I agree that breaking the law and getting sued are bad. And I'm not standing up for the administration blindly. In fact, just about everything they do is stupid or otherwise fundamentally flawed.
But, I do see how the threat of a lawsuit from the RIAA was more than enough impetus to send them out looking for MP3s. They were a little overzealous, though, and guessing passwords--imho--crossed the line. That doesn't seem that unreasonable.
I agree with you. The line that was crossed is that Computing Services did not--in advance--tell students that easily-guessed passwords were equivalent to no passwords. They shouldn't have guessed passwords without telling anyone that they would do so.
Plus, they have no valid reason to do so; they could always have ASKED for the passwords first. And isn't the police, for instance, required to have a valid injunction to do that kind of thing? Hm....
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True. But the police are the police, and the university administration is a private entity. Students sign away the majority of their rights when the arrive. There really isn't much that the administration can't do.
I am no great fan of the CMU administration, but they really did handle this one pretty well.
What are you talking about? MP3 code is not the issue. Nobody was in trouble for distributing encoders or algorithms.
The content is the issue. The fact is that songs are copyrighted, and it is illegal to spread them around.
Of course, I have a few MP3s myself, and I don't like the state of copyright law (principally with regard to the RIAA), but it is the law, and that is what it comes down to.
Well, people are bitching. But they aren't getting very far.
Computing Services has the right to shut the users off. And they had the right to do it for distribution of illegal material. That much is stated in the agreement that people (should have read) when they were registerin their network connections.
The complaint is based on the fact that the guidelines that Computing Services presented were not identical to the ones that were enforced. People are quabbling over the details, not the substance of the raid.
People might be annoyed, but they know that if they are distributing copyrighted materials, they don't have any legs upon which to stand.
What's more, in the situations where mistakes were made, Computing Services worked reasonably quickly to rectify the situation.
I agree with you in principle. I am a CMU student who didn't lose network access. And I support the actions of Computing Services. If RIAA had to do it, the school's ass would be on the line.
What raised the ire of many of the students (and prompted the action of the Student Senate, and other groups [such as the Student Dormitory Council]) was the violation of Computing Services's own guidelines. By guessing passwords (even if they were easy ones), they were not observing their own privacy statements.
In addition, students with legal MP3s were shut off. Also, students did not receive advance notice, nor did they receive adequate explanations of the actions taken.
It turns out that if you design a site well (few frames. lynx-friendly, no annoying pictures for content, etc., it becomes accessible almost automagically.
Josef (Stalin): My big Linux box. He does all of the work and is the true pain in the ass.
Vladimir (Lenin): My DECstation--the old one.
Mikhail (Gorbachev): The NeXT cube. Slick, new, expensive, ultimately unsuccessful.
Maxim (Molotov): I don't use it very often. Maxim Molotov was never fully in charge.
Leonid (Brezhnev): Sickly, short-lasting. The HP Apollo.
Yuri (Andropov): Even shorter-lasting. The underpowered ThinkPad.
You get the idea.
I do like the idea of using soviet bloc states as firewall names. And Boris would make a great name for an NT box. And Nikolai (Rhyzov--I seem to remember that he was Gorby's minister who later abandoned socialism entirely).
Slashdot Mirror
...but, why?
PalmOS is very good for what it does.
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Max V.
I agree that breaking the law and getting sued are bad. And I'm not standing up for the administration blindly. In fact, just about everything they do is stupid or otherwise fundamentally flawed.
But, I do see how the threat of a lawsuit from the RIAA was more than enough impetus to send them out looking for MP3s. They were a little overzealous, though, and guessing passwords--imho--crossed the line. That doesn't seem that unreasonable.
--
Max V.
I agree with you. The line that was crossed is that Computing Services did not--in advance--tell students that easily-guessed passwords were equivalent to no passwords. They shouldn't have guessed passwords without telling anyone that they would do so.
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Max V.
Plus, they have no valid reason to do so; they could always have ASKED for the passwords first. And isn't the ....
police, for instance, required to have a valid injunction to do that kind of thing? Hm
----------
True. But the police are the police, and the university administration is a private entity. Students sign away the majority of their rights when the arrive. There really isn't much that the administration can't do.
