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Hacker Spoofs Track Plays To Top Music Charts
mask.of.sanity writes "Stand aside P!nk, Niki Minaj; you've just been beaten by a music generator. One Aussie security expert curious about the fraud mechanisms at play on streaming services like Spotify uploaded garbage music tracks and directed three Amazon virtual machines to click the play button 24/7 for a month, earning him top spot in online music charts and $1000 in royalties."
I thought that's where the tunes came from in the first place.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
What's James Blunt going to do now?????
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
This sort of thing is so 1999, however.
These days most sponsors just trust their ad broker to correctly report genuine clicks and withold payment for fraudulent clicks. Because there would be no incentive for an ad broker to under-report genuine clicks, and underreporting by even 100 clicks per sponsor when you have hundreds of thousands of sponsors won't gain you a couple of extra million dollars here and there.
Hacker (n.) Spoofs (n.? v.?) Track (n.? v.?) Plays (n.? v.?) To (prep.) Top (adj.? v.?) Music (n.) Charts (n.? v.?)
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I always likes that track anyway.
Although a good take on the modern music services and how to increase your rank, go back 10 years and hoards of people were paid to buy multiple copies of CDs and prior to that Vinyl. It shows given enough thinking how a modest amount of effort could keep you in pop tarts and coffee.
The fact that services don't have automated play de-spamming system should not come as a big surprise, given the pathetic earnings available. That's not research worth doing. But the outcome is - just $1000 for a track being played 24/7? No wonder artists all think Spotify is a sick joke. They won't have to automate anti-abuse systems until the amount they're dishing out to artists goes way, way beyond that paltry amount. It's not even worth gaming their charts right now.
Avril Lavigne was doing this before it was cool.
Learning reading comprehension helps, too. No issues for me understanding what they meant with that headline. And I'm not even a native English speaker.
Now if it were a sentence like "buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo" I'd understand your problem with it.
Clearly, must be a criminal.
Once upon a time it was possible to raise your position in the charts by buying the record in the shops that reported sales, and there was a small industry dedicated to this... Good to see certain traditions haven't been killed by computers!
garbage
Actually earning money by doing that is only possible because of a bad compensation model. Currently they just lump all the money from users into a big pile, and then divide that pile by the percentage amount of how much each artist was played. This screws the smaller artist over, because they get nothing, this leads to them dropping away from these kinds of services eventually.
I pay spotify $5 per month. If I listen to only one artist, that artist should get all my money(minus spotify cut). If I listen to nobody, my money should be divided like it is now. If I listen to 5 different artists, my money should be divided amongst them. That way I would actually support the artists that I like, and not lady gaga and justin bieber and random hackers.
There are 8 separate sentences. Note the capitol letters and note that these are not names. /. use camelcaps for titles? It's almost as bad as all caps.
Seriously, why does
Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
Was the sound from "Metal Machine Music"?
"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over." - Aneurin Bevan
The poster should probably have linked this http://youtu.be/PomBYSELEPE which is the guy himself giving his talk on what he did and why.
Some funny stuff.
...
Now if it were a sentence like "buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo" I'd understand your problem with it.
Indeed - without the proper noun correctly identified, it's meaningless.
I could parse it too, but that doesn't mean it's well written. Good communication is mostly the responsibility of the speaker.
Learning (v.? n.?) reading (v.? n.?) comprehension helps too.
Gah!
No issues for me understanding what they meant with that headline. And I'm not even a native English speaker.
Well, good for you. Maybe it helps that you're not a native English speaker, and are less familiar with the alternate meanings of some words. I happen to have a very good handle on the written word, so maybe that's why I'm overly sensitive to these things.
My point is not that the headline is more likely to be misread than read correctly (although I suspect this particular one might be), but that ambiguity can and should be avoided regardless.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Capitol letters? Are those coming from Washington?
nvnnpvnn. Is it clear now?
I'm guessing the answer is "no", but other than running a zombie network, could he have actually made a profit at this? Or are the EC2 instances more expensive than the compensation he got for it?
So... all words that can take the role of multiple parts of speech should be banned? or what?
"but that ambiguity can and should be avoided regardless"
I thought you said you were good with the written word? Certainly you know that no native human language passes as a regular language because they're all horribly ambiguous and context sensitive. So much so, that it really is impossible to avoid. I mean, hell, anything can be turned into an innuendo if you add proper inflection. But on a less dirty area the word "lead", is that a collar, a position in a race, a soft heavy metal? Read, is that something I do to a book or have just done to a book. Spoken out loud, now is it red read, read or reed.
One of my favorites comes in with "lead pipe" from the game clue. For the longest time I thought it was some sort of plumbing term, I thought "lead" was as in "I'm leading the race", because in my day and age, you'd never make a pipe out of the metal lead, because it's horrible as a pipe material as it's soft, doesn't hold pressure well, and poisons whatever goes through it. But no, it's the metal. I also wouldn't imagine bashing somebodies head in with something so malleable, I'd assume you'd want to use something a bit harder.
This overly long post I guess is just a way of saying ambiguity in the written word, as long as it's spoken language is more or less unavoidable.
A "micro" instance is $0.02 per hour or $14.40 per month, default "small" is $0.06/hour.
And if you've some space left for dessert, check how despite is used in TFA.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
You mean you can stuff an internet ballot box?
The shock! The horror!
You mean the internet can be full of fraud and lies?!?!?!
Who'd a thunk it. :P
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Who said anything about banning? I'm just suggesting that people who write headlines for online news sites take a little more care and don't string potentially ambiguous words together.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
nvanpvan where a is adjective
So much so, that it really is impossible to avoid.
