At the Future of Music Conference in Washington DC I had the opportunity and privilage to meet both Robin Gross and Fred Von Lohmann, two of the EFF's lawyers. Both asked tough questions during the Copyright Panel which featured Bruce Lehman (the guy from the Clinton Administration that was responsible for writing the infamous "white paper" that the DMCA was derived from.) Both have razor sharp minds, think outside of the proverbial box, and are extremely passionate about their work. My $100 donation was well spent, but they always need more to fight the deep pocketed corporations that are constantly assailing your online rights. Put up a blue ribbon, and donate..It's worth it.
The EFF has an Open Audio
License that is being used by a number of musicians that feel its best to have the fans hear your musis, rather, than lock it up.
Another great line was Lester Chambers at the concert on monday evening introducing Time Has Come Today. " This is a song that made a lot of money for a lot of people, and me and my brothers got famous." As a commentary on the fact that he didn't receive any royalties for 22 years, has never been paid for any use of his music in over 40 movies, and the RIAA is licensing music of the Chambers Brothers that they don't have the rights to. (They can't have rights that didn't exist at the time the contract was signed) Thanks to Jonathan Tasini for that. BTW: the Licoln Mercury Commercial you saw recently did license Time Has Come Today.
Right up until Vivendi/Universal came in and screwed it up. They started charging $20 per month to musicians who wanted to participate in the Pay for Play, reduced the Pay for Play to 1/2 cent per play rather than the 1 1/2 cents it started out as. In addition the DAM CD the artist now pays for, at $3.95 each, something that MP3.Com used to pay for as their part of the investment for 50% of the sale. They still get 50% of the sale but the artist pays the expenses. They also grabbed any money in artist accounts for pay for play that hadn't reached the required minimum payout amount. (It's still availble to use for artist service purchases such as placement ads, but not for payout, unless the artist pays them $20 per month.) Only 35,000 artists have signed up for the Premium service ($20 per month) leaving 135,000 artists screwed out of their earnings. Even if they are only owed $10 each thats $1.35 million they stole from the artists. It's not the best business model, its just business as usuall for the labels. You do the work You pay the expenses, we make the money....
As an attendee of the conference I have to say that it was an educational and eye opening experience. While there were some tense moments on a couple of panels, (Major Labels Panel and the Copyright Panel) The New Models panel was excellent, Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls and Daemon Records, David Fagen of th Rosenergs, And Ian MacKaye explained their business model, and how well it works for them and their artists. Partnership, no copyrights, and a lot of hard work.
Artists and Musicians left with the feeling that "We can do this" and that sure the major label model may be fine for some, but most don't need it. A musician or band doesn't need to sell millions of records to make a decent living.
One of my favorite moments came when Mark Cuban (yes that Mark Cuban) gave Cary Sherman a lecture on embracing file-sharing as a way to make money rather than suing them into oblivian.
Make that two voices in VA. Rick Bouchers Legislative Assistant was at the pho dinner (at my invite) the night before the summit, and I've got this great picture of her talking with Fred Von Lohman from the EFF (He's the EFF lawyer defending Morpheus)
You Wrote: 2) Write (snailmail, not email) your congressperson to repeal the DMCA.
That used to be the case, but with all of the Anthrax problems, Congress is having a hard time gettting their mail these days. I deal with a legislative assistant on the hill and the only way to get stuff to them is via e-mail. Mail is held, as is UPS, Fedex, Etc. As it stands at this particular moment if they don't know you they don't want it snail mail or courier.
It's been put up here lord knows how many times, but here goes again. I use the Lavasoft software Ad-Aware to check and clean my system on a regular basis. Not only do I use it, if I have a friend who is having problems with their system, I usually will run it there as well. nine times out of ten they have a program that is running in the background, that Adware classifies as "Spyware". Removing the "spyware" components my the friends system often fixes the problems they are having. It always finds things that shouldn't be on their system. We can debate cookies forever, but I'm talking about software that serves ads, sends information, or otherwise takes control of your system or partially takes control.
The old sage about not installing software from unknown sources applies more than ever, I don't know who these people are, but from reports I've seen and heard I wouldn't even consider installing them.
. If I do download software and install it (it inevitable) I scan the download for viruses and trojans, backup my registry, install it and then run Ad-Aware. If Ad-Aware detects anything from the program, i uninstall the sucker. Then I reboot and run the old registry as well.
