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Skinny Puppy Wants Compensation For Music Used in US Interrogations
First time accepted submitter time_lords_almanac writes "A Canadian band has sent an invoice to the U.S. Department of Defense after learning that its music was used without permission in 'interrogations' of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The members of Skinny Puppy, who specialize in electronic music, were originally going to make the invoice the cover of their next album until they discovered they could bring legal action against the department. They were also none to happy to learn the purpose their music was being employed for, let alone illegally. The amount of compensation requested? $666,000, of course."
It'll drive people out of their minds and since Slashdot won't have any users it will be easy to access.
On a more serious note, I see Skinny Puppy's billing of the government to be a sign that they condone the use of their music in such a way. I know that's not true but a C&D letter would have been a much better political statement.
Still, boycott the Beta. Fight Dice.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
The government should start using Slashdot Beta instead of music to torture detainees. Just sit them down in a room with a computer that can't go to any website except Slashdot Beta. They wouldn't last 5 minutes. I know I couldn't.
The best thing about UDP jokes is I don't care if you get them or not
Should have been $666,666 two numbers of the beast.
Oh and Fuck Beta.
So are they considering interrogations a "performance" that needs to be licensed? I'm sure the guys in black vans will show up shortly to assist them.
fuckbeta
FUCK IT
fuck beta
fuckedy fuck beta
But seriously. Fuck Beta,
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Captcha: fuckbeta
Slashdot Beta is horrible. They should kill it before readers go away.
Dear slashdot editors, everyone reads the comments, we know you're not letting beta articles through the firehose. Letting non-stories like this through instead don't help your case, it just makes you look like manipulators.
you insensitive clod!
Somebody seems to be moderating down these comments a lot. Dice better wise up and not ignore its readers.
How can they justify $666,000? I thought there were legal limits to what you can charge and based on evidence you could say they owe x amount for the number of infringements.
Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
I'm a long-time reader but rarely log in these days. I made an exception to voice my displeasure at the beta version of Slashdot. The new layout wastes space and moves the comments to the background.
I, along with many others, come here for the comments. If the beta is the default design, I will stop coming here. I imagine many others will do the same.
Your move, Slashdot.
I am a long slashdot member, I don't usually post comments as I prefer reading them, but one look at the new BETA site caused me to break my habit.
The new BETA sucks shit!
- I've been a frequent visitor to Reddit, I don't go there anymore after their version 4 redesign which was as bad as the new Slashdot BETA!
- I've been forced to read Slashdot through this abomination of a mobile version of the site on my tablet. Thankfully I've been able to revert to Slashdot classic.
- If I am forced to read slashdot through this unholy thing that is the BETA, I will do Reddit and stop reading Slashdot altogether.
So, seriously FUCK BETA
I am fully prepared to join the boycott that is planned for February 10-17, please KILL BETA.
This beta is worse than gitmo
Illegally? Prove it. Immorally? That I can see.
I submit stories. I read stories. I add comments. I moderate comments. I am the reason that there is ad revenue.
I am Slashdot.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
For the time being you can do this: www.slashdot.org?nobeta=1
Make you voice heard here:
http://beta.slashdot.org/fireh...
To quote Steve Jobs (rip) - "..and one more thing.."
FUCK BETA
The Dice site has a link where you can do that. ...god, on my mobile device, the compose box is only eight letters wide.
Any organization involved in this blatant piracy should have, at the least, a one year ban on internet access. The only issue is who can enforce the punishment.
I've been here since 2001. It used to be a great site, and even in its latter days it remains a good one.
The changes in this new interface are destructive to the culture of this community, particularly the removal of sigs and uid#s. It is the commenting community that makes this site special. Ignoring that is a gigantic mistake.
The changes in this new interface are technically ill-concieved, requiting javascript, loading a bzillion comments but not displaying them, not supporting link markup.
The changes in the new interface are sketchy from a design standpoint. They are what, optimizing for tablets? Isn't there already a (also crappy, but at least optional) mobile site for that?
Please slashdot, don't do this.
I will be joining in the Slashcott from Feb 10-Feb 17. It will be the longest I've been off the site since I was hospitalized after an accident in 2007. Hopefully I'll be back, but maybe not. We'll see.
Am I alone in seeing the irony that the US government is the worlds biggest advocate for tougher "copy-write" and "IP laws" with larger fines yet gets sued for infractions?
I would think that Celine Dion or Justin Bieber would be much more effective at breaking the will of even the most stanchly determined Jihadists.
I'm pretty sure using Slashdot Beta violates some part of the Geneva Conventions.
These days websites are getting worse and worse just to please the eye with all the eye candy and this is true with the slashdot beta which feels cumbersome, confusing. Original slashdot is simple, straightforward, and just plain easy to navigate.
So if somebody entertains their guests(friends, family) at home with music or movies, should they also pay royalties to these record companies,bands, or movie producers? Or should the detainees have the right to sue this band for listening to their tortures music?
Any suggestions for where to migrate/fork this site when the inevitable happens? Only reason why I read Slashdot is the comments (and by definition, the community behind them)
'Nuff said.
In the old version the title of post were in green background, easy to read. New version it is in white background => they should change that because it makes it hard. There are a few kink here and there (can't click on the comment moderationand see the history easily so far as i can see), but I find the new version not "too bad". Just a question of getting user to it.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
“I wouldn’t want to be subjected to any overly loud music for six to 12 hours at a time without a break”
I hope noone plays his music at any raves
SURELY NOT!!!!!
1. Make some noisy music.
2. Use for torture
3. Profit!!!
Not sure Skinny Puppy thought that one through...
...But the SCOTUS nixed that on Eighth Amendment grounds.
You can play whatever you please in a private setting.
Unhappy with the new site design? Kick them where it hurts. Block advertising.
Up until now I always allowed slashdot to show me ads. I've been reading the site pretty much daily for over a decade (this is my second UID).
I just disabled advertisements. Why let them profit off of me?
If this becomes permanent, I just will have to find something else to read. I've grown up and looking more towards investment forums now, anyway. (giving a shout out to bogleheads - http://www.bogleheads.org/foru... )
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
Seems like a liability black hole. If not a morality black hole.
I was just remarking to a friend today how Agent Side Grinder's new album "Hardware" sounded like as if Skinny Puppy, Kraftwerk, and Depeche Mode were to have an ugly baby.
It's causing me to do more work and less trolling.
I've been here awhile, and have watched Slashdot go through a lot. Every time there's been a major change, a significant section of the user base has left and eventually been replaced. (The significance has not always been in terms of sheer numbers, but more often in longevity, character, personality and other less tangible demographics.)
I'm sure it will "survive" beta in the same way, which makes me sad. More pillars of the Slashdot community will leave, to be replaced with shills, trolls and youths who simply don't have the history to carry on anymore.
There are (at least) two things Dice fails to understand:
1.) 1,000,000 users != 1,000,000 users. Every UID is different, and when someone leaves, you can't simply "undo" that by getting another person to sign up.
2.) We don't want change. We're happy not being reddit, or 4chan, or (ugh) web 2.0, or whatever social media site or crap technology is the current buzzword this week. We're Slashdot. We come here because it's an old and familiar community. If you change too much, it's no longer familiar and we leave. Or if too many people leave, it's no longer a community and people stop coming back.
Please, I seriously recommend you keep the old UI codebase around for those of us who use classic mode. It's not going to kill your servers and we've been here long enough to deserve this little concession. Remember, each of us are a vital part of the conversations that happen here, and it is the comments that make Slashdot. Don't force us old-timers away with unnecessary change. Thank you.
Been following that band since the mid-80s and actually will see them on their tour date on feb 16th in Montreal.
Its not surprising that they would sure, if only to clear their name. Despite the harshness of the genre, Gitmo is precisely what they advocate against.
First of all, fuck the beta site. Who the fuck thought a site for nerds would benefit from a cosmetic redesign? If it ain't broke, don't fix it, assholes!
However, the classic site now seems broken for me. I log in, and it brings me to my profile page. That's fine, but I didn't really want to edit my profile. So then I click over to the main page and, voila! I'm no longer logged in! It seems that if I want to complain about the beta site while logged in, I'll have to do it while actually using the beta site.
Fuck my life.
Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
If the use was a "taking," then the noisers will get paid. If the use was for "police power" then the noisers are going to get stiffed.
Seems to me that it's a taking. When the military gets its boards for waterboarding, it pays for them. Seems it also should pay for the noise it uses for noise torture.
For those who know how to use an IRC client go to #slashdot-refugees on FreeNode. If you don't, use this handy web client and join anyway. :) Commiserate and/or make plans in case this situation goes horribly wrong. :-/
Don't forget Phil Collins!
Geek runner, motorcyclist and professional know-it-all
The detention center at Gitmo is illegal and should be closed. The only legal way to end this travesty is to appeal to the highest law of the land.
No, not the constitution. Copyright.
Why have we been wasting so much time? And why did it take a Canadian band to point it out?
You get to listen to Skinny Puppy. Sweet! Sign me up... oh wait... they put a water hose up where? while you listen?
The content created by us plebes is what actually sells your ads. I come to the site to read informed discussion. That is not created by: your editors, submitters, advertisers or user interface..
NO WAIT!! IT IS CREATED BY THE USER INTERFACE!! THE SLASHDOT INTERFACE AND META-MODERATION SYSTEM IS WHY I COME HERE.
Now fuck off with your godawful site redesign. I am definitely boycotting Feb 10 to 17 and likely longer. I have enjoyed being a multi view user, practically every day since I signed up.
Why the hell would I buy a computer screen to look at the blank colour white? Let alone giant images of the incorrect aspect and the rest of the lame features.
http://www.slashcode.com/www.slashcode.com/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/slashcode/
food for thought: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?SlashDot
Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics, you can leave politics alone, but politics won't leave you alone.-rms
Fuck Beta.
...Dice can eat a giant dick!
It's different because Gitmo is not a bar.
Unless there is an explicit exemption in copyright law
Nope. Easiest way out of this is to claim that torturing detainees is not a public performance, so the use does not need to be licensed. And frankly, that argument is probably correct. Especially if they are blasting it with headphones, which is one of the things I've read. Maybe if they're piping it to a bunch of headphones simultaneously Skinny Puppy could have an argument...
But how do you think this lawsuit will go down? The government will simply say it can't describe interrogation techniques in detail because NATIONAL SECURITY. Also, suing the Feds for copyright infringement is harder than suing anyone else, and even if you win you can only collect minimum statutory damages.
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
Huh, I get modded down for asking this legit question and then modded up for an off-topic comment on the beta version of slashdot further down.. Mods, can you try and be objective before slashdot completely falls apart?
Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
Why are we asking for money when it is more important to ask, are these interrogations legal in the first place?
I would think that Celine Dion or Justin Bieber would be much more effective at breaking the will of even the most stanchly determined Jihadists.
Ug, those are pretty bad. Skinny Puppy is great stuff, I don't see how it could be used for torture. It couldn't be that effective...
Fuck beta.
It's everything you don't want in a discussion OR news delivery system and more.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
That reads like my play list.
Every time someone sues 'the government', who pays the bill? We do. That's not the governments money, that's America's money. If you want to make a statement against the government, don't do it by putting all of us into even greater debt. Also, fuck beta in it's fucking beta face.
I am logged in, and Classic is in my preferences.
If I log out, and log in again, I get forced to go to beta, unless I visit the beta disable link first.
After that, I get Classic all the time, unless I login, or have the cookies wiped.
Looking at the cookies, there is one called betagroup and it is set to -1. Perhaps that is what forces classic.
But, Dice seems to be set on ruining the site we know and love for 15 years, so we all have to voice our displeasure at beta.
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
As a sub 25 yo, shouldn't everyone know how to use an IRC client? They managed to type in slashdot instead of /., unless they inherited the computer from an older sibling.
Didn't they make the source code open source a while back? It'd be a shame to lose our old user IDs and post history, but someone could easily write a replacement including a script that allowed people to pull stuff from their old account using OpenID.
Skinny Puppy is known for their Industrial Alternative, not "Electronic" --- they aren't a hipster Dance band.
Slashdot Beta is Trash. So was Skinny Puppy pretty much since 1992 (after Too Dark Park). But they have realized the Error of Their Ways and have returned to 1984. So now the 100,000 dollar question: Can Slashdot's caretakers realize the Error of Their Ways before it is too late?
Anyone recall Arstechnica's major design change about 4 years ago? Nope me neither. Know why? When they did it, they left the OLD design available to use. Two settings exist to this day for Colour: Dark on Light, or Light on Dark; as well as a setting for layout. I wonder if maybe, just maybe its not such a boneheaded thing to do --- to give users a choice and stop being such a bunch of pricks.
No, but I did get the warning that classic ends in 4 months yesterday when I logged in.
I had been seeing all of the comments about the beta site, and finally got curious enough to open the beta site link in a separate tab.
OMG!!!WTF!!!!!
I stayed long enough to 'take the tour' with the little numbered boxes that show up, checked out how the comments work, then I went to the feedback survey (extreme upper right corner in my browser) to make my displeasure known.
IMHO, the beta site is HORRID, and I for one, will not be back after the changeover unless 'classic'(as it is now) is a working option.
I started hanging out on /. as an AC back when they first started handing out 5 digit UID's, and have learned a metric buttload of cool, useful, and interesting stuff here. /., and really hate to lose that.
I have met a whole lot of interesting people from around the world, from many professions and walks of life here on
Slashdot was and still is a unique place that I have come to enjoy, and have found no other place similar enough to go to.
Guess I'll have more time for other interests and hobbies, but this will be quite a hole to fill....
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
You mean the two "Canadians" who live in the US and sell the bulk of their stuff there?
Given that this music was used as part of Crimes Against Humanity, I would think that a larger fee would be due.
If it had been my music that had been employed, as part of this brutal regime of torture, I'd be somewhat upset. I'd like to see this feed given in compensation to the victims of these terrible crimes, and to help finance some action by the International Criminal Court, to bring the responsible members of the political leadership or the American Junta, to justice.
Force the beta on us and we'll trash the comments with such gibberish the site will lose its content.
Some will even relish in fucking shit up because you're too bone-headed to leave things well alone.
I guess I wasn't the only one who slept through elementary school civics classes, eh? Turns out you can't sue the government unless it decides to let you.
"The government is not liable to suit unless it consents thereto, and its liability in suit cannot be extended beyond the plain language of the statute authorizing it." --US Supreme Court, Price vs. United States, 1899
More like $500,000 USD.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The same torture-music and compensation angle was discussed ten years ago by the creator of the "I Love You" song from Barney on Crazy Rulers Of The World:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUf8KBjKBpM
title says it all
Oh and Fuck Beta.
Why would I get intimate with that which I despise?
Its a rhetorical question....although I wish it wasn't
I've always said English was my second language. Had Romeo and Juliet been written in C, I might have understood it.
a copyright infringement?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Reported for spamming.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The content created by us plebes is what actually sells your ads. I come to the site to read informed discussion. That is not created by: your editors, submitters, advertisers or user interface..
This story is a perfect example. I read it a few days ago on Reddit (and no I didn't submit it to /.) Days later I see it here, but I still click on it to see what the /. crowd have to say about it. The Reddit crowd talked about it, but the moron/intelligent response ratio is far too high, the way /. arranges the comments allows me to filter out the useless comments, and only look at the highly moderated comments without fucking around too much. Also the quality of the users drawn here tends to be better informed and less partisan (two things that people always complain about here, but it's so much worse elsewhere.) If the beta gets pushed through, it'll basically be what I can get on Reddit 2 days earlier.
Is 1563649 a prime number?
Freenode #slashdot-refugees
Yeah, it's called Slash but nobody uses Perl anymore because it's not web scale.
no one is being forced to use the beta site, and likely won't be required for months to come.
People want to get a jump on ensuring they will not be forced to use it ever, because it explicitly says we will be forced to use it in "several months" and more people are being placed in the painful default.
I actually think it looks kind of nice, but there's too few comments before "load more" and the comment threshold is insufficiently flexible. In my opinion, on a threaded conversation forum, it's just a terrible idea to completely hide posts. It keeps leading to misunderstandings where there's a string of asshole -1 posts between snide +5 posts, and then casual readers think the snide +5 posts are being assholes to each other, which generates real flame wars -- I think this is an actual problem in Classic Slashdot actually. But Classic Slashdot lets me put all the low-modded comments in a summary view, and everything else auto-expanded.
Also the serif fonts on the reply/share/etc. commands are jarring and ugly.
And the scaling is poor on thinner windows. If I use a maximized window, it's fine. I don't require text to go the full width of the screen; I know that optimal reading conditions actually favour a narrower column-width. But I don't run all my windows maximized all the time.
What I personally want is to never have to click "Load More" (even classic Slashdot fails here, but to be fair I only have to click one time, maybe two on a hyper-popular post, with my settings to see it all), to be able to have most posts be in an auto-summary view with good posts pre-expanded, and either no sidebar or at least one that stops taking layout space when it's empty so that I can control column-width. I'd get over the seriffed fonts easily, and I'd get over the column-width grudgingly. I will not get over "Load More" or the summary views, since if I see an incomplete list of posts, then Slashdot will have lost the attributes that make it a better discussion board for me than the random forums that infest the web. And if I see a complete list of posts, but they are all auto-expanded, then Slashdot would only be readable once its userbase decreases substantially.
Amazing playlist. All my favorites in one place!
Please listen at: http://grooveshark.com/#!/play...
Best. Playlist. Ever.
They are admitting listening to their music is torture!
I do take issue with the US Government though, if they wanted to use music to torture they should've used Justin Bieber, and he's Canadian too.
Would've been far more effective.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
No really. This present system works, as evidenced in this thread.
Yes, this is the community using the community forum to discuss a meta issue "Things that matter". If you're looking for someone to blame, blame the thrust of this site dismembering. There won't be anything left for you in the future. By your complaint you're actually with us brother. Be grateful your community is still here to listen to your opinion. We're not as bad as the rest of the great unwashed, so take a stand for what you actually want. We are your allies despite your churlish trollishness.
Phil Collins is not Canadian.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
I would think that Celine Dion or Justin Bieber would be much more effective at breaking the will of even the most stanchly determined Jihadists.
Ug, those are pretty bad. Skinny Puppy is great stuff, I don't see how it could be used for torture. It couldn't be that effective...
Actually several tracks on "Bites", "Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse" and "Cleanse Fold and Manipulate" were created specifically with subsonics to enhance the feeling of darkness, depression and dread. The ever popular "Assimilate" (from "Bites") is one of them.
"...manifestations of a sort, so insidious off the point, simple solution never confusion, sport a gun kill a cop. Crazy world of weary thought, so receive me had enough, lock me up, lock me up... [...] ...Mutterings of death to bring, suffocate a newborn thing, degradation of an age, venereal it's all sensation, protect design the moral plan, infallible as propaganda, completely black, with no steps back..." (from "Assimilate")
Yup, I'm a long-time fan (of Skinny Puppy, not beta!)
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
Years ago I heard the Feds also were using religious music, which may be considered an act of desecration. One I remember reading about was using recordings of Tibetan Monks chanting, aimed at The Branch Davidians during the siege in Waco, TX. Or maybe this is a violation of the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..."?
I'm also of the opinion, reading lists of other music they've used 'against' people, that whoever is choosing the music must be dweebs who probably think anything other than America the Beautiful, country music, and maybe some Protestant Church music will drive people insane because it drives them insane. I wish they listen to more and get being insane to the final conclusion.
Hey, it's not torture - these guys are one of my favorite bands! They could play this at top volume all day long, and I'd be fine with it. My DH & I are going to see them on Valentine's Day - how's that for romance?
Not only are they not bad, they're damn good. Also rich by now, with many, many fans. It's just that they're loud and abrasive, kind of as thrash is to metal. My husband & I are seeing them in NYC on Valentine's Day, and they're sold out. I've been going to their shows since 1988. Since they've been able to make a very nice living for all those years, guess it's the government that needs to check its taste.