as not listening to Britney Spears) are good.

      If you're referring to the court cases brought against people who were file-sharing and infringing on copyrights, then I don't think a monthly college file sharing fee protects you if you continue to file-share copyrighted works that aren't part of the deal. It's safe to assume if you pay a $5 a month college file-sharing fee, then rip your copy of Lord of the Rings and put it up on eMule, you can very well still find yourself in court.

      Stop with the knee jerk quip karma bait comments.

      --

      I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!

    2. Re:Good idea by dustinbarbour · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Keep ya' safe? Are you that worried about it? There are so many ways to avoid prosecution.. the sheer mass of people downloading stuff keeps ya' pretty safe. The RIAA has sued such a tiny fraction of a percent of P2P users that it is laughable. I download all day everyday without any fear from these organizations..

      --
      What is your penile percentile?
    3. Re:Good idea by hype7 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      This is like the third time in 24 hours I've read this analogy and it's really lame.

      If you don't pay mafia protection fees, then "bad things happen to you".


      Despite the standover tactics (and I agree they're mafia-esque), they offer a product. The grandparent post values being able to gain access to the content at $5 a month, who the hell are you to say he shouldn't get access to it?

      If you don't pay the RIAA for its monthly fee or buy it's content, then the only things that could happen to you (such as not listening to Britney Spears) are good.


      What happens if grandparent poster likes Britney Spears? Who are you to say it's good for him not to get access to it?

      And if he feels the moral obligation to pay for access, and feels $5/all you can eat content is fair, then let him pay.

      If you're referring to the court cases brought against people who were file-sharing and infringing on copyrights, then I don't think a monthly college file sharing fee protects you if you continue to file-share copyrighted works that aren't part of the deal.


      It will depend on what's made available. I don't think $5 a month is unreasonable, and from what the article says it seems a lot of students agree with that point of view.

      Stop with the knee jerk quip karma bait comments.


      ha! That's rich coming from the guy who posted about how the RIAA is the root of all evil when someone said they might be interested in the service mentioned!

      -- james
    4. Re:Good idea by boijames · · Score: 2, Insightful
      .

      Mafia?

      Don't stir the pot.

      Talk about bad analogies.

      It might be even semi useable if people were, oh, say, stealing from the mafia or bootlegging mafia ice capades shows, and the mafia rolled out a nationwide $5/month "extended service plan," but they're not.

      It's not paying a protection fee. The RIAA isnt going to swoop down on you for not doing anything wrong. Maybe once in a while, but I bet you there are more "oops" mob hits than there are "oops" RIAA hits.

      Not to stick up for the RIAA, but this licensing is not bad at all. It's better than you'll get with sites like Rhapsody or anywhere else - cheapest Ive seen is ten bucks and I'll tell you, for the subscription rate, you don't get a lot - most artists (and almost _all_ "charting" artists) don't license their stuff for streaming - only purchase.

    5. Re:Good idea by ziggy_zero · · Score: 2, Informative

      I download a shitload (have Overnet and/or Soulseek on 24/7) and I listen to/watch all of it. I don't really feel I should have to justify my downloading habits, but I DID spend over 70 bucks at a music store yesterday on records and CD's. I also go to a lot of concerts, where the artists get more money.

      Also, they're not suing the big downloaders, they're suing the big UPLOADERS.

      --
      I belong to the ______ generation.
    6. Re:Good idea by Douglas_E_Morris · · Score: 5, Interesting

      In the end this service is not unlike others you would get at a university. While I am sure this is not the same for all Universities, the one where I go to school at sells you services such as your phone, your cable, your internet (at least it is high speed) and this is all built into the price. The reason the prices are the way that they are is bulk pricing. Everyone chips in a little and it does not seem so bad overall. Also, as a member of Residence Hall Council we get to vote and approve such 'manditory fees' for services in the halls, and while i agree it seems rude to force fees on people we can often get services for all at the price of $5.00 per person where to simply leave one person out would raise the price as high as $20.00 per person because it is not 'all'. When we vote in these fees it is done in the intrest of all students, not just a few. We try to get the best deals we can, and offer the services that are wanted at discouted rates. You accept certain limitations by living in a residence hall, you likly have quite hours, you are reqiured to follow the house rules, and you agree to the manditory fees. It is alot like living in a house that is under the rule of a housing association. In wrap up this was not written to draw the ire of anyone, just to give another perspective that might not otherwise be viewed. Doug Morris

    7. Re:Good idea by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The problem with this is that some students who don't end up using the service, pay for it anyway. Students who don't have computers pay the same price for residence, even though high speed internet is included. Everybody pays a little bit for the gym, but very few students use the gym. Computer science students pay to support the library, yet only an extemely small percentage of the books there deal with their subject, and even a smaller percentage are up to date. They get good pricing because everyone pays, and only a fraction use the service.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    8. Re:Good idea by ViolentGreen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well you can't get around that. The point is that they have access to the service. Whether they use it or not is their choice.

      --
      Not everything is analogous to cars. Car analogies rarely work.
    9. Re:Good idea by aminorex · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, it doesn't much matter whether you are distributing content or not: They sue lots of people without any credible pretext. I got a letter from my cable provider at the instigation of the BSA, for example, claiming that I was sharing Delphi 7 on eDonkey. This is fundamentally absurd, as I have never run eDonkey,
      nor have I ever had a copy of Delphi 7. But they could cut off my Internet connection and put me out of work without so much as a by-your-leave, and my only recourse would be to spend more money than I make in a year to get a lawyer in order to get a whisper of a hint of a chance of convincing some bought-and-paid-for judge to force my cable company to provide service to me, laws saying that they don't have to do so notwithstanding.

