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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."

25 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Forget the music. Use the Slashdot Beta! by east+coast · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re:Forget the music. Use the Slashdot Beta! by hawkinspeter · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm still using "classic" slashdot and haven't tried the beta version. Has anyone got an opinion about the beta version?

      --
      You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
    2. Re:Forget the music. Use the Slashdot Beta! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Beta hides details of dates and times, user ids, post ids etc.

      Seems like it is designed for the sort of people who are afraid of "ugly numbers" and can't handle technical information unlike real slashdotters.

      So if you see Beta, go do something else for a few hours, repeat till you get "Classic". Or just give up on Slashdot.

    3. Re:Forget the music. Use the Slashdot Beta! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Hopefully their complaint does include a C&D clause, but they are also entitled to fair compensation for the past unauthorised use of their work.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Forget the music. Use the Slashdot Beta! by OzPeter · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Can we get over it already? The beta look is not that bad. If you don't like it, there are browser plugins you can use to change the look. Or, less talk, more action, GTFO. I'm tired of scrolling through pages of Beta nagging and filtering actual comments from all the bitching.

      No we can't get over it. And no a plugin will not fix what is fundamentally wrong with the Beta. And the reason that you are scrolling through all those comments is because the corporate overloads will not listen to valid criticisms about the short comings of the Beta site

      --
      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    5. Re:Forget the music. Use the Slashdot Beta! by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 5, Informative

      On my planet, all we do is scroll down to the bottom of the main page and click "Use Classic."

    6. Re:Forget the music. Use the Slashdot Beta! by gmuslera · · Score: 5, Funny

      There are rumors that now Guantanamo Bay prisoners are forced to use Slashdot Beta. This madness must stop, they are human beings after all.

    7. Re:Forget the music. Use the Slashdot Beta! by east+coast · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Don't like my whining? Then go whine somewhere else!

      --
      Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
  2. Save money, use Slashdot Beta instead! by TheNastyInThePasty · · Score: 5, Funny

    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
  3. Now thats a performance... by Nightbrood · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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

    1. Re:Now thats a performance... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So are they considering interrogations a "performance" that needs to be licensed?

      And this would be different from playing it in a bar how?

      Unless there is an explicit exemption in copyright law which says "except during interrogations", the copyright laws as bought by the media lobby still apply.

      If we can be sued by the copyright holders for crap like this, I fail to see why it should be any different for the feds.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:Now thats a performance... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Informative

      Plus, I don't know if I would *want* people to know the Feds considered my music so horrendous that it would induce severe mental stress.

      You know, if you play anything loud enough and long enough, you will induce severe mental distress.

      And, before you get all smug, here's the playlist they used outside of Manuel Noriega's compound to drive him crazy:

      (You've Got) Another Thing Coming - Judas Priest
      Blue Collar Man - Styx
      Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins
      Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo
      Don't Look Back - Boston
      Electric Spanking of War Babies - Funkadelic
      Heaven's On Fire - Kiss
      If I Had A Rocket Launcher - Bruce Cockburn
      In My Time of Dying - Led Zeppelin
      Iron Man - Black Sabbath
      Judgment Day - Whitesnake
      Jungle Love - Steve Miller
      No More Mister Nice Guy - Alice Cooper
      Paradise City - Guns & Roses
      Panama - Van Halen
      Paranoid - Black Sabbath
      Refugee - Tom Petty
      Renegade - Styx
      Run Like Hell - Pink Floyd
      The Party's Over - Journey
      This Means War - Joan Jett
      Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
      Wanted Man - Ratt
      War Pigs - Black Sabbath
      We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
      You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
      Your Time is Gonna Come - Led Zeppelin

      If you like any of those bands, get over yourself.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:Now thats a performance... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What's wrong with liking some of those bands? :-(

      Why, there's nothing at all wrong with liking those bands ... and I'm not saying there is.

      I was responding to a post which more or less said "wow, your music must really suck if they use it to induce mental stress".

      I can drive my mom away with punk rock, and malls routinely use classical music to drive away teenagers.

      I'm guessing Skinny Puppy was deemed to be about as far removed from anything the detainees would have ever heard. But just because you use it to stress out someone, doesn't mean it sucks or there's anything wrong with it.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:Now thats a performance... by SunTzuWarmaster · · Score: 4, Funny

      This is awesome! All the best music in one place!

      I've made this my Grooveshark playlist! See it here: http://grooveshark.com/#!/play...

      You. Are. Welcome.

  4. Beta woes by bartyboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  5. Re:Surely by HappyPsycho · · Score: 5, Funny

    $666,999?

    Ying-yang number of the beast.

  6. Why must this be{ta}? by LaminatorX · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:Why must this be{ta}? by LaminatorX · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Speaking for myself, the uid tells me about the shared context that users have. I'll have some idea what events we were both around for, what in-jokes we'll both get, and so on. It's a cultural signifier in the same way that graduating classes and the like can be.

      For those who are way low, it tells me that they're they're the sort of people who were here before discussion boards were mainstream. That doesn't make old-timers inherently wise or whatever, but I'll pay a little more attention to what they have to say on that basis.

  7. If you're going to use Canadian music for torture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  8. Torture by SenorPez · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm pretty sure using Slashdot Beta violates some part of the Geneva Conventions.

  9. Re:Buck Feta by ThatsDrDangerToYou · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey, I love feta you insensitive clod!

  10. Beta Is Good by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's causing me to do more work and less trolling.

  11. I've been here awhile by Rival · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:I've been here awhile by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Concur 100% ! Well said Rival !

      It is NOT about us "grumpy old men" saying "get off my LAN" because we hate change. We hate change for the sake OF change. The first rule: "Don't Fuck With It!" Translation for the layman: Don't fix what isn't broken! The wheel has been around _thousands_ of years because it _works_. Sure there are minor improvements here and there but the basic design & implementation doesn't leave people guessing.

      I've been on /. since ~1999. IMHO, the only FEW things that /. needs to change in order to go from good to great are: (Sorted by priority)

      * Editors to do their actual freaking JOB of fixing typos, spelling, grammar, dupes, bad/inaccurate headlines
      * Add UTF-8 support. Only of these I'll be able to post diacritics and über -- that is "Uber" with two umlauts. WTF is this 1997?
      * Allow us to edit our posts -- BUT show the original post so we can do a _visual_ DIFF of what has changed ! /. innovated moderation .. PLEASE innovate again.
      * If they actually fixed their broken 'ecode' tag -- I'm a programmer yet still can't post properly aligned code!?
      * Fix their lame-ass lameness filter -- against I've been here years, I want to post CODE but I can't. WTF.
      * Allow us to private message (PM) other members like every other forum does.
      * Lastly, stop with the shitty Betteridge's Law of Headlines -- that is, stop trolling us just to get more "ad revenue"

      That's IT ! (Please feel free to chime in what you would like to see in /.) Obviously the ad hominem arguments will go away but for the most part this is (or was) a mostly civilized and intelligent part of the internet before it got popular. If I want those stupid lolcat memes/articles I know where to go for emo-news.

      All this extra whitespace crap and bad UI with /. beta? Do. Not. Want.

      I've written about the "life cycle" of online social sites in the heck just 2 months ago in Dec 2013 ...
      http://tech.slashdot.org/comme...

      Sorry for bad netiquette of quoting myself ...

      I've been online for 20+ years. The cycle of online human communication is *always* the same.

      * Forum (BBS / newsgroup / website) provides a common ground for people to share info. / tips / opinions
      * Site is small as only the "geeks" use it
      * Site gains Momentum and goes mainstream
      * The crazies come out of the woodwork -- Name Calling / Ad Hominem / Trolls attack -- people keep forgetting authority needs accountability
      * Moderators are either
          a) 45% of the time non-existent
          b) 45% of the time grammar/spelling/free-thought nazis where posters need to tow the party line,
          c) 4% of the time does it rarely exist there are balanced moderators who allow a difference of opinion as long as it it kept civil and intelligent
          d) 1% site allows members to self-moderate
      * All the old members complain about "the good ole days" when the noobs / newbs / hipsters, etc. didn't drive the S/N from Signal into Noise
      * New site starts that promises to be "Bigger, Better, Cheaper", etc.
      * Old site membership is split as some members leave to check out "Awesome new site" (temporarily, others for good),
      * Old site lingers but never really recovers from the mass influx of growth and decay.
      * Rinse and Repeat ad nauseum.

      What /. did innovate at the time was to allow the crapfest of usenet to be FILTERED. Reddit has mob rule when you get carpet modded into oblivion because people don't want their thinking challenged.

      Thoughts?

      --
      Only Cowards Censor

  12. Christ on a pogo stick by nobuddy · · Score: 5, Funny

    That reads like my play list.