Of course it isn't.
Ambiguous:
Prostitues appeal to Pope
Less ambiguous:
Prostitues make appeal to Pope
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
They've infiltrated /. We're doomed.
In addition to the other guy's comment, spotify pays around half a cent per streamed track. So currently the answer seems to be "yes". Which is kind of absurd, but interesting. There are lots of shady ways to make money though. Probably best not to think too much about them.
which is totally what she said
My point is not that the headline is more likely to be misread than read correctly (although I suspect this particular one might be), but that (c.? a.?) ambiguity can and should be avoided regardless.
Ambiguity fail.
Ambiguity fail.
Sentence fragment.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
And the tracks by P!nk and Niki Minaj weren't garabage tracks?
For today's ten thousand, to "buffalo" means to bully. "Buffalo" is also the name of a city in New York, and a synonym for bison, so the sentence "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" means "Bison from Buffalo (that are bullied by other bison from Buffalo) bully still other bison from Buffalo", or "It's tough being a herd beast in Upstate New York".
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
All he needed to add was some random monologue (preferable to be very angry monologue) and it would fit right in with the top 40.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Seriously.
Articles these days assume strange knowledge about things/people that just aren't even important.
nvanpvan where a is adjective
Wrong. "Track" and "music" are attributive nouns, not adjectives.
I would have gone for "underage prostitutes appeal to pope" but I guess that was more the last guy
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
At least his latest album is still available, and you can hear 30 seconds out of 31 seconds of each track here: http://www.7digital.com/artist/kim-jong-deux/release/a-kim-jong-christmas
Maybe I'm crazy but I actually found the music not too bad. It's weird music but it seems to have something...
People love Shirley Manson. She truly is talented and beautiful. What's not to like?
---Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A START
Good point all but for the lead pipe example. A little knowledge of history and you would know that lead was used for pipes back since the Roman days if not before. In fact, people used to grate a block of lead onto their food much like we might do with parmesan cheese nowadays. And the lead poisoning wasn't such a big deal. Well eating it would probably be bad, but for the pipes it wasn't so bad. The hard water deposits coat the inside of the lead pipes and then there is no more lead in the water.
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
"underage MALE prostitutes appeal to pope"
:)
FTFY.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
Ignore the trolls - this is indeed a *terrible* headline. I had to re-read bits a few times to make sense of it as well. "Track Plays" should probably be in quotes or hyphenated or something to indicate that it's a single "thing."
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
Like cheese? Er, why would they do that? Did they think it tasted good, or was it for medicinal reasons?
Learning (v.? n.?) reading (v.? n.?) comprehension helps too.
Gah!
No issues for me understanding what they meant with that headline. And I'm not even a native English speaker.
Well, good for you. Maybe it helps that you're not a native English speaker, and are less familiar with the alternate meanings of some words. I happen to have a very good handle on the written word, so maybe that's why I'm overly sensitive to these things.
My point is not that the headline is more likely to be misread than read correctly (although I suspect this particular one might be), but that ambiguity can and should be avoided regardless.
His English is fine, the headlines English is fine. Yours is terrible if you cant understand context, which is central to the English language.
Words in English have multiple meanings and connotation depending on where and how they are used, if you didn't understand what the GP meant by "Learning" and "Reading" then your English is just not up to the task. You seem to be treating English as a language free of ambiguity that only has one definition per word, this is horribly, horribly wrong. Context is important and you're taking words out of context to make a point, this means your point is wrong (because you had to remove context to make it).
Now the headline uses colloquialisms that make perfect sense to anyone who understands western culture, so most people will read it correctly. Now whether colloquialisms should be used in headlines, that's an actually a real and quite valid debate but considering this is Slashdot and fairly informal it doesn't really apply here and it's not the point you're making.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
If I had mod points you'd get some. An illiterate can't read at all, an aliterate has to sound the words out. Ambiguity is easy to avoid for the literate writer who doesn't sound words out when he reads as long as he's proofread what he's written. The aliterate can't understand this, not realizing that the literate not only don't hear the words unless they're in quotes, they don't see them -- they see and hear what the words convey rather than the words themselves.
The spoken word is indeed ambiguous. Did the Beatles sing "Lets all get up and dance to a song that was a hit before your mother was born, though she was born a long long time ago. Your mother should know" or did they sing "Lets all get up and dance to a song. That was a hippie four. Your mother was born, though she was born a long long time ago. Your mother should, no?"
The written word can be ambiguous (like the title, and like a lot of headlines in mainstream newspapers) but it doesn't have to be if properly edited.
Free Martian Whores!
if you didn't understand what the GP meant by "Learning" and "Reading" then your English is just not up to the task.
Of course I understood it, but it still took me slightly longer to interpret it than some less ambiguous choice of words would have, just like the headline.
You seem to be treating English as a language free of ambiguity that only has one definition per word, this is horribly, horribly wrong.
I'm doing exactly the opposite of that!
you're taking words out of context to make a point
Yes, yes I am! My point is that the words don't have a context until you've successfully parsed them, which is made harder by the use of ambiguous words - especially multiple ambiguous words strung together like that.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
My point is not that the headline...
You do realize that MOST headlines are written to be a play on words.
You also seem to have forgotten that some words can also be adjectives.
You do realize that MOST headlines are written to be a play on words.
I'd dispute that. This one certainly wasn't.
You also seem to have forgotten that some words can also be adjectives.
No I didn't.
Top (adj.? v.?)
See? Admittedly I did forget it could be a noun.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Seems to me with his $30 investment and $1000 return, that is some nice ROI! Should have kept his little secret to himself.
And now we have dubstep....