      Yeah, my whole family has to live in fear of RIAA/MPAA/BSA barratry because our legal system is corrupt. It sucks. That's why I support assassination politics, the only meaningful form of democracy that's left.

      --
      -I like my women like I like my tea: green-
    10. Re:Good idea by silicon+not+in+the+v · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The problem with this is that some students who don't end up using the service, pay for it anyway. Students who don't have computers pay the same price for residence, even though high speed internet is included. ...gym. ...library. ...books.
      Yeah, my taxes pay for jails, but I don't get to use them. The criminals should pay for it. My taxes support schools, but I don't have any kids; that's not fair.[/sarcasm]
      The same kind of thing happens in society, but it's especially true in a university setting. You are getting access to amazing stuff because of the economy of scale of the students that are there. You get to use science and electronics lab equipment that you could never hope to afford. You get to use expensive software packages--autocad and such--that you could not get, gym and fitness facilities, high speed internet, etc., etc. Plus if you act now, you'll also get this great education that will help you get a job! And here's the best part: it's not like taxes where you have to pay it. If you don't like the service package of a university, DON'T GO. Or if you prefer, go to a smaller college or community college that is cheaper and has less features. Would you whine and cry about some place that sells a $15,000 computer that's packed with features you would never use? Instead, choose the one that has the things you do want at a reasonable price.
      --
      We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
  2. Yay... by geminidomino · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Force students to pay whether they want the Uni to sell their souls to the RIAA or not.

    Nothing new here. Move along.

    1. Re:Yay... by geminidomino · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I see this less as "Selling music" and more as "blanket extortion."

      "Pay us $5/student or risk being sued."

      Doesn't sound like "sales" to me.

    2. Re:Yay... by ChairmanMeow · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Force students to pay whether they want the Uni to sell their souls to the RIAA or not.

      That's what makes me angry... The college I go to signed a deal with iTunes, which basically means that students will be forced to pay an RIAA tax in their tuition, regardless of whether the students actually use the service or not. In my case, I don't want to use iTunes, and since there's no Linux client I can't use it anyway (yes, I know about the Crossover Office story a few days ago, but I'm not going to install Crossover Office to use the iTunes software I don't want). Also, going to a private college is expensive enough without bring forced to pay for academically useless things such as iTunes. Personally, I think it should be at the most an opt-in program: that is, students who wanted to use iTunes would opt-in to the program which would be organized by the college, and the fee would be added to their bill. In that case, any student that did not want to participate in that program would not sign up, and those who did want to participate would sign up. Then again, since when was there reason in the music downloading discussion?

      --
    3. Re:Yay... by Brad+Oliver · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Personally, I think it should be at the most an opt-in program: that is, students who wanted to use iTunes would opt-in to the program which would be organized by the college, and the fee would be added to their bill. In that case, any student that did not want to participate in that program would not sign up, and those who did want to participate would sign up.

      If you make this an opt-in program, why not make other things you don't care for opt-in as well? Don't like your school's fencing program? Don't want to subsidize football jerseys? And what if your camps is blighted with a Starbucks in your student union? Surely a small part of your tuition has gone to make that possible. Granted I'm exaggerating a little, but when you start complaining about paying for non-essential academic stuff, where do you stop?

    4. Re:Yay... by Jace+of+Fuse! · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Since you're paying for it, use it. Yes, yes, I know, you use Linux and can't. Blah. Find a Windows PC, download a song. Follow me here...

      Now, since it's that DRM encoded garbage AAC or whatever, you're going to want to strip that crap out.

      Use Hymn for that. Now add your unlocked song to your collection in iTunes. Use iTune's built in "CONVERT TO MP3" feature, which it will do nicely and you now have a file you can use on your Linux machine. iTunes has a built in converter that works really well, but it won't convert it's own DRM protected trash. So once you've taken that out....

      There are a few things to note. First off, when iTunes converts it to MP3 it will grow in size, nearly almost double it's original depending on the content. Next, your MP3 player has to support variable rate MP3s, which most do.

      I know supporting iTunes is kind of like saying you accept DRM, but if you have to pay for it then use it the way you want. After all, You paid and can't listen to it on your chosen platform. Exercise your fair rights!

      --

      "Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"

      Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
    5. Re:Yay... by sotonboy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Why dont you get it ? Parent was saying he DOES NOT WANT ITMS. He wasnt saying he was going to steal the music from elsewhere. I dont want iTMS. I buy my music at higher quality in a shop.

      What is it you dont understand about this ?

      Im now charging YOU $5 a month for the right to listen to my next door neighbours dog barking.

      Please mail it to me.

      Its exactly the same thing.
      Extortion, pure and simple.

    6. Re:Yay... by EzInKy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And people wonder why record labels have been unwilling to try selling music online. When they do, people still criticize them.

      Only because they earned that criticism by their refusal to adapt to technological change. Many people have already delegated the former powerful record labels to the dustbins of history that include the carraige makers of the nineteenth century. They had their chance and the screwed up by choosing to sue people rather than offer a solution that would benefit all.