Rep. Boucher who was rerferred to by John Perry Barlow as "The only person in Congress who gets it." (at the O'Reilly Conference)has some ideas on Fair Use that are well worth reading. As a VA resident who has met and discussed DMCA and fair use with Congressman Boucher, he needs your support in helping to correct many of the problems with the DMCA as it exists, by letting YOUR Congressperson know that you, as a constituent, want them to support the changes. They need your vote, without being elected, they don't get the lobby dollars that the copyright industry scatters around DC like confetti on New Years Eve. Point out to them they work for you not Disney, not Vivendi, etc., etc, not Hilary Rosen or Jack Valenti. They will get the point.
I remember when caller id first rolled out and many were concerned with the fact that someone could easily get your phone number simply by placing a call to them. As the use and features available of caller id expanded we found that many of us use it to filter out unsolicted phone calls on a daily basis, or to identify secific calls we want to take. Initially it was used by government agencices, then commerical business, then individuals. This may very well have much the same cycle of use.
I expect that we will see browsers that will be able to be from an "anonymous" country just as there are browsers (such as Opera) that can identify themselves as a different browser. Of course as the software develops and evolves, there will tweaks and adjustments to the "gatekeeper" software that will allow the operator to reject "anonymous country", or as now, specific countries. And the browsers will adapt as well. Net shattering? I don't think so, but like most things in life it will have advantages as well as disadvantages.
By riding the broadcast spectrum as audio only, avoiding the royalties demanded by the RIAA, while still collecting their "non payola" from the labels via the "indies". They may be flagrant, but they certainly aren't stupid...
A good glass of wine with a good meal is not getting drunk, to be sure I don't drink to excess, there are actually 4 beers in fridge that have been there from last June, a bottle of wine is usually only opened when several friends come over. Sure I would like to be able to quit smoking, but to be perfectly honest I do enjoy it, and so long as it is pleasurable, it's going to be extremely hard to kick.
die while I'm living than be dead while alive....Bring on the Prime Rib, the Marlboros, a good Shiraz. I may die sooner than later, but at least I will have lived..
And the DMCA (Damned Millenium Copyright Act NEEDS to be gutted and SOON, & Copyright terms need to go back to something realistic rather than life plus 70 years. The abuse by the copyright cartel of the DMCA has grown ever more ridiculous as time goes on. Songwriters quit writing songs and file lawsuits because it's more profitible, than taking a chance at what you've done all of you life and grown proficent at. Musicians are threatened with lawsuits for sending out press packs with Xerox copies of newspaper and magazine articles reviewing a show they did or their own cd.
My money is on three days max. before there is software available to convert NAP to MP3. Remember if I can hear it I can copy it, through my Soundblaster Live it's as simple as record what you hear. In
Total Recorder I can do an MP3 on the fly. Another proprietary format just adds to the confusion, without doing anything to alleviate the licensing problems that plague the online music arena, and encryption of the music, downright silly...DMusic has an article by Ben Silverman where he quotes some recording industry execs.about what they've done in the past year. Following suit won't make it better only worse. My 2 Euros worth.
What? OK, you just gave the roadmap to NAP files "encryption" so therefore under DMCA you are guilty. Furthermore by posting it on/. you've made illegal for anyone to link to the article, or post it. Crafty move, musta been a lawyer in a previous life....
then some wax, but just don't fly to close to the sun....
Seriously, Paper? seems a little over the top. You're totally screwed if it gets wet, your insurance will be outragous, and there's alway the wife or girlfriend might clean out the hanger and through away all of that "old cardboard" setting around. And lets not forget, that turbulence that springs up at the worst possible moment..
To people developing products based on their technology, maybe. To the average musician who wants to put their own music on their website? NO.
The implications were at one point that could happen, in Jan 2001, but Thomson and Fraunhaugher decided not to persue it. Had they done so, a musician would have had to pay approx. $2000 to license the technology to play or stream MP3s from their own website. Regardless of their motives, they are assisting the independent musicians and consumers. While expanding the customer base due to the recognition factor.
