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Media Industry Wants Mandated Spyware and More

Posted by timothy on from the give-'em-an-inch-they-take-a-file dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The joint comment filed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) requests anti-infringement software on all home computers, pervasive copyright filtering, border searches, forced US intellectual property policies on foreign nations and a joint departmental agency to combat infringement during major releases." The MPAA would also like to have its rent paid a bit by Congress, with a ban on what seems to me like a useful tool (for those in as well as outside the film industry), the recently-discussed futures market for box-office receipts.

99 of 373 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds like mad men by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Indeed.

    1. Re:Sounds like mad men by Pikoro · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually, it sounds like a great idea. No wait, here me out:

      People who want peace of mind to not be sued for something they're not sure they did or not could install and run it on their system since they aren't going to actively download infringing content anyways.

      The rest of us, will simply download a cracked version of this watchdog software which, when it runs, never finds anything. Hence, "the pirates" enjoy the same protection from the xxAA that the ignorant get.

      "But your honor, my client downloaded and ran the program provided by the prosecution and it never found any infringing content. Clearly any content found on my client's hard drive is legal or it would have been automatically deleted."

      --
      "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
    2. Re:Sounds like mad men by netsharc · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Makes me think of the movie Brazil... in the xxAA future you'll go to jail or not based on a boolean return value.

      Of a closed source program.

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
    3. Re:Sounds like mad men by rtfa-troll · · Score: 5, Insightful
      There is method in their madness. They ask for the moon and then, whilst you are arguing about how outrageous that is, they slip 100 dollars out of your pocket. Even if you catch them, the police just shrug their shoulders "100 dollars sounds like a pretty good price for the moon sir; what are you complaining about? Now please move along and let's not have any funny business".

      Sometimes the position of the pirate party looks more and more sensible.

      --
      =~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
    4. Re:Sounds like mad men by flyneye · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think they can "want" in one hand and sh*t in the other hand and see which hand fills up first.
      How about what I want for a change?
      I "want" everyone involved with the *IAA to be gelded so their genetics are not passed on to further generations.
      I "want" constant IRS scrutiny of all their books.
      I "want" constant webcam surveillance of every room in their houses, their cars, their offices and GPS bitch collars so their whereabouts can always be known.
      I "want" those who would invade my privacy to have their skin peeled off and used for lampshades in my house.

      --
      *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
    5. Re:Sounds like mad men by Sulphur · · Score: 5, Funny

      I call prior art.

    6. Re:Sounds like mad men by Aldenissin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There was a guy in another article who stated that he believes that piracy is as much of an enemy to open source as it is to proprietary software companies. His theory was that Adobe for example turns a blind eye to college kids pirating Photoshop so they will be hooked and pay for it later when they work for or start their own business. Also, Microsoft would rather you pirate Windows and keep the mind-share as he called it instead of downloading Linux. I agree, and hope this idea backfires, similarly to Apple backtracking on the political cartoonist and Opera browser.

      Imagine, everyone (average Joes) starts to see just how invasive these snobs are and say, NO we don't want your spyware watching me (I like porn, or whatever, I just want a little privacy and not to wonder if my webcam is on while I get dressed), I don't want to be searched at the border for a DVD that (I feel) looks clearly legit. I want to be able to freely trade and invest in movie futures and just because you don't like it, tough titty. I do it with everything else that involves money. One day, perhaps they will cross that line. All it takes is the media seeing green and watching everyone else make money and they will fall like dominoes not wanting to miss the story.

      --
      Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.
    7. Re:Sounds like mad men by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As Jeff Raikes (Microsoft buisness group president) said on the subject of piracy:

      If you're going to be a software counterfeiter, then please copy and illegally use Microsoft products.

      It's not just open source that suffers, it's smaller competitors. In the '90s, MS Office was probably the best office suite around, but there were lots of ones that were good enough for most people and cost a tenth of the amount. Given the choice between MS Office for $200 and SmallCo Office for $20, it was a trivial decision; MS Office was not worth $200 to a typical home user, or even a lot of small businesses. If you're pirating though, it's a choice between MS Office for $0 and SmallCo Office for $0. You pick MS Office, because it has more features.

      The product that you're pirating comes from MS, but the company that lost a sale is SmallCo. This seems to be something that the RIAA and friends miss when they equate one download to one lost sale. Even if the person would have bought if they couldn't pirate, they often would not have bought the same thing that they downloaded.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    8. Re:Sounds like mad men by tsm_sf · · Score: 2, Informative

      "But your honor, my client downloaded and ran the program provided by the prosecution and it never found any infringing content. Clearly any content found on my client's hard drive is legal or it would have been automatically deleted."

      "We don't care, you're fucked if we say so."

      --
      Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
    9. Re:Sounds like mad men by mpe · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I "want" constant IRS scrutiny of all their books.

      Especially given that these industries use all sorts of dodgy accounting to avoid paying people such as screenwriters. Thus, any of their claims for losses due to "piracy" should be taken with a large pinch of sylvite.

    10. Re:Sounds like mad men by tsm_sf · · Score: 2, Informative

      Sorry to threadjack, but I wanted people to see the actual article the brief blog post links to.

      Hang your head in shame, Timothy.

      --
      Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
    11. Re:Sounds like mad men by Surt · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm afraid that they'll insist this software runs on the TCM only, and that every personal computer has a properly operational TCM. Then if you've cracked your TCM, you'll be in much bigger trouble.

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    12. Re:Sounds like mad men by suomynonAyletamitlU · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or we could just leave any nation stupid enough to pass laws like that.

      It's not like those countries need us for taxes or anything, right? I mean, they have all those rich people. Rich people have to pay the greatest share of the taxes anyway, right? Right? Because that's the only sane way to do it. So all the decent human beings who are tired of being treated like they are somehow lower class leaving shouldn't have any effect at all. And since those rich people have so much money, I'm sure they can just pay people in other nations to do all the work anyway without those workers living under the stupid laws they don't accept but never had agency to change.