      --
      Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    7. Re:Yay... by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I wonder if Shawn Fanning ever realized that this was the logical end point of the revolution he started - deliberately create a network that makes it easy to infringe artist's rights and makes it difficult to identify specific infringers, and you end up with a situation where the innocent - be it "every broadband user" (as proposed by El Reg and the EFF - I'm serious, both are proposing the solution to P2P is a compulsory broadband tax) or in this case, "every student", ends up having to pay for the music instead, with the RIAA and MPAA desperately leveraging any single point of liability they can find.

      Kind of sucks, doesn't it? Everyone suffers because two groups - artists and copyright infringers - decide to take everything to the most extreme extents they can.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  3. Legal by mobets · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I read the article... what makes this legal? not much in the way of details...

    --

    It was me, I did it, I moved your cheese
    1. Re:Legal by damiangerous · · Score: 3, Informative
      This quote from this page:

      "We are negotiating special volume-discount licensing fees for the academic community from music labels and studios"

  4. legal? not fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    if its not illegal it's no fun.

    screw it.

  5. Cornell's Trial Download Program by crem_d_genes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Cornell is giving away music downloads this year.

  6. Good use by Nos. · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At least we're starting to see the Industry start using the technology to everyone's advantage instead of trying to quash it. Of course I'm in Canada and I'm pretty safe right now from the letters (mind you, I haven't downloaded an MP3 in a LONG time either). Of course with Morpheus's recent win in court, this sort of 'legal' P2P system may not catch on as well as hoped. Have to admit though, if I knew I could get high quality, legal MP3's I'd probably consider paying the $5/month.

  7. I must have missed something.... by marshac · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How is this not illegal? If students are still downloading copyrighted content from each other... *scratches head*.... I don't get it.

    And yes, I did RTFA, and the company website.

    1. Re:I must have missed something.... by paulthomas · · Score: 5, Informative

      It looks like they are partnering with individual labels and producers to get a (likely meager) cut to the copyright holder so everything is kosher. Otherwise they're probably just banking on Sound Exchange and paying flat royalties for Sound Exchange to distribute later on. This is how most radio stations work (Pay to a big holding group that redistributes based on a variety of factors like album sales).
      Also, it looks like the P2P part may only be a mechanism to locally cache and distribute content that they've licensed to reduce their overhead. The files are also Windows Media and "tethered" according to the article.

      Paul

      PS. I wrote the company to complain about the damn auto-playing music on the web site. This is no longer 1996!

  8. bring on the cease and desist's by joeldg · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Posting the following:

    "Bryan Ajuluchukwu, a freshman economics major, is one of more than 170 students living on the third floor of Grant Towers who is testing a new downloading service. The service, called Ruckus Network, allows for those students to download music and movies."

    is the equiv of posting a target on your forehead for the MPAA and the RIAA to make an "example" out of you, especially for the elusive college market (which is the one they are always, always, always after..)

    --
    anime+manga together at last.. in real time.
    1. Re:bring on the cease and desist's by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 3, Informative

      From the same exact article you got your quote from:

      "It was better than other programs because it's legal," Ajuluchukwu said. "This is a good idea for the university to do for the students so we have some entertainment."

      It's legal.

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
  9. Think of the rhyming possibilities for 'Ruckus'! by Mordant · · Score: 3, Funny

    Without knowing any further details, I'll bet that'll about sum it up. ;>

  10. Don't waste my money! by thewldisntenuff · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Let's think this over a bit.....The downloads are "tethered", as TFA states...

    But let's consider something different.....

    Can't find the population of NIU...But we'll use my school's numbers....Assuming a yearlong (12-month) contract....

    $5 * ~40,000 students * 12 mos. = $2.4 million

    Why would I want my tuition money (which, at this campus, only pays for more construction, adminstrative wages, yet can't cover enough for class TAs) to be wasted on RIAA/MPAA/AAA-approved media? The schools are always bitching about lack of funds, yet they can somehow afford this? Bullshit...If they (students), would like to pay out of pocket, be my guest. But don't waste my tution money on it.

    --
    My MythTV HowTo
    1. Re:Don't waste my money! by Kiwibee · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I find it funny that the Ruckus Network's homepage boasts that it "puts an end to Internet bandwidth problems." I don't understand how encouraging students to download files can put an end to bandwidth problems...

    2. Re:Don't waste my money! by EvanED · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It very well could help. If enought people switched to downloading things from Kazaa to this in-house network, it would actually probably substantially lighten the load where it counts: the connection from the on campus network to the rest of the world.

      (It sounds like this will just be within the university.)

      In campus network is much, much, much cheaper than the backbone out to the Internet. (For example, CMU has gigabit. So downloading within the campus would be almost free.) You increase the total exchange, but decrease the volume of transfer at the bottleneck.

    3. Re:Don't waste my money! by zbuffered · · Score: 2, Insightful
      This is for dormitory students who would have access to the university's bandwidth, most likely. The money for this would likely come out of those fees. Students already pay for things like phone service, internet access, cable tv, and more.

      With a total undergraduate population of 15,800, you can rest assured that the final tally will come to less than $2.4 million. But that's not the point.

      The point is, this has nothing to do with academia. This service won't help you get your Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. It won't help you at all. It reminds me of that futurama episode where they go to Mars University:

      Fry: I'm a certified college dropout.

      Leela: Please. Everyone knows 20th century colleges were basically expensive daycare centers.


