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MPAA training Dogs to Sniff Out DVDs
LandownEyes writes "The dogs, Lucky and Flo, faced their first test at the FedEx UK hub at Stansted Airport.
"FedEx was glad to assist in Lucky and Flo's first live test in a working situation. They were amazingly successful at identifying packages containing DVDs, which were opened and checked by HM Customs' representatives. While all were legitimate shipments on the day, our message to anyone thinking about shipping counterfeit DVDs through the FedEx network is simple: you're going to get caught."
Kinda makes me thing twice about shipping anything through FedEX. Seriously, this is like training drug dogs to find plastic bags."
I hope so.
There goes my plan to smuggle drugs by DVD.
"Dogs have been trained to sniff out potential downloaders from airport custom queues, more news at 11"
Isn't it a tad late for april fools, or do DVDs have some odour that we humans just can't pick up on? I mean, WTF????
The sea changes color, but the sea does not change.
I wonder what would happen if I were to ship a burned DVD with Linux on it instead.
Is this real or just MPAA making false press releases to scare people off?
I wonder if FedEx will be so keen when this thing goes live and 80% of the packages have to be opened, inspected and sealed, and the number of phone calls from customers asking why.
Please stop entering code 2,2,7,6,6,4
So what happens when they find that homemade video a friend is sending you from their trip overseas?
Unless they decide to actually play every DVD, or open the packaging to see what inside a case, how are they going to know?
All a pirate would have to do is ship them in unmarked cases, or ones marked "Vacation video" and mail them to the US, where their partner opens them up and puts them in the final packing material.
Sounds like a giant waste of time to me. And for what? DVD's. We can't even be bothered to search all of the crates coming into our ports, but hell, the MPAA has enough time and money to look for fake fucking DVD's.
Morons.
"Seriously, this is like training drug dogs to find plastic bags."
Do you have a problem with that, too? I love the Slashdot mentality of how laws should be ignored if they inconvenience our petty whims.
FTFA:
Now people are stealing copyrights and not just infringing upon them?
Morale of the Day boys: Don't ship with Fedex.
Let's say I want to burn a DVD full of my graduation pictures to mail to Grandma, who lives out of state, and doesn't get out much. Does that mean the package won't get there? Or that I will be arrested and charged with piracy?
Will the DVD sniffing dogs cause my shipments from Amazon.com to be confiscated?
Of course, if the dogs were trained to attack when they found this particular illegal substance...
The universe is a figment of its own imagination.
Is it any wonder that of all the illegal products that can be shipped through the mail, the ones with the largest number of political lobbyists are getting special measures to ensure they're legitimate? This is really a case of money being used to influence politics. This is a huge invasion of privacy, and a nonsensical one at that. There's no way for these dogs to differentiate between legitimate and copied DVD's, and illegal DVD copies and legal DVD copies. Another case of the RIAA treating customers as the enemy. Makes me have no pity for them when they complain about being stolen from. Maybe if they gave their customers (you know, the people paying them) a little respect they might be able to get some sympathy and work with people to solve this problem. As it is, I think they're just contributing to it.
I've always pictured the color of OS zealotry as a sort of bright flamingo pinkish hue
They trained a dog to smell polycarbonate. Great.
that's about it. Kinda sucks if it's not a homemade video, but say, business docs on a dvd instead.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Apparently it's easy for the dogs to sniff out *only* the pirate DVDs because those are the ones that haven't washed in months and smell like salt-tack and grog.
Unfortunately they haven't figured out how to train the dogs to avoid catching their noses on the hooks when they open the package...
This just means you'll need some better airtight packaging.
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
By what authority does the MPAA have to even do this? They are a PRESSURE GROUP, not government. They are NOT THE COPS, they are NOT federal agents.
Or is this just another example of the corporations saying "JUMP!" and the government saying "how high?"
I would be interested to know how the dog distinguishes between a DVD and any other mailed product which contains plastic wrapping. Perhaps they are operating on the assumption that plastic wrapping materials of the type used to shrink wrap DVDs are not common in other types of mail. One also wonders how much of a dent this will actually make in the amount counterfeit DVDs and movie piracy in general. It was my understanding that bootleggers generally sell on the street, at swap meets, and other spontaneous social gatherings where the counterfeit goods are priced as impulse purchases at 1-2 dollars apiece. The rest are probably file sharing downloads of DVD rips to divx and such so how many bootleg DVDs, not orders from Amazon.com or NetFlix, are actually making their way through the mail system? It is probably insignificant.
Who else suddenly has an urge to go buy a spindle of DVDs and slip a blank ( convienently labeled, "MI-III" ) with everything they ship?
Seriously, if you do a cost analysis, you'll find that the 10-20 bucks wasted on the spindle buys you the option to ship a real backup copy in the future.
And speaking of backups, isn't it still fair use to make backups?
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Now wait a second. This is a test and they are opening real people's packages. WTF? (FTW?) I didn't know that shipping plastic optical media was a crime anywhere. Sure it's "customs" that's actually opening the packages, but the fact that it's plastic optical media is not probable cause. How many false positives have they had? Is it worth pissing off that many FedEx customers for the occasional actually pirated media (of which they've found zero)?
US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
Those two dogs are going to suffer tremendously long days as servents of the MPAA. Really, are these organizations totally crazy? The failure rate is going to be extremely high because people send dvds of sorts as well as CDs all over the place, and it's not illegal. I can only laugh at this. Imagine them getting an army of dogs at this hub to ID packages that contain DVDs only to hold up the shipment of mom and dad sending Juniorette a dvd of her sister's birthday party. This is excessive paranoia on the part of the MPAA. I find it incredible that FedEx is even cooperating with these fools.
You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
Drugs, high-explosives, weapons, decaptitated heads, those bowling ball type bombs with the wicks sticking out, a map of Afghanistan with Osama's hidden location clearly marked with an X, Sadamm's WMD and a 1.44 floppy with future plans on blowing up the Capital Building all went through undetected.
What if you're FedEx'ing a home movie of your child's birth (including states of undress of the mother) to your mother-in-law who couldn't be there? Would the FedEx personnel be gawking at that?
It's analogous to the P2P crackdowns where the assumption is that consumers are incapable of authoring content and only Big Media can.
And, yes, I'm a bit surprised and quite alarmed that the tampering laws that apply to U.S. mail do not apply to FedEx.
Now when they train the dogs to sniff things out based on region code, that will be news.
Prime numbers are exactly what Alan Greenspan says they are -S. Minsky
Can they tell the difference between an AOL CD and a DVD? I still have piles of the former that could be used as filler in FEDEX shipments.
Assuming this isn't fraud, it seems to me your problem is Eric can ask for this sort of rider and expect people to deliver, while you can't.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
while the real pirates are filling shipping containers with millions of them
this is nothing more than a childish bit of MPAA bullshit humor , i would expect funnier jokes or even lies from primary school kids, perhaps the MPAA dont realise they have lost!
keep grabbing sand
My list of 'bad' companies is getting very long. Is there still a 'safe' country I can move to and still have internet accesst?
Is there an open source program out there that when I tell it something I'm going to buy it will say: "Wait, product A is made by O who does E, U, and I. Try company D, H, or T instead."
The dogs have been specially trained by Scotland Yard to be able to not only sniff for the existence of DVDs in a package, but to sniff the bits and bytes embedded on the DVD. The 0s have a different smell from the 1s, so the dogs have been trained to interpret the bit patterns to know whether the DVD is pirated or legitimate.
Still, the dogs have trouble in determining the legitimacy of 10% of the DVDs. For those where the dogs have doubt, the Customs agents have been instructed by the MPAA to classify them as pirated copies. It will then be up to the sender to show up in court to prove it was not pirated.
---------
There is inferior bacteria on the interior of your posterior.
How is this even legal? They're not law enforcement AFAIK so how can they have the same powers of law enforcement? If this was the case, any citizen would be allowed just to randomly search packages at your local airport. Please someone explain all of this to someone who apparently is confused.
My sig of choice is Marlboro
I am not supporting piracy in terms of the mass distribution of movies, but i'd really rather not have all discs that i post / courier opened or examined for content. I don't send any objectionable material, or possess any. Like anyone, there are times when the material i send may be copyright (academic journals or the like), but i don't expect my paper mail to be opened without a warrant, and would expect that i'd not get unreasonable searches of my other mail.
Big brother, anyone?
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World" 1 John 4:14
It's bad enough to subject the dogs to sniffing for drugs, now we have 'em sniffing for polycarbonate plastics. There's no telling what long term effect gonna be on those canines sniffing for polycarbonate plastics day in, day out. I'm imagining to the magnitude of gum-sniffing..
Don't get me wrong, polycarbonate may be safe, nose-wise. But freshly baked CDs and DVDs do emanates a somewhat quite strong chemical odour. It's even worse when you have a cake of them.
Animal Cruelty activists!, now's your chance to show your stuff! See that Fed-Ex (Fed-Up?) logo? Go get 'em boy!
De u N
Seeing that the only true way to see if the DVD is pirated is to actually watch it. Will that mean that my privacy will be impinged upon if I want to send, video, open source software... whatever I damn well like through FedEx?
1> Make Home Movie
2> Copyright it
3> Mail it through FedEx enough times till they open it and watch it
4> Sue their arses for copyright infringement
5> Profit!
What would be cool is if they could give the dogs frickin laser beams that could open the shrinkwrap on a typical DVD!
"I have set my life upon a cast, and I will stand the hazard of the die!" -- Shakespeare, Richard III
This owuld pretty much stop my company from using FedEx for any shipments if they do this in the USA. We ship burned CDs/DVDs all the time, and I don't want the shipments delayed or damaged because they're constantly being pulled out and opened up for inspection.
