If you turn off the wireless capabilities the device cannot be wiped in this fashion.
That said Blackberries generally are light on the memory - they wouldn't have peoples records on them, just info to access a server. If you were stealing the device you'd steal it for its keys and what ever biometric/password/whatever info might be left sitting in memory. So you'd need to copy this info to another client device before you could start stealing data.
But I also back up my CD collection. I also have gotten screwed when buying new $oftware at full price, having my machine hose up a week a later and then finding that with the OS reinstall I supposedly have a brand new machine and supposedly should be buying all my software again.
"Sharing" will occur with or without the DMCA - it may help fight it, but mostly it just pisses off paying customers...
Funny thing these copy protected CD's - they don't play on my DJ setup. Which means that I can't play them, despite the fact that the clubs I spin in all pay their ASCAP and BMI fees to allow me to do so. Usually these are mainstream records that I'd want to play because the crowd likes them (my own tastes are indie label and rarely DRM protected).
But the real loser, as usual, is the artist - their music isn't being played in the club so no public performance royalty, and their CD is returned so no points or mechanicals. (If you buy lots of records, stores are fairly cool about believing you when you need to make a return.) So the artist makess no money and loses out on a promotional opportunity to boot (i.e. "Hey DJ, what was that song you just played...?")
I live in a rough west side Chicago neighborhood where cameras are installed on major drug dealing corners. Last year we had one of the worst murder rates in the nation in my neighborhood. Let me tell you - the cameras work! The drug dealers move all the way around the block - sometimes even blocks away. Ok, so they don't really work, but I'm sure if we turn Chicago into a civic panopticon we'll start seeing results...
The two are very different. Profanity has more to do with offending religious sensibilities. The fact that the FCC is now placing themselves in the position of deciding whose religious sensibilities matter enough to warrant censorship is disturbing to me.
Someone hears a killer track - so they go home and write and record a tune inspired by the style of the hit record they just heard. It may not sound as good, but then, walking is slower than taking a cab, no?
There is no lack of free entertainment - lots of bands give away their MP3's for free. That most people would rather hear steal Aviril Lavigne or Blink 182 then download genuinely free tunes from a real punk band says a lot.
Make your own damn music - it's easier now than ever to make a professional sounding release, thanks to technology. But don't suggest that ripping a CD is analogous to building your own yacht. That's a horrible analogy.
Sarcasm is no defense here, you're just distorting facts like the RIAA.
Those of us who make money doing music (and who often work a couple of crap jobs so we can live while making money doing music) get tired of getting squeezed by the majors on one end and then consumers on the other.
The irony is that so many of us here on Slashdot make our money producing intangibles (like code). You'd think more of us would value folks whose work is similar in that we are just making and selling mere arrangements of bits on a hard drive.
The Ford Focus PZEV has practically zero emmissions and will be widely available later this year. The gas mileage shouldn't be too much different from your regular Foci - or the above mentioned hybrids apparently...
Actually there are about 1,400 special rights our government grants married couples (1000 Federal and an average of 400 in each state). I won't list them all here, but many are pretty basic things many straight couples take for granted (some of these are mentioned by another poster).
Personally I'm against government recognistion of marriage and all special rights given to married couples. I resent the fact that single folks are given the short end of the stick - this is discrimination and it's real and it affects more than just gay folks.
All the whining about "marriage tax" is pretty funny if you look at the actual economic facts (like auto insurance rates...)
Really? Last I checked the only special priviledges were going to heterosexuals. I've never heard of any quota for hiring lesbians or gay men. Where the hell are you getting these paranoid delusions?
But hey, just wait for all the high tech brain drain when gay couples start deciding to relocate to Massachusetts so they can finally marry (minus all the federal benefits of doing do).
There are real business reasons to take treatment of gay issues seriously. Pretending problems don't exist anymore doesn't help anyone...
Does the fact that larger radio stations are owned by a company and have a license make them evil? Well the fact that they are all owned by A company (well maybe 2 companies) shows that the FCC isn't doing such a good job of doling out this limited resource. This is a democracy, and yet we don't get a full spectrum of voices on the air - this is a real problem.
I do give a damn. I gladly pay more in a store that has well paid, intelligent, and honest salespeople. As it is, usually I hate the shopping experience in many (but not all stores). You are lied to, or you cannot get served, or you can't find what you want, or things are stocked so that everyone trips over each other and the merch.
But there are stores that manage to keep me coming back and spending more. How? These stores are pleasant, well organized and well stocked, and the sales help and cashiers are helpful and fast. If you can't pull all this off, then don't be surprised that us "cheapskates" don't seen any reason to pay more at your store.
The tax issue is only one of a zillion factors why many of us have moved a lot of our purchasing online.
maybe they should be getting behind a group like the Future of Music Coalition. They're doing brilliant work and have the interests on musician in mind when they look at the problems and promise of new technologies.
Many of the folks here are worrying about losing 'Fair Use.' But to them 'Fair Use' means Tivo or home taping. The real issue is losing Fair Use in a deeper sense. In a democracy, it is important that we be able to reproduce sections of recorded thoughts, ideas and position statements so that others may comment on them. The use of such short excerpts is the major sense of fair use, and things like the home taping act are just later minor additions spurred by technological advances (i.e. VCRs and cassette tapes).
Hopefully we won't need to add this to the long list of ways our democracy is being eroded...
On the day of the blackout, we were driving from Chicago to Detroit to see Iggy and the Stooges play their first hometown show in a couple of decades. The show was at the DTE Energy center (which was called Pine Knob until the power company bought it's sponsorship). Anyhow, we didn't really know anything was up - we stopped at a McDonalds for a bio break, but unbeknowst to us, they were running their own generator (not rare in rural Michigan, even my parents are set up with generators since they are low on the totem pole when the power does go out). Scanning the news stations we learned that there was a power outage in the center of the universe (New York) but there was no mention that this phenomenon spread all the way to Detroit - so we didn't worry much. As we arrived, noticed a lot of traffic at our exit (everyone was going to the show it seemed), but upon getting the the venue were turned away and learned that the power outage was far bigger than the radio led us to believe.
No power at the DTE "Energy Center." Which Iggy acknowledged was too "Stoogey" to be believed.
Which left us with nothing to do but go back home. Only problem was we were low on gas - so we drove the freeway looking for a gas station that had lines (no power makes it hard to buy gas). Finally found one and make it back to Chicago 5 or 6 hours later. The oddest thing was how calm and polite everyone was (as they filled up their gas cans so they could power their home generators).
It is possible to O.D. on water. Three quarts, all at once should do the trick. Not sure of the ratios of water to caffeine, but I'd switch to something concentrated like Turkish coffee or espresso just in case. Don't want to O.D. on the wrong thing after all, that would ruin all the fun.
and small releases (like those from small labels) are still hurt. According to the same study releases that sell post on the above mentioned thread.
So if you want to help the majors sell more Hot Topic mall "punk" bands, share files - it's all free p.r. apparently. And if you want to hurt indie labels, that generally share their meagre profits equally with the artists, share files.
The broad generalization that all swaping is ok, is a falsehood.
Already small indie labels are shut out of most sales channels. While internet sales of music can help small labels, if people decide to take for free what they can't find at Best Buy, it will only mean that the artists that everyone professes to support, will have a harder time making a go with the indie labels and will have to go to majors to just be able to make ends meet. Which is unfortunate, because on an indie label and artist should be able to make more money, even as they sell fewer copies and keep artisting integrity.
So please, pay attention to whose music you are swapping. Your favorite artist's next album might never get recorded otherwise...
Read this version of the same story for a different take:
"That said, downloads did tend to impact less popular albums - those with 36,000 sales or less. Overall, however, the effect is beneficial, since the music industry makes most of its money from the most popular albums."
So basically all this is helping the majors. I can't count the number of times when I've played a record for a friend and they've asked me, can you burn me a copy of that? I say no. They scowl and accuse me of being a zealot. Then I point out that I'm friends with the band and another friend owns the label, and I don't rip off my friends. While people claim to only be after the RIAA labels, very few people know who they're ripping off - never mind what the record contract actually says (a typical indie deal is a 50/50 split after expenses).
Yes, but you still need to record, mix and master the music. This requires the use of expensive equipment and spaces.
While some of you probably think the mastering stuff that comes with protools is swell (even though you are mastering in your bedroom over cheapo Genelec monitors) and even though you think you can use SM57's and built in preamps for recording everything, generally consumers like music that is recorded in a sonically well-architected environment by a talented engineer, mixed in a equally good room with a good mixing engineer with some good outboard gear, and mastered in a sonically perfect room with some very specialized tools.
All this costs money. And if you are laying out that kind of cash, you need to move lots of volume, and the only way to move volume is by doing publicity which also costs... money.
Lower prices - well you get what you pay for. I can make a cheap recording of a great song on my $400 multitrack and a few $70 SM57's. But you ain't gonna want it even if it's free (unless you are my grandma or someone equally unobjective).
We aren't living in a 100% virtual world just yet.
I own a small label. We don't create musicians - we find musicians that are good and allow them to focus on what they do best - make music. Many of them don't know or want to focus their time on getting loans, finding engineers, booking studio time, finding graphic artists, booking tours, manufacturing cds, marketing their release, etc., etc. While kudos go out to the "Our Band Could Be Your Life" exceptions that actually manage to pull off a complete DIY business, there is still a need for what we do.
Most of the bands on my label would never see a studio if it weren't for the fact that we took and interest in recording their music and selling it. Our profit margins don't exist - few of our records break even, most lose and I unless I get lucky or sell out I will continue to work long hours at my day job.
All profits at your typical indie label are split 50/50 with the artist. This is hardly a rip off.
As far a new technology goes - well consumers are at least half the problem. Why would you want to lose even more money? That said I always release free songs even though this often irks the bands. I'd rather people hear the recordings I've worked so hard to bring into the world.
Please don't apply your mostly true observations about the majors to the thousands of indy record labels. We need your support to survive and thrive and that means being honest and even taking a few (gasp) risks...
Re:Annoyance to those who do legit mass emails
on
Spam Bits
·
· Score: 1
Every email is provided by someone in writing - when then attend a function they fill out a registration form that they sign (liability stuff). Among the info they can provide is an email. This isn't a friend giving out emails - this is a person physically coming to an event and writing this stuff down themselves. People that don't want email have the ability to not provide this info or say that they don't want emails.
Regardless of the semantics, even if you believe this is still spam, it is very different from the reams of Viagra crap that randomly rains down on mailboxes everywhere. This, I venture, is the major annoyance that drives us all nuts - and which I don't see the law stopping.
That said, the double opt in is a decent idea, albeit yet another annoying process that makes running a small non-profit club a major time commitment.
Annoyance to those who do legit mass emails
on
Spam Bits
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I belong to a club that does mass emails to our members and to folks that members have invited to our club functions. Everyone on our email list gave us their email in writing and every email we send allows opt out. But still this is thousands of people and some of them, rather than click the the unsub button, identify us as spam to block the emails. The result is that many of our dues paying members cannot get mass or even individual emails from the club they belong to (and pay money to belong to).
With the CAN SPAM laws now we're running around wondering if we now have to worry about being hassled for simply emailing someone who is too lazy to click the unsub link. My take to our board was that we are fine, but some are still worried about having to deal with court costs because someone decided to abuse this law and doesn't understand the difference between SPAM and emails that you asked for and then changed your mind.
So the potential result of this law is hassling small legitimate groups that want to cut postage costs - while the real spammers, who you don't have any prior relationship with you and who you didn't give out your email to, continue to fill your email box with crap.
My hunch is that they are pro-ag industry and know that ADM is buttering their bread heavilly.
There are other excellent posts here on ADM.
Read them because they are a great way to understand how our government often fails in its charge of being a democracy.
The question is how do we fix these problems so that our society can solve real problems like feeding people and providing energy without ruining the planet.
Alright so SunnComm has seen their stock price devalued because their idea wasn't so swell, and was seemingly a great example of security through obscurity. Their stuff only works if you don't know how it works.
DMCA says the freedom of press doesn't apply - we can wait for that to sort itself but that could take years.
So the question now comes up, if the scheme is bad, whose job is it to let the shareholders know?
I would think that SunnComm and other peddlers of copy protection are legally obliged to disclose the limitations of their products - otherwise they are misleading shareholders into believing they have solved that problem that they frankly haven't. No one else can evaluate or disclose the laughable failers of their "protection", so if they don't it seems to be gross negligence or deception.
Slashdot Mirror
If you turn off the wireless capabilities the device cannot be wiped in this fashion.
That said Blackberries generally are light on the memory - they wouldn't have peoples records on them, just info to access a server. If you were stealing the device you'd steal it for its keys and what ever biometric/password/whatever info might be left sitting in memory. So you'd need to copy this info to another client device before you could start stealing data.
All you have to do is turn off wireless capabilities (the little airplane icon).
Now you have the device memory and possibly the crypto keys, maybe even password info that is left over in memory space.
A good security design is still possible with these devices, but it is harder.
But I also back up my CD collection. I also have gotten screwed when buying new $oftware at full price, having my machine hose up a week a later and then finding that with the OS reinstall I supposedly have a brand new machine and supposedly should be buying all my software again.
"Sharing" will occur with or without the DMCA - it may help fight it, but mostly it just pisses off paying customers...
Funny thing these copy protected CD's - they don't play on my DJ setup. Which means that I can't play them, despite the fact that the clubs I spin in all pay their ASCAP and BMI fees to allow me to do so. Usually these are mainstream records that I'd want to play because the crowd likes them (my own tastes are indie label and rarely DRM protected).
But the real loser, as usual, is the artist - their music isn't being played in the club so no public performance royalty, and their CD is returned so no points or mechanicals. (If you buy lots of records, stores are fairly cool about believing you when you need to make a return.) So the artist makess no money and loses out on a promotional opportunity to boot (i.e. "Hey DJ, what was that song you just played...?")
I live in a rough west side Chicago neighborhood where cameras are installed on major drug dealing corners. Last year we had one of the worst murder rates in the nation in my neighborhood. Let me tell you - the cameras work! The drug dealers move all the way around the block - sometimes even blocks away.
Ok, so they don't really work, but I'm sure if we turn Chicago into a civic panopticon we'll start seeing results...
The two are very different. Profanity has more to do with offending religious sensibilities. The fact that the FCC is now placing themselves in the position of deciding whose religious sensibilities matter enough to warrant censorship is disturbing to me.
Separation of Church and State, anyone?
But to follow your analogy more correctly:
Someone hears a killer track - so they go home and write and record a tune inspired by the style of the hit record they just heard. It may not sound as good, but then, walking is slower than taking a cab, no?
There is no lack of free entertainment - lots of bands give away their MP3's for free. That most people would rather hear steal Aviril Lavigne or Blink 182 then download genuinely free tunes from a real punk band says a lot.
Make your own damn music - it's easier now than ever to make a professional sounding release, thanks to technology. But don't suggest that ripping a CD is analogous to building your own yacht. That's a horrible analogy.
Sarcasm is no defense here, you're just distorting facts like the RIAA.
Those of us who make money doing music (and who often work a couple of crap jobs so we can live while making money doing music) get tired of getting squeezed by the majors on one end and then consumers on the other.
The irony is that so many of us here on Slashdot make our money producing intangibles (like code). You'd think more of us would value folks whose work is similar in that we are just making and selling mere arrangements of bits on a hard drive.
The Ford Focus PZEV has practically zero emmissions and will be widely available later this year. The gas mileage shouldn't be too much different from your regular Foci - or the above mentioned hybrids apparently...
Actually there are about 1,400 special rights our government grants married couples (1000 Federal and an average of 400 in each state). I won't list them all here, but many are pretty basic things many straight couples take for granted (some of these are mentioned by another poster).
Personally I'm against government recognistion of marriage and all special rights given to married couples. I resent the fact that single folks are given the short end of the stick - this is discrimination and it's real and it affects more than just gay folks.
All the whining about "marriage tax" is pretty funny if you look at the actual economic facts (like auto insurance rates...)
Really? Last I checked the only special priviledges were going to heterosexuals. I've never heard of any quota for hiring lesbians or gay men. Where the hell are you getting these paranoid delusions?
But hey, just wait for all the high tech brain drain when gay couples start deciding to relocate to Massachusetts so they can finally marry (minus all the federal benefits of doing do).
There are real business reasons to take treatment of gay issues seriously. Pretending problems don't exist anymore doesn't help anyone...
Does the fact that larger radio stations are owned by a company and have a license make them evil?
Well the fact that they are all owned by A company (well maybe 2 companies) shows that the FCC isn't doing such a good job of doling out this limited resource. This is a democracy, and yet we don't get a full spectrum of voices on the air - this is a real problem.
I do give a damn. I gladly pay more in a store that has well paid, intelligent, and honest salespeople. As it is, usually I hate the shopping experience in many (but not all stores). You are lied to, or you cannot get served, or you can't find what you want, or things are stocked so that everyone trips over each other and the merch.
But there are stores that manage to keep me coming back and spending more. How? These stores are pleasant, well organized and well stocked, and the sales help and cashiers are helpful and fast. If you can't pull all this off, then don't be surprised that us "cheapskates" don't seen any reason to pay more at your store.
The tax issue is only one of a zillion factors why many of us have moved a lot of our purchasing online.
maybe they should be getting behind a group like the Future of Music Coalition. They're doing brilliant work and have the interests on musician in mind when they look at the problems and promise of new technologies.
Many of the folks here are worrying about losing 'Fair Use.' But to them 'Fair Use' means Tivo or home taping. The real issue is losing Fair Use in a deeper sense. In a democracy, it is important that we be able to reproduce sections of recorded thoughts, ideas and position statements so that others may comment on them. The use of such short excerpts is the major sense of fair use, and things like the home taping act are just later minor additions spurred by technological advances (i.e. VCRs and cassette tapes).
Hopefully we won't need to add this to the long list of ways our democracy is being eroded...
On the day of the blackout, we were driving from Chicago to Detroit to see Iggy and the Stooges play their first hometown show in a couple of decades. The show was at the DTE Energy center (which was called Pine Knob until the power company bought it's sponsorship). Anyhow, we didn't really know anything was up - we stopped at a McDonalds for a bio break, but unbeknowst to us, they were running their own generator (not rare in rural Michigan, even my parents are set up with generators since they are low on the totem pole when the power does go out). Scanning the news stations we learned that there was a power outage in the center of the universe (New York) but there was no mention that this phenomenon spread all the way to Detroit - so we didn't worry much. As we arrived, noticed a lot of traffic at our exit (everyone was going to the show it seemed), but upon getting the the venue were turned away and learned that the power outage was far bigger than the radio led us to believe.
No power at the DTE "Energy Center." Which Iggy acknowledged was too "Stoogey" to be believed.
Which left us with nothing to do but go back home. Only problem was we were low on gas - so we drove the freeway looking for a gas station that had lines (no power makes it hard to buy gas). Finally found one and make it back to Chicago 5 or 6 hours later. The oddest thing was how calm and polite everyone was (as they filled up their gas cans so they could power their home generators).
It is possible to O.D. on water. Three quarts, all at once should do the trick. Not sure of the ratios of water to caffeine, but I'd switch to something concentrated like Turkish coffee or espresso just in case. Don't want to O.D. on the wrong thing after all, that would ruin all the fun.
and small releases (like those from small labels) are still hurt. According to the same study releases that sell post on the above mentioned thread.
So if you want to help the majors sell more Hot Topic mall "punk" bands, share files - it's all free p.r. apparently.
And if you want to hurt indie labels, that generally share their meagre profits equally with the artists, share files.
The broad generalization that all swaping is ok, is a falsehood.
Already small indie labels are shut out of most sales channels. While internet sales of music can help small labels, if people decide to take for free what they can't find at Best Buy, it will only mean that the artists that everyone professes to support, will have a harder time making a go with the indie labels and will have to go to majors to just be able to make ends meet. Which is unfortunate, because on an indie label and artist should be able to make more money, even as they sell fewer copies and keep artisting integrity.
So please, pay attention to whose music you are swapping. Your favorite artist's next album might never get recorded otherwise...
So basically all this is helping the majors. I can't count the number of times when I've played a record for a friend and they've asked me, can you burn me a copy of that? I say no. They scowl and accuse me of being a zealot. Then I point out that I'm friends with the band and another friend owns the label, and I don't rip off my friends. While people claim to only be after the RIAA labels, very few people know who they're ripping off - never mind what the record contract actually says (a typical indie deal is a 50/50 split after expenses).
Yes, but you still need to record, mix and master the music. This requires the use of expensive equipment and spaces.
While some of you probably think the mastering stuff that comes with protools is swell (even though you are mastering in your bedroom over cheapo Genelec monitors) and even though you think you can use SM57's and built in preamps for recording everything, generally consumers like music that is recorded in a sonically well-architected environment by a talented engineer, mixed in a equally good room with a good mixing engineer with some good outboard gear, and mastered in a sonically perfect room with some very specialized tools.
All this costs money. And if you are laying out that kind of cash, you need to move lots of volume, and the only way to move volume is by doing publicity which also costs... money.
Lower prices - well you get what you pay for. I can make a cheap recording of a great song on my $400 multitrack and a few $70 SM57's. But you ain't gonna want it even if it's free (unless you are my grandma or someone equally unobjective).
We aren't living in a 100% virtual world just yet.
I own a small label. We don't create musicians - we find musicians that are good and allow them to focus on what they do best - make music. Many of them don't know or want to focus their time on getting loans, finding engineers, booking studio time, finding graphic artists, booking tours, manufacturing cds, marketing their release, etc., etc. While kudos go out to the "Our Band Could Be Your Life" exceptions that actually manage to pull off a complete DIY business, there is still a need for what we do.
Most of the bands on my label would never see a studio if it weren't for the fact that we took and interest in recording their music and selling it. Our profit margins don't exist - few of our records break even, most lose and I unless I get lucky or sell out I will continue to work long hours at my day job.
All profits at your typical indie label are split 50/50 with the artist. This is hardly a rip off.
As far a new technology goes - well consumers are at least half the problem. Why would you want to lose even more money? That said I always release free songs even though this often irks the bands. I'd rather people hear the recordings I've worked so hard to bring into the world.
Please don't apply your mostly true observations about the majors to the thousands of indy record labels. We need your support to survive and thrive and that means being honest and even taking a few (gasp) risks...
Every email is provided by someone in writing - when then attend a function they fill out a registration form that they sign (liability stuff). Among the info they can provide is an email. This isn't a friend giving out emails - this is a person physically coming to an event and writing this stuff down themselves. People that don't want email have the ability to not provide this info or say that they don't want emails.
Regardless of the semantics, even if you believe this is still spam, it is very different from the reams of Viagra crap that randomly rains down on mailboxes everywhere. This, I venture, is the major annoyance that drives us all nuts - and which I don't see the law stopping.
That said, the double opt in is a decent idea, albeit yet another annoying process that makes running a small non-profit club a major time commitment.
I belong to a club that does mass emails to our members and to folks that members have invited to our club functions. Everyone on our email list gave us their email in writing and every email we send allows opt out. But still this is thousands of people and some of them, rather than click the the unsub button, identify us as spam to block the emails. The result is that many of our dues paying members cannot get mass or even individual emails from the club they belong to (and pay money to belong to).
With the CAN SPAM laws now we're running around wondering if we now have to worry about being hassled for simply emailing someone who is too lazy to click the unsub link. My take to our board was that we are fine, but some are still worried about having to deal with court costs because someone decided to abuse this law and doesn't understand the difference between SPAM and emails that you asked for and then changed your mind.
So the potential result of this law is hassling small legitimate groups that want to cut postage costs - while the real spammers, who you don't have any prior relationship with you and who you didn't give out your email to, continue to fill your email box with crap.
Ugh...
My hunch is that they are pro-ag industry and know that ADM is buttering their bread heavilly.
There are other excellent posts here on ADM.
Read them because they are a great way to understand how our government often fails in its charge of being a democracy.
The question is how do we fix these problems so that our society can solve real problems like feeding people and providing energy without ruining the planet.
Releasing this kind of rhetoric just days after the latest MS security fiasco would be funny - if the reality wasn't so sad...
Alright so SunnComm has seen their stock price devalued because their idea wasn't so swell, and was seemingly a great example of security through obscurity. Their stuff only works if you don't know how it works.
DMCA says the freedom of press doesn't apply - we can wait for that to sort itself but that could take years.
So the question now comes up, if the scheme is bad, whose job is it to let the shareholders know?
I would think that SunnComm and other peddlers of copy protection are legally obliged to disclose the limitations of their products - otherwise they are misleading shareholders into believing they have solved that problem that they frankly haven't. No one else can evaluate or disclose the laughable failers of their "protection", so if they don't it seems to be gross negligence or deception.
Shareholder lawsuits, anyone?