      Would you send your kid to that college? Would you want to go to that college? Maybe.
      --
      Synergy is your friend
    4. Re:Don't waste my money! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I am an NIU student.

      We had approximately 23k students last year, and given our growth, that figure is probably closer to 23.5k-24k students now.

      Personally, I believe this Ruckus Network thing is a fucking waste of my money. But that is all NIU does -- steal our money via student fees and spend it on shit I couldn't care less about.

      Our school is run like a socialist government on crack, except that our uni is in the red like our state budget and for a while was considering laying off some NIU profs, meanwhile giving John Peters (our school President) a substantial series of yearly raises until 2010.

      NIU is as corrupt as the famously-corrupt IL state government that funds it. And yes, sadly, I really am a student here at this shithole. I have a regular UID here on /., but I'm too ashamed of my school to post using the UID here...

      Needless to say, the alumni group won't be getting money out of me.

  11. $5/month is nothing... by b0r1s · · Score: 4, Insightful

    $5/month is nothing compared to what they're going to be paying for the bandwidth used up by all of the downloading.

    --
    Mooniacs for iOS and Android
    1. Re:$5/month is nothing... by EvanED · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I know Penn State has Napster servers on the campus network that has either 90% of the media on them or serves 90% of requests, I forget which.

      It's conceivable that enough people would switch from downloading stuff from Kazaa to Napster to actually save on bandwidth use where it counts, namely the backbone from the school network out into the real world.

    2. Re:$5/month is nothing... by name773 · · Score: 2, Informative

      ok, that was wrong... from the distributor site:
      "Ruckus solves campus bandwidth issues by storing frequently requested music and movies on campus-based servers located within the campus intranet. The campus servers will regularly receive updated files from the Ruckus Media Library, a network of redundant central servers storing terabytes of music, movies and other content. Students will access content via the Ruckus client application. If a student requests a file not found on the campus server, it will instantly make a request from the Media Library and deliver it to the student."

  12. Working company URL... by photonagon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...at www.ruckus.net.

    The link in the article didn't seem to work.

    I still can't find anything about what makes this legal, but the company claims it numerous times.

  13. Just $5? by ScytheBlade1 · · Score: 2

    ...so how much can you download?

    "NIU pays $5 per student per month and is allowed unlimited access to the media for the testers. "

    So, what exactly? $5/month for unlimited access to a student to download whatever.

    Now THAT I could see take off.

  14. With College Enrollments Down... by Trolling4Dollars · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...this is sure to get more kids to want to go off to college. "Hot damn!! I can get free music and movies if I go to college? Sign me up!!!"

    --
    Un-news
  15. Let me get this straight... by hazman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    These students can download or stream music, television and movies (presumably fairly recent releases in a VOD arrangement) for $5 a month? And I'm paying $70 a month for my DSS service which has nothing on demand? And it's legal?

    This begs a few observations:

    There is no way this service will make it into the real world at this price.

    or

    This service is not legal.

    or

    My rectum problems are NOT due to a lack of fiber in my diet.

  16. Not to nitpick... by nial-in-a-box · · Score: 2, Insightful
    "It is made by Ruckus Network, and was developed by a group of MIT students."

    No offense, but WTF does that mean? Made and developed are essentially synonyms in this case. I often wonder why so many poorly worded submissions make it to the front page of Slashdot. Is it because putting anything in quotes seems to remove all responsibility from the editor? Or is it sheer ignorance. I understand that the English language is a nasty, irregular bastard of a language, but for the love of corn let's try to be professional. And if I see one more "Microsoft are developing" or "Google have updated" or any other such nonsense I'm going to have to beat the living shit out of an ignorant bastard. An entity, even if it is comprised of many individuals, should be treated as singular because it is. I'll stop with the common sense lesson, but if you want people to honestly pay attention to what's important, don't let your poor writing get in the way. Believe me, it's a distraction, and for even more close-minded individuals than myself it can be a complete turn-off. Thanks for your attention.

    --
    I am feeling fat and sassy
  17. Court Summons? by iamdrscience · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How many music downloaders has the RIAA actually brought to court? Not very many. Almost all of the RIAA's attacks against downloaders have been settled out of court. They're more of a publicity stunt than they are a legal tactic. Now that I think of it, I can't remember any case where the RIAA has brought a music downloader to trial (not that there weren't any, there may have been) almost all of their real court cases are against companies that produce filesharing software. The reason, I believe, for this is that there is a big legal distinction between downloading somebody else's content and making money from other people downloading that content. I'm pretty sure that if someone accused of downloading music actually proceeded to go into court that they could have a reasonable chance at getting off. We'll probably never see that though because for someone to do this they would have to have the money to front for a lawyer, not to mention the time to see the case through.

    1. Re:Court Summons? by damiangerous · · Score: 3, Informative
      The reason, I believe, for this is that there is a big legal distinction between downloading somebody else's content and making money from other people downloading that content.

      Yes there is, but that's not relevant. The RIAA doesn't go after downloaders, they go after sharers. And there is no legal difference between sharing for free and sharing for pay, with the sole exception of the amount of damages that can be awarded.

      I'm pretty sure that if someone accused of downloading music actually proceeded to go into court that they could have a reasonable chance at getting off

      Luckily for them, the people being served are retaining actual legal council who don't talk out of their ass.

      Oh, and for the record, only about 600 people have settled as of June. The rest of the 3,249 are still going slowly through the court process.