Even assuming they have 100% identification of illegal DVD copies vs false positives once they open them up, they're still providing nothing useful to customers, with serious potential for loss or damage of customers' materials, solely for the benefit of a third party. If the MPAA wants to pay for my Fedex shipping, then we can talk, but if I'm paying for it, you can bet your ass I'll be making life miserable for fedex employees when my shipment is delayed or damaged because of this crap.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
The Press Release instructs you to contact the following people for more information. I invite anyone concerned about this to do so as soon as possible.
For further information:
Eddy Leviten, FACT Head of Communications: 020 8568 6646/ 07768 057464
eddy.leviten@fact-uk.org.uk
LA: Kori Bernards or Elizabeth Kaltman: (818) 995-6600
DC: John Feehery or Gayle Osterberg: (202) 293-1966
I always ship my bootleg dvds via media mail it's soooooo damn cheap!
I guess I'll have to start wrapping the DVDs up in condoms and ingesting them.
I'm joking... sort of. Honestly, what good is this going to do, besides pissing off legitimate customers, thereby contributing to the further decline of the MPAA... ahm... oh. Keep up the good work!
I am the man with no sig!
DVD sniffing dogs? Gee I have a bunch of DVD for my Mac that I always carry for emergencies what are they going to do about those?
Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't this like in old Nazi Germany where the German Shepards where trained to sniff out Jews and the other people?
Or why not have them patrol college dorms? I mean...technically the students don't have property rights aside from those the school grants them.
Oh, thats right....because IT IS MORALLY FUCKING WRONG!
I'm REALLY curious if there's any way to tell if your package has been tampered with due to one of these cd-sniffers, and if so is there any legal recourse? I'm assuming since its a corporation the answer is just to take my money elsewhere.
Note to self...."misplace" all company FedEx materials and make them use UPS or DHL.
In response to the MPAA actually doing this? Well...can any of you honestly say that while you might not have expected just this scenario....you're not at all surprised that something like this seriously is happening?
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
No wonder delivery of my Netfix discs has been slow with a couple that never arrived.
Don't donate them to that company that wants to dump the CDs on AOL's doorstep! Save all those CD/DVDs, and send then VIA FedEx to the MPAA AND the RIAA, saying "Here's where you lose 95% of your profit! There's your pirate ring! They've been at it, helping millions of users download illegal stuff every day! And they've been delivering the piracy software FOR FREE!!!!"
Sorry, I hate AOL and this was just too good to pass up.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
...a bunch of religious fanatics from the middle of an arbitrarily designated direction are packing a dirty bomb into a crate that they plan to ship to DC via FedEx which will slide by the dogs undetected.... ...OK fine. I admit it I have been drinking. Alot.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
We know most of those make it through to keep a thriving market alive.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
you send. Make sure you write "FUCK YOU MPAA" on them.
retrain their vast array of lawyers on their area they should excel?
Since when did the MPAA become a "enforcement body"? We already have the FBI. The MPAA should not have th authority to open up my PRIVATE mail to see whats inside. I do not know the legality of the rights of users of mail carriers, but I suspect that they should need a WARRENT to inspect my baggage. My baggage, if it did contain illegal DVDs, would not cause any threat to the carrier or its surroundings, so their is no just cause to inspect my baggage because of how a dog smells it. This is the MPAA trying to go past its privileges as a copyright holder, and not an inspecting or enforcement body. Leave it to the FBI to handle mass piracy issues, since theirs a FBI warning on the DVDs. And we all know that the FBIs top priority is the piracy of $10 DVDs, and not anti terrorism, or homeland security.
$sig$
Many businesses probably can't stop using FedEx entirely, but imagine if everyone stuck in a CD or three in every package they had to send :D
If I ever ship to the UK, I think I'm going to include a few unmarked coasters just for grins.
Geez. The war on drugs has gone so well that the price of drugs is at an alltime low (for you capatalist that would either mean no demand (yeah right) or that supply is plenty). Trafficing in human beings is making sure that slavery is with us more then 100 years after it was outlawed. Gun trafficing needs no explenation and some sources suggest that trafficing in illegal animals is just as good a business as drugs.
But lets start checking for copied dvd's. It only fails on just few tiny details only a bastard would point out.
Nah this is a stupid idea. With drugs dogs you at least know that if they smell any drugs that you got a very high chance it is illegal but here they just smell the container. To actually check them to see if the disc contains illegal information is like opening a letter and read the contents. Lots of loss of privacy.
So any real copyright infringement will be unaffected, it is just another way for people to snoop on you. Do you really want some RIAA goon to check your kids birthday that you send to your parents?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
The canine DVD sniffing program would have been launched earlier, but the first few batches of doggy recruits kept getting expelled from the program for playing too much Diablo and Warcraft.
So long as Netflix still uses the US Postal Service, the mail will be a safe method for shipping pirated DVDs.
Can you imagine the stink the Netflix lawyers would raise if every one of their shipments started being intercepted?
The US free market: two halves of a government-granted duopoly are free to set the market price.
Then so much of the latest stuff has been a bad batch....
--
Given enough personal experience, all stereotypes are shallow.
Those MPAA Dogs!!
Shipping them in unmarked cases is a start, but to really guarantee the items against confiscation, they'd just need to add a holographic "This is a DRM Anti-Piracy Copyright Protection Seal" label on the seam of each case. At that point, the mere discussion of how to circumvent said label & gain unauthorized access to the contents would be a class C felony.
Pi Ran Out
I don't ever ship with fedex, but I'm pretty sure the form you sign when you send a package states that your package may be inspected for ANY reason. I ship to Canada quite a bit and have had several packages delayed because of customs inspections. It's interesting that the MPAA can just walk into an airport and open up packages. Just shows you how much control they have on an international scale...
http://www.revmediaphotography.com
After the initial WTF?!?!, the first thought that popped into my head was of an incident that occured in W. Germany, 1979 while I was stationed there (US Army). ..."what if we melt the wax, crumble up oh, say about 10 grams of hash into the melted wax, then heavily wax the floors?"
:)
;)
We (us hash smokers) had a contact in the MP detatchment that would alert us when they were going to bring the dogs in the barracks for *surprise* drug sniffing ops. Usually we would just consume all substances before they got there. One time my team mate got an idea....
We used Johnson's Paste Wax (tm) on our barracks floors (as required) to keep it nice and shiny, the barracks used steam radiators for heat, which we would set the can of wax on to soften it for easier application.
Well, overkill being one of my team's trademarks, it ended up we mixed 30 grams of some really good "bubblegum black" hash into the wax, used the whole can on the entryway floor, and buffed.
The MP's and two dogs showed up about half an hour later- the dogs went NUTS!
They both went running around in little circles howling and whining for about 30 seconds, then bolted for the door trying to exit the barracks, the MP's could not gain control and had to let them out of the building.
Several of the remaining MP's made a search, but could not find anything.
Later on our contact told us that whatever we did totally burnt out the two dogs- they were worthless as "sniffing" dogs after that and were put on patrol duty. We never did tell him what we had done. (I use the term contact because he was one of our suppliers- we got most of our hash from such MP's!)
Now, off to my lab to synth some "Pirated DVD Smell" to spray on ALL of my mail/packages! Muuhahhaahhaaahhaa
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Do I smell a transition to DivX/XviD based CDs. Or just a lot of flash media which happens to have DivX/XviD content encoded on a one time pad?
Seriously, if they make possesion of a DVD tantamount to piracy, force people to show all of their DVDs including the naughty ones, they will simply force a transition to other less controllable physical media. Couple that with the nascent clusterfsck which HD-DVD and BluRay is becoming and you have a total loss of control over media and distribution which is the ony justification for the MPAA!
Hilarious stealth acronym
As the title says, I honestly doubt this is legal in the US. The mere existance of a DVD doesn't constitute probable cause.
I don't recall signing any contract with FedEx that says they can search my goods, but even if I did the Constitution trumps that. I haven't got a problem with them opening it for technical reasons (repacking a mangled package, perhaps, which I'd accept gladly), but opening them for the purposes of determing if you've broken some law probably won't pass 4th Amendment muster.
As a positive example, while I'm not a fan of the drug war, a trained drug dog identifying a package as containing an illegal drug would probably be probable cause, because whatever small quantity of legal cocaine in the country (for research), if any, is unlikely to be sent through FedEx. But the mere existance of a DVD is nowhere near probable cause by any reasonable standard; I can't imagine that anything but the vast majority of optical media going through Fedex is perfectly legal.
However, my guess is the MPAA knows this, and this is a publicity stunt only.
(Finally, I'm not a dog, but I wouldn't be surprised they're not smelling DVDs so much as the packaging they usually come in, which has that New Plastic smell so strongly a human might be able to do this. If so, this is almost funny, because they'll never come up with the illegal DVDs that way. It'd depend on the training, and we don't have enough data to be sure either way.)
i'm allergic to dogs, so i can't have packages be handled by a bunch of blo.. i mean, DVD sniffing K-9's and go on with business like usual. i'd start sneezing everytime i get a package in the mail.
I think Snoop Dogg has got an copyright/patent infringement case here. RIAA vs MPAA death match.
Find a friend in another state that will be in on it. (This is Slashdot, I know its hard.) And print a bunch of fake plastic movie labels and slide them in on the outside of the plastic DVD boxes. Make the labels say stuff like. "Scary Movie 4", and "Big Momma's House". Insert burned DVD with a obscene Anti-MPAA video message on it that encourages piracy. Put a movie label on the DVD, then insert into plastic box. Close box and put clear plastic tape on the outside of the DVD container making it a complete bitch to open them. Insert a binding license agreement on the back of the box that says. "By opening this container, you agree to the licensing terms herein". Licence each DVD box at $800.