      Seriously, now.

      I've said this before. RIAA == ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY. E-N-T-E-R-T-A-I-N. You do not have the authority as an entertainment organization to fuck up millions of peoples lives. The government is tasked with law enforcement, military defense, et al, and they STILL don't have the authority to be tyrannical dickheads. They try, lord do they try sometimes, and hell, sometimes they manage, but they do not have the authority.

      xxAA should not be thinking they've found a loophole in that system. If they are thinking they have a loophole, they should be shot, along with anyone in the government who is enabling them to do so.

    13. Re:Sounds like mad men by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 3, Informative

      Even Darth Vader was screwed over by shady movie industry tactics. http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/694518/darth-vader-actor--david-prowse-asks-wheres-my-money.html

      It's disgusting they can claim Star Wars never made a profit.

    14. Re:Sounds like mad men by NotBornYesterday · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ha! I know a trick question when I see one. They don't have souls.

      --
      I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
    15. Re:Sounds like mad men by Nyder · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As Jeff Raikes (Microsoft buisness group president) said on the subject of piracy:

      If you're going to be a software counterfeiter, then please copy and illegally use Microsoft products.

      It's not just open source that suffers, it's smaller competitors. In the '90s, MS Office was probably the best office suite around, but there were lots of ones that were good enough for most people and cost a tenth of the amount. Given the choice between MS Office for $200 and SmallCo Office for $20, it was a trivial decision; MS Office was not worth $200 to a typical home user, or even a lot of small businesses. If you're pirating though, it's a choice between MS Office for $0 and SmallCo Office for $0. You pick MS Office, because it has more features.

      The product that you're pirating comes from MS, but the company that lost a sale is SmallCo. This seems to be something that the RIAA and friends miss when they equate one download to one lost sale. Even if the person would have bought if they couldn't pirate, they often would not have bought the same thing that they downloaded.

      What does that happen to do with music?

      When I want to listen to some good rock, like Led Zepplin, I get Led Zepplin. I don't go and buy Ratt because it might be cheaper and have less good songs.

      When your talking software, yes, you got choices, but music? No.

      If you like The Legendary Pink Dots, your not going to be happy getting Tiny Tim Cd's instead.

      Well, you might be, but I know I won't be.

      --
      Be seeing you...
    16. Re:Sounds like mad men by rtfa-troll · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't think you read my posting carefully enough, but since you ask why I used the analogy of theft in my comment, I'll answer.

      The entertainment industry is free riding on an agreement (copyright) designed to encourage literature and quality writing. They are allowed to restrict other's freedom of speech in return for (supposedly) increasing the amount of speech. However, not only are they turning in completely vapid useless and sometimes even damaging speech; now they are actively trying to interfere with all sorts of other free speech.

      At the point where they start to knowingly interfere with free speech (by encouraging censorware) and deliberately failing to keep up their own end of the bargain (by ensuring that their copyright products will not be available after the term of copyright) anything more that they try to take is theft. They have broken their contract with society and lost the right to any of the royalties which they take. I used an analogy to theft deliberately and with meaning.

      --
      =~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
    17. Re:Sounds like mad men by Golddess · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If you already know of the band Tiny Tim, and already know you like The Legendary Pink Dots more, then yes, Tiny Tim will not do as a replacement. But this isn't about going after a different band that you already know about. This is about saying "fuck it, The Legendary Pink Dots isn't worth the price. Lets see what new bands are on iTunes that I haven't heard of."

      --
      "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
    18. Re:Sounds like mad men by rockNme2349 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it further.

      --
      Sewage Treatment Facilities - "Our duty is clear."
    19. Re:Sounds like mad men by pspahn · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I used to have an emusic.com subscription. They were DRM free before it was cool, and had a catalog consisting of mostly independent labels. The songs cost a fraction of what you would have found on iTunes at the time, and you didn't have to worry about what computers or devices you could put them on.

      Clearly, I wanted to pay for a good service, and I did. As a result I found dozens and dozens of artists I would have never found otherwise because they are small-time. I could have spent more money on artists signed to big labels and been sold a restrictive product, but I spent less for more instead.

      Had I pirated, I would have probably just found the same crappy recycled stuff that everyone else thought I should listen to. The software analogy shared by TheRaven holds true.

      --
      Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
    20. Re:Sounds like mad men by TangoMargarine · · Score: 2

      TCM only

      Do you mean TPM? Trusted Platform Module?

      --
      Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
    21. Re:Sounds like mad men by w0mprat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You can bet that there will be a clause that running the software isn't a get out of jail free card. Running a cracked version will also be made a crime.

      This kind thing has never been shown to work. The choices they have with this:

      1. It won't perform very well. False positives, false negatives and generally slowing down your machine
      2. It'll cost an enormous ammount of money that the taxpayer will pick up part of.
      3. It'll be easily cicumvented,as you described, with the inevitable cracked version.

      Pick two... at best

      --
      After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
    22. Re:Sounds like mad men by laughingcoyote · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The same held true for me with Magnatune. They aren't just "whatever you want to throw in" and do filter for quality, but license under CC-BY-SA-NC. And despite the fact that it's entirely legal to share it (so long as you don't do so commercially, anyway), they've been around for several years now, and put out some very good music where the artists actually get paid a significant share.

      I've also run across the independent band Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, and quite like them. They do amazing live shows (and most of the time you can sit down and have a beer with the band afterward), and I've been to several. They highly encourage fans to share their stuff-if my sister hadn't sent me a copy of Americano, I'd probably have never heard of them. That sharing sure didn't hurt them a bit.