    2. Re:Court Summons? by iamdrscience · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Oh, and for the record, only about 600 people have settled as of June. The rest of the 3,249 are still going slowly through the court process.
      If you actually read that article you'd realize that what is says is that cases were filed against these people without the RIAA having their names. They are in court with these peoples' ISPs trying to get their identities released, they are not in court with the peoples themselves. I think it's extremely likely that these people, like the 600 before them, will all settle out of court.
      And there is no legal difference between sharing for free and sharing for pay, with the sole exception of the amount of damages that can be awarded.
      That's not entirely true. If you're sharing for pay it's clearly intentional, but on networks like Kazaa, "sharing" only consists of keeping a file in the same folder kazaa downloads to. I could easily see somebody deciding to make their kazaa folder be the same as the folder in which they keep any legal rips of their own CDs that they might have. To make a real world analogy, this is like if your friend let you use his bike, you left it unlocked and somebody decided to steal it. Is it somewhat foolish for you to leave the bike unlocked? Probably. Is it your fault it got stolen? No, it's the fault of the person who stole it.
  18. I dunno by iamdrscience · · Score: 2

    If I got a court summons or (more likely) a cease and desist letter from the RIAA I could put it in a nice frame and make a really cool wall hanging out of it.

  19. Quote by betanerd · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Ruckus is “tethered” so students can still download music and movies without officially owning, buying or burning downloads, said Marone"

    Wow on demand cable without the abialty to record the shows. Thank you MPAA/RIAA for this generous outporing of stupid liscense fee media. Yes, these are the best times of our lives/ /Sarcasm

    --
    Insert sig here (slashdot) Insert cig here (Lewinsky)
  20. Thanks Slashot! by emidln · · Score: 2, Funny

    Thanks for ruining the service we sprung $5 this month for. I guess my $5 is going to pay for a new server farm. Thanks again, slashdot!

  21. Porn? by iamdrscience · · Score: 4, Funny

    I get the feeling though that unlike most "illegal" networks, this one has considerably less porn.

    Obviously, it would be worthless to me.

  22. Here's a copy by matz62 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Monday, August 23, 2004

    Ruckus starts in Grant with new downloading tool for students
    Network may expand to other residence halls if it is successful

    Article by:
     Michelle Gibbons - Staff Reporter
    mgibbons@northernstar.info


    Bryan Ajuluchukwu, a freshman economics major, is one of more than 170 students living on the third floor of Grant Towers who is testing a new downloading service. The service, called Ruckus Network, allows for those students to download music and movies.

    Ajuluchukwu, who heard about Ruckus from his roommate, said he would definitely recommend the program to other students.

    It was better than other programs because its legal, Ajuluchukwu said. This is a good idea for the university to do for the students so we have some entertainment.

    Ruckus is a digital entertainment and downloading service that will provide music, movies, TV shows, local content and community features to students free of charge, said Joseph Marone, Ruckus account representative for NIU. NIU pays $5 per student per month and is allowed unlimited access to the media for the testers.

    On Thursday, Ruckus will be available for testing to residents in the third through sixth floors of all Grant Towers, said Keith Kruchten, president of the Residence Hall Association.

    Marone said NIU is very important to Ruckus development.

    This is the first time weve opened this program up to a school. We want to make sure students enjoy it.

    Still in the pilot testing process, the program is not only tested by students, but also developed and designed by graduate students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Marone said.

    From Aug. 12 to Aug. 19, more than 20 NIU community advisers and Grant Towers staff tested Ruckus, and on Aug. 19, 170 students were added to the testing. By Aug. 26, a total of 700 NIU students will be linked to Ruckus.

    On Sept. 1, about 2,500 students in all Grant Towers will have limited access to the network. The full model of Ruckus will be open to all Grant students in October, Kruchten said.

    The network is located at www.betaruckus.net.

    Ruckus is tethered so students can still download music and movies without officially owning, buying or burning downloads, said Marone.

    He said students can share playlists and compare theirs with other students likes and dislikes.

    Kruchten also said even though the program is limited, students have been very impressed with what has been available thus far.

    © 2004 Northern Star. All Rights Reserved.

  23. But.... by thewldisntenuff · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This has been going on for quite some time now....And no university/coporation has ever been hunted down by the RIAA/MPAA/AAA....

    The universities (so far) have been more than willing to turn in a few students...The lawsuits serve only to scare people from downloading..Most are settled, and I can't think of a suit that has actually gone to court over it.

    When you think about it, there really isn't a case...The U is like an ISP, and no ISP has been seriously targeted over downloading (only for not willing to turn over info to the courts)

    --
    My MythTV HowTo
  24. content is king by martin-boundary · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The article seems weak on explaining exactly what you get for $5/month. One of the big attractions of filesharing software is the timely content being shared.

    The most popular downloads, which also account for the greatest bandwith used, are things like the latest DVD movies, theatre camera captures, popular albums. That's a simple fact, whether it's legal or not.

    I can't believe Ruckus or any other small media company is ever going to be able to offer these kinds of downloads on their networks. I mean, is WB going to make a deal with them so that they can distribute movies at $5/month right at the same time as those movies are released in theatres?

    So then, what kind of content *can* they distribute? Movies that came out two years ago, or Britney Spears' very first album, I guess. The same stuff that's on free to air TV.

    In that case, there is still going to be alternative "illegal" networks for sharing the latest popular media, and I suspect that the illegal networks will stay much more popular.