The reason that so many people are still using MP3 over Ogg is the same one as why 33 Million subscribe to AOL. It works for them. Besides, Ogg hasn't gotten the kind of publicity that MP3 has. Ogg.com is Olson's GreenHouse Gardens website. I know musicians who use whatever it takes to get their music heard Real, MP3, WMA, even wav files. Seriously though until someone comes along with a player/ripper that operates as part of the users current media player, doesn't take a quasi-genius to set up, then it's going to remain so. Make it as easy as AOL to set up, and the world will beat a path to your door. (at least that's the hope)
There is at least one thing that I can think of that blows away even Ogg and that's called a CD. or a 16 bit 44.1K Wav file. ANY filetype using compression will not sound as good as the original, not that what you get isn't acceptable, just as FM radio is "acceptable". But if you want to talk sound quality, talk wav or CD.
Start actively, though discreetly, looking for another position. As one of the other posters stated, if you you keep your job by legal means, the guy will hate you, if you get laid off or fired you have a problem trying to explain. If you can get another offer, that will ease your mind, and give you some clout with the big boss. Tell him you like working there, but the situation has become unbearable, knowing that for whatever reason, this one guy seems to be out to stop you at every turn. Suggest a meeting with the three of you to try to work through the issues. If the guy who seems to have it in for you refuses, then you've won and he loses credibility. You've taken the high road, and he has refused to co-operate. If your boss has any sense at all, it will be the other guy that gets the boot, not you. Keep in mind that this is business and you have to get along. If the other guy won't play nice, then he's the one who should be sent home. In any case have a way ready to bail, if it doesn't work out. By offering to work things out you've shown your maturity, and willingness to work together. That is an asset to any company. If it doesn't work out and you leave, you have gained the respect of your boss, who will most likely write a glowing letter of recommendation. (he would rather do that than admit his faults, for not getting rid of the troublemaker).
One of the first things I learned in photography was that reds and oranges appear to come toward the viewer, with violets and blues appear to move away from the viewer. A quick glance at a lot of the old Kodak advertisments and you will always see a red or orange in the foreground, and blues and greens as the background. This gives the feeling of depth on a flat image. Apply this to digital imaging and you have a jpg iwith what appears to have depth. In black and white it becomes a little more obvious by placing the lighter colors to the front, and the darker colors toward the back. I would have to assume that the same applies to colors on the screen, as color is still color regardless if it's reflective or projected. (as in CRT monitors)
We would like to request the passenger in seat 17A quit downloading prOn as it is interfering with out radar. While the Navigator is enjoying the pictures, the silcone is interfering with our navigation. And to answer the most asked question, no you can not take the connection to the lavatory with you. Thnak you for flying with us today. Now back to our movie "Airplane"
Exactly.
Now then having agreed, I personally think that coding in general has become quite sloppy. Large hard drives, CD-ROMs and massive amounts of RAM make bloated code a non issue to most people. I once had to make a large map scollable in all directions so it would fit on a standard screen, using Macromedia Director for a tourism cd-rom. I didn't have a lot of time so I bought one of the books that covered Macromedia's "Lingo" in depth that had a pre-written script that would work with a few slight modifications. As I started making the mods I needed, and quickly realized that most of the code was useless and totaly unndeed. In the end the script I wrote was 7 lines. The one that was condsidered the "standard" was 64 lines long. Not a big deal, but everyone of my mulitimedia designer friends commented on how much quicker and smoother mine was vs the other. This was written when 486DXs were the norm rather than the Pentium I was working on. While the extra 57 lines of code didn't make a difference on my system, they certainly did on a 486SX25 running 16MB of RAM. This was when RAM was still quite expensive and 3GB hard drives were a dream. (and a damned expensive on at that). As the speed and capabilities of our systems grow, so does the size of the software. I think back to what we used to do on our old Commodore 64's with almost no memory, and I have say theat I am glad that I learned the basics (no pun intended) of programing back then, because I still want clean code when I write. It makes for easier troubleshooting, error correction, more speed, and smoother operation. So much of what we see out there today from the "Commercial Software" community is what I consider to be "bloatware." Just because you can do it, doesnt mean you have to, or even should.
A question that is often asked by John Perry Barlow when he speaks, is " How many of you can truthfully say you have never installed any unlicensed or 'pirated" software on your computer?" He continues on to point out that it is about the same percentage across the board regardless if it's a university, corporate, or the general public. The only group that shows a major deviation (which is usually lower) are lawyers.