      Filesharing is in no way bad for the artist. Now the media cartels, those are horrible for the artist-and distribution channels existing outside their control is in turn disastrous for the cartels. The "artists", aside from a few very big names, get very little to nothing out of record/box office/etc. sales, and then the cartels deliberately fudge the numbers to avoid paying even that small amount.

      --
      To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
    23. Re:Sounds like mad men by lgw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      TPM is the correct term. The TPM is what "trusted" computing is built on. And it's not a bad thing: like any tool, it's moral value lies in how it's used. For the TPM, whoever owns the keys owns the computer. If you have the keys, all is good; if the vendor does you're just sort of leasing the right to use the computer in approved ways. Which, again, is fine if you know that's what you're getting and you like it (e.g., XBox360).

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    24. Re:Sounds like mad men by Runaway1956 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Obviously, you have no comprehension of "fair use". Of course RIAA doesn't force anyone to purchase and/or to pirate entertainment. But, they are actively seeking to extend copyright law far beyond anything that is reasonable.

      Much of the music being downloaded today is properly in the public domain. Much more is being downloaded to circumvent overly restrictive DRM.

      RIAA sucks, as do all the other **AA's that work to deny freedom and liberty.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    25. Re:Sounds like mad men by WCLPeter · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's disgusting they can claim Star Wars never made a profit.

      Which is why someone needs to haul their ass before a court and bring them up on charges.

      According to the law, I can't seem to find the specific one right now, a corporation has the sole duty of legally providing increased profits for their shareholders. In fact, outside of illegal activities, they are legally obligated to maximize profits to exclusion of all other considerations. If Star Wars has never made a profit then it is a failed product. As they have continued to grossly mismanage the shareholder's investment by continuing to invest in a failed product over the past thrity some years, LucasFilm and 20th Century Fox are in violation of the law and they need to be taken to task for it.

  2. That's nice. by arcelios · · Score: 5, Funny

    People in hell want ice water, too.

    1. Re:That's nice. by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 3, Funny

      Silly theist. But if you believe Dante, there's an icemaker on level nine.

  3. Oh Yeah? by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, fat chance. The government is not going to mandate big media sponsored spyware on everyone's computers. It would conflict with the DoJ & NSA software already installed ;-)

  4. WHAT? by Noxn · · Score: 2

    WHAT ARE THEY SMOKING?

    --
    By reading this you agree to give me (Noxn) 1 dollar.
    1. Re:WHAT? by deniable · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Just wait, they'll 'compromise' on a 'reasonable' solution that's probably better than they wanted in the first place.

    2. Re:WHAT? by hrvatska · · Score: 3, Informative

      WHAT ARE THEY SMOKING?

      Better dope than most of us can afford.

  5. When is it going to happen dammit! by Cheerio+Boy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When are these bastards going to be prosecuted for racketeering?

    When are people going to finally be fed up with being treated like criminals for the sake of a greedy cartel of Suits that have no morals to speak of?

    When are people going to finally wise up and put these assholes in their place?

    Yeah...I know. I'm delusional because they hold almost all the cards and have the gooberment in their pockets.

    --

    "Bah!" - Dogbert
    1. Re:When is it going to happen dammit! by j0hnyquest · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah...I know. I'm delusional because they hold almost all the cards and have the gooberment in their pockets.

      That's the sad part :( This makes me want to not pay for next album or movie just that much more...

    2. Re:When is it going to happen dammit! by ScrewMaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Really? It's entertainment. Go find something that's actually important to get your panties in a wad over.

      Damn, people, are we all that spoiled and unaware of the world around us?

      The problem is, it's not just entertainment. Or are you going to claim that the DMCA and the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act (among others) only affect entertainment??? The ramifications to this are far-reaching and very dangerous, if for no other reason than that they set a very bad precedent for other industries to follow. I'm very disappointed in my own country for even entertaining these ideas: they're morally and ethically defective and should be discarded out of hand.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    3. Re:When is it going to happen dammit! by Surt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I should roll over for private surveillance of my computer because its entertainment?

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    4. Re:When is it going to happen dammit! by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Corporations have some of the rights of human beings so why not require that to have those rights they must be embodied by at least a single person within the company who has the ability to order anyone in the company to follow his instructions.

      Then require that the embodied person(s) is/are held accountable for the actions of the corporation.

      Those people already exist. Typically, they are called "directors".

      The problem is that those responsible for holding them accountable have been asleep at the wheel for a while, and then sold the keys to their henhouse to the foxes to buy their way out. IIRC, the US recently passed a law that basically says commercial organisations can contribute unlimited funds to election campaigns, which means in practice that they can buy representatives legally and openly at this point.

      The only thing that is going to fix that is a grassroots rebellion, because the one thing the corps don't have yet is the vote, and money only translates into votes and therefore winning elections if the people who do get votes buy into the campaign propaganda. But you'd need a hell of a rebellion to overturn the US situation as it stands today.

      I suspect that in the long run, what is really going to sink the US megacorps is the rest of the world. For example, while our government here in the UK has played along more than I'd like with ACTA and public consultations talk about limited change due to international agreements, even government ministers and the senior civil servants in the relevant departments are now admitting in the lower profile stuff that copyright is no longer fit for purpose and much greater changes are going to be necessary. Reassuringly, they also seem to be reasonably clued up about the idea of alternative business models and not propping up the dinosaurs, too, but for now they still speak in guarded tones when they have a large audience.

      Similar comments apply in other fields, and at European level too there is quite a strong sentiment against letting big business steamroller democracy in the way certain other places seem to have allowed in the past. When it becomes clear that the rest of the world are bored of doing what the bought-and-paid-for US government says just to be nice, the US government will have to remember who it's there to serve, and the dinosaur megacorps will die out, while those who continue to do useful things that people in the US and elsewhere actually like will survive.

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  6. Re:Ludicrous by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Simple, they bought it.