    1. Re:content is king by tater86 · · Score: 3, Informative
      "The same stuff that's on free to air TV."

      I'm not sure if that's just a typo, but there isn't much that's free to air on TV. TV stations pay for the right to show movies and syndicated TV shows. Radio stations pay royalities to BMI and ASCAP which distribute the royalites to the copyright holder. Ruckus is no different, once they work out licensing deals with various groups they will be able to show their copyrighted works.

      I would expect that the selection initially on a service like this would be quite limited. However, if companies see that the copyright holders are making money off this arrangement they would be more inclined to license their bigger name properties.

      I would expect that a lot of independent music labels and filmmakers would like a chance to distribute their creations this way. Who knows, maybe this will, in the long run, get more people interested in independent music and movies and lessen the influence of the RIAA and the MPAA,

    2. Re:content is king by martin-boundary · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Of course the content on radio, television and cable networks isn't free to those networks, nor can viewers/listeners do whatever they like with their own recordings. As part of the media publishers' end-to-end public distribution schedule, they're at the far end - ie theatre release in the US, followed by theatre release around the world, followed by DVD release, followed by cable, and finally TV, first prime time and eventually as late night filler. The full progression takes years, and exists on purpose so that distribution channels don't cannibalize each other's markets.

      Part of the reason for the existence of sharing networks is a direct reaction against that model, for example sharing DVDs because world wide distribution is scheduled a year later, but advertising hype creates a demand right now, even as far as unscheduled countries.

      So if companies like Ruckus etc. play according to the RIAA/MPAA rules, then they have a slot available to them somewhere next to the cable companies, which means that their sharing networks don't address all the issues (eg movies which take a year to be released outside the US etc.), and won't make a big dent in the proliferation of illegal sharing networks.

  25. Why is the university paying? by iamdrscience · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This download network, like many other legal, commercial networks that have struck deals with colleges, is paid for by the university, not by the students themselves. I never really understood this. I mean, I know most schools feel that it is in some way their responsibility to pay for their students entertainment, i.e. concerts and other performances, fairs, etc., but this seems like going a little over the edge. I mean, NIU has 25,000 students, so if they were to pay for this program for all of their students it would be 25,000 students times $5 times let's say 8 months of school (plus whatever they pay for the kids that are there in the summer) or $1,000,000. That's a lot of money to add onto whatever they budget for student entertainment functions.

  26. Excerpt from their legal page by atomic-penguin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "...RUCKUS WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO ANYONE WITH RESPECT TO ANY DAMAGES, LOSS OR CLAIM WHATSOEVER IN CONNECTION WITH ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS SITE. IN NO EVENT SHALL RUCKUS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE, COPYING OR DISPLAY OF THE CONTENT..."

    So where is the guarantee that this is in fact legal, and/or you won't get hunted down by the RIAA/MPAA? How is this not breaking copyright laws?

    It sounds like a nice advertisement, but might be too good to be true. The adage, "There ain't such a thing as a free lunch.", rings true. They want personal information in return. Oh, and the privacy statement reads like adware/spyware.

    If institutions are to adopt this for their College networks there has to be a guarantee in writing that I won't be sued for copyright infringement. Where is the guarantee I am legally licensing this for private use?

    --
    /^([Ss]ame [Bb]at (time, |channel.)){2}$/
  27. Yeah, this seems like a good idea too, by meistaiwan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I used to have an emusic account way back in the day, when they were unlimited. It was great to be able to download legally independent label music(the stuff worth listening to) where my money went to the artist. Of course any time you deal with a corporation, you run into problems. They double billed me for no reason and refused to refund my money(yeah, WTF). So I canceled and managed to get my music other ways. But I'm not scared the RIAA is going to come after me, I don't have their music. Because it's crap.

  28. Re:here's my guess on how it works by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 4, Funny

    hey, I dont know much about how licensing keys and DRM stuff work

    This should have been your first line, and you should have stopped there.

    Speculation is useless.

  29. "Legal" file downloading system? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful
    University Tests Legal File Downloading System

    File downloading services are not, in and of themselves, legal or illegal. They simply exist. What makes file downloading systems legal or illegal is what people do with them.

    Much like Grokster and Kazaa were recently ruled to not violate the law, FTP, HTTP, Samba, AppleTalk, and other file transfer technologies are perfectly legal.

    The title would be better stated as "University tests new copyright management system". That's what this system really is, an RIAA sanctioned music distribution system wrapped in DRM.

  30. Define Illegal by LuYu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dorm students at Northern Illinois University are testing a legal file downloading service.
    Which is to say that all other downloading is "illegal", right?

    This is the problem with the current debate. It seems that "file downloading" has become "illegal" in general because of the political campaigns by the RIAA/MPAA to change the way we think. This is more than a little wrong. Just because the *AAs say it is wrong or illegal, does not make it so. These are the same people who claimed that Spiderman [I] did not make any money so they would not have to pay Stan Lee.

    All file sharing systems, yes, including P2P, are capable of and indeed to share lots of legal files every day. There is no "system" for legal downloads. All systems can carry legal downloads.

    This is a system for controlled sales of *AAs products. Warning. Lanugage, when used in the wrong way, can be hazardous to your freedom.

    --
    All data is speech. All speech is Free.
  31. Re:here's my guess on how it works by ozmanjusri · · Score: 2, Informative

    Speculation is useless.

