iPods at War

phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica has put together an outstanding piece of journalism about the use of personal technology in America's military and how these devices along with blatant piracy is causing new problems in the face of war: "While soldiers once deployed with little more than a backpack and a rifle, today's crop of infantry troops pack along MP3 players, digital cameras, DVD players, video games, movie collections, and computers of their own. The personal electronics have made modern American warfare the most comfortable it has ever been, but they've also brought a new set of problems onto the battlefield.""

Comments

Iraq

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm in Iraq and having no problems surfing Slashdot while under fire.

In fact, bullets aren't even coming clo...^C^C^C^C^C No route to host.

Let's see if the RIAA really has any balls...

[sugapablo]

...and see them sue some soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan. :)

Somehow I think Orrin Hatch would shit a brick of confusion over how to react

So that is where Perry went.

[krell]

"No more Perry Como forced down our soldier's throats"

Ah. Soylent Green day at the mess tent. I bet he went down smooooooth too.

Chuck E Cheez - our robot elvis man-dog overlords.

[krell]

"These soldiers aren't exactly enjoying an evening at Chuck E. Cheese, for pity's sake!"

Did you ever go to any of the last of the "old style" Chuck E Cheez's before they closed down? You know, the ones where you'd walk down a hall and look off to the side and there would be a huge auditorium, empty of humans, and on a stage was a band made of giant Elvis man-dog robots that shook and gyrated, with their crude mechanics making so much noise that the songs in the speakers couldn't even be heard? If this scene (and it was real) isn't as close as you can come to the future war with the robots, then nothing is.

Re:Unfounded Criticism

[x2A]

"Letting soldiers share mp3 files amongs themselves and purchasing bootleg DVD's"

You're forgetting one thing...

Copying music and movies FUNDS TERRORISM!!! Therefore anyone who does it is the enemy, and shouldn't be allowed into the military!

You can say fuck on slashdot

[spun]

Especially when you are quoting source material that actually uses the word, like so:

"Fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck. What's the big fuckin' deal?"

Other things you probably shouldn't say. Like Donkey raping shit-eater. You definitely shouldn't say donkey raping shit-eater on slashdot. People could get offended if you mentioned donkey raping shit-eaters.

Mellonfarmer? Come on. What's the point of shit like that? What are you, some kinda smegma licking pussy? Everyone knows what you mean, it's not like people don't make the fucking mental translation instantly, you haven't sheilded their tender, innocent brains from having to process and comprehend "that word."

Sorry, sorry, that was kind of a rangent (that's a rant off on a tangent...) But if you learned anything from all this, it's that you shouldn't mention donkey raping shit-eaters on slashdot.