    --
    A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  7. Eh, the typical by Megaweapon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1. Propose something to Congress so wacked out it would never ever pass
    2. "Negotiate" it down to "semi-reasonable"
    3. Pass legislation, GOTO 1

    They won't get what they want this time, but something bad will still likely get whittled out from this.

    --
    I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
    1. Re:Eh, the typical by MasterPatricko · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yup, they're just using the old tactic of pushing the comfort boundaries. This is what really worries me ... they'll "water this down" so that its "fair in comparison to the original proposal" after much debate, but in absolute terms it will still be ridiculous.

      --
      I'd tell a UDP joke, but you may not get it. I'd tell a TCP joke, but I'd have to keep repeating it until you got it.
    2. Re:Eh, the typical by nurb432 · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's how we got the DMCA.. and most all other invasive laws.

      --
      ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    3. Re:Eh, the typical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Hey, maybe those Tea party people could help. Couldn't you frame this as one more branch of the evil Obama administration's efforts to take our rights away? ...

      Psshshshthahahahahahaha...heh... ...

      *cry*

    4. Re:Eh, the typical by CrazyDuke · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, I read a book on how to influence people that cited a study done on Watergate. And, it is a well known sales tactic, and is confirmed in social psychology texts. The implied conclusion of which is that the result does not even have to be "semi-reasonable" itself. The sales pitch (negotiation as you put it) just has to appear somewhat reasonable, not what is actually being sold. It just has to be less audacious, hence your quotes.

      It seems people are hard coded to negotiate in good faith under the assumption that the other player is also acting similarly, even if evidence indicates otherwise. Thus, people will often reflexively entertain and agree to ridiculous arrangements based on the need to alleviate this external dissonance of sorts. Thus, a street peddler can sell you the $1 trinket necklace he just bought at a dollar store for $5 by asking for $8 first and then "compromising" to $5, despite the fact you wouldn't even have bought it for a buck otherwise. (FYI: That also includes an example of assumed high value for high cost and inadequately compensating for an initial impression.)

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced influence is indistinguishable from control.
    5. Re:Eh, the typical by ScrewMaster · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yup, they're just using the old tactic of pushing the comfort boundaries. This is what really worries me ... they'll "water this down" so that its "fair in comparison to the original proposal" after much debate, but in absolute terms it will still be ridiculous.

      It will be interesting to see what happens if and when Congress attempts to mandate spyware on every single operating personal computer in the United States. And, I might add, not a program that reports to a legitimate law-enforcement agency (if any such Federal organizations exist in the present time), but to the private sector. If that does happen, the next question will be what penalties would be applied to an individual who attempts to circumvent, disable or uninstall said spyware. You know, like most of us on Slashdot. This puts a bad taste in my mouth, it really does, and anyone who claims, "hey, it's just entertainment" isn't seeing the bigger picture.

      Besides, given the RIAA's demonstrated inability to reliably sue the right people, unwillingness to admit mistakes and offer redress (and absolute willingness to write off the collateral damage with out a second's thought) I have zero doubt that this would also be highly destructive, only more so. Remember folks, the MPAA is composed of people just as amoral and fundamentally dangerous as the RIAA crowd: hell, they're cut from precisely the same mold. Don't forget Jack "The VCR will DESTROY the industry!" Valenti ... there are plenty more where he came from.

      Not the America I grew up in, let me tell you.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    6. Re:Eh, the typical by shentino · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not to mention Microsoft would be tickled pink.

      I would not be surprised if such a spyware program didn't have linux or osx versions.

  8. Dupe? by Bearhouse · · Score: 4, Informative

    Pretty much the same as:

    http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/04/15/1559208/Entertainment-Industrys-Dystopia-of-the-Future

  9. Re:Hmm ... by Noxn · · Score: 2, Informative

    In the name of me and the internet, we too would like to file a comment here.

    "RIAA and MPAA, go fuck yourselves".

    Thanks.

    --
    By reading this you agree to give me (Noxn) 1 dollar.
  10. Spend more time on your own problems! by adosch · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yet another lost cause for MPAA and RIAA with failing to provide a legit and legal way on their own to produce and distribute digital content to the masses, so now you're going to hit up the government like every other 'Big Corporation' or 'Big Industry' has to help some failed quest.

    Never once have I seen these two organizations do anything more than indictments, court battles and really lame 4 minute short films on why 'piracy of copyrighted material is bad'. Come up with a real solution. Software implementation will not even put a dent in this and it'll be worked around in 24 hours or less at best. More tax dollars at waste!

  11. Why not just charge less? by mfnickster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    RIAA, MPAA - why don't you just sell your product for a reasonable price so that more people will buy it? Make it easily downloadable and hassle-free (standard formats with no DRM).

    Wouldn't that be easier than the technical and legislative shenanigans you seem so enamored of??

    --
    "Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
    1. Re:Why not just charge less? by shadowbearer · · Score: 4, Insightful

        Because charging *less* would cut into their hooker and blow money. Duh.

      SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
    2. Re:Why not just charge less? by mfnickster · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > What price beats free?

      People will buy something if they get a perceived value, and the convenience saves them the trouble of going out and finding it. Witness iTunes Music Store.

      If they feel they're being ripped off, they'll go out of their way to pirate it.

      --
      "Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
    3. Re:Why not just charge less? by Culture20 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      RIAA, MPAA - why don't you just sell your product for a reasonable price so that more people will buy it? Make it easily downloadable and hassle-free (standard formats with no DRM). Wouldn't that be easier than the technical and legislative shenanigans you seem so enamored of??

      You seem to think they're after money. I think they have loftier aspirations. Who needs gold when you can order your subjects to do anything at sword-point?

    4. Re:Why not just charge less? by lostros · · Score: 2, Interesting

      quite a few people buy books. libraries have been available for quite some time.