    From the Ruckus website's "How it Works" section.
    http://www.ruckusnetwork.com/how_it_works.html

    Content Protection:
    Ruckus will protect copyrighted content and enforce usage rules with digital rights management (DRM) technology from Microsoft.

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  32. Re:Think of the rhyming possibilities for 'Ruckus' by scottking · · Score: 4, Interesting

    that's true, also backwards it Sukur...

    --
    scott king
  33. True, but... by ArbiterOne · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why "tethered"? If I pay for a movie or music CD at a bricks-and-mortar store, I don't get it "tethered". I'm reminded of the Mark Twain quote when he was told that he could borrow a friend's books, but only read them in his library: "Sure, you can borrow my lawnmower, but for security reasons I cannot allow it to be used outside my lawn."

  34. Reality Check by Kioti · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If a system like this was ever supported by the MPAA/RIAA does anyone really think $5 a month would be the going rate here in the USA? More like $5 a song. The theft will never stop until the RIAA/MPAA stop alienating their customers. An amazingly large percentage of this country would actually tell you that the RIAA/MPAA are getting exactly what they deserve. The same group would then tell you that it's wrong to steal a candy bar. It has nothing to do with a misunderstanding or dis-association due to the internet. It has to do with people legitimizing the theft because they are angry and they know they have no other recourse in this country. File sharing has become a grass roots campaign to punish the music industry.

    --
    Regards,
    ~Joshua Norton
  35. Do you people not understand? by boijames · · Score: 2, Interesting
    .

    Music isn't free.

    Period.

    This is not "blanket extortion," and really, with the money that the music industry rakes in, five bucks a month is probably more akin to their anal cavities being violated than anyone else's -- Not Everyone Pirates Music, ya know.

    $5/student is a good deal.

    Let's put it in perspective.

    TV is broadcast. Why shouldnt it be free?

    They're sending out one signal.. What's one more box on the cable system? It's not costing them anything.

    Yet I bet most of you (myself included) pay over $75 a month for this, in one form or another (mine is near $100, for DirecTV and a couple DirecTiVos).

    But music.. $5 a month.. is extortion?

    Reality check.... cmon....

    1. Re:Do you people not understand? by geminidomino · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Reality check:

      $5/student, whether the student WANTS IT OR NOT, just to prevent lawsuits. That IS textbook extortion.

      You don't think this cost is gonna be passed onto the students, even the ones who don't even OWN computers?

    2. Re:Do you people not understand? by ViolentGreen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You don't think this cost is gonna be passed onto the students, even the ones who don't even OWN computers?

      Well the cost for high speed internet gets passed to the students who don't own computers. The cost of cable gets passed to students who don't own tvs. The cost of the the free medical services that many universities have gets passed to students who don't use them.

      It's a service that the university provides. It's not extortion. The students know that they will be paying this fee before they pay their tuition and have every right to go to another school to save their $45 or so.

      --
      Not everything is analogous to cars. Car analogies rarely work.
    3. Re:Do you people not understand? by Asterixian · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Extortion (dictionary.com): 1. ... the act or practice of wresting anything from a person by force, by threats, or by any undue exercise of power; undue exaction; overcharge.

      IANAL. No, it's not textbook extortion. Threatening to sue someone for a bona fide violation of law is not extortion. It's deterrence. Also, five dollars a month per person cannot be considered "overcharge" even if the student can't avoid the charge. It's a legitimate service that the school has decided to pay for. We can question the merits of such a service but it's not illegal.

      My main objection to "deals" like this is the effective imposition of an "RIAA Tax". I don't like monopolies charging for things someone might not even use just because they can. That said, for people who do like downloads, it's a pretty small price to pay for being legal. I wonder if it's still worth it after all the DRM restrictions (if any) are factored in.

  36. Umm by L0phtpDK · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ok.. i'm currently an NIU student... in Grant Towers (tower B on the 8th Floor). And this is the first time that I heard of this. I dont remember EVER paying 5 dollars a month for anything related to "A Ruckus" or anything of that sort. So i could not tell you. But I will takea trip two floors down and try it out for you guys and give you some clue how it goes. But for now... WinMX and BT still work for me :)

  37. Those kind of deals are starting to make sense by ArcticCelt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Those kind of deals are at last starting to make sense. First there was not option for downloading legal digital content. Even if the technology was easily available to the corporations who could sell the stuff, they where refusing to sell it. My opinion was then "fuck them" I will download my stuff for free because they are fucking greedy bastards so me too I will be a greedy bastard.

    Then they started offering some digital content at prices almost as ridiculous than the prices of the CD's that they sell on store but a least, you where able to select the songs that you want without buying the whole album. I was happy to see the progress but this wasn't good enough for me. "Fuck them, they can do better than that" was my opinion.

    Now those deals are starting to make sense. The only problem is that I am not a student anymore and I don't live on a campus. I would be interested to pay for a deal that give me those kind of options.Because they are not offering that to me right now... Well... Fuck them.

    --

    Yahh, hiii haaaaa! -Major Kong, from Dr. Strangelove
  38. WRONG. Still a subscription system by MMHere · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What ever happened to "buying" a book. Or a CD. Or a single track from a CD that only you want?

    This is like saying, pay us X per month, and then whenever you want to, you can download a book. Wouldn't you really rather just pay Y (which may be close to X) for the book, and then take it with and read ("play") it whenever/wherever you want?