There is a 18MB MP3 File of him speaking at the O'Reilly Conference, you can download it here
Slashdot Mirror
At the Future of Music Conference in Washington DC I had the opportunity and privilage to meet both Robin Gross and Fred Von Lohmann, two of the EFF's lawyers. Both asked tough questions during the Copyright Panel which featured Bruce Lehman (the guy from the Clinton Administration that was responsible for writing the infamous "white paper" that the DMCA was derived from.) Both have razor sharp minds, think outside of the proverbial box, and are extremely passionate about their work. My $100 donation was well spent, but they always need more to fight the deep pocketed corporations that are constantly assailing your online rights. Put up a blue ribbon, and donate..It's worth it.
The EFF has an Open Audio License that is being used by a number of musicians that feel its best to have the fans hear your musis, rather, than lock it up.
Another great line was Lester Chambers at the concert on monday evening introducing Time Has Come Today. " This is a song that made a lot of money for a lot of people, and me and my brothers got famous." As a commentary on the fact that he didn't receive any royalties for 22 years, has never been paid for any use of his music in over 40 movies, and the RIAA is licensing music of the Chambers Brothers that they don't have the rights to. (They can't have rights that didn't exist at the time the contract was signed) Thanks to Jonathan Tasini for that. BTW: the Licoln Mercury Commercial you saw recently did license Time Has Come Today.
Right up until Vivendi/Universal came in and screwed it up. They started charging $20 per month to musicians who wanted to participate in the Pay for Play, reduced the Pay for Play to 1/2 cent per play rather than the 1 1/2 cents it started out as. In addition the DAM CD the artist now pays for, at $3.95 each, something that MP3.Com used to pay for as their part of the investment for 50% of the sale. They still get 50% of the sale but the artist pays the expenses. They also grabbed any money in artist accounts for pay for play that hadn't reached the required minimum payout amount. (It's still availble to use for artist service purchases such as placement ads, but not for payout, unless the artist pays them $20 per month.) Only 35,000 artists have signed up for the Premium service ($20 per month) leaving 135,000 artists screwed out of their earnings. Even if they are only owed $10 each thats $1.35 million they stole from the artists. It's not the best business model, its just business as usuall for the labels. You do the work You pay the expenses, we make the money....
As an attendee of the conference I have to say that it was an educational and eye opening experience. While there were some tense moments on a couple of panels, (Major Labels Panel and the Copyright Panel) The New Models panel was excellent, Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls and Daemon Records, David Fagen of th Rosenergs, And Ian MacKaye explained their business model, and how well it works for them and their artists. Partnership, no copyrights, and a lot of hard work.
Artists and Musicians left with the feeling that "We can do this" and that sure the major label model may be fine for some, but most don't need it. A musician or band doesn't need to sell millions of records to make a decent living.
One of my favorite moments came when Mark Cuban (yes that Mark Cuban) gave Cary Sherman a lecture on embracing file-sharing as a way to make money rather than suing them into oblivian.
Make that two voices in VA. Rick Bouchers Legislative Assistant was at the pho dinner (at my invite) the night before the summit, and I've got this great picture of her talking with Fred Von Lohman from the EFF (He's the EFF lawyer defending Morpheus)
You Wrote: 2) Write (snailmail, not email) your congressperson to repeal the DMCA.
That used to be the case, but with all of the Anthrax problems, Congress is having a hard time gettting their mail these days. I deal with a legislative assistant on the hill and the only way to get stuff to them is via e-mail. Mail is held, as is UPS, Fedex, Etc. As it stands at this particular moment if they don't know you they don't want it snail mail or courier.
It's been put up here lord knows how many times, but here goes again. I use the Lavasoft software Ad-Aware to check and clean my system on a regular basis. Not only do I use it, if I have a friend who is having problems with their system, I usually will run it there as well. nine times out of ten they have a program that is running in the background, that Adware classifies as "Spyware". Removing the "spyware" components my the friends system often fixes the problems they are having. It always finds things that shouldn't be on their system. We can debate cookies forever, but I'm talking about software that serves ads, sends information, or otherwise takes control of your system or partially takes control.
The old sage about not installing software from unknown sources applies more than ever, I don't know who these people are, but from reports I've seen and heard I wouldn't even consider installing them.
. If I do download software and install it (it inevitable) I scan the download for viruses and trojans, backup my registry, install it and then run Ad-Aware. If Ad-Aware detects anything from the program, i uninstall the sucker. Then I reboot and run the old registry as well.