    5. Re:Why not just charge less? by JohnBailey · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What price beats free?

      Fair.

      --
      It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.
  12. box-office receipts futures market by M.+Baranczak · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm really torn about this one. The movie industry hates it, but the finance industry likes it; which one is more evil?

  13. What about Linux? by javacowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, if this happens, people who never before even considered running Linux will start installing it en masse on their PCs or Macs. People who never before would have made the effort to learn how to install it will become quite proficient at doing so.

    I'm guessing nobody will bother writing such software for Linux. Even then, how do you ensure it's installed with every single distro? What are they going to do? Ban Linux? They'd have to either shut down or block every single site that offers a Linux ISO.

    One way or another, this isn't going to fly.

    --
    This space left intentionally blank.
    1. Re:What about Linux? by Zumbs · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If it is illegal to have a home computer without the "anti-infringement" software, and such software does not exist for Linux, it will in practice become illegal to run Linux. A gray shade will be if the software will need to run, that is, will it be legal to dualboot with Windows/Mac (with the software) and Linux (without the software)? Either way, the requested law is a draconian invasion of privacy, as well as a backdoor into your system for anyone from malicious hackers, spies or blackmailers to use.

      --
      The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head
    2. Re:What about Linux? by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, if this happens, people who never before even considered running Linux will start installing it en masse on their PCs or Macs. People who never before would have made the effort to learn how to install it will become quite proficient at doing so.

      Um, would these be the same people who call me for help when their "e-mail is broken" because they accidentally sorted it by something other than 'Date'?

      What are they going to do? Ban Linux? They'd have to either shut down or block every single site that offers a Linux ISO.

      Let's not give them any more bad ideas, m'kay?

    3. Re:What about Linux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think the more scary thing is that most people just wouldn't care and wouldn't educate themselves enough to know what was in the MS monthly push.

      "I'm not doing anything wrong, I have nothing to fear".

    4. Re:What about Linux? by Mornedhel · · Score: 4, Informative

      We're supposed to get one of those spywares any day now, over here in France, thanks to the HADOPI legislation.

      When confronted with the problem of making people voluntarily run spyware on FOSS systems, Christine Albanel (ministry of Culture and Communication, proponent of HADOPI), said (my translation):

      About software... about free software, of course free software, when you buy, of course, software, for instance the Microsoft pack (this is not free software): Word, Excel, Powerpoint, there are of course firewalls, I just said that, there is security software. But on free software there are also firewalls, which by the way, of course. For instance, we in the ministry, we have a piece of free software, called Open Office and there is indeed security software that prevents the Ministry of Culture to have access, obviously, and the free software editors release firewalls, and even release free [gratis] firewalls. So that argument has no grounds. That is what I wanted to say.

      And that is basically the last we heard of it, and they moved on with the project. She said that in front of the entire Assemblée Nationale to the representative who had asked her if she had considered the problem of FOSS systems, including the half-dozen "évidemment" and the unfinished sentences.

      Now what happens is that when accused of infringing copyrights, it's the HADOPI authority's word against yours, and despite this being -- supposedly -- a country where you are innocent until proved otherwise, for some reason the burden of proof rests with the infringer here. So your *only* way of demonstrating that you are not guilty is to be running the government-approved spyware, which you can't, because it's HADOPI-style multiplatform, which probably means you can run it on Windows Vista *and* Windows Seven.

      Before anyone storms in declaring that's what France gets for being a socialist country and that socialism inevitably leads to governments spying on their citizens: our current government is right wing (on our spectrum), and the Parti Socialiste is against HADOPI.

      To conclude, the most likely answer to your question ("What are they going to do? Ban Linux?") is "no, they're just going to pretend it does not exist, and when the time comes to explain why you are not running the spyware, good luck trying to convince them it's related to ethical questions".

      --
      This /.-related sig is a stub. You can help Mornedhel by expanding it.
  14. Re:Careful by Anarki2004 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Correct. Corporations aren't human. But somebody thought it would be a great idea to give them the same rights as individuals.

    --
    The teachers will crack any minute, purple monkey dishwasher.
  15. "The Right to Read" by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Of course, if they want spyware on every computer, then you can no longer have control of your computer. Software development will have to be heavily regulated.

    RMS saw it coming over a decade ago; go read his little parable The Right to Read , if you don't know it already.

    --
    Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
    You cannot wash away blood with blood
  16. Futures market for b-o receipts: a derivative? by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Funny

    Surely this is one of those evil, nasty derivatives that will soon be banned by financial regulation anyway. After all, everyone knows that speculators and derivatives caused the recession, right?

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  17. Stallman predicted it. by Stormwatch · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The MAFIAA read this and thought it was a good idea.

    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.
  18. I would urge IATSE to strike against this by ev1lcanuck · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Should these asinine ideas come closer to fruition I would urge the union of which I am a member: IATSE Local 700 Motion Picture Editors Guild to go on strike and encourage other IATSE unions to do the same. The ideas being proposed can and will harm our industry and our livelihood by creating distrust and distaste of the media in the general public. It is unacceptable to treat our customers as criminals.

    If entertainment industry workers took a stand for the country as a whole then public opinion would be on our side. The producers would have to take us seriously.

    1. Re:I would urge IATSE to strike against this by Tacvek · · Score: 2, Interesting

      For the English comment, even as an American I find the dropping of the second 'e' very odd.

      It turns out that this is arguably a more correct spelling. Employee comes from employé, which is the past participle of the French verb Employer meaning, of course, "to employ". Being the past participle, according to french linguistic tradition it can also be used as a noun, having the expected meaning. For females, the word gets an extra unaccented 'e', becoming employée a feminine past participle, which if I remember correctly, is a form only ever used in noun form.

      Go figure.