I am no great fan of the CMU administration, but they really did handle this one pretty well.
--
Max V.
What are you talking about? MP3 code is not the issue. Nobody was in trouble for distributing encoders or algorithms.
The content is the issue. The fact is that songs are copyrighted, and it is illegal to spread them around.
Of course, I have a few MP3s myself, and I don't like the state of copyright law (principally with regard to the RIAA), but it is the law, and that is what it comes down to.
--
Max V.
Well, people are bitching. But they aren't getting very far.
Computing Services has the right to shut the users off. And they had the right to do it for distribution of illegal material. That much is stated in the agreement that people (should have read) when they were registerin their network connections.
The complaint is based on the fact that the guidelines that Computing Services presented were not identical to the ones that were enforced. People are quabbling over the details, not the substance of the raid.
People might be annoyed, but they know that if they are distributing copyrighted materials, they don't have any legs upon which to stand.
What's more, in the situations where mistakes were made, Computing Services worked reasonably quickly to rectify the situation.
It really has died down here.
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Max V.
Well...
I agree with you in principle. I am a CMU student who didn't lose network access. And I support the actions of Computing Services. If RIAA had to do it, the school's ass would be on the line.
What raised the ire of many of the students (and prompted the action of the Student Senate, and other groups [such as the Student Dormitory Council]) was the violation of Computing Services's own guidelines. By guessing passwords (even if they were easy ones), they were not observing their own privacy statements.
In addition, students with legal MP3s were shut off. Also, students did not receive advance notice, nor did they receive adequate explanations of the actions taken.
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Max V.
Never mind. I read down a little further and read the article.
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Max V.
> If we fail, we will lose the war.
> Had to do it lol
What's that from?
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Max V.
It already is.
It turns out that if you design a site well (few frames. lynx-friendly, no annoying pictures for content, etc., it becomes accessible almost automagically.
--
Max V.
The Weimar way: Print more money.
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Max V.
I dunno about you, but I find all of these roadmaps to success troubling.
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Max V.
Are Who fans typically Styx fans? And what are some songs that people interested in the Who should seek out?
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Max V.
Oh come now. It's not flamebair. It's a joke. A joke!
Have people no senses of humor!?
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Max V.
Further evidence that the GNU folksa are working on creating an open army to take over the world by force. Revolutionary socialism, and all that rot.
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Max V.
Dunno. It seems that Brezhnev would be a good name. Or possibly Bukharin. Old-guard, radical yet conservative, and killed by Stalin (the NT machine).
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Max V.
It seems that non-competes are an anachronism. Go for it!
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Max V.
Leonid is my Mac. The long-lasting stagnating (Apple) machine.
Konstantin (Cherenko) is the sickly Apollo.
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Max V.
Cute. There is some typing in my system:
Josef (Stalin): My big Linux box. He does all of the work and is the true pain in the ass.
Vladimir (Lenin): My DECstation--the old one.
Mikhail (Gorbachev): The NeXT cube. Slick, new, expensive, ultimately unsuccessful.
Maxim (Molotov): I don't use it very often. Maxim Molotov was never fully in charge.
Leonid (Brezhnev): Sickly, short-lasting. The HP Apollo.
Yuri (Andropov): Even shorter-lasting. The underpowered ThinkPad.
You get the idea.
I do like the idea of using soviet bloc states as firewall names. And Boris would make a great name for an NT box. And Nikolai (Rhyzov--I seem to remember that he was Gorby's minister who later abandoned socialism entirely).
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Max V.
Josef
Leonid
Yuri
Maxim
Vladimir
and Leon (Trotsky) is coming soon.
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Max V.
Interesting. It sounds like it has potential.
Does anyone know how often the Clinton administration has before takend an "allow the courts to decide" stance?
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Max V.
Just because it's pro-MS and has a little attitude, that does not mean that a post is automatically a troll.
Sheesh. People are so quick to label people of opposing viewpoints, yet they are often most guilty of that behavior themselves.
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Max V.
It certainly is the week for Palm news, isn't it?
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Max V.
Clone 'em up real good.
Think of the novelty...mammoth burgers!
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Max V.
What is NetBeans?
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Max V.