Slashdot Mirror
The Porn - MP3 Connection
quadra writes "New Musical Express has a strange
article based on a report by the British Phonographic Industry. According to them, sites are using MP3s in order to 'force' users to watch porn. " For those who aren't familar, the BPI is the British-equivalent of the RIAA [?] . Wow. I can't even imagine the thought process that leads people to say things like that.
While you are correct about having to click banner ads to get into MP3 sites being common, I think most MP3 trading doesnt happen on these sites. I know I use IRC for most of my MP3 needs and can usually find whatever I want within minutes on just one or two channels. Other then specifics, I trade with friends. The banner ad BS is precisely what keeps me FROM going to those sites. If I were BPI, I'd love these banner ad sites and go after the people who trade them freely...
-- iCEBaLM
This would (sort of) make sense as some mp3 sites are linked to the porn industry via banner ads. Some (most) of these banner ads are really animated gifs, which could be (sort of) considered a movie (sort of).
NME's newsfeed wants to *force* me to activate Java before I can read the article.
---------------------
---------------------
John 3:16 - God's Public License
For example if you are caught doing any of these activities, the company has the right to withold any revenue gathered during a webmaster's "illegal" activities and we have a narc page to turn over webmasters.
I occasionally use hotline to find programs but I never honor porn clicks through. When hotline hosters claim they need money to support their sites by click by having users signup for "ad" programs, that's bull. There's alot of hotline servers that offer programs with requiring a user to go to the tenth line from the bottom to discover the username or passwd.
I've never seen mp3 sites that have teen sex movies, I see the latter at work most of the day. So its get real boring quick...not really.
Have a nice day and I hope this post as "anonymous coward".
The first worst music mag in the world is Oor, a dutch biweekly, the self proclaimed guardian of good taste. It is so pretentious and elitist it can scare beatniks, punkers and hippies alike.
For some weird reason, when I use Junkbuster, Slashdot doesn't remember my logins, but when I point to Squid (which junkbuster also uses), everything works fine. Even if I log in with a preview, and the preview screen says I'm me, and then submit, it comes out AC. Since Squid caches the dang ads, it doesn't matter.
I'm kind of bummed about this, because I had several posts that ended up as AC that got moderated up to 4 and 5. It's on my list of things to figure out, but I just haven't got around to it.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
there used to be a good site called "firefly" that did this for movies and books.. but of course you had to buy the movies and books separately.
i wonder what happened to firefly.. did it die before the amazon associates came into existance? or did amazon's own "based on the books you bought.." thing displace it?
The shareholder is always right.
Huh huh huh huh huh, he said teen sex, huh huh huh. Come to butthead, baby
Can I be completely frank?
What's so bad about prOn? Let's face it, people do it and people watch it (specially music CEO's). Surfers are attracted to it because it's "politically incorrect" and because it tells them the naked truth (ok, well most of the time). Everything else just evades all the important questions about life (...). It is also a clear reaction to the totalitarian ways of feminists who, with their anax retentiveness, will just not accept anything that is not done by-the-book (i.e: male pornography is ok, we are more mature).
Hence the link between MP3's and SEX - in order to get either we'd have to go thru this process of figuring out what's right and what's wrong. All of this knowing you have no input in the process. As an example you might think a gal or a guy has a nice butt however you'd never say it - "You just can't do this sort of thing". But the natural thing to do is being honest...
I'd even go further. By linking MP3's and SEX the industry is telling people that beyond it's interpretation of facts, there lies nothing else. I guess that's completely predictable, but it still sends chills down my spine: not content with controling bank accounts, consuming habits and social behaviour, both the industry and the feminist movement try to control what people think.
My girlfriend won't even listen to a bloody MP3 even though I bought the album. What is the world coming to?
Just use USENET. No 'server busy.' No crappy ratios. Sure you've got to sometimes wait to get what you're after but it'll show up. Just post a REQ: and often it'll show up quicker.
Agent and an account from a fast news server is all a pron-hound/Mp3-er/warez dood needs.
'course anyone who's been around the net since *before* this whole "web" thing knows this.
And nobody forces you to look at anything.
"but I'd say that if you're looking for warez, the first rule is that it won't be online"
:)
Naa. There are plenty of sites out there. Many that make you click on porn sites actually have a lot of albums -- as well, there are tons of ratio sites on cable modems and university links. If you have a fast link yourself you can amass a gigantic collection within a couple of weeks. I sat down one day and downloaded over 60 punk albums. All I needed was www.audiogalaxy.com and an ok uplink to upload to ratio sites. I've found a few with over 70 full albums each and ratios like 1:100 (most are 1:3 or 1:4); so theres plenty out there
BTW, you can also get mp3 releases of cd's that are due to come out as far as a month away via irc. *cough* I won't tell anywone here where though.
----------
Junkbuster can block cookies -- you sure that it's not blocking any cookies to slashdot?
dd if=/dev/zero of=fake.mp3 bs=1024 count=3000
Upload the resulting file using your cablemodem. Now, due to the miracles of compression what would normally go up at 2k/s goes at about 30k/s. Gotta love ratio sites, eh?
--
Rob? He made me do it. I didn't want to but the bad man made me watch all those pictures. Now I have to go home and weed whack my palms! No mister, you made me bad touch!
Obviously I went blind long ago. Hell, I have been on the 'net since 1990. I was going blind in ASCII with 2600 baud modems. Now I am writing this with my IWhack hooked into a Dragon Speak and Spell.
The only horrific versions of teenage sex I have ever had to witness was watching two drunk friends of mine go at it when they thought I was passed out. The site of them both did make me wrtech and pass out soon after.
If MP3's could only be gotten off of porn sites, we'd all have the soundtrack to Debbie Does Dallas and Deep Throat {heard both}.
Think I'll set my braille lynx reader for the Hustler site. I heard that they have really goog commentaries on Jerry Falwell.
Romanes eunt domus? People called Romanes, they go the 'ouse? It says Romans go home. No it doesn't. What's Latin fo
Emma Fanning of the BPI said: "It has always been the case that piracy has links with pornographers and organised crime..."
My response is "It has always been the case that the music industry has links with illegal drugs and satanic cults."
These two statements are about equal in their truthfulness. Actually I've far fewer doubts about the "piracy industry's" wholesomeness compared to the Music Industry. Which one is constantly portrayed as being the slimyest dirtyest industry in the business, somewhere between crack dealers and pimps? It isn't the piracy industry...
Personally, most of the illegal MP3 trading that I've seen has taken place on IRC. The people doing the trading usually refer to FTP sites (I don't think I've seen one HTTP site mentioned in relation to MP3 files.) Why should they bother setting up a web interface for what FTP does so well? I have never seen an MP3 site "force" you to watch pornography.
MP3's will eventually kill groups such as the the RIAA and the BPI, and good riddance.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
The fact that there are porn banners on web sites and that sometimes you have to click on them to get mp3s is one thing, but this article is another.
This is NOT what the article was saying. It was saying that users are forced into looking at "horrific teenage sex" in order to get mp3s. This is not the same thing - if it was just banners, then they should have said something.
Think about it-what's their motivation for making a statement like that? It was in their interests to keep the statement vague and general - not mentioning porn sites at all, or commerce, but rather just choosing to say that people were forced into seeing porn as if all people who distribute mp3s are people who are consciously trying to corrupt the people looking for mp3s.
It's a crock of shit.
-- Truth goes out the door when rumor comes innuendo. -- Groucho Marx
This article ties in with the lawsuit agenst the Diamond Rio and all the other things the recording industry has done to keep mp3s away from mainstream acceptence. Its not even piracy thats the problem with it, its that mp3 has the potetional to destroy the music indurstry. The majority of the money from a record or cd sale dosen't go into distrubution, advertiseing, or even to the artist. Most of the profits go to the record company. Mp3 is the first method where an artist can have nationwide/worldwide exposure and sell their own records. This is similuar to what sites like mp3.com do. The cd's sold over the internet like this cost more to make (not in huge bulk orders) but cost less becuase there is no mark up from the recrd company. They are agenst mp3 because it will enable artists to bypass the recording industry.
Actually, some of these sites have started using Javascript cack so that if you try to go back you just get sent to another dumb porn site. I accidentally hit one a few days ago while following a seemingly innocuous link from Altavista, and had to kill Netscape to stop porn site pages appearing on my screen at work; luckily I have image downloading disabled by default.
Many people in the online porn industry seem to be assholes who just don't give a damn about anything but making money (and annoying web users in the process).
Of course Javascript is the tool of Satan anyway, but a few sites I visit regularly require it so I have to leave it enabled most of the time.
I've seen one too many ass awards browser windows pop up when looking for mp3s and/or warez..it's damn near impossible to find a good site these days.
It's JPEG all over again. The first widespread use of the image format was for pr0n. Thus it was tainted and unsupported by mainstream software for a looong time. Heck, it wasn't until fscking Windows 98 that the out of the box MS OS groked .jpg. Yeesh.
Hey! that's not the case at all.
I'm one of those "war3z d00ds"... actively in #macfilez and run my own hotline server.
and truth be told, I have a hot-@ss girlfriend who gets me to leave my computer and let some l00zr that I gave an account to admin the damn thing in my absense.
and it makes me enough money that I can buy my woman some incredible lingerie and go out to fancy restaraunts.
but you are right about Lightwave... I'd had that for about 6 months before I actually found a reason for it... but even then it wasn't worth it. But what the hell, it's only hard drive space, right?
I suspect the "horrific" is simply a redundant word for effect, to whoever wrote that sound bite the thought of teenagers having sex is per definition horrific.
I wish they would have posted links to those sites!!!! I love being forced to watch horrible teenage sex acts while downloading mp3s!!!!!!!! You can't go wrong with a combination like that!!!!!
It definitely sounds "Open" source to me...
If I read this correctly, does that mean I can tell my boss "the music made me do it" when he catches me at a porn site? :)
These are *MY* opinions.
They will not be *YOUR* opinions until the Orbital Mind Control Lasers are operati
That trick doesn't work most of the time unless it's 3am or 11 in the morning. Having a fast net link myself, I prefer uploading something decent so that the site will be as such next time I come -- however, though it may seem useful to modem users, the admin will usually come and kick you right off in time (downloading on a modem takes a long time). I've found the majority of the better sites have compulsive admins who seemingly sit by their ftp server status window half the day.
:)
Heck, I've even been kicked off sites after uploading 300 megs of stuff the guy wanted
----------
Hm... Drug lords is one. Still can't get the last one.
If this appeals to you, come join my crusade against magazine articles. After all, all these people are getting sucked into looking at naked women after being lured to Playboy for the articles! Damn that sly Hue Heffner!
"Nobody owns the fucking words man." - James Dean
I can't say I've ever heard of anyone being turned into a teen sex snake fscking addict by listening to mp3s. Neither have I come across an mp3 site that forced you to visit porn to get the mp3s. It's all choise, you can click the banner ad or leave the site. These kind of FUD reports are sensationalizing something so Joe Automaton thinks mp3s are bad, dispite his small collection of them. I don't really think anyone is paying attention to this crap. No one REALLY cared about the RIAA's case or their insistance that mp3s would ruin musicians. The only people ruining music are the ones protesting distribution of music. It's a lot like Ticketmaster's shiznit they pull whenever someone tries to go against their ticket monopoly. They have the monopoly on distrobution and don't want to see anyone/thing come between them and it. But when it comes down to it, no one gives a rat's pajamas. Mp3s mean Joe Automaton can download a song he likes for little or no money down, and if he doesn't like it he doesn't have a silver disk laying around his desk. I won't say mp3s are necessarily the future but their method of distrobution most likely is. Joe and Mary Automaton want the cheap easy system, not the espensive tedious one, knuckles to the economics and politics.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
It's called the back button. Also available using Alt(-), or backspace. Use it. No one is forced to watch anything on the Internet, that is why we like it here; freedom of choice is a beautiful thing.
To get into my site, use the Username "w4r3z". To get the password, go to http://blah.blah/blah and click on the banners. The password is the third word on the first banner page plus the fifth word on the second banner page. Naturally, 90% of the banners are porn banners...
Is this what they really meant?
--
me too.
Why on earth is this moderated "Flamebait"? Go MetaModerate and hope that you get this comment and metamoderate the "flamebait" moderation as unfair. This comment is exceptionally insightful, and explains, at least, where the author of the article is coming from.
Rob, you're forcing me to login. You're forcing me to read those advertisements on top of your page. I'm not responsible - society has forced me to spend my hard-earned cash and turned me into a social reject. Now I'm forced into posting to slashdot and hitting reload several dozen times an hour. It's not my fault, I'm a victim of Rob Malda! Help, help! Somebody's forcing me to think independently! It hurts, make them stop!!!
--
If avoiding a 100% click through ratio is a problem, write a script that downloads your page repeatedly. That should solve the prblem.
is the advertisements and popups that you come accross when you use say Altavista or Google to search for illegal mp3 distro sites. Goto your favaorite search engine and type in mp3, warez, serialz, crackz and see what you find.
Nothing is bad about p0rn. pr0n is good. People tend not to attack things that are bad (say Coliflower or banging your foot against the threshhold) but rather things that are good. Its not our fault, its how God wants it.
Your girlfriend needs a serious reality check. Can she explain her reasoning here? To people who accuse me of hurting creativity by pirating music I usually say "But I sent one dollar to the artist, thats more than it saw of your fifteen". That usually shuts them up.
-
Actually that might not be such a bad idea... ;-)
Female Prison Rape in NY
These days it's usually the Ukrainian Kombinat or the Shanghai Snakeheads. They control the MP3 industry and the horrific-teenage-sex market respectively.
All I get is music, and maybe some hippie graphics.
I especially liked the part about horrifying teenage sex, what exactly is that? Drinking a six pack, getting queasy, fumbling for a thick, old Trojan in your wallet and then prematurely ejaculating while her mom walks in on you? And then hurling on the floor?
Pretty horrifying to me.
George
so... you get *free* porn while downloading *free* music. what the hell is the problem here?
The MP3's themselves:
Personally, I see no great point in prawnographic sites. You can see shelled shrimp any time, for a lot less. And would -you- hand over your credit card, over a (typically) insecure line, to a complete stranger who has no interest in keeping the number safe? In fact, is probably in a country you couldn't even prosecute them in, even if they did run your card up to the limit the next day.
Sure, you say, but people would go elsewhere. How, exactly? Over half the sites aren't registered and go by IP address alone. Easy enough to change that. Virtually all use redirection, making it impossible to tell where you're connected to. And all of them are multihomed, so the name is useless to telling where you are.
Unless you fancy tracerouting to every single site you ever connect to, but still insist on viewing prawnography, you're not going to avoid fraud. It can't be done, because you've no means of ensuring trust, and it's not in the other person's interests to be trustworthy.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Ahh, but you're forgetting about the fact that people who are out looking for mp3s are already criminals, and probably insane too! :)
The unfathomable depths of depravity that a person undoubtedly has to sink to in order to want to download such blatantly illegal material procludes the possibility of self control. How could such perversions of humanity, so low that they would want to rip off poor starving companies with their underpaid CEOs possibly have the self restraint needed to resist the evils of horrifying teenage sex? How can they be expected to stray away from the evils offered by the snake with the ripe, luscious red fruit of lasciviousness and towards the light of corporate holiness and honor? Those who do not know the corporate pledge of allegiance, ("Buy, possess, own, consume, rent, lease, buy, possess, own, consume, rent, lease, buy...") couldn't possibly have the restraint needed to click the back button.
(Warning-this was a joke. If you though I was serious with the above article, then you need a good LART.)
-- Truth goes out the door when rumor comes innuendo. -- Groucho Marx
"Sarah Robertson Commucations Manager of BPI told nme.com:"The majority of illegal music is still produced and sold on CDs, but the rate of growth of MP3s is of concern and we feel that we have to act now." :)
Well they sure have acted.. by propagating such stupid allegations. I have been colleting a lot of MP3 and so have my friiends, but man this is news to us. How come we missed such good package deals
There are MP3 FTP site where u have to trade MP3s to get MP3s.. some with ridiculous download_to_upload ratio of 1:5, but NEVER has there been any case as mentioned in this article.
By any chance are they referring to the banners that are on some of these site ?? If that is the case then they donno how Internet works. No one is forcing u to click on that "Booby" chick hanging out there on that corner of the page that has a list of MP3 that can be downloaded.
My advice to Ms.Sarah Robertson.. " This is not the way to act".
If only the guys who had written such baseless allegations had asked their children how to donwload MP3 and enjoy them !!
Manifest
... "follow me" the wise man said, but he walked behind
www.puremp3.org is a website which promotes keeping porn off of mp3 sites. It's a good effort; check it out.
Check out PureMP3.
It's got an excellent list of mp3 sites that don't have pornographic banner ads.
It's a sad state when the majority of you can't imagine someone who doesn't want to look at pornographic banner ads.
-Pete
To paraphrase the immortal Claud Rains, the recording industry is shocked, shocked to discover that somebody is using sex to sell music.
(the revenues from your music video, sir,)
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The web is 90% porn, saying that MP3's and porn are intrinsically linked is like saying that water kills people since the entire world is covered in water and people die everywhere.
Like some of the other posters, I don't care if slashdork lives or dies, someone else will deliver the same sort of forum if slashdot can't pay the bills, and hopefully they will be smarter than the slashdot crew. But, believe it or not, I pay attention to the banner ads on slashdot, and I have found some neat things that I never would have heard about if I had been blocking the banners.
Here in the UK we saw a similar approach over Pirate videos. there were two arguments put forward by the industry spokesmen. firstly that you might be buying disney films taped over porn films. but the second argument was that it was subsidising the sale of drugs to schoolchildren. now I don't know about you but I hardly think that the sale of drugs is going to wither and die without the financial imput of pirate videos. they seem to be attempting the same thing here.
There are many valiant pursuits in the world. These admirable profeshions should be rewarded handsomely in order to attract more of the best to the field. Being a "Rock Star" isn't one of them, and it's time they artists stop being payed obseen amounts of money. Don't get me wrong, do artists deserve to be rewarded? compensated? you bet! They should be able to make a living from the fruits of there passion. But they shouldn't be overly compensated.
I'm talking about puke like Vince Neal from Montley Crue. So rich he could aford a fast car. So rich, he could aford the best drugs. And when he got riped and killed to other motorists in a horific accident, we put him on "Behind the music" to hear wonderfull quotes like: "Whaaaooo, like, wow, those people are dead, Whaaaooo."
The world is full of these talentless and over compensated musicians. I think the internet is a fantastic tool for flatening out the finacial model currently driving the music industry.
Imagine if you will, hundreds of thousands of independant sites, rating and selling the music they love, independently! A little money (10-20%) would go back to the artists directly, and not a dime to the record/distro companies. The rest of the fees belong to the hundreds of thousands of independant sites promoting that musician.
Duh! This has to be it.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
dammit I went to that site before and found it funny as hell. I forgot all about it and clicked through again... STOP MAKING ME VIEW YOUR PR0N!!
Yes, I sure am as fed up as you are about the owners of many MP3 sites who assume that anyone who wants to use their site will be as perverted as they are... Thank you for informing me of the existence of this site. I have just read their front page and I agree with every word on it...
I wasn't looking at porn, honest! I was just looking for mp3's. I suppose it's evolution, the species "Youngis Nubilis Chickis" has to survive somehow.
And did you send anything to the record company? Probably not, wheter you like it or not, the record company did play its role in allowing you to find out about the band. Either way, most people do not send that $1, 90% of the mp3-hype revolves around downloading illegal mp3s, 90% of the group that does this is the same group that downloads 0-second juarez. Heaven forbid if there are some people who still believe stealing is wrong.
So basically s/internet company/record company/ WOW! DAMN THE INTERNET REALLY IS A REVOLUTION!
It's more likely to depend on wether or not the author(s) 'got any' as teens. Were they popular, socially successful and well adjusted individuals, or repressed, snobby off-spring of right-religious neo-puritan freaks. You know, those that spell out the word S.E.X. in front of their kids until they're grown and married.
In my experience, teen sex was pretty damn great! Even with a partner (doh!).. Tastes and experiences differ, and tantric love-making is certainly not the same as fornicating with the stab-wounds of the departed, but I digress.
We can infer a lot about the psychological repression of the author(s), just by observing their language as it's used in the article. That, coupled with the remnants of a repressive society what would have jailed Alan Turing for being gay rather than having him assist in the deciphering of the Enigma engine, had he 'come out' publicly during his career. Silly islanders.
One can only hope that saner minds will prevail and this gets exposed as the ignorant sensationalism that it is. And that this never crosses the pond, since in the U.S. saner minds are shouted down by the likes of Jerry Falwell and Tipper Gore.
'Paying-off Karma at an accelerated rate' - Susan Ivanova
"Bite me. Call me. bCandid" Wow, Rob! What an appropriate banner ad...
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
Whoosh! No more banner ads. dns lookup goes to your own machine, finds no banner ad to load, and the rest of the /. page is unaffected. Faster loads too! (adfu is slooow) And for those who will say that I'm somehow hurting Slashdot or costing them money, *bull* *shit*. I've never responded to a banner ad ever, so it'll make no difference if I just disable them on my machine. Besides, if Slashdot can't surve without banner ad revenue, they they SHOULD die, in which case another site would pop up to take it's place. I have zero obligation to help Slashdot make money. Accept it. What's more, web sites are a commodity these days. If one sucks and dies, go to another. No big deal. No one site is all that important anymore.
It's so true! I'm glad I'm not alone... all this time, I thought something was wrong with me for going to certain risque sites. They didn't believe me when I told them my computer made me do it!
Well, we've all seem crap like this before, but I'm not sure even the RIAA is dumb enough to make a statement like that. Horrific scenes of teenage sex? Have you ever seen a more crystal clear piece of FUD in your life? I spit on this "BPI" just like I spit on the RIAA.
It's too bad they didn't use the word pedophelia instead of teenage sex...or maybe that would make it too obvious that this is pure FUD. The "pedophelia" or "pedophile" keyword is a favorite among politicians when they want to take away personal freedoms in favor of government regulation to "protect your children." Unfortunatly it's a just a way for them to protect their power base in the face of a changing world. It's obviously the same thing for the BPI. They're trying to protect their profit margins and distribution channels.
I've seen this same porn argument so many times over the past 3 years or so now that it's really funny and really sad at the same time. It's been applied to almost everything involving the internet. The BPI will be linking the words "pedophilia" and "child porn" to mp3's soon enough, since thats what really gets the public going. They're just lagging behind the US propeganda machine a bit, since America is the undispuded leader in propeganda, FUD, and P.R. bullshit. We've got all the cutting edge tactics over here. Lucky us.
But on the upside, when companies or organizations are resorting to pure FUD tactics, they're already losing the battle.
The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has filed suit for trademark infringement against the British Pronographic Industry...
Is this the kind they are talking about?
http://www.dotdotdot.net/pr0n/
this is even worse than the porn - mp3 connection. repeated exposure to live GWAR concerts eroded my moral values to the point that i lost my virginity before the age of 30. i'm a disgrace to all of the other ethically pure Philosophy grads from UNC Class of '90.
--
-- ken williams
well, that's different
George
I download mp3s _almost_ constantly, and run into these kinds of sites _almost_ every day.
...
... after all that, upon login a message is displayed saying, "there are too many users currently logged into that account. Please try again later", and I'm instantly logged out.
The majority seem to have an incredibly good range of music, but are extremely difficult to get into. Let me explain
Firstly, the hosts have their site listed in an mp3 FTP search engines (such as audiogalaxy.com). Once their site is displayed (showing the username and password), I login via FTP. The first message displayed, is usually one saying that this is a 'looking only' account, and for 'leech access', one has to go to their website www.blah.whatever.etc.etc.
Once at the website, there are banners at the top of the page, and a message at the bottom. The message says to "click on the top banner, and the fourth word on the page is the login, then click on the second banner, and the second last word on the page is the password." Both of these banners (of course) are porn sites. The host obviously gets paid a few cents every time someone clicks on them.
Next, having finally got the 'leech' username and password, FTP to the server can be attempted. Now comes the fun part
This doesn't happen once or twice, it happens 90% of the time.
What I don't understand, is why the porn site keep paying them.
'horrific scenes of teenage sex'
Whaouu.
Where are these sites.
Please give me the links.
;-)
Hopelessly muddle. Push-button response to illogical fear-mongering. Bleh.
"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped." --Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)
Yes, there is such a problem.
Javascript and VBA let you do really creative things with a web browser. Back Button ? This is the thing that opens another two windows with
porn ads.
Some porn ad sites do absolutely everyting to lure unsuspecting users to their sites, including long lists of keywords people might search for. MP3 is just one of them.
And once they have him, they do everything to hold him - regardless if he likes it. Redefining/Masking the Back and Close buttons is just one of the many tricks you can play with scripting languages.
Of course the problem is not MP3. The problem is scammers on the internet, and the problem is Microsoft and Netscape putting Browsers on our desktop with such "features"
YMMV.
Another AC
(note that I said 'porn ad sites'. These don't sell content and are paid by ad impressions only. Most reeal porn sites have real customers and behave accordingly).
If you are getting your mp3s through ftp sites, then you run in to the banner problem... but if you get them through an alternative source, such as Napster, then don't you avoid this whole thing altogether?
-Neux
"This sentence no verb." -Anonymous
I've clicked a few banner ads from time to time, but they were clicked out of self-interest and not because I feel it's my duty to give money to Slashdot. I bought a /. t-shirt from Copyleft, not because I wanted to help /. get money, but because it looked cool.
You should never feel you're obligated to click banner ads. Bypassing adfu.blockstackers.com is akin to pressing fast-forward on your VCR. Whoever stopped to watch ads because they felt the show deserved support?
What advertising firms are interested in is the demographics and number of people who come to /.; if they don't get many clicks, they'll just review their strategy. It won't put /. out of existence.
"Knowledge = Power = Energy = Mass"
You BASTARD!!!
....uh, what warez, officer?
I want my fair share of the take NOW!!!
P
Pope
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
There needs to be a way to enable java, javascript and cookies on a site-by-site basis (Hotjava used to do this and it was a cool feature.)
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Once again the ignorant write for the ignorant and it somehow it ends up on /. and a guy like me has to comment. ;)
I dl mp3s all the time, and don't see a lick of pr0n unless I'm looking for it. Once again, THE NET IS NOT THE WEB. If you want filez stay away from the web. It's all about $$$. If you want the good mp3s stick to FTP and don't support the pr0n pushers (BTW they usually have shit on their site if you can even log in after earning them a penny or two).
Last BTW: It's the web people, you see something you don't like SHUT DOWN THE BROWSER.
...is that when I hit the page, the freakin' banner ad started playing a background sound file! They wanna talk about the evils of forcing somebody to watch porn? How about the evil of forcing me to listen to Brad Pitt say "How much ya really know about yahself yah never been inna fight?" before I can lunge for the volume control?
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
If the majority agree, then it must be true! When search engines turn up more hits for pr0n than for porn, I do believe a dictionary update is in order!
Um... let's see, what could I do to fix this.
1) Block ads. The internet junkbuster is a wonderful thing.
2) Use a text-based web browser like w3m or lynx. Or better yet, ftp!
3) Disable image loading. (okay, sometimes that isn't as easy to do these days, but graphical browsers used to support it better before...)
4) If you don't like it, turn off the computer.
5) Listen to the radio?
---
pb Reply rather than vaguely moderate me.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
Apparently, they were complaining about the lack of quality and poor photography at their teen porn sites. They must believe that there should be much better teen sex out there than what these horiffic pictures show.
Maybe we should all send them the URL's to some high quality teen sex sites so the BPI won't be forced to view the horiffic ones.
Just a thought.
I think they confused "Phonographic" with "Porographic" and where looking at porn sites all day. Then when they got caught they had to come up with an explanation.
Although this report is a little sensational, the point is quite valid. No, not all MP3 sites are infested with tons of porn and porn links, but I know for a fact that a lot of the sites I browse for MP3s are far too risque to be on my computer at work...not that I search for MP3s at work, of course. :) Just one example would be www.mp3sounds.com, which appears to be down at the moment. This site has animated GIFs that would make Larry Flynt blush--plus tons of links to FTP sites full of MP3s. Again, not all MP3 sites are like this, but there are many. I don't know why the connection exists (actually I do, but I'm too lazy to expound on it), but it's there.
[bs] Damn, if someone had told me there would be PORN on a music site, I'd have leased SDSL already. Woohoo! [/bs]
Although, maybe the link between music and pr0n explains the existance of porno-bass music.
This should be a pretty easy problem to fix. Just use a browser or plugin that supports external comments (e.g. Third Voice, and I think Mosaic had something like this too?). Then just one person looks up the password and posts it for everyone. Nothin' the MP3/w4r3z d00d can do about it.
---
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
If this is referring to banner sites... the author of this article has it all wrong.
If you log into a site to download mp3s and you find yourself faced with the words "go to http://blabla and click on the banner for the password" ummm.. thats not exactly forcing you to watch porn... if you want in that site bad enough... you'll go click on the sex banner on the web but it's not as if someones forcing you to watch an hour long mpg as this article makes it sound like.
theres a real problem of people writing articles on internet related issues that don't know anything outside their Outlook Express.
The article says sites are using mp3s to force users to watch porn... that is juat all wrong
the article should say... sites are using porn to make a couple bucks off people that want their mp3s by using banners. Now theres an article that I would have a little respect for the author for writing.
this is just terrible
You have paid for a total of 0 pages and so far 0 have been used up (0 today).
I suggest a spell checker would only be useful if there was magic involved. A spelling checker might be more useful for an article.
Record companies are excited about, and are actively pursuing, the vast opportunities of the internet.
Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah!!!!!!
About as excited as one gets for a root canal.
"Piracy" is not an organized activity. Individual "Piracy" organizations may merge with other outfits, take advantage of synergistic relationships, and engage in strategic partnerships, but that does not mean that your local supplier of bootleg MP3s is somehow involved in some international drugs conspiracy.
As for pornography, I doubt that Playboy Enterprises is "mobbed up." There are many perfectly legitimate organizations distributing MP3's, and equally legitimate enterprises distributing pictures of naked people.
Why is the BPI trying to make us believe that MP3.com is somehow a front organization for the Mafia? There's very little profit in it. If I was a Mob figure, I might intead target a conventional record company. After all, record companies already know how to get an artist to sign contracts they can't refuse.
It's still not keeping up, though. I'm considering going out and getting a new 12GB HD tomorrow because my current 2GB all-porn (pics and movies) partition has only 25MB free! (I'm entirely serious about this!)
Never ever take anything in the New Musical Expres seriously. Even for British standards it is notoriously unreliable. The editors have all been lobotomised, and the writing journalists never even had a brain to lobotomise. It is the second worst music mag in the world.
Does anyone know how the *nix port of Napster is going? I remember reading that one was underway but haven't been able to find any news on this since they redesigned their site... Would solve most of the Pr0n-War3z-mp3 page problems for me. OTH is a pretty decent ftp search site, BTW...just do a search and it will tell you up front if it is a leech site or a if it is a quota (marked with a ?).
mcrandello@my-deja.com
rschaar{at}pegasus.cc.ucf.edu if it's important.
It sounds to me like someone at BPI got caught looking at porn, and had to think fast. "The MP3s made me do it!" And then things got out of hand when the boss took him seriously.
---
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
I watched NIN's "broken" (please dont tell the authorities) and beacme a serial killer. I would like to stress that I was forcked to watch Trent Reznor scream and make sorts of throaty noise. Also this guy did a bobbit act on screen, which deeply influenced my um.... nevermind
--
...is the quote from the HMV guy claiming that they'd be boycotting releases from artists who had pre-released tracks as mp3s. Is this accurate? Surely this should be between the record company and the artist? What business is it of a record shop if the artist chooses to release their work in alternate formats? Sounds like a good enough reason for boycotting an overpriced retailer!
where does such a respectable publication get off saying such things as "horrible teenage sex"?
Sex is a BEAUTIFUL thing between two very loving individuals. Sex is not a "horrible" action, but one of love, sacrifice, and mutual enjoyment. Pictures of such an act should be held in the highest esteem and broadcasted throughout the land...
And sex between teenagers is nothing but the purest of sex... that where individuals haven't been corrupted by money and power, and having their backs broken by middle management... okay, if it was between two UGLY teenagers having sex... maybe... but even then the ability for two grotesque individuals to find someone to share their special feelings with is a very very special occasion and also one which should be celebrated.
And if you'd like to start a web site to celebrate ugly teenagers having sex, www.uglyteensex.com is not yet registered!
So everyone, go out and visit your favorite site that supports the freedom of expression and passes along these beautiful images of sex and allows you to take them home with you and possibly even print them out (if you have a color printer).
ciao!
This is undoubtedly what they mean. I just thought it was kinda funny how they made it sound like it was the end of the world: "horrific scenes of teenage sex"! LOL!
Jon Frisby, Senior Internet Software Engineer,
Personal Site (MrJoy.com)
MrJoy.com -- Because coding is FUN!
I don't want horrific scenes of teen sex. I want the good quality, high res stuff. I'm going to have to change my choice of MP3 site.
What's so horrific about teen sex anyway ?
They must be doing it all wrong....
Brought to you by the author of such childrens' classics as "Some Kittens can Fly!" and "All Dogs go to Hell."
to add something to my post...
I ran this server on a macintosh for a variety of reasons.
It seems that hotline server for linux and windowz machines is very very very easy to hack, whereas since you don't get a command line for the mac, it's not even worth a cracker's time.
just warning some of you out there incase you're thinking of setting up your own server. Do it on a mac and don't think twice about it. Considering the people that these server's attract, you're thank me.
Can anyone point me to an example of his work? (I would like to decide if I might like his work before I go plunking down the cash for a CD). Preferrably one with horiffic pictures of teenage sex as I am sure this will accentuate the experiance. Especially if I am FORCED to watch it.
Bob Washburne
rcwash@concentric.net
Obviously, these people need to go to mp3 sites which have a higher quality of pornography on them.
set up your own server if you want.
the entire process takes approximately 5 minutes and you're up and ready to go with all of your users and groups working.
You could also firewall out connections to/from ads.doubleclick.net and a couple others, and lose 90% of the banners you see.
Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
Yes, they are talking about the pay-per-click porn advertisements which must be viewed to get the password to the mp3 site. I've seen quite a few sites doing this.
If the above poster is telling the truth about making $8000 doing this, I'm quite surprised, usually I hear stories of people getting maybe a few hundred dollars out of it. Mostly young prople who have little other source of income and are willing to take a little risk.
As someone who's seem more than his fair shar of sites which allow... um... "alternative means of software procurement" as well as MP3's, I've seen this. Most sites will not allow you to access them until you've clicked on one or more banners; they do this to make money for the owners. Furthermore, most of the banners are porn. The way that you prove you clicked this link comes in the fact that the password for the server is some word in a specific position on the page. Sometimes you have to use two banners, one to get the login and one to get the password.
Porn sites got wise to this, though. People would click through the banners, get the word they wanted, and leave. This wasn't making the porn vendors happy, so they switched to a new tactic; only giving their referrers money for people whop actually signed up for the service. Because of this now, you actually have to join many porn sites to access certain servers, and come back with information about a "Members Only" page.
I don't know. I'd consider that forcing a user to view porn to get MP3's. You're just as forced to join the sites as many people are to use Windows; let's put it that way.
Luckily, a few people still provide MP3's without banners. But there's some truth, at least, to that statement. Granted, you're not held at gunpoint and forced to relentlessly navigate these sites, but you think you're forced, and that's just as bad.
This article illustrates many problems with the
current state of the music industry. The music
industry as a whole is proving that they cannot
keep up with technology.
One of the main reasons that illegal mp3's are
so popular is that buying legal copies of most
music is prohibitively expensive for many people.
This is especially true of teenagers. Heck, I work
in Computer Software and have to be careful about
how many CD's I buy.
Since the crux of the problem lies in money, that
is the first place to look for a solution.
#1 The only real problem is that that the artist
doesn't get paid for illegal copies of their work.
In order to fight the illegal mp3's, we need to
make legal sources of music more affordable. One
way to do this would be to provide cheap mp3's
through valid distribution channels.
Calculate the amount of money that the artist
gets when a copy of their music is sold, add on
a small distribution fee for the internet site
and wala you can charge $2 for a CD worth of
music and still make a profit.
There is no more risk to the artist than with
conventional distribution channels. Anyone
these days can copy a CD or make a tape off
of a CD or tape, so the "mp3's are easy to
pirate" argument doesn't hold water. Once music
is affordable again, illegal mp3's will be much
less of a problem. (Once you drop the amount of
money saved by illegal activity, it becomes far
less attractive.)
The one remaining problem is coming up with a
way for people who don't have a credit card to
use these theoretical music sites. I leave that
to others, but what does need to happen is that
the music companies need to realise that if they
don't make a presense for themselves on the net,
they will swiftly become dinosaurs and soon thereafter, become extinct.
MP3 sites are aimed at the teeny-bopper crowd. A bit stupid, as I'd put teeny-boppers in the "CD drive=cup-holder" crowd.
um, hullo? Computers have become tremendously more widespread in the last few years, graybeard. And comp. savvy has followed suit. They're not that tough to use with a few years experience. The one demographic that has shown the largest drop in CD purchases is 13-18. Wonder why that is? Music execs are scared for a very good reason.
That being said, I found this amazing lobster prawn site, full tails and all.
+&x
As every sane person knows, threatening teenagers with scenes of "horrific teen sex" is sure to drive them away from your site. Yep, BPI has cottoned on to the no. 1 fear of teenagers everywhere: disgustingly explicit pornographic images!
And why isn't this article appearing on Time, or CNN? Surely that's where it should be so that parents can see it?? But, no, it's on a site frequented probably 95% of the time by the aformentioned teenagers. What does this tell you?
Tells me that someone high up in the BPI has a stake in some internet porn business, and is trying to drum up support for his site(s)...Oh, I've got more than my fair share of warez from Hotline, thank you very much!
I don't think i'll be setting up a server anytime soon.
Why serve when you can LEECH
:P
Pope
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
This is very interesting. I thought that I was actually making a difference. I run a littlw site called puremp3.org (link above) that is basically a portal to mp3 sites on the web that do not contain porn or links to porn of any kind.. It was startedabout 3 or 4 years ago, when MP3 and warez were linked profusely. Now the list has over 1000 sites on it, and is a great starting point to find anything you wish in the mp3 world.. Well, enough of a plug for my site, I'll return to lurking again.
You can't see this if you have sigs turned off.
If you go to a warez site looking for MP3's, you're asking to get at least a banner to a porn site.
Which is why I like FTP much better than web browsing... =)
I want an Athlon...
horrible teen sex
:>)
Isn't that statement oxymoronic? I guess it depends on whether you're a teen male or a teen female
Hates people who have stupid little sigs
I use those banner MP3 sites all the time. "The leech password is the 4th word in the 1st paragraph after you click the 'Hot Teens' banner." 4 out of 5 times the password is either "teen" or "explicit". Doesn't bother me too much if I get the music I want.
grep -ri 'should work'
What are they talking about? I read the article, and it says that not only are users exposed to porn, but "horrific pictures of teenage sex". They don't give any examples, or sites that do that, they simply assert this, and then have the article wander on to a history of mp3s.
:)
Horrific teenage sex? Have any of these people EVER visited a porn site? If the pictures are that "horrific", it's probably something you'd have to pay an arm and a leg for given some of the strange "tastes" that are out there. Can anybody think of a single good reason why a site would want to FORCE you to look at porn before you could get MP3s? The only thing I can think of is banner ads that are a bit lewd, and I'm sure we've all seen a lot of seedy banner ads, but never ones that had "horrific teenage sex".
Is this just a ploy on the part of recording companies to convince parents that if their child has any mp3s on his drive that he must be becoming a morally depraved pervert? Jeez, if that were true, I would have been blind LONG ago.
I guess though, if you can't attack the consumers of the material your against, (i.e. the kids downloading MP3s) then you can attack those who have control over the consumers.
It's this type of misinformation and ignorance mixed with a healthy dose of dishonesty and selfish corporate interest that gives some large corporations the appearance of being chicken shit money grubbing scumfucks.
Now, I'd love to rant on for 10 pages about how diffusion of responsibility and passing the buck leads to unethical business decisions and press releases, but I guess I'm just content to take the 50 point karma hit that I'm already in for.
-- Truth goes out the door when rumor comes innuendo. -- Groucho Marx
that's what happens when you mix limited understanding of concept and knowledge of terminology.
good for laugh, really.
perhaps they linked 'mp3' with mpeg? but i still don't see how that ends up in 'forcing' users to do anything...
"the GPLing of the rtsp mpeg streaming causes a general IQ fault at the slot inserted between the chair and the keyboard. change IQ, re-insert user and try again"
Microsoft products, porn and mp3's are responsible for the amazing growth in disk capacity. One wonders why the article didn't mention that there was a connection between Microsoft and porn ?
I think that these people are monumentally stupid if they think they're being "forced" to do anything - there are easier ways to get what you're looking for.
With mp3's, use something like napster, or mp3 usenet newsgroups. If you're looking for warez, IRC or alt.binary.*.
Internet - WARNING: Use of fully-functional brain required during use of this product. Working with Internet without a fully-functional brain may lead to needlessly viewing pr0n, or mindlessly clicking through the yahoo directory searching for nothing in particular.
--
I can't even imagine the thought process that leads people to say things like that.
Actually, having to click on banner ads before entering MP3 sites is quite common.
Try looking up a popular song on Palavista and see how many of the listed sites let you in immediately. Very often the user name and password required for downloading files are chosen from the text of sites linked through banner ads; so you have to visit the sites (and usually click through to their sign-up page) before logging on. Very often these banners are pornographic, perhaps because such firms are not as picky as to who they permit to advertize them.
In this way illicit MP3 sites finance themselves, since simply displaying a banner ad often generates no banner revenue. Apparently the biggest difficulty in running such a site is trying to avoid 100% click-through ratios, as they tend to attract the attention and suspicion of banner advertizement firms.
What the article refers to are the many sites that require you to click on banner adds, usually pornographic but not always, in order to piece together a password to access 3l33t w4r3z and MP3. It wasn't exactly hidden in the article seeing as it was mentioned in the second paragraph. The article should've stopped there unfortunately.
The British Phonographic Industry then did a few hits of acid and through some unmentioned convolution of logic blames music piracy on organized crime.
The commentary by the BPI is sensationalistic, its designed to influence Joe Luddite consumer into buying into their party line. Its trying to convince them that piracy isn't just illegal, its backed by evil groups.
They'd have been better off using a different angle: Illegally distributing copies of our music is illegal, but not only are these people doing that they're also making money off of it.
You see it most on hotline sites. It goes like this:
Pick up some mp3 trackers for hotline, search 'mp3', and you get a big list of hotline servers. Usually they're run by some guy in a college dorm. Log onto Joe's server, and you'll get a message that says something to the effect of "You are logged in as a guest. To download files, you need a password. To get the password, visit my homepage at xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ip address and click on the second banner. The tenth word on the resulting page is the password."
So they get income that way. And then the user downloads a bunch of music and moves on to the next one.
--
grappler
Vidi, Vici, Veni
The reality is: if you were to make it easy for any and everyone to filter out all ads on all web pages, yes, some sites would suffer and probably go out of business. But if there is a demand for the service they provided someone will come up with a free (non subscription) version of the site and a way to get it funded. There are plenty of subscription sites out there and having been on the Internet since the late 80's, and on the web obsessively since about '94 I don't subscribe to ANY of them. There's always a free site, and there always will be. If it comes right down to it I will donate to a free site to keep it free if it is truly useful (google comes to mind).
Advertisers are doing noone but themselves a favor. Banner ads are generally exploitation. Think about how much bandwidth is used per day just delivering banner ads. And we get (I do for sure) pent up about how much spam costs in a network model...
"Cause there's 40 different shades of black, so many fortresses and ways to attack, so why you complainin'?"
But seriously, how much do those porn sites pay for placing an ad on your page? I guess it's easy money for the site owners -- you can get free webspace for MP3s and all you have to do is to check the links once in a while. Say, a site gets 500 hits a day, giving some $0.05 each => $25 a day, some $750 a month. Most people wouldn't do that for a living, but people with small income might consider that as an option.. I can understand why some people do that.
I wonder if this "Porn - MP3" article has something to do with the news item I found today at ZDNet, Music execs threaten to kill MP3 sites. This time they're trying to organize a global campaign for shutting down MP3 sites -- no word about the methods they're going to use, though..
Follow your Euro bills at EBT
Bite the hand.
I just installed Junkbuster, and it's *sweet*. It replaces the ads a 1x1 transparent GIF image, and it blocks the adds on most sites that I visit.
-- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
Yes... we should go after the crack dealers who make their poor customers walk through their brothel in the front to get to the back room with the drugs.
What?! Are we saying that it would otherwise be OK for people to distribute illegal software if the 'key' were stored on a more family oriented site? You're already committing a crime, what's a little pornography going to hurt?
I _really_ hope our society hasn't degraded to the point where we need to feel bad that criminals should be protected from 'indecent' material while they're committing their crimes.
-Derek
Are they so concerned about the porn that they'll work to make mp3s easier to get, so that people won't have to look at those "horrifying" pictures?
That would be interesting...
--
grappler
Vidi, Vici, Veni
PS: A female friend of mine complains that the vast majority of pr0n sites on the web cater to men. She wants to see a more equitable mix of web pr0n, stuff suitable for women who aren't lesbians. Perhaps we could address this issue as well, while we're at it.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where someone can see trees but doesn't realize that there's a forest...
The internet/Internet (the first being a network of computers, the second being a society) has unleashed upon us a billion new ideas and things that have been unimagined in real life. Such as profitable porn banners. Or, the idea that you must respond to an advertisement so that the person displaying the advertisement gets the money for displaying it. (Hey, imagine that you leased out a billboard on Highway X to you local ABC affiliate but that you got paid only when people who drove on Highway X actually tuned into ABC later that night). Or, that the porn industry would blindly provide funding for any legal or illegal activity, as if what they already did wasn't seen as the devil's work by half this country...
Anyway, as it works out it's true that many mp3 distributors make you hit some porn banners in order to get access to the files. It's highly annoying anyway, since it doesn't work all the time and since you have to work hard to get rid of all the residual pop-ups. This is true of any warez, and the deal works out quite nicely for many people especially since mp3's and porn are both friends of many here on the 'net.
However, some things that are failed to be recognized by the "mp3's-cause-porn" concept:
- the connection is merely a coincidence. If cigarette vendors had pay-per-click banners on the net, we'd be saying that mp3's cause smoking too.
- there are also ways to get mp3's without any one-handed typing. Napster, for instance.
- Porn is extremely popular and profitable. Mp3's are also extremely poplular and profitable. The record companies don't like mp3s because they think that even if they used them, they couldn't make any money off of them. Hence, the record companies are figting a silly losing battle.
- People are willing to go through a lot of trouble with the porn banners to get to mp3's. Any company not jumping on this bandwagon is extremely stupid. The potential for both advertisers and mp3's are extraordinary. It should be grasping the attention of both Motown and Madison Ave.
- Law enforcement is too slow and two disinterested to stop this. This is what Al Capone would be doing today if he were alive.
- People today are totally disinterested in ethics and justice. They don't care who's getting ripped off, they don't care how young the girls or boys are, and they don't care that society doesn't approve. People are used to getting ripped off, fucked early, and being hated by society. Nothing to lose, folks, just like those kids in Colorado (Or those gunmen in Armenia, or that guy in Atlanta, or those guys at the post office, or whoever's on the news tonight)...
- The media will gladly repeat any juicy lie or idiot opinion that they are handed. Mp3's encourage porn. Coppermine's better than Athlon. Windows NT is a much better choice than Linux/Unix. Britney Spears has breast implants. Lauryn Hill said she doesn't want white people buying her albums. Harvey Keitel did a bad thing in Nicole Kidman's hair.
- Oh, finally, maybe it's a good new portal strategy. I like having my porn and mp3's in the same place...
A site is going to force me to watch teen porn AND give me mp3s? Ow! Ow! Twist my arm...
If only it were true...
;)
-lx
What about all the horrific porn banners we're forced to view while looking for free porn? Why don't they write an article about that?
I've been to these sites before, and there's just one thing you need to do before clicking on that banner. Go into Netscape (or IE's) preferences and turn off "Automatically Load Images". You can then go find the password that you need to get in.
One thing about the article
"It has always been the case that piracy has links with pornographers and organised crime."
Are they kidding with this one?
I haven't seen any links to http://www.mafia.spb.ru/.
has anyone else?
I've found that my normal porn outlets are now forcing me to listen to MP3s and I'm just hopping mad. In fact, if I have to listen to Britany Spears one more time (ack!) while trying to download pics from Pornopolis UK I'm gonna snap!
Profiling again.
"Warning! All mp3 collectors are perverts that look at teenage x-rated pictures."
Let me get this straight.
By downloading illegally-distributed music in MP3 format, I may be forced to watch to harrowing scenes of pert-breasted, small-nosed, ripe, nubile teenaged nymphettes, engaged in delightfully vigorous acts of coitus, all in the comfort of my office, server closet or budoir?
Once again, for clarity -- this is a problem... how?
(IT'S A JOKE, relax.)
-A.
----
What did the walrus say to the penguin? "No soap, radio."
Sheesh, peoples...
By the looks of the comments here, it seems the readers of slashdot are as quick to post a flaming critism of the article as the BPI is to denounce MP3s.
THE ARTICLE IS NOT THE PROBLEM!!!!
The article is not the problem!! The views or organization like the BPI and the RIAA. Theis article, is only reporting on them. And if you read the article, you'lll realize they are also reporting on BECAUSE they too think it is alittle absurd. I mean, just look at the title:
DOWNLOADING MP3S WILL
MAKE YOU GO BLIND, WARN BPI
And their talk-back link:
"Is this the big labels running scared and looking for a scapegoat? Have you ever been forced to witness "horrific scenes of teenage sex" while downloading Mp3 files? Was it good for you?"
"It has always been the case that piracy has links with pornographers and organised crime. What is most repellent about this is that it is likely to attract the younger user." -- Emma Fanning of BPI
Hrmm, so now by downloading mp3's you're a pornographer and part of the mob? heh. What exactly is she saying here? That crime bosses are luring new recruits into the family by offering them mp3's as candy? Thats pretty heavy. I think this is a really large smear/FUD campaign which is backfiring pretty badly. I'd hate to be part of BPI's PR crowd right now.
-- iCEBaLM
Ever been to a hotline site?
- ----------------
It's all pr0n, war3z and mp3's, d00d!
The kind of time commitment required to collect thousands of pirated MP3's and hundreds upon hundreds of pirated software programs (most of which will never get installed... but the kids have to have the newest version of LightWave... JUST IN CASE) prevents warez collectors from actually leaving the house and getting a life, or getting a date here and there. The pr0n replaces the warez d00d'z need to go out and meet chicks.
Before the warez d00dz get on my case, let me say that this is my theory, and I could be wrong.
-----------------------------------------
What can you say about an article that can't even spell search, or perhaps use a spell checker.
There are ways to "override" the back button. Having, On occasion, clicked on a link that took me to a page that only forwarded me to another page which opend a Whole lot of other pages, making the back button useless. with 'broadband' technology(maybe that should be 'pornband') sites would open at a very fast rate.
.XXX domain. Even under supervision, children can access things that I would not want my children to see. Do you want YOUR children to click om a Link so they can see cool lego stuff, and end up see a women doing it with a snake?
;) Hey! I think I'll copywrite that. and then patent 1 click sex.
Now I don't mind porn, but It was shocking when I was clicking on a link that was suppose to take me to a lego site. I love there robot stuff.hehe
The internet has gotten so huge, that I now support the use of a
I am SURE the Lego company is not at fault for this, just some people with no ethics. I mean that because of the sneaky way they forced there content on me, not as an evaluation of the content of there site.
What if M$ created a link that you thought lead to a linux site, but really just loaded a whole bunch of MS FUD pages?
The Porn industry, putting the 'Broad' in Braodband!
The music industry is on to us. Now they will ban mp3's and will have no way of distibuting musoc digitally! darn. If only there was another way to get music on my hard drive! ;) The music industry such as it is, is dead. Pretty soon bands will create web pages for their band, send radio stations a song, if the radio station picks it up, they'll enter a standard agreement with the band to play other music. Then radio stations will become music portals, where bands liscens there site to radio stations and allow users access to the bands music almost as fast as it is produced. of course the'll still be agents, but hey, you can't have everything.
Then don't click on it! DON'T CLICK!
Control yourself and your little paws and don't
go surfing for warez or mp3z!
For some reason, when I download mp3s. I don't
get all the good sex stuffed in my face. Hmmm,
maybe I am downloading legal ones? (Or USENET,
I don't understand why people actually use http
to get mp3s at all)
Maybe you should sue Fraunhoffer and Xing for
making a technology which sucked you into a
world of sex. That would be the American thing to
do. (Yeah, I'm one too, so shoot me).
THESE Brits are NOT RIGHT.
-kabloie
I mean jeez, it's not THAT bad. I mean sure most mp3 WEB sites have porn banners, but it's just a picture or some animation. It's not like it's a terrifying experience by any means. Besides, who really uses the web to find mp3z? ftp is much better, even newgroups are better than websites. bah, take scour for instance: what kind of luny would WANT to use samba to get mp3s?!?!
Is it just me, or did other people grok the expansion of BPI in this unfortunate manner.
--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
(While I think the BPA is on drugs for attempting to link MP3's to organized crime, I don't like the porn banner ad scam either.)
I think that the Porn sitez should fight back by posting tons O' mp3's on there site, tricking those perverts into listening to Engelbert Humperdink and Yani. ;) The year 2000 porn warz... duh nuh duh nuh.. weee oooo.
Porn on the WEB!!???
... I am cancelling my ISP.
The Brits are right.
Clearly they want to hunt down illegal MP3 sites, and since they can't get people to agree it's a dangerous activity, they're using a bit of collateral damage. It's the same argument being used against, for instance, pot and prostitution. (Disclaimer: I'm not defending nor promoting either, just observing.)
Whereas many people say pot is not bad for your health and not intrinsictly dangerous, the main argument used by the police to crack down on pot is that it leads to other criminal activities. You're smoking pot? Well, you'll probably snort cocaine in the long run. And you're encouraging criminal groups that commit worse crimes because of it.
Never mind that it's a bit of circular logic.
Anyway... It's true. If you're looking for a few "illegal" MP3 and enter "MP3z" in any good search engine, you'll run into sites (sorry, sitez) who also have a lot of warez, and plenty of "passwordz" for porn sites. You'll also get so many sex banners you may as well go blind.
It's really just incidental. What it shows is that people willing to distribute copyrighted MP3s are the same crowd that distribute pr0n passwordz and cracked software. Come on, admit it. I'm not generalising, but on the whole, it happens a lot.
So... We're back to the whole collateral damage argument. It's hard to argue that free music is damaging in itself, so the BPI has to find another easy target. So they latch unto a well-known enemy likely to cause public outrage. Pornography.
And voila. Looking for MP3s makes you see a lot of porn.
Nice FUD, eh?
"Knowledge = Power = Energy = Mass"
Many sites dealing in illegal (copyright-wise) material will ask you to click porn banners or succumb to wave after wave of JavaScript popup ads. I remember coming into my room last summer to find windows recursively opening more windows, all pornographic. My roommate insists that he was just trying to get some Nintendo and Genesis ROMs, and I felt compelled to believe him.
Personally, I'm more appalled by sites that 'force' you to join pyramid money-making schemes like AllAdvantage or GoToWorld (or both, in some cases!) Apparently people are obsessed with making five bucks a month off of every sucker who wants MP3's. More power to 'em, but count me out of this. (Besides, in my typical nonconformist style, most ad-viewing proggies are Windows-only, and I can't run them.)
For more information, click here.
I used to run a hotline server (yes, I was one of those that give us all a bad name).
Anyway, I set up an account with a company named Safe-Audit which would let you set up banner accounts that pay up to $1 and $2 per successful registration... most of them paid out an average of $15 per 1000 page views.
What I would do is let people log into my hotline server anonymously and look around, but they weren't able to download anything unless they got the username and password. These could only be acquired by going to a page that I designated (anonymous web hosting of course), clicking through the banner, and then signing up for a free contest or something, and then on the confirmation page, there would be two words that would be the username and password.
of course, the people never really had to input the correct information, they just had to sign up. If I found that too many people were getting in by passing around the username and password, I'd change them once a week which would require everyone that had already signed up to do it again.
I made about $8k in 3 months with about 1.5 gigs of prOn movies, some beta software releases, and a few mp3's.
And yes, the company paid out until they started questioning why hundreds of people were going to my stupid homepage and the amounts of click-thrus were almost identical to the # of page visits...
but yes, it was a nice, successful little scam, and unlike that poor guy in coloroda, I made money and wasn't jailed for it.