      --
      Stylish sheet to fix many problems in Slashdot's D3: https://gist.github.com/801524
  19. Makes Me Think About Pirating by MacroSlopp · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think that artists should be rewarded for their efforts and as such I buy all of my music; however, I now realize that this means I am ALSO supporting these thugs? Maybe i should reconsider my activities, because I DO NOT WANT TO SUPPORT THESE GUYS. What should I do?

    1. Re:Makes Me Think About Pirating by uffe_nordholm · · Score: 2, Insightful

      In your position I would pirate everything, and send a couple of bucks straight to the artist I like. And for the artists, it might very well mean _more_ money, since they only get peanuts per sold CD anyway... For the record companies, though, it will mean _less_ money. I am not sure that is a bad thing though ;-)

  20. Don't be TOO sure by Runaway1956 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Who remembers stoppoliceware.org ? (don't bother clicking - the site has been abandoned, and it's for sale now)

    Word was, some years ago, that "Da gubbermint wants to install spyware on your computer to track what you do, and it will report if you have any pirated software, among other things"

    Stoppoliceware was one part of a multipronged attack on that idea, and those politicians who were considering it seemed to have abandoned their idea. So, the site was neglected, and finally ceased to exist.

    We see that whole thing coming back, around the world today. RIAA and their ilk are looking for antipiracy, but da gubbermint is willing to go along with that program, so that they can install monitoring software of their own.

    Unless, of course, there is enough of an outcry against the concept. Australia and New Zealand have been pretty effective in blocking this kind of crap - but I have little faith in the US. So precious few people have the least clue regarding the issues, and those who have a clue often buy into the "Think of the children" nonsense.

    Thank God (and Torvalds) for Linux. There won't be any spyware on my machine. The bastards can spy from my internet gateway, but that's as close as they get, unless they come in with a warrant. At that point, I'll most certainly be joining the revolution!

    --
    "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    1. Re:Don't be TOO sure by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Informative

      http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:7AOx1mO30NoJ:www.erollisimarr.com/forum/showthread.php%3Ft%3D18794+stoppoliceware&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

      It's a forum, where a member copy/pasted some of the old site's mission, and asked about them. There is probably more interesting stuff available on the web, regarding stoppoliceware, if anyone is interested. Or, google for any of these terms:

      "The CBDTPA is a bill (S. 2048) proposed in Congress by Senators Fritz Hollings (D-SC) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), along with Senators Daniel Inouye (D-HI), John Breaux (D-LA), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). The acronym stands for "Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act". Note that the CBDTPA was originally known as the "SSSCA" while in draft form."

      Ahhhh - here's the bill:
      http://www.politechbot.com/docs/cbdtpa/hollings.s2048.032102.html

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    2. Re:Don't be TOO sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There won't be any spyware on my machine. The bastards can spy from my internet gateway, but that's as close as they get, unless they come in with a warrant.

      Not having spyware will be considered probable cause, allowing them to get a warrant.

    3. Re:Don't be TOO sure by cpghost · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Thank God (and Torvalds) for Linux. There won't be any spyware on my machine.

      Only if you're not installing binary blobs, i.e. drivers (*cough* nVidia *cough*) in the kernel and closed source programs (*cough* Flashplayer *cough*). And who knows what's lurking inside your closed-source BIOS (both on the motherboard and in network adapters)? I'm not saying that those binary blogs contain spyware, but I have no way (short of reverse-engineering them) to be sure they don't... and never will on subsequent updates.

      --
      cpghost at Cordula's Web.
    4. Re:Don't be TOO sure by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 2, Funny

      You should get that cough looked at.

      --
      Comment of the year
    5. Re:Don't be TOO sure by Mista2 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And as much as you have thinking about it, Richard Stallmans way of life starts making sense. The thing I do like about stallman, is that unlike many ofther extremists, he doesnt push his ideals where they aren't wanted. If asked to speak on the topic he will, and at lenght, but he doesnt go around lobbying govertment to make sure all software development is open source and free, he just wants to make sure there is enough of it that you can create a "free" computer system if you want to.
      The hardest stuff to do as open source is the hardware, becasue this does cost a lot of money to develop and reproduce, but guess what, Linux juns just fine on my Mac too, and even when using OS X, based on Unix, most of the software I do use is opensource. I dont need iWork, or MS Office, Open Office does the job, Handbrake takes care of video file transcoding and ripping my own DVDs, VLC plays nearly everything, GCC and other compilers still work in Linux and OS X. Infact lots of opensource stuff works better in OS X than windows because of a smaller number of different systems that might be running it, not like with Windows, which might be XP, Vista, Win7, Server2003, 2007, etc. Most of the intel systems would have gone 10.5 altleast, and most PPC systems will be there as the last stop before 10.6. (also PPC based Macs make good linux systems too)

  21. Exactly how? by headkase · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Exactly how is this proverbial scanning software supposed to tell the difference between an illegal file and a legitimate one? Based on file name? Based on hash? Easily defeated and ineffective. The only way to truly tell if a file is infringing is to have a Turing complete artificial intelligence to watch it, listen to it, read it, or play it. Nothing short will do. Since websites hosting questionable content are having such difficulty separating out the files when forced to we can only conclude that Turing quality AI is not available yet. So, although the design specs call for a magic wand none are available.

    --
    Shh.
  22. Don't stop there. by khasim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This makes me want to not pay for next album or movie just that much more...

    Instead of just not paying for it, don't watch it at all. Or don't listen to it.

    If you don't like their tactics, do not provide them with an avenue to distribute their products.

    1. Re:Don't stop there. by future+assassin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Or just support independent/creative commons artists. I was living in and out of the box for a while until in the last week I discovered tons of free music here http://www.ektoplazm.com/section/free-music/ and here http://www.jamendo.com/en/ and metlabels http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&ei=nsrJS5TbF4jMsgOJr4XxAg&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&ved=0CAwQBSgA&q=netlabels&spell=1

      --
      by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
    2. Re:Don't stop there. by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 3, Informative

      Making that population statistically indistinguishable from those promoted by modern record labels, presumably?