    Subscriptions are all about long-term area under the curve. Once you suck somebody into paying X every month (whether X be $5 for this service, or +$30 for cable video), those dollars really add up over the long term.

    Unless you are a fairly regular user of the service, monthly subscriptions rarely make sense over purchasing and owning your own copy of the media and its content.

    Oh yeah: The University may be "paying" the $5 subscription here, but of course they will pass it on to students. So service fees (or tuitions) rise.

    The RIAA is still served, having passed the cost of their monopoly on to the end consumer. Previously accepted copyright practice is compromised in the process.

  39. Slightly OT: A possible way to respond to threats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Piratebay, the largest bittorrent tracker in Sweden, recently got a threatening letter from the lawyers at Dreamworks.

    Here is their response. Be aware of adult language, but I thought it was fun nevertheless :) (and it will be interesting to see dreamworks response on this).

  40. I think it goes like this... by TapeCutter · · Score: 2

    I think it goes like this... Get both the schools and the the students all worried and hyped up about being sued by RIAA/MPAA by aggresively suing both for all sorts of copyright stuff both real and imaginary. The schools get worried about the costs of students doing "something illegal" on thier networks. Doesn't matter if they are inoccent or not, litigation could at the very least tie up $$$$ for several years. Students get worried about "large fines and possible jail time". Now say to the schools we can give you access to an "approved" service for $X p/student p/month and this will go a long way to covering your arse "legally". This psudeo-extortion technique serves two purposes. First it makes the service owner a handsome profit. Second it "educates" tommorows adults that just about everything is owned by somebody and you gonna have to pay. When ownership of "ideas" is made perpetual (almost done, tick) and this notion seeps into the populations phyche (I can sell my "idea" and retire filthy rich!). Then progress in any potentially profitable area of investigation or development will stagnate. The corporate copyright holders do nothing except litigate to support inefficient distribution methods for thier own gain. The damage to society is that the money wasted/extroted could be used for something worthwhile (say a greater variety of artists or supply the African continent with clean drinking water).

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  41. Hell, RIAA should start paying P2P... by lucason · · Score: 2, Insightful

    for providing them with a wonderfully decentralized, efficient distribution system that allows them to make there music better known to a broader public without having to invest in costly bandwidth.

    If they'd only have a brain amongst them....

  42. What ever happened to going to college to learn? by OrangeTide · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe I just don't "get" it. But I thought we send kids to college to learn stuff, not to download music and videos. If that's all they are going to do, they can stay home and work at 7-eleven and start paying rent.

    If you're going to be in college/uni soon I would highly recommend that you don't view it as an opportunity to get laid, a way to hone your counterstrike skills, or a chance to vastly improve your music and dvd collection.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  43. Makes it easier but does not solve the problem. by endersdouble · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hmm, yes, sounds like a good idea. Keeps you from getting in trouble. But that does not mean that it is a good thing, really...it fails to fix the problem we have, the problem that you CAN get in trouble for things that are not wrong. Don't get me wrong; downloading a copy of, say, Collateral without paying for it, having any intention of paying for it, for the sole reason that you do not want to pay for it, is wrong. But there is that pesky thing called fair use. Not everything students do on these networks is wrong.

  44. legal file downloading service? by bathmann · · Score: 2, Funny
    FTP?

    Next thing you know, you'll be able to hook your computer to a group of computers connected to other groups of computers. And we shall name it the Intergroup of computers or Intergroup.

  45. As long as I can opt out by jridley · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As hard as it is to believe, some of us didn't really listen to music in college. Also, some people may have ethical or religious objection to giving blanket payments to a group of artists who would include rap, punk, or even (yikes) Barry Manilow.

  46. I've met with Company Management by evilplushtoy · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Guys, the way this service works is simple. They have deals with RIAA and MPAA, and this enables them to give access to all the music files and movies older than 4 years old. They set up servers on campuses, and those servers store files to be downloaded by the students on their own campus, lowering bandwidth requirements to off-campus locations.

    Students can request any song in the 700,000 song library (or whatever the current downloadable music library size is) and if it isn't already on their on-campus server, the server will go get it elsewhere and store it for future downloads. The students can take as much music as they want, but they will NOT NOT NOT be able to transfer these off their computer by any means: mp3 player, burning to CD/DVD.

    Let me say that again. They will NOT be able to copy, burn, transfer these files by any means. If they want to do this, they pay the $0.99 per song going rate to get the song in Windows Media format. From that point on, they can copy that song because they own it, and it will come with all the trappings of Windows Media DRM.

    Every college campus gets a custom Ruckus website, where students can publish their playlists, and if you like it, you can then download the playlist from the Ruckus server.

    Insofar as movies, the reason you can't get movies newer than 4 years old is because of all the deals in place with video rental places, movie theaters, HBO, etc. But, they point out a large segment for demand are cult classics which would be available for download.

    I've met with Company management, and this is all from their presentation.

    -evilplushtoy

  47. Re:But can you take it with you? by EaTiN+cOfFeE+bEaNs · · Score: 2, Informative

    I go to Northern Illinois University, and I could be able to shine some light onto this. The way it's working apparently (I don't know first-hand because it's only being tested out in one dorm--not mine) is that you can download as much as you want, but if you want to transfer the file onto a portable player or burn onto a CD, you have to purchase it. I'm hoping the TV selection is good on there. Our cable sucks ass here...

    --
    No TiVo and no caffeine make me something something...