Rep. Boucher who was rerferred to by John Perry Barlow as "The only person in Congress who gets it." (at the O'Reilly Conference)has some ideas on Fair Use that are well worth reading. As a VA resident who has met and discussed DMCA and fair use with Congressman Boucher, he needs your support in helping to correct many of the problems with the DMCA as it exists, by letting YOUR Congressperson know that you, as a constituent, want them to support the changes. They need your vote, without being elected, they don't get the lobby dollars that the copyright industry scatters around DC like confetti on New Years Eve. Point out to them they work for you not Disney, not Vivendi, etc., etc, not Hilary Rosen or Jack Valenti. They will get the point.
I remember when caller id first rolled out and many were concerned with the fact that someone could easily get your phone number simply by placing a call to them. As the use and features available of caller id expanded we found that many of us use it to filter out unsolicted phone calls on a daily basis, or to identify secific calls we want to take. Initially it was used by government agencices, then commerical business, then individuals. This may very well have much the same cycle of use.
I expect that we will see browsers that will be able to be from an "anonymous" country just as there are browsers (such as Opera) that can identify themselves as a different browser. Of course as the software develops and evolves, there will tweaks and adjustments to the "gatekeeper" software that will allow the operator to reject "anonymous country", or as now, specific countries. And the browsers will adapt as well. Net shattering? I don't think so, but like most things in life it will have advantages as well as disadvantages.
By riding the broadcast spectrum as audio only, avoiding the royalties demanded by the RIAA, while still collecting their "non payola" from the labels via the "indies". They may be flagrant, but they certainly aren't stupid...
Sounds like fun...
A good glass of wine with a good meal is not getting drunk, to be sure I don't drink to excess, there are actually 4 beers in fridge that have been there from last June, a bottle of wine is usually only opened when several friends come over. Sure I would like to be able to quit smoking, but to be perfectly honest I do enjoy it, and so long as it is pleasurable, it's going to be extremely hard to kick.
die while I'm living than be dead while alive....Bring on the Prime Rib, the Marlboros, a good Shiraz. I may die sooner than later, but at least I will have lived..
And the DMCA (Damned Millenium Copyright Act NEEDS to be gutted and SOON, & Copyright terms need to go back to something realistic rather than life plus 70 years. The abuse by the copyright cartel of the DMCA has grown ever more ridiculous as time goes on. Songwriters quit writing songs and file lawsuits because it's more profitible, than taking a chance at what you've done all of you life and grown proficent at. Musicians are threatened with lawsuits for sending out press packs with Xerox copies of newspaper and magazine articles reviewing a show they did or their own cd.
My money is on three days max. before there is software available to convert NAP to MP3. Remember if I can hear it I can copy it, through my Soundblaster Live it's as simple as record what you hear. In Total Recorder I can do an MP3 on the fly. Another proprietary format just adds to the confusion, without doing anything to alleviate the licensing problems that plague the online music arena, and encryption of the music, downright silly...DMusic has an article by Ben Silverman where he quotes some recording industry execs.about what they've done in the past year. Following suit won't make it better only worse. My 2 Euros worth.
What? OK, you just gave the roadmap to NAP files "encryption" so therefore under DMCA you are guilty. Furthermore by posting it on /. you've made illegal for anyone to link to the article, or post it. Crafty move, musta been a lawyer in a previous life....
then some wax, but just don't fly to close to the sun....
Seriously, Paper? seems a little over the top. You're totally screwed if it gets wet, your insurance will be outragous, and there's alway the wife or girlfriend might clean out the hanger and through away all of that "old cardboard" setting around. And lets not forget, that turbulence that springs up at the worst possible moment..
The entire 4th Season...the girlfriend is Very Happy....now how do iI transfer it off my Tivo to hers?
To people developing products based on their technology, maybe. To the average musician who wants to put their own music on their website? NO. The implications were at one point that could happen, in Jan 2001, but Thomson and Fraunhaugher decided not to persue it. Had they done so, a musician would have had to pay approx. $2000 to license the technology to play or stream MP3s from their own website. Regardless of their motives, they are assisting the independent musicians and consumers. While expanding the customer base due to the recognition factor.
The reason that so many people are still using MP3 over Ogg is the same one as why 33 Million subscribe to AOL. It works for them. Besides, Ogg hasn't gotten the kind of publicity that MP3 has. Ogg.com is Olson's GreenHouse Gardens website. I know musicians who use whatever it takes to get their music heard Real, MP3, WMA, even wav files. Seriously though until someone comes along with a player/ripper that operates as part of the users current media player, doesn't take a quasi-genius to set up, then it's going to remain so. Make it as easy as AOL to set up, and the world will beat a path to your door. (at least that's the hope)
There is at least one thing that I can think of that blows away even Ogg and that's called a CD. or a 16 bit 44.1K Wav file. ANY filetype using compression will not sound as good as the original, not that what you get isn't acceptable, just as FM radio is "acceptable". But if you want to talk sound quality, talk wav or CD.
Start actively, though discreetly, looking for another position. As one of the other posters stated, if you you keep your job by legal means, the guy will hate you, if you get laid off or fired you have a problem trying to explain. If you can get another offer, that will ease your mind, and give you some clout with the big boss. Tell him you like working there, but the situation has become unbearable, knowing that for whatever reason, this one guy seems to be out to stop you at every turn. Suggest a meeting with the three of you to try to work through the issues. If the guy who seems to have it in for you refuses, then you've won and he loses credibility. You've taken the high road, and he has refused to co-operate. If your boss has any sense at all, it will be the other guy that gets the boot, not you. Keep in mind that this is business and you have to get along. If the other guy won't play nice, then he's the one who should be sent home. In any case have a way ready to bail, if it doesn't work out. By offering to work things out you've shown your maturity, and willingness to work together. That is an asset to any company. If it doesn't work out and you leave, you have gained the respect of your boss, who will most likely write a glowing letter of recommendation. (he would rather do that than admit his faults, for not getting rid of the troublemaker).
One of the first things I learned in photography was that reds and oranges appear to come toward the viewer, with violets and blues appear to move away from the viewer. A quick glance at a lot of the old Kodak advertisments and you will always see a red or orange in the foreground, and blues and greens as the background. This gives the feeling of depth on a flat image. Apply this to digital imaging and you have a jpg iwith what appears to have depth. In black and white it becomes a little more obvious by placing the lighter colors to the front, and the darker colors toward the back. I would have to assume that the same applies to colors on the screen, as color is still color regardless if it's reflective or projected. (as in CRT monitors)
We would like to request the passenger in seat 17A quit downloading prOn as it is interfering with out radar. While the Navigator is enjoying the pictures, the silcone is interfering with our navigation. And to answer the most asked question, no you can not take the connection to the lavatory with you. Thnak you for flying with us today. Now back to our movie "Airplane"
Exactly. Now then having agreed, I personally think that coding in general has become quite sloppy. Large hard drives, CD-ROMs and massive amounts of RAM make bloated code a non issue to most people. I once had to make a large map scollable in all directions so it would fit on a standard screen, using Macromedia Director for a tourism cd-rom. I didn't have a lot of time so I bought one of the books that covered Macromedia's "Lingo" in depth that had a pre-written script that would work with a few slight modifications. As I started making the mods I needed, and quickly realized that most of the code was useless and totaly unndeed. In the end the script I wrote was 7 lines. The one that was condsidered the "standard" was 64 lines long. Not a big deal, but everyone of my mulitimedia designer friends commented on how much quicker and smoother mine was vs the other. This was written when 486DXs were the norm rather than the Pentium I was working on. While the extra 57 lines of code didn't make a difference on my system, they certainly did on a 486SX25 running 16MB of RAM. This was when RAM was still quite expensive and 3GB hard drives were a dream. (and a damned expensive on at that). As the speed and capabilities of our systems grow, so does the size of the software. I think back to what we used to do on our old Commodore 64's with almost no memory, and I have say theat I am glad that I learned the basics (no pun intended) of programing back then, because I still want clean code when I write. It makes for easier troubleshooting, error correction, more speed, and smoother operation. So much of what we see out there today from the "Commercial Software" community is what I consider to be "bloatware." Just because you can do it, doesnt mean you have to, or even should.
Only the ATT part, the Cox part is still working, I can attest to that fact.
A question that is often asked by John Perry Barlow when he speaks, is " How many of you can truthfully say you have never installed any unlicensed or 'pirated" software on your computer?" He continues on to point out that it is about the same percentage across the board regardless if it's a university, corporate, or the general public. The only group that shows a major deviation (which is usually lower) are lawyers.