      A lot of people in any field suck at it, but in a field as big as music, even a tiny proportion of the artists being good would be enough to provide a lifetime's supply of interesting and entertaining content for people with diverse tastes. The trick is to somehow create a meritocracy where the relatively few really good performers can rise to the top and get widely noticed, without inadvertently creating Big Media all over again.

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
    3. Re:Don't stop there. by NotBornYesterday · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The fortunate truth is that different people have different tastes, and so what sucks to you might be considered a rock anthem by the next person. It's called diversity, and we might see more of it if the **AA didn't effectively dictate our choices to most of us.

      --
      I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
  23. Re:Ludicrous by sznupi · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They want to be free doing what they want, operating from "land of opportunity"?

    --
    One that hath name thou can not otter
  24. This is hilarious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, this is all to be done in the name of protecting movies? Not nuclear secrets or D-Day invasion plans, but movies? I don't want whatever it is they've been smoking, as it's clearly too powerful and causes grandiose impairment of one's general reasoning abilities.

    Puh-lease. They're acting like guarding the earning potential of Waterworld should rank right up there with National Security secrets.

    1. Re:This is hilarious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      The National Security secrets concern the measures in place to protect the earning potential of Waterworld.

    2. Re:This is hilarious by shentino · · Score: 2, Informative

      Don't laugh, they already drug that excuse out quite well to keep ACTA under wraps.

    3. Re:This is hilarious by bhtooefr · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, considering IP is the only product that the US can actually export any more... arguably, Waterworld's earning potential IS of utmost importance to national security, otherwise, China utterly pwns us.

  25. Not only NO by shadowbearer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But FUCK NO.

      Who the hell do they think they are? Arrogant bastards.

      You know what we need in this country? A presidential administration with the balls to dissolve the RIAA and MPAA and put their executives in prison, where they rightly belong. Any corporate executive who would sign off on an idiot statement like this badly needs a reality check.

    SB

     

    --
    It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
    1. Re:Not only NO by bzipitidoo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wrong venue perhaps, but the right spirit. I agree, let them say and propose what they want.

      But, some ideas are so heinous they ought to provoke such a popular uprising that no one will ever dare propose them again. For instance, now that we have some understanding of the consequences, the idea of using nukes to "solve" disagreements between nations should be just such a provocation. There is a recent article out announcing that if the relatively minor nuclear powers India and Pakistan had a nuclear exchange, even the few nukes that they have is enough to cause a Nuclear Winter that could kill us all off. Generals who seriously propose using their nuclear toys without provocation deserve lynching by their own soldiers.

      In other cases, time and time again special interests have proposed scrapping part or all of the Bill of Rights. They want to trash the 4th Amendment, or the 1st, or some other, to accomplish what they claim is some benefit to society, but which is patently, obviously the opposite. If they are lucky, no one takes them seriously, and we can afford to deal with them gently.

      But in this case, these jokers have been pushing their anti-social agenda for decades, and have actually made some "progress". In some places, 3 strikes provisions, in which a mere unproven accusation is enough to cut access to a service steadily becoming more vital, have actually become the law. It's about the same as taking away driver's licenses or cars for littering. Real shame that the victims will be unable to drive to work and will lose their jobs, but they should have thought of the consequences before they broke the law! Yeah, right. They don't say so, but they want to kill the Internet as we know it. They'd love it if they could outright kill it, but they'll settle for strangling it with monitoring, restriction, and payment requirements. And for what? To protect us? No. Some other equally noble goal? No. It's so they can better monetize a non-essential thing the way they want, and what they want is to be lazy and not have to try or learn any newfangled business models. They ought to be mercilessly boycotted. Their reputation for business acumen should sink so low that no one will ever hire them for management work again. The opprobrium should be so severe that no sane businessperson will ever again dare suggest these sorts of drastic measures for this trivial thing.

      The public understanding of the Internet today is somewhat like the understanding of nukes in the 1950s. Then, a nuclear war was not unthinkable, the dangers of radiation were not broadly known, and the possibility of Nuclear Winter was completely unknown.

      --
      Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
  26. by over sea coders that will just mess it up or ma by Joe+The+Dragon · · Score: 2, Funny

    by over sea coders that will just mess it up or make only work on system with the hardware / drivers that they have to test on.

  27. Re:Hmm ... by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 2, Funny

    A joint comment by me and my dog Boog has just been filed on Slashdot.

    Be honest. Your dog wrote the whole thing, didn't he?

    RIAA v Boog : Illegal download of "How much is that doggy in the window?"
    RIAA: Your honor, since defendant can't pay the 100 billion dollar value of this single download, we request Boog be put down.

    There you have it: RIAA wants to kill your pets.

  28. Re:Ludicrous by boarder8925 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's the American way to pay shittons of cash for the laws you want.

    --
    Keep your eyes to the sky.
  29. OK, but.. by hom3chuk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We want, on our side, "FBI notice"-cutting software, trailer-skipping software, "region-lock"-disabling software, "simple whistlersless menu and episode list" software to be installed on every single computer involved in movie industry and every DVD-player. OK?

  30. And this is by Dunbal · · Score: 2, Interesting

    exactly why I don't go to the movies anymore. Blame piracy if you will (despite the fact that some movies keep breaking records). A lot of us are fed up with being ripped off at the box office, raped at the confection stand, and then accused of being pirates (talk about preaching to the choir) before the movie starts, only to be ripped off again by movies that fail to deliver.

    Back in the day, there were basically two forms of entertainment - staying home and watching tv, or going to the movies. Nowadays there are many more things to do that entertain, from playing multi-player games, to playing with consoles, to watching people ignite their farts on youtube. Your market share will drop accordingly.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  31. Will likely be implemented by andydread · · Score: 4, Informative

    Unfortunately this is MORE LIKELY to happen than not. The Vice President is fully influencing the President on this matter and it's not in a way we like. Joe Biden's pro RIAA history will almost guarantee it.

    As Senator, Senator Biden had sponsored five pro-copyright bills and co-sponsored three. Among these bills includes the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2004, of which the similar yet brutal 2005 edition became law. Another was the Perform Act of 2006, which intended to restrict the recording and playing back songs off satellite and internet radio (this died in committee).

    1. Re:Will likely be implemented by magus_melchior · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Then again, Mr. Biden appears not to have much influence with the Government Accountability Office, as they're calling bullshit on the "WE'RE LOSING BILLIONS TO DEM PIRATS!!1!" argument so often touted by record labels and movie studios. Without the "OMG MASSIVE LOSSES!" argument, I don't know if Congress will be inclined to act.

      --
      "We are Microsoft. You shall be assimilated. Competition is futile."
  32. Re:Not very soon. by Cheerio+Boy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Let me answer your questions:

    1. It is not called racketeering it is called capitalism. The same things are happening in other places as well.

    2. As long as people are frightened by terrorists, various diseases, house prices, jobs and each other, they will not have enough time or capacity to do that. Even more the TV is keeping their brains off. So they will not rise until we run out of oil.

    3. When the oil runs out (same as 2)

    I agree with number 2 and 3 but not number 1.

    When what a corporation does would be called criminal under laws not within their control then they are criminals in everything but name. Sorry but calling it capitalism when the corporations are running the government just doesn't cut it with me.

    As far as I'm concerned real capitalist make money within the system NOT change the system so they can keep making money.

    --

    "Bah!" - Dogbert
  33. Please don't mix RIAA and MPAA by Pascal+Sartoretti · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I am always surprised that people associate the MPAA and RIAA together. To me, there are huge differences between them.

    RIAA - Music
    • Music is a natural human activity.
    • Music existed many centuries before the RIAA, which may one day be seen as a small blip in the history of music.
    • Technology has become so cheap that great records can be made at very small costs.
    • Music belongs to the artist who wrote or played it.

      MPAA - Movies
    • A movie is always the work of tens, hundreds or thousands of people.
    • Even a low budget movie costs millions.
    • A movie is nearly always the product of an industry (save for a few documentaries).
    • Movies could not exist without the movie industry, which is nearly as old as movies themselves.
    • A movie belongs to those who financed it.

      I don't want to excuse all of what the MPAA is doing, but I understand that an industry defends itself against its ennemies. For the RIAA, however, "racket" is the only word that comes to my mind.
    1. Re:Please don't mix RIAA and MPAA by bit01 · · Score: 2, Informative

      And people like you completely ignore the fact that artificial scarcity is just that. Artificial. Blocking billions of people from using an idea or text, giving massive cultural enrichment, so that one (1) person can have additional profit.

      People have been sharing since the dawn of time and will continue to do so. It's only human and no amount of hand waving by people like you is going to change that simple fact.

      ---

      "I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives." --Leo Tolstoy

  34. I want the open source version ... by Skapare · · Score: 2, Interesting

    .. to run on Gentoo Linux.

    --
    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  35. Re:Careful by Surt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And if there were a corporate death penalty, all the issues that came with individuality would be resolved.

    --
    "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  36. Things to do to lose me as a customer by Da+w00t · · Score: 5, Informative
    Disable all analog outputs on my high definition devices (such as blu-ray players) - this is coming up in a couple years.
    • This makes a feature I paid for on my $1000 USD receiver for "multiple zones" absolutely useless. That very same feature is also crippled by default by Sony such that *only analog* video and audio can be piped to the other zones.

    Charging extra for "digital download" for content I have already purchased a license for

    • I've intentionally not purchased many blu-ray discs because of the absurd crypto on them preventing me from watching that content on something besides a severely locked down combination of HDCP compliant players and display sets. When blu-ray's crypto is 100% broken like CSS for DVDs, then I'll start purchasing all my favorite shows in high definition on blu-ray. Until then, I'm downloading shows that I watch on TV in the US via BitTorrent.

    Cable Companies that set the CCI bytes such that TV shows can't be transferred from one DVR to another

    • http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2009-09/tivo-and-the-cci-byte/ Cox Communications (my cable TV and cablemodem internet provider until I get Verizon FiOS) sets the CCI bit to prevent me from moving content off my TiVo. FiOS doesn't set these CCI bytes, and permits "multi room viewing" on both TiVo DVRs and their own FiOS DVRs. I've been working approximately a 66 hour work week for the past month and a half, and I can't be sure that when I have time between work and sleep to watch a TV show that it will be present on my DVR because other programs have been recorded and replaced it. So, back to BitTorrent.

    MPAA/RIAA/friends suing their consumers instead of getting with the program and adopting the new world that they find themselves in

    • I stopped buying CDs entirely. I stopped buying music entirely. I now find music that I enjoy much more than the cookie cutter "formula" stuff I hear on the radio that artists put on their own website available for free. And you know what? I paypal them money as a thank you for producing the music. Direct cash to the artist. If you like ambient/chillout electronica, go to http://www.scene.org/ and look up the artist Xerxes.

    Take away features with a software update

    • Yep, I'm pissed that instead of Sony fixing a software problem with a patch, they remove a feature all together. When was the last time that Microsoft told you that they were retroactivly removing support for Mice and all pointing devices in Microsoft Windows because of a Click-Jacking vulnerability? Fix the hardware or software bug you made and don't negativly impact your consumers, or live with the fact that users will get what they want out of what they purchased. Licenses be damned, I'll take a soldering iron to my Sony PS3 if I damn please.
    --

    da w00t. mtfnpy?