Ship.
???
Profit !!!
When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. - Jefferson
> slip a blank ( convienently labeled, "MI-III" ) with everything they ship
/dev/urandom onto the disk. They'll probably end up spending over $10,000 per package by calling in the MPAA, the RIAA, the NSA, the CIA, and the DHS. After a few dozen false alarms, maybe they'll learn to stop invading customer privacy.
Instead of sending a blank, why not just burn 9.4GB of
Just drop a dvd with a virus on it in the mail along with your packages.
FedEx was glad to help out on the test, I'm sure, but there's no way FedEx is going to let these dogs sniff every package.
I worked at a FedEx sort facility as a package handler for a few months, and I'll tell you right now, those packages sit still for a total of 5 seconds once those trailers are opened. They go from the trailer to the belt, to the package handler, to the drivers, in the truck and out the door. No drivers are going to stand there and let a dog sniff out every package for a potential DVDs, especially if they have an appointment delivery to keep.
I can remember mornings when trailers were late in getting to the terminal by five minutes and those drivers were whining so much it wasn't even funny. Now, I suppose they could be sniffed at some other point, but any delay will smear FedEx's "The World on Time" image. They're not going to be willing to do that, nor any other shipping company.
Besides, if they do cooperate, just ship it through the mail, or UPS, or DHL.
Not that I condone in any way the illegal distribution of copied movies.
Not that I condone the invasion of privacy either.
It's just a lose-lose situation all around.
I can just see "Inspector Leopard of Scotland Yard, Special Fraud Film Director Squad" focusing on the clearly fraudulent shipment of DVD's that the dog has identified, while the crate marked "Warning: Illegal Terrorist Shipment" slides slowly down the conveyor completely unnoticed.
Don't even know the difference between a CD and a DVD.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
In other news, a recent trend is appearing amongst FedExers to insert a doggie treat into each package they ship. The cause is unknown.
are DVDs chemically stable? I mean if even factory-burned discs give off
enough fumes to be detected by dogs then there is no way I would trust
this medium for my archival purposes. I want something that is inert
and stable.
UPS, on the other hand, remains friendly to software pirates worldwide.
Normality is now: overrated.
or was ot an apple a day keeps the dog's away... ? :)
Next thing you know they will be sending their dogs on TCP/IP courses so they can packet-sniff ISPs for illegal torrent data.
Blessed are the 1337, for they shall pwn the earth.
By the way: here is the MPAA sniffing dog for P2P networks.
it's a strong, distinctive smell. Of course dogs can pick it up.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Wouldn't it be agaist the law if they open a package that does not contain anything illegal? It is after all a federal offense to tamper with someones mail. Not sure if this is extended to Fed Ex, UPS, et al. In the US at least...
If I were paying Her Majesty's taxes I would be really pissed off if my public servants were wasting their time in the service of the MPAA...
...ubuntu live cds thru fedex.
Either they will claim it's piracy or better, use them to replace their windows systems.
This only proves that distribution doesn't cost so much after all.
I sent a comment to FedEx at from this pages t=y&formpage=general
https://www.fedex.com/cgi-bin/qrf2.cgi?link=4&fir
on their website. This is an important topic, and people should let them know how they feel about it. Please take some time to leave an intelligent comment about this issue.
You know, if this ever started really being practiced, everyone on Slashdot should burn pirated movies and spam them to all the MPAA executives via USPS. Then each executive can have a massive pile of at least 100,000 pirated DVDs at their door. That would be awesome. Maybe mix it up with some Ubuntu DVDs.
At least they won't be able to open those, and the consulate can distribute my wares like they've been doing in the past. Now, where's that Post Anonymously box...
... you have to pay customs to watch your media.
In Chile it used to be so that if the customs people at the airport found a video tape or DVD in your luggage, it was retained for a couple of days so they could check it for illegal porn, or forbidden movies (like the last temptation of Christ). To recover your material you had to go pick it up at the customs office (which was a major pain in the ass if you planned on leaving the city where you entered the country in your first few days here), and pay a "viewing fee". In other words, they passed the cost of someone viewing your stuff onto you.
I don't know what the situation is now,though. I haven't heard of this being applied in the last few years.
Slashdot: news from nerds.
Can they sniff out bad movies? A lot of sequels and Adam Sandler films are sneaking past customs. If they can train them to sniff out copies of Basic Instinct II a lot of needless suffering could be avoided. As bad as some of these stinkers smell a dog with a headcold should be able to sniff them out from across the street.
The training cost for the next generation of dogs should be higher. They'll need to train them both for the HD-DVD and the Blu-Ray disc if they want to be effective until we get a new standard. But as a reference to a recent subject, maybe these dogs will promote the new standard instead of the game consoles. The one standard who smells the worst should win the battle because it will limit optimally the piracy. Then I now understand why HD-DVD should win.
For(k;;)(Fork();)
I can see loads of potential for amusement in NSW. They use sniffer dogs here to detect people who might be carrying drugs in public.
I'm sure some enterprising janitor could use some interesting additives in whatever they use to clean the railway station concourse and then watch the fun...
C'mon, I'm not proposing anything here, it's just too obvious.
Incorrect. That's like saying your problem with O.J. Simpson is that he can get away with murder and you can't. Your problem is really that he shouldn't (commit murder in O.J.'s case, be a grandstanding ass in Raymond's); you don't want to in the first place.
In other news, the Catholic church has also trained dogs for inspecting bags, not for DVDs but for condoms.
A church official said that they want to make sure that sinners do not attend church.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
Really, even I can smell an awful ammonia smell whenever I open up my spindle of CDR's but I know if you put cayenne pepper where a dog has to smell, that kills them quite quickly when done regularly. My grandparents dog came up their porch and pee-ed all over it all the time. They used cayenne pepper and after about a week the dog had his 4 paws in the air.
Go to the bulk barn and get black pepper (still in tact, not ground up already) and an assortment of chillie peppers, cayanne peppers, and anything else that makes your eyes water when you open the big bulk lids! When you get home, grind up the black peppers as you use them (they will be fresher and more effective). Mix the black and various other peppers together in a sandwich bag, and then spread it in your garden wherever the dogs/cat go. They always sniff first, and they will get a nose full of pepper and go away unhappy. You will have to repaet every few days for about two week. The dogs remember not to go to your lawn because of the peppers after a few times. You will end up spending as little as $5.00 or less. A little goes a long way.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
Would be to send a slideshow of The Best Of Goatse Add a Sony Rootkit for extra fun.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
I think the most effective strategy would be to burn actual movies whose copyright has expired from archive.org and labeling them something like btlegmovrip3241.avi. Imagine how much fun they would have trying to determine the copyright status of all these movies.
If you can read this sig, you're too close.
FedEx: We let everyone with an issue and their dog sniff your packages! And we open them up and look inside if the dog thinks it smells something!
FedEx: We definitely didn't think this one through!
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I send DVD-Rs with Knoppix Linux on them to public schools. I will not be able to use Fed Ed.
This is the equivalent of an organized crime family that sells magazines bribing the US Mail to confiscate their competitors magazines from the Mail.
I am sending a certified mail letter to Fed Ex explaining why neither I, nor the university I teach at will EVER use Fed Ex to send our research results again.
It's more and more clear that Fed Ex wants to stop all university research, and all FOSS.
Andy Out!
So if I ship my DVDs in a netflix enevelope wil they opne them. If they play them to see what they contain are they violating thr DRM? Do they he probable cause to perform this search?
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
I'm not a fan of content piracy, but the MPAA is dumb and aggrivating, so I'm going to suggest that everyone should start enclosing some completely legal (and really cheap -- like a bad movie or a coaster) with every package that they send that might go through a location that has these dogs.
When the MPAA quits acting like they are special (and bullies at the same time) and start trying stuff that makes sense many people will respect them. They are just so retarded right now.
Its all fear, they train one or two show pony sniffer dogs and get into the News... Planting the seeds of doubt... "Oh NOES!! I can't send Pirate DVDs! the doggies will catch me!"
...
What a load of ass, the number of dogs, the number of false positives,.. Its just not viable on a wide scale
What are the dogs sniffing out? Inks? plastics? Will they train them to detect every brand of media? Will they retrain when a new format comes out?
This is a joke.
The media companies are in cahoots with the celery people to rule the world!
But seriously, I too had the same odd realization that my discs smelled strongly of celery...
Can it really be hard to get your hands on a few sheets of a non-permeable plastic sheet and a plastic welder? Bam, hermetically sealed cargo - dogs got nothin'. Save for residual odors, but if you're careful, it's not a problem.
Why do you think it is legal to attempt to interfere with and impede the operations of the US Customs? Do you think it is that easy to slip away from your Government's power over you?
MPAA needs dogs that can detect the smell of crappy movies.
As tempting as it is to send DVDs that have firmware upgrades for players, etc. or just random noise there is a downside. The false positive insures an opened package and as I learned this Christmas sending a stuffed suitcase through customs, not all inside made it back in afer inspection, curiously the canned crab went missing, and they are not real smart. They opened the sealed package of dog treats in one bag. In another they punched a hole through the bag of coffee (coffee is often used to mask drugs, now the dogs sniff out coffee too) instead of just unfolding the top like a normal person who has seen a store ground coffee bag. And when they repacked the cases they didn't bother to pad the Christmas ornaments (small ones for a small tree) they packed a now unwrapped bottle of wine next to the now unpadded glass ornaments. Needless to say Christmas carnage ensued. So maybe think twice about just what packages you ship with a blank CD inside. Oh, and if you do, think about using hot melt glue to bond the disc to the box. "But you really shouldn't do that!"(TM)
- Tjp
I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!
They're planning on opening fedex packages up which they believe to contain DVDs without any other reason to suspect that illegal copies of a DVD is being mailed? I feel that's kind of wrong, for someone to go through my mail or packages just because I ordered some DVDs online (maybe even foreign DVDs I can't get in the states).
Doesn't the law require them to actually have a high probability of some offence before they're allowed to open packages to check its contents.
HD Trailers
"Seriously, this is like training drug dogs to find plastic bags."
Excellent analogy that punches through the clouds that the "Terror War" have cast on our sense of personal violation by the state.
Corporate globalism, with no basis in justice or recognition of any rights beyond corporate property, means everyone is guilty until proven not liable by a corporate lawyer. Accusation = proof, just like medieval faith governments.
--
make install -not war
DVD's sniff you
Every time you ship something by FedEx, drop in an old AOL CD or a CD that you burned that you don't need anymore, etc. I throw away a dozen burnable CDs every month. Save them for FedEx! Even better, burn a DVD of your favorite Open Source software, like OpenOffice, Firefox, etc, and give a free gift to everyone you send FedEx to.
On a related note, it would be a good idea for people to make up a "tincture of cannabis" type spray and use it on baggage, around customs areas, on packages, in mail boxes, on FedEx envelopes, etc. You would need to get some pot leaves (stuff that's not smokable would be fine), use it to infuse alcohol, and then dilute the alcohol with water, and you have a spray. It would not contain any active ingredient so it would be legal, and it's not a weapon, so there's really no problem with giving things a little "eau de pot".
Ha ha, my Captcha image for this post is "copied".
Did you know that if you follow the link to the article on spacegrinder, you can download a PDF from the MPAA.org site (in case anyone still thinks it's a joke), and it contains the email address of the contact person at FACT? If I were this person, I should be living in terrible fear of having my emailbox slashdotted right about now.
just imagine - give everyone at the airport an AOL CD so they can
put in their suite-case.
How about installing a pirated, spyware ridden, bug infested, registry hacked, keystroke logging version of Windows?
I switched to listen to open music from magnatune. ...
Now, where can I find an open content movie site, with stuff like documentaries, political comentaries, science shows, history,
Since it seems like the MPAA is all about using strong arm tactics to get potentential customers to buy their stuff.
PS, Is there any way we can reduce the copyright term from "life plus infinity" to something that makes sense?
A younger friend told me of a similar monkeywrenching episode at his HS. When word got out that the drug dogs were coming through, a few of the more politically aware stoners got together and sprayed the hallways, lockers, and other areas with dirty bongwater. Special attention was paid to the teacher's lounge and the administrative offices. :)
:)
When the dogs came through, they went absolutely apeshit and had to be removed, with no actual drugs being found.
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
>Incorrect. That's like saying your problem with O.J. Simpson is that he can get away with murder and you can't.
Asking for a prima donna rider for appearances is not murder.
>you don't want to in the first place.
Oh come now. EVERYBODY would like first class vip treatment.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Didn't the MPAA consider using detector vans, like when the BSA rolled out its pirate software detector vans? I hear you can get them real cheap from the Ministry of Housinge.
Why do I have the depressing feeling that shipping 9.4GB of
We apologize for the preceding message. All those responsible have been sacked.
Before you know it, they'll be training dogs to sniff out ass smells. We already know that they excel in this area already so it'll be a winning scenario for all!
Surely a bulk shipment of DVD/CD media will show up on X-ray machinery already in use? The X-ray machine doesn't need food or shelter, won't crap on the floor, and you already have trained operators. What have they gained here?
Patent litigation: A doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction... in which everyone seems willing to push the button
dvd's are SO low density.
hard drives hold much much more data, anyway. plus, they don't have the sentiness* that the dogs look for in the dvds. I think I'll ship my pirated movies, from now on, in hard drive format. yeah, good idea.
*stephen colbert can bite me!
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Yeah, but not by being a jackass. Just like everyone wants vengeance, but not necessarily by murder.
Bonsai Kitten: TNG
I know this from...a trainer, we'll leave it at that. They have ways to make dogs indicate a "hit", using body language or subtle hand movements, etc., that part varies. They use that "technique" all the time when they want to search a car for instance even when the dog doesn't have a legit "hit". Just one of the many ways they circumvent the real laws. Here's another, carrying a "throw away". They will have access to a confiscated firearm, if involved in "an unfortunate shooting when the perp made a threatening movement" they can stick the gun in his dead hands.
They do stuff like that all the time.
Anyway, I don't have a big problem with them finding legitimate counterfeit disks, indications of mass piracy for profit. There's an easier solution, a few nations specialise in that trade, the authorities know who they are. Stop trade with them, cut it off.
The US and UK have borked their manufacturing base so much now through "globalism and wonderful 'free' trade" that they can't do that very effectively.
The movie industry could cut "piracy" off overnight, they choose not to. Retail sell disks for a few dollars, which they could do. They would rather bitch, get new laws, and insist on a hugely jacked up artificial price that in no way reflects costs and a reasonable profit margin. They still want as much for a new release on disk as they charged for a new release on tape 10-15 years ago. I mean, c'mon now, it is MUCH cheaper to duplicate movies now, and the transportation/warehouse, etc costs are much lower, and cost of movie production has only gone up a little, nothing like what these prices represent compared to their past cost of actual physical production.
In short, they have brainwashed themselves into believing their own bullshit. They honestly believe that 20 or 25 bucks for a quarter disk is a deal to the drooling masses. At three bucks they would sell BILLIONS of freaking disks. 3$ is an impulse item charge, people would be grabbing handfuls of them, not even bothering with most file trading or looking up "CD Leroy" at the flea market.
People are just not that stupid or naieve about costs anymore, not when EVERYONE knows how cheap it is to make dupes. Cost of movie production today-not a lot different from ten years ago. It has gone up some, but not that much. They refuse to drop prices on their offerings though, flat out refuse. All they want is lock on advanced tech for themselves, they want you to keep paying like it's 1990 or something. THAT is what wrong with their current business model and why piracy and file sharing is so common now. People have little moral qualms over shafting the mafia if it looks like they can get away with it, and that's all the **AAs are, mafia goons masquerading as businessmen. The **AAs-the companies they represent-screw the talent, screw the customer, and screw each other, it is one of the most shameless corrupt and bogus industries out there.
It's a cartel,and if that NY prosecutor always in the news wants to investigate price fixing,collusion, etc, he could start there with the DVD movie selling industry.
Someone needs to smack the Hollywood dweebs with the reality cluestick and introduce them to the concept of "volume sales" and how "net" is more important than 'gross" and how "serve your customer" is a better idea than "gouge-shaft-screw and prosecute" your customer.
They are so used to being in a scumbag industry and dealing with fellow scumbags and being around scumbags all day long they just ass-ume everyone is like that. And they wonder why people have so little respect for them or could give a care about their profits now.
Money is bound by no jurisdiction.
Because this is the MPAA and FedEx, not Customs?
Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
I'll be impressed when they can train the dogs to sniff out shitty movies.
nuts, the MPAA and RIAA are simply nazi's.
Why do you think it is legal to attempt to interfere with and impede the operations of the US Customs?
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Why do they think it's legal to treat me as guilty until I prove myself innocent?
A label isn't "digital rights management"...
Please help metamoderate.
"Seriously, this is like training drug dogs to find plastic bags."
What, you mean I can't ship sandwiches with FedEx anymore?
This is so inanely absurd. Just because it's a DVD, doesn't mean it's illegal. Just because someone has a baggie full of white powder, doesn't mean it's illegal either.
Imagine bringing a baggie full of baking soda and salt through airport security for example, trying to explain to them that you use that as an alternative to brush one's teeth due to the harmful chemicals they put in toothpaste.
Imagine having a case of syringes you bring with you to college because you like infecting your burritos full of hot sauce.
This isn't as stupid as it may seem at first inspection.
/dev/urandom and use it to encrypt the "real" content as a one time pad.
Send a 9.4 GB of
Send both via different routes or at different times and unless you know which two match
all you get is random numbers. If a one time pad is good enough for the Secret Squirrel
spy guys, it should be good enough here.
you got rid of the dogs, but what about all the bums licking your floor?
Put those aol discs to use, grab a few 'free' discs, grab a fedex flat rate mailer and donate the postage amount to the cause, if we all
do this they're going to need a whole bunch of dogs and a whole lot of customs inspectors.
If the MPAA/RIAA had its way they would be checking data at the airport, much like a currency needs to be declared now if your carrying a lot of it.
I travel quite a bit via Airplane with are a relatively large amount of data (a little over a TB) the majority of which is legitimate
but would certainly appear to be bootleg (OS disc images, multiple virtual machines, music and video that I have transcoded from media that I have purchased, etc.)
Its already a lot of fun with TSA looking, looking and looking some more but imagine having to have your data examined; encrypt it and your a crook, leave it unprotected and your a fool, either way you know they would love to see it. Paranoid? maybe but this is really getting out of hand.
Unix, an obscure operating system developed by bored researchers in an attempt to get a better game playing experience.
Seriously, who came up with this idea. This goes to show what a crackpot organization the MPAA is. What for profit company has the cash to train animals to sniff out "pirates"? MPAA does. I can think of one prime example: the De Beers diamond cartel in Africa. Like MPAA, De Beers has also received prejudicial treatment from the current administration. It also holds nearly 80% of the global diamond market, and is the sole reason that diamonds are indeed so valuable. By stockpiling diamonds via its monopoly, De Beers inflates the price while simultaneously using its marketing (A Diamond is Forever) to drive up demand. Feel free to read how wonderful a citizen this company is and has been throughout its history. De Beers would kill and does kill to ensure its diamond monopoly is unhindered. De Beers diamond mines would rival the security at the prison Zacharias Mousaoui was sentenced to last week. To me there seems to be a clear parallel between De Beers and the MPAA (or RIAA). Inflate prices through monopoly, buy off the government, drown any possible competition in paperwork, and prevent legitimate competition from freely working (DRM for indie artists, anyone?). I'll choose to vote with my wallet. Of course, it is also quite easy to complain to the FTC about antitrust violations.
But I suddenly have a tremendous urge to go mailing crates of blank DVDs to random people around the world.
You have tried to support your argument with faulty reasoning! Go directly to jail; do not pass Go, do not collect $200!
Lets say, for the sake of argument, I'm a US police official specializing in using bomb-sniffing (and now DVD-sniffing) dogs. My best friend goes ballistic over a package marked for [insert media outlet here] and, upon opening the package, I find a screener copy of [insert over-hyped film, three weeks before release]. WWJD?
It doesn't matter who is overseeing sensitive media; a party with interests other than that of the industry will be there to snag a copy. On a side, the money spent on this project alone is probably not even close to the salary of a well-known celebrity for a three-week role, so it's probably in the best interest of the MPAA and, eventually, the RIAA (who will be opening all your mail from Amazon.com and the like) to start this project country-wide immediately. And to the comforted, who believe this is only for bulk-mail shipments, please think slightly harder.
You deserve a Nobel prize for that
You have tried to support your argument with faulty reasoning! Go directly to jail; do not pass Go, do not collect $200!
I'll divulge what I know...
First, coffee beans. Supposedly, if your cannabis, hard drugs or DVDs are wrapped in coffee, dogs can't distinguish it.
Second, airtight packaging seems a little impractical; at 35,000 AGL you're likely to pop whatever airtight container you're shipping. Tupperware I suppose? Human-occupied cabins are pressurized; I don't know about cargo compartments on FedEx planes. Even so, unless you can vacuum seal it, it's not worth risking a change in elevation (more a concern for drugs than your DVDs, but whatever).
You could ship it ground, but only from Mexico and Canada (not large purveyors of pirated content; I'm thinking China and the Middle East). You could ship it by boat, but it takes a long time (and it's hard to do if you don't have something ginormous like a car or the Statue of Liberty or something).
Lastly, even if you could seal it such that it was air tight and practical, you have to get the scent off the outside of the package. With drugs, this is huge, because most drugs are not cohesive like a DVD (they're either liquid, granular, or in the case of pot, 'crystally' and 'sticky' hehe). For a DVD... who knows what particles make up their scent or how 'sticky' they are.
If you actually found a way to do all of this airproofing on an economical scale, you're in business. Think of the stinkiest thing ever - a French person (no j/k) a can of garlic, vinegar, ammonia, chlorine (for pools/spas), a fart/turd, whatever. If you seal it well, you can't smell it, right? Now seal it 40x better, because dog's noses are that much more sensitive... and you're sniffing-dog-proof. I've never tried it; but it's not that complicated, really. Dog's don't have ESP; they have sensitive nostrils. The inside of a truly airtight container cannot be detected by scent alone.
Me, I'd go with the coffee bean idea, and no return address (they can't prosecute you because some guy in China sent you a bunch of DVDs, right? Especially if you're smart and don't have evidence at your house).
Drug trafficers sometimes pack coffee with their contraban to throw off the dogs at the airport. If that is the case, put a small bag of Millstone in your computer satchel.
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
Can the dogs smell through a sealed-glass container?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
LOL!!!
Wouldn't surprise me if some moron tried scraping some up and trying to smoke it! Ughhhh!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
There are so many thoughts on this silly idea... So the dogs sniff WHAT? DVD-R discs? Will the dogs sniff the data, DRM and region codes too? Just to totally throw them off I would be happy to mail 1000 DVD-Rs, each inkjet printed with a movie title. But they're blank. Then I would get on their case for opening and delaying my delivery of blank DVD-Rs.
Another thought, however, is that this is a pure publicity stunt. Those dogs will NOT be around all the FedEx parcels. It would take WAY too long. In Japan, where I live, FedEx packages practically make it through customes without any checks. They move too fast. If the inspectors insist that each package be checked, FedEx will just flex some administrative connection muscle and get them to stop. One guy that works at FedEx told me that if I wanted to smuggle drugs, forget about taking a package by hand, just mail it FedEx and it will most likely make it. (No guarantees though, since ONCE IN A WHILE, the dogs are there, and would sniff suspicious looking parcels.) As for drugs, it makes some sense. With DVDs, it won't work, because you can't tell the difference between legit and non-legit, and I'm willing to bet that it was't just that particular day that most packages contained false positives.
You could even further reduce cost by breaking single DVDs into pieces and 'decorating' your packages and envelopes with it. It's a bit more work I guess, but DVD sprinkles actually look nice ;)
And when you gaze long enough into the code, the code will also gaze into you.
Fuck a dog.
You know those X-Ray things that your laptop has to go through at airport security?
Have you ever seen a CD/DVD in the microwave? I realize it's a different energy... but I'll bet that a case of 1000s of DVDs is going to look suspcious enough on X-Ray to give them a perfectly legit reason to open the case; that is, if they can't immediately tell that they're DVDs.
Sorry, I don't know any facts here... they do use X-Ray on international FedEx packages, don't they? Wouldn't a DVD show up on it?
To be perfectly honest, I've never heard of these giant pirating rings in the US. That doesn't mean they're not there, but... it seems like the MPAA is trying to get the public to associate pirating with the same subcutlure as drugs. Everyone's nailed the coffin shut on the practicality with this. Why else would they resort to being so eccentric? Desperate, even.
And think of the poor dogs! Instead of enjoying the good life being someone's pet, or saving peoples' lives, or being attack hounds, they catch... movie bootleggers. What a life! Hehe.
Current Dept Justice Priorities:
1. Counterfit crapola
2. Sex toys (in Alabama, Georgia, Texas)
3. Nail clippers on planes
4. Murderers, bombers, thieves, etc
... for any Unabomber types who get pissed off at Fed EX
I don't trust atoms -- they make up stuff.
No matter what's on the DVD (if it's a burn), just label it "Home movies - July 2005" or something. It can always be re-labeled upon arrival if that even matters. If they view it, I'm sure that's got to be infringing on privacy somehow or another.
Planet Zebeth - Metroid with a twist
I say we all send blank DVD-Rs with movie titles written on them, let them waste their time until it's not worth it anymore.
We pay almost NO taxes for all the shit that we have. It's called "debt" and we are up to our armpits in it. Luckily, we all probably wont live long enough to have to worry about paying it off. Thanks kids and grandkids!
"While all were legitimate shipments on the day, our message to anyone thinking about shipping counterfeit DVDs through the FedEx network is simple: you're going to get caught."
No there message should be, any and all packages containing any type of cd media will be opened and searched/viewed, (including company backups and other secure information). How this can be legal and why fedex would agreee to this in any way is beyond my understanding.
TruePunk | Games
You can ship marijuana in 2 baby jars put inside a wide mouth mason jar and than filled with a heavy cooking oil. Impossible for any significant amount of odor to get through that much oil. Some people wrap the marijuana inside the baby jars, I do not think it is neccesary. You have to reseal the baby jars though.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
I bought a Hafler amp on eBay and Customs decided they wanted a look at it. Not supprised, on an X-ray it's a thing with big, spikey looking fins (heat sinks). They opened it, decided it was ok, carefully rewrapped it, sealed it with green US Customs tape to let me know they'd looked at it, and sent it on it's way.
Now I personally have no problem with this if (and only if) they are inspecting bulk shipments. First, only in a bulk shipment woudl you find enough movies to make it worth while (stopping them 1 and 2 at a time is not cost effective) and second the people doing bulk are usually aren't just commiting copyright infringement, they are commiting fraud. They are often trying to pass off their movies as orignals for profit. That I think you have to object to, regardless of you stances on copyright. Copying a movie for no profit online is one thing, trying to pass counterfit copies off as legit is another.
So if they are going after the bulk movies, and I'd assume they are, then I say good. THAT is a part of the "piracy" war we want to see. The fraudsters do not deserve money, consumers do not deserve to be ripped off with counterfit goods. However if they are looking for some guy sending 2 burned DVDs to his buddy, then they need to quit wasting the time of customes agents.
when i travel, i don't bring dvds with me. i rip them to .iso and mount them on my laptop for viewing. good luck sniffing my sectors.
Actually they're not at all interested in "cutting off piracy" (instead they're all interested in cutting off privacy which is what I just accidentally mistyped). They're happy to have another way to criminalize you and send you to jail for a couple of years right along with the kid next door smoking pot because you "pirated" one of their movies or songs. Since prisons have been privatized in the US you could even be sent to Sony Prison.
I swear, slashdotters don't even read the summary anymore. It says right there that this is a customs thing, but half the comments are whiny crap talking about domestic US shipments.
This is stupid, but it's not a violation of privacy. Read before you post, people!
KILL THE DOGS! before they evolve
So if you commit a crime "between countries," what happens?
Don't you know? Software and media companies name an action that doesn't have anything in common after it. And you probably get away with the crime.
Being a customs broker, i am amazed at the volume of reply's citing privacy rights. With packages entering the US each and every one is subject to customs search, which is not payed by taxes but paid by the consignee or ultimate recieving party. Also when you send a package internationally or domestically you agree that it may and probably will be inspected by either mechanical or human means. Read the fine print.... If you dont want to open yourself to a 4th party inspection, dont use a 3rd party courier.... Also, every container entering our ports IS inspected, by means of an x-ray machine "VICAS". Customs officers are employed to inspect shipments, they are not wasting time inspecting shipments personally. They are doing their job THOUROUGHLY. I bet you wouldnt complain if the same could be said for the DMV.
How can this even be legal? What bone head brainless piece of shit at FedEx allowed the MPAA to do this? If I ship a DVD to some one I expect it to only be opened by one person, the recipient. This would be like the RIAA going to the post office and opening everyones mail looking for lyrics. Un fucking believable! Well, the MPAA has pushed me into buying even FEWER DVDs this year.
"I bow to no man" - Riddick
Now for the good of all humanity, please NEVER play that "song" again.
After a few dozen false alarms, maybe they'll learn to stop invading customer privacy.
After a few dozen false alarms, **YOU** would be deemed a threat to national security (after all, you're DOSing the justice system) and the corresponding consequences would follow.
The only difference is we're not talking about sniffing powdered sugar in front of a police station.... We're talking about a legal item (dvd) being used in a common & legal way (transporting through mail).
"Following the success of their DVD Sniffer Dogs, the MPAA is trialling processes to stamp out on-line piracy.
Employing virtual Dogs, supplied by NintenDogs, the MPAA is now sniffing out all packets on the Internet.
Packets containing torrents or other P2P data are immediately 'sniffed' looking for potential copyright violations.
There are hopes that similar methods can be used to combat mail packets containing Spam."
Actually, it means that I might have to re-think my "Coaster-labelling policy." Whenever I burn a coaster, I've historically labelled it something like "The Only Bug Free Copy of Windows in Existance," or "Elvis Presley/Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits," etc.
But then, maybe they'd think they were "super encrypted" disks and then spend weeks trying to decrypt them.
If you read the article, you will find out that EVERY shipment they opened was a false positive! That's right, they didn't even catch *ANY* pirates!
Which just goes to show you that this is a complete and utter waste of time for the customs inspectors.
Why do you think it is legal to attempt to interfere with and impede the operations of the US Customs?
Clearly you've missed a step in your logic - the step which assumes it is somehow illegal to ship a DVD full of random and meaningless data. There should be no problem with this.
If doing such a harmless and legal thing would somehow "interfere with" the US Customs, then the US Customs should put themselves onto the right side of the law. If there is any problem, it is a problem on the part of Customs.
The thing with "rights" is that if you don't use them, you lose them.
I have an idea. How about everyone send their complaints and concerns via a file copied onto a DVD and send it to FedEx to the attention of Fred Smith.
I recently flew between two major cities in Aus. They didn't pick up the umbrella in my case. I didn't know about it since I didn't pack the case. So much for their millions spent on security.
Why do so few question how MPAA can have these legal powers to train dogs to find DVD discs and get them to open them to check if they were pirated? When there's apparently no good legal ground for it (the DVD's were all legal). How much of a police *are* these guys anyway?
In USA, can anyone basically gain police powers if there's a suspicion for crime? Wait, scratch that. Can anyone basically gain police powers when ther's NO suspicion for crime?
MPAA isn't even a government body. It seems to surely be an organization that unifies the government, police, and media industry though. I just wonder how the heck they do it and have so few complain. This is obviously not just a concern for the pirates, but for anyone who wonders what a basic organization can and can not do even without suspicions of crime.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
...were too busy looking at a test image that makes sure they're paying attention? :)
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
You can say you're shipping a one time pad for future communications.
Active Windows 95 beta testers were well-accustomed to the bi-weekly Airborne envelopes whose contents smelled like celery, back in the day. It was a running joke.
Are they trained for HD-DVDs and BluRay? Maybe they're just trying to get us to jump the new tech so they don't have to worry about the patent expiration so much...
Hmm, I wonder if Netflix has plans to start lining their envelopes with coffee...?
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
The dogs have been specially trained by Scotland Yard to be able to not only sniff for the existence of DVDs in a package, but to sniff the bits and bytes embedded on the DVD.
Well that's just crazy! Obviously the dogs have frickin' lasers attached to thier heads.
They read the discs directly.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Why is the Motion Picture Association of AMERICA doing a test in a UK FedEx Hub?!?!?!?
There's been great concern and priority put to training dogs to sniff out drugs, bombs, weapons and illegal immigrants. I've heard CNN doom and gloom reports over the years concerning efficiency of the above activities being detected. In light of such "concerns" that would threaten a shipping network, FedEx train dogs to detect DVD's.
The "press release" pointed out the DVD's found were all in legal packaging. Message is clear alright, FedEx could have invested in x-ray equipment instead. So FedEx are going to tear apart every package sniffed out to contain DVD's and hold up these shipments to figure out which are MPAA approved? Must have taken many snausages to get Flo & Lucky to additionally detect region codes.
Next, I wonder how long it would take and how much money FedEx can additionally waste to train Flo and Lucky to sniff out counterfeit Rolex watches?
"The dogs, Lucky and Flo, faced their first test at the FedEx UK hub at Stansted Airport" (and that's from the totally unread teaser!)
Not RIAA
Not MPAA
Not USA
Just a test, in another country.
I work at a film production place. We send out about 150 screening DVDs a year. None of which are counterfeit, ALL of which are protected by copyright / licensing.
So an agent of our courier opening and viewing them would be illegal or at least a civil offense on their part. The person sending them doesn't have the power to sign a piece of paper giving our courier or their agent permission to watch the DVDs.
Finding a burned DVD inside a sealed envelope is not reasonable cause.
At least I know who not to recommend as a courier.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Now if there were dogs that could sniff out the MPAA and their lawyers, there might be something worth the effort to train.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
... carrying a "throw away". They will have access to a confiscated firearm, if involved in "an unfortunate shooting when the perp made a threatening movement" they can stick the gun in his dead hands.
I don't have a lot of information on the rest of your claims, but I do know this one to be utter BS, at least where there is at least one honest forensic investigator.
A "throw-down" gun will generally only have prints on the grip and trigger. A gun owned by a human will have prints all over the place: internal parts (put there when cleaning), magazine/cylinder, even each individual round of ammunition. It would be extremely obvious to investigators if a "throw-down" gun was used.
Hey, didn't I see you down at Walmart rubbing blank DVDs all over the stock of jiffy bags?
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
I suggest everyone does as I did, and writes to Fedex via the website to protest.
If they are in fact allowing a private commercial interest to open up the packages of unconsenting customers, they deserve a full boycott.
There are other good alternatives to Fedex.
Why would you fedex pirate dvds? its a premium service and now you know they even sniff your luggage. Go use the mainstream postal service instead.
This new program will help defend small homegrown uk and eu DVD printing presses from the competition of those evil third-world pirates who dont treat their employees with the same respect or salaries.
They'd train the dogs to detect only pirated DVDs.
If it weren't for the rocks in its bed, the stream would have no songs.
someone make a video simulation of goatse!
(no thumnails please)
I think the most effective strategy would be to burn actual movies whose copyright has expired from archive.org and labeling them something like btlegmovrip3241.avi. Imagine how much fun they would have trying to determine the copyright status of all these movies.
I have a few expired copyright and (cc) movies up @ http://widescopes.net/ if you can't be bothered to wait for the download from archive.org (which can be slow). The site is a project I never got round to finishing.
Nyhetsankaret.com -- det bÃsta av Sveriges Nyhetssido
I'm pretty sure they're only sniffing International packages (hence HM Customs being involved), because those are pulled to the side for customs to deal with anyways. Or at least thats what happened when I worked for UPS. You're right on one thing though, there is NO way this would apply to domestic packages. They move WAY too fast, and there is just WAY too much content to sift through. Even a "small" center like where I worked at would do several thousand packages a night (usually two 36 foot trailers full, sometimes three). And major hubs tend to be automated, with no room for people much less dogs. They're going after big international shipments, and honestly i'd be suprised if they found much.
PS: You're insane to ship anything softer than a cast-iron safe through UPS. Seriously.
I'm going to cover future DVDs with pepper and itching powder, so when those pesky sniffer dogs stick their moist snout in my private property they'll get a lesson in how olfactory senses can rebel.
~~~~~~~~~ "I must create my own system, or be enslav'd by another man's." William Blake, Jerusalem.
this seemingly also happened on the ferry crossing from Vancouver Island in Canada.. Since VI is where a lot of the pot in Canada is grown, it tends to come over on the ferry, so the cops are on the boat with dogs. However, Canadian law doesn't let them detain and search your car solely on the say-so of a dog, so they radio ahead for a warrant to be prepared, and then search the car when it comes off the ferry.
Some enterprising islanders struck on the idea of strolling around the car-deck on the boat with plant-misters full of dilute cannabis solution, casually spraying the whole deck. Since everything now reeks of weed, the dogs were no use at all..
They'll probably end up spending over $10,000 per package by calling in the MPAA, the RIAA, the NSA, the CIA, and the DHS. After a few dozen false alarms, maybe they'll learn to stop invading customer privacy.
No, they'll also force through legislation that requires that YOU reimburse them for the money wasted searching your non-copyright-infringing burned DVD.
Damned if you do...etc.
1. Get your pet Congress-critter to make laws enforcing and extending your copyright
2. Let it be known on Slashdot so all the geeks try to find ways around it
3. ???
4. PROFIT!!!
for a suitcase with a thousand DVDs
There was a quote like "Don't understimate the bandwidth of a 747 loaded with tapes".
It's more likely that after few dozens of false alarms they will start suing people for wasting RIAA time :-D
IANAnAlcoholic... but from my limited experience, it has to do with a fear people have of saying or doing things that don't make any sense. Basically "knowledge is power" and all that - ie "if I were to suddenly stand up and scream 'RAUNCHY COWBOYSH GO AMERICAN ELEPHANTSHHHHohgodiatehamagain', then vomit all over myself normally, people might call the cops and get me put under 72 hour observation. If I tell them I'm drunk/stoned/tripping balls/whatever beforehand, tho, then they'll at least understand it's just the whiskey/marijuana/acid/week-old-foot-fungus causing a chemical reaction in my brain".
FWIW, I used to feel the same way as you - but now (uh, thanks to a friend's word-of-mouth (cough)) I see from both sides of the fence.
Now, off to my lab to synth some "Pirated DVD Smell" to spray on ALL of my mail/packages!
Even better, you just need a contact in Fedex to spray all the fedex address labels with it before they are even sent out to the regional offices and used on the packages. Then not only yours, but everyones packages get the speical treatment.
I'm going to start a business and train dogs to sniff out peer-to-peer ip packets.
So if this goes into work FedEx will start to be responsible by all the content transmited by them. In my point of view this is similar to the Internet carrier. You're not responsible by the transmitted content since you're not allowed to check what's inside of it. If they really start this way they must be held responsible by all nasty contents like child pornography and so on.
next:
Dogs to sniff content data for child pornography
Why send DVD when you can send a Ultrium LTO 3 Back up tape containing 80+ ripped movies (with menu and everything).
Add password to your back-up and name it Weekly back-up of 05/08/2006
You will never get caught.....
Plus you will save on Shipping cost
So when some corp worker sends a DVD to his collige with FedEx there will be about half dosen guys who will see that top secret DVD. I wonder when it lead to some espionage charges.
I wonder, do the dogs give a stronger reaction to movies like Gigli, Waterworld, or The Postman? Hell, you don't need dogs -- I could smell those stinkers a mile away.
Just goes to show to how great a degree private industry and big corporations have this administration in their back pocket. I mean, think of the cost and expense of training these dogs, the man-hours involved, the delay of legitimate shipments, the questionable nature of the searches, and all at the behest of a PRIVATE industry trade group. It boggles the mind.
All the more imperative that the master geeks get cracking on that Star Trek Transporter techonology, so you can beam your contraband directly to the recipient.
"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." -- Eric Hoffer
I guess I'll package some fleas with some CDs.
Hey, did I ASK you to open my private mail?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Drugs are illegal, which means that a dog can sniff it. Simply, it's illegal.
Importing DVDs of many sorts into the UK is legal. We also have a huge amount of importing going on because of certain restrictions on sales of DVDs.
To sell a DVD of a movie in the UK, you need a license from the BBFC that costs a load of cash (like thousands of pounds per movie). R1 discs are not submitted for license, and so cannot be sold here (by retail or mail order). But the law allows for a workaround, that customers can import any movie from abroad, as long as it isn't in certain banned categories.
So, companies exist who provide cheaper, or earlier release discs, and mail out from other countries. All completely legitimate.
Finding a pirate DVD amongst this lot is like looking for a needle in a haystack. If it's too successful, the pirates will just start manufacturing here instead.
That just sounds filthy.
Do they smell the sea water?
"Sure there's porn and piracy on the Web but there's probably a downside too."
With respect to DVD pricing and piracy... if you can find a double-sided DVD-R at a reasonable price, I'd like to know where, the pricing I've seen is in the >$5 range. It's either that or pick and choose tracks using DVD-shrink... while the disk may be 25 cents, my time is worth something.
While you may not like DVD pricing, DVD piracy is NOT a serious problem in the USA because DVD movies, unlike music CDs just aren't all that expensive if you don't insist on movies newly released on DVD.
The hysteria about piracy is mainly so the movie industry can plug all Internet distribution channels they don't control, in order to freeze independents out.
They know as well as we do that we're only a few years away from making movies technically equivalent to current Hollywood product (NO, I DON'T MEAN LOTR, that's another few years) on conventional desktop PCs.
It's about control. They want to be able to say to people who want to sell movies to the public "Do it our way or not at all."
Any resemblance between this and the record industry, of course, is purely coincidental.
Tech Public Policy stuff
I wanna see them writhe when you slap a multi-million dollar suit on them for illegaly opening. Or at least the press info that FedEx arbitrarily opens and searches their customer's shipments.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Let's face the facts here. "Legal" is one thing, but nobody gives a rat's behind about legality as long as nobody complains and actually takes action against illegal activities. If a store owner would not take action against thieves, he'd be sitting alone in his store without any goods to sell pretty soon.
It's the same here. Nobody complains that they're opening the mail, so it doesn't really matter if it's legal. So pick up the news, tell your friends. Tell your employer what FedEx allows some random interest group to do with your mail, and ask him whether he'd enjoy using a courier that doesn't care about its client's rights.
Companies don't care about the law any more than the average Joe does. Probably, they care less. They only start to care as soon as it starts to get into the way of profit.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
When you send mail to a foreign country, the GOVERNMENT there (and yours) is allowed to check the mail. This is all right. The government, which is at least in theory working in my interest, makes sure that duties are paid and that nothing "Illegal" is shipped into the country. That's the government's biz. It's their job.
Now, when did this right to inspect incoming and outgoing commodities get extended to companies and special interest groups?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Placement of resident "observers" in family houses to ensure people do not lend cds to each other and no more than 5 people listen to the same music at a time in a party.
Read radical news here
Good ciphertext looks like random data. Random data looks like good ciphertext. You may never be able to prove that it's not ciphertext. Then they tell the jury that you used "weapons-grade encryption" to facilitate your evil schemes.
just remember that the dogs will only pick up on recordable C/DVDs.
Tech Public Policy stuff
I regularly ship DVD's from the UK back to South Africa. My folks and some of my friends are still on dialup, so downloading 80MB .mov files of my vacation or skydiving movies just isn't an option for them.
I own the copyright on those movies. What right does someone else have to watch that without my permission? And if they don't watch it, how do they know if it is legit content or pirate ?
Or would that do too much to jeapordize US trade with the countries that allow it? Instead they go after the little guys and probably the little people who can't recognize a counterfeit DVD.
'Same speed C but faster'
Rumor warning: I don't have a cite for this.
Supposedly, the dogs get a treat when they make a bust.
A coke-sniffing dog found a deeply buried shipment of cocaine. The dog got a treat. The contraband was inside a large shipment of coffee.
The dog got a treat the next time it alerted. It found another coke shipment. Unfortunately, this one was in another coffee shipment.
The poor dog, ever after, would alert on anything that smelled like coffee and would wait eagerly for a treat.
Dogs like to sniff dog butts. Perhaps, then, they can detect all the crappy movies the MPAA is making and put them into the "lost pile", along with my luggage.
--- What?
Besides, if no prints are found on the ammo, or on the rest of the gun, then... Then someone was careful about getting prints on their illegal firearm, that doesn't at all indicate the officer did it.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
"United Kingdom, Los Angeles - - The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT)....."
Since when did the UK become a district of Los Angeles? And they say standards are declining in Amercian skools. Better get the students focusing on useful things like Intelligent Design.
Put a female dog in the package, too. Or a cat.
Thanks to you, I promise to rip even more DVDs this year. I will expand into movies I do not even like. There is no way in hell this is even legal. Notice they did it in the UK and not the US. Screwing with the mail in US is a jailable felony. Since when did the MPAA become a law enforcement agency? MPAA are a pack of fucktards.
This is insane. I expect FedEx to have a much better reason before they invade my privacy by opening a package I sent.
Our society is trading its privacy a little bit at a time, and this time we can't even pretend we are getting security out from it.
Sniff out DVD's? What on a DVD makes it leave a trail of smell that a dog can detect?
[%] Cingular Ringtones
"United Kingdom, Los Angeles - - The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), express delivery company FedEx and HM Revenue & Customs, has joined forces to launch an exciting new initiative to help combat DVD piracy.
Thieft? Do they mean that I can somehow take their copyright away and sue THEM?
When you have to base your arguments on verbal trickery, you've already lost any intellectual argument. Calling copyright infringement "thieft" shows anyone with an IQ over 70 that they're grasping at straws. Poor fools.
The bigger fools are FexEx. I'll no longer use FedEx for anything whatever - except, perhaps, buying blank DVDs and CDs. And when they open the package, there's going to be a lawsuit, all right - I'll be the plaintiff.
Retirement, here I come!
-mcgrew
Yeah right. I can see the dogs sniffing 2000000000 dvds
People will import till theres no tommorow, and if the 'sniffing' gets too much, they will download.
Get a clue, you cannot fight the will of the people. Your job as a 'enforcement agent' with stupid K9s is a farce
Its not a real job, you do not contribute to the GDP and anything meaningfull. Did you code a game ? did you
make music, or do graphics, or drive a fork lift? no.
Time to wrap dvds in beef jerky sense.
Get a clue enforcement people. Its all 'perceptions' and we know it. If X person loses a box of dvds due to confiscation
then that said person will just try again or download the copies, you cannot win against the populace, no govt ever has, eventually
the people power wins.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Just wait until self-destructing DVD's become mainstream, by the time you get the DVD you won't be able to view it anymore, all this because they sniffed a legitimate DVD. I wonder if lawsuits will ensue.
Thanks,
Leabre
Counterfeit clothing is just as much a problem as counterfeit DVDs. Someone should really start training sniffer dogs to sniff out people hiding clothes in their luggage.
Is it just me or is the world getting dumber by the minute?
So, they can teach a dog to sniff out DVDs, drugs, people, and anything else under the sun.
I can't get my dog to stop crapping on the floor when it wants to eat, even with the back door wide open.
This is how big drug cartels import cocain on planes, though its better to do it on barges labeled, "toxic waste"
1. have a looser transport 2kg cocain thats totally insecure, have it be the decoy
2. have a businessman/fake military guy transport 70kg of cocain in a fake body bag/coffin for the army.
3. profit, no searches, decoy gets busted, $50k cost nothing compared to the $30m profit.
Btw the CIA makes most deals in cocaine, only decoys get caught the rest are oppertunists.
So that's why my replacement power module has been sitting in the St. Louis Fedex facility since Monday. Who knew?
--Insert catchy
My choice would be "Rreefer Madness," the film that got pot outlawed and caused your grandpa to lose a right you never had. But I have a strange sense of humor.
you beast
Send them feedback at https://www.fedex.com/cgi-bin/qrf2.cgi?first=y&for mpage=general
Tell 'em you're using UPS from now on unless they tell the MPAA to go screw.
Step 1: Obtain DVD+-R
/In Aus here, so it's Somebody Else's Problem
Step 2: Encrypt mi3.mpg/bumFights.avi/midgetPorn.avi or ISO with GnuPG or TrueCrypt, as data[x].gpg
Step 3: Label DVD `Data'
Step 4: Profit.
It's the first thing I thought before I even opened the thread. A disc through the mail is what we call an *insecure interface*.
A while back, I ordered an indie movie on DVD from the States (I live in Canada), as this was the only way that I could get a legit copy. The DVD cost me $20 USD, plus delivery, plus customs, so it came to something like $45 CAD. It also took 8 weeks to arrive. After going through all that, when I finally opened the package, I discovered that Customs had opened it first with an x-acto knife or some such and had sliced through part of the DVD cover and packaging. Needless to say, after having gone through this whole rigamarole to get the bloody DVD and spending a fair chunk of change, I was pissed that it had arrived damaged.
What will happen in the States when a large number of packages containing DVDs (most of which I would guess are totally legit) are opened in order to check for pirated content? When X number of packages are opened every day by bored employees doing extremely repetitive work, I would guess that the amount of damage will increase significantly. I don't know about everyone else, but to me the mail is already too prone to damaging the stuff you send out. Do we really need yet another step in which our packages can be damaged?
I guess it's time to smuggle those DVDs in coffee grounds...
Seriously though, this has to be a publicity stunt to scare those pirating DVDs. The article doesn't say how many dogs are being trained to do this. It only says that two has been trained.
There is no way the dogs can tell what is on the DVDs that they're sniffing out (whether it's family home movies or a rip of Mission Impossible 3) unless they have frickin' laser beams attached to their heads. Is this a flat out attack on our rights by the MPAA? What right do they have to go through our mail? What if every software company starts going through mail looking for pirated software. That's kind of ridiculous.
So, lets pretend for a moment the MPAA actually gets carriers like FedEX to do this here in the USA. Pretend further they buy a judge or two and have this listed as constitutional. I burn a DVD of my kid's school talent show and to be witty title it similarly to a current movie. I send it to my family and MPAA thugs find it. Would they actually watch it to verify it was a pirated film or simply confiscate it and send their lawyers to sue me for copyright violation?
Every day I see more and more why the founding fathers of this nation rose up and revolted. Boston DVD Party anyone?
No animals were harmed in the making of this sig.
Well, there was that one puppy, but he is all better now.
inquiry@fedex.com, ukmaster@fedex.com, eumaster@fedex.com
Instead of just complaining here lets let them know
It's about a day too late for anyone to moderate anything up and nobody will ever read this so I won't be diplomatic.
What the hell is wrong with you all!
This is the CORRECT way to fight DVD piracy.
Here are INCORRECT ways: Throwing people in jail for making it so you can play DVD's on Linux. Cramming DRM and TCPA down our throats. Screwing up 80 years of open standards by forcing encrypion on every device that is capable of displaying a movie.
For once these guys got it right!
Congratulations MPAA, for the first time in modern memory you've actually done something of value to your member companies that doesn't screw us, their customers. Well done! Keep it up.
set softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab nocp worlddomination
WTF does this have to do with "my rights online"?
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
Not detected
- CristalX
- GoldPlusSerie
- Another temporary DVD-R brand
50% detected
- genuine DVD movies
100% detected
- sony
- phillips
- maxwell
funny how these two statements contradict.
"this is the first time dogs have been used anywhere in the world to search for counterfeit DVDs and the results were amazing."
yet,
"so far no discs with pirated movies have been found."
I mean, what's up with that? they haven't even found any discs, all they've done so far is snoop through some personal mail that contained completely legit material.
If it can be downloaded.
And btw. how they can have right to strip the envelope and check the content of the disc? It can contain freeware or even private data (photos, home videos, amateur porn...)
I would have thought insightful would have been more accurate...
Stephen Colbert on race: "While skin and race are often synonymous, skin cleansing is good, race cleansing is bad."
This mirrors the Common Carrier argument on Internet. If telcos want to control who uses their bandwidth, then (./ says) they are responsible for the crimes, like kiddie porn.
So, why should UPS guard illegal drugs or copyright infingements for their customers? Wouldn't UPS become liable for the activities then?
You can easily DDoS the system by shipping a blank DVD in every FedEx package.
/. UID is "surprise_audit".
If the dogs are sniffing the chemicals in recordable DVDs, a broken one should smell *really* good...
No. No reasonable person would willingly do this to themselves.
Why would I want to increase the likelihood of Customs tearing apart my parcel? Have fun shipping static-sensitive, sealed or fragile material. When Customs cuts the packing tape, they can easily manhandle the contents.
I've seen some impressive damage: like a thick solid metal rod broken in half. I assume they just dropped it from a decent height. If they can stuff it all back into the box, broken or not, what do they care? It's all part of the inspection process to them.
Either way, using your example you're advertising that a disc is in there somewhere, and they'll want to find it. I assume that your gripe is with the MPAA/RIAA but this action only inconveniences you and Customs, not the MPAA/RIAA.
Oh I get it, your
This is not my sig.
Will they have to have special "high-definition" dogs to sniff out the HD-DVD or Blueray discs?
Better yet, can they develop a dog that can smell which format is going to win out in the end?
Actually, I belive the dogs were actually "triggering" on idiocy. They were either getting false triggers on the dingbats who thought this whole thing up, or were using exclusively Adam Sandler movies as a test article...
How much is this going to cost them, so then they can claim financial losses (despite consistently rising sales figures) on piracy?
He just tortures an MPAA executive until he tells him how the movie ends.
My other first post is car post.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
I say "AAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!" They're using 2 dogs for how many tonnes of freight? How many thousands of locations around the world? I seriously doubt there's enough police dogs in the world to search a sizeable amount of the frieght that FDX handles. The only time a handler is going to care about your contraband is when you're dumb enough to pack it in something flimsy and they have to clean it up/report it.
We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion.
In case anyone else starts doing this too, I'm putting a blank DVD (maybe a CD will work too) in EVERYTHING I ship, if enough people do the same, it won't be worth their time. I feel sorry for the dogs!
Sony Prison: face the music.
Even better, while giving the adversary some additional workout, by using tamper-evident packaging you can easily discern if the given package was opened or not. By statistical processing of a large number of such shipment, and cross-correlating with the age (important for outgassing of the volatile components in the plastics), type, and packaging style of the disc, we may be able to find points of low efficiency in their system. Essentially a reapplication of the Carnival Booth algorithm.
I am wondering how much "questionably illegal" DVD's cost in the states? In the Philippines they are 75 pesos when you buy 10. That's $1.50 each. They work always because if they don't they will let you return them for exchange. The fun part is when you go DVD shopping, you end up in a room about 100'X 100' with 15 individual DVD sellers. Every second they yell, DVD sir, DVD, DVD, DVD, sir, dvd, dvd. It's like dude, I know that! I am surrounded by 10,000 friggin DVD's! FYI a beer is 60 cents and a pack of Marlboro smokes is 64 cents! Do they sell DVD's on the streets of Manhattan?
Learn About Outsourcing. http://www.pioutsource.com
If your shipping vendor is inspecting material at random on any other basis, you CAN NOT guarantee confidentiality. Period. Not having drugs in your shipments no longer guarantees even a reasonable probability of the data on shipped disks being confidential.
While telling FedEx you aren't doing business anymore and telling them why would be a good thing, I think your solution is going to have to be encryption. Password protected zipfiles is probably adequate, or look into other crypto solutions like PGP/GPG.
Tech Public Policy stuff
I would do it myself and I even have mod points but for obvious reasons I can't. Sony Prison: Face the Music :-)
> slip a blank ( convienently labeled, "MI-III" ) with everything they ship
/dev/urandom onto the disk. They'll probably end up spending over $10,000 per package by calling in the MPAA, the RIAA, the NSA, the CIA, and the DHS. After a few dozen false alarms, maybe they'll learn to stop invading customer privacy.
Instead of sending a blank, why not just burn 9.4GB of
Dear AC,
What a great idea! We would really like to discuss this further. We will get back to you as soon as we hear from your ISP.
The NSA
Ignore anything I said above, I actually agree with everything you believe - mod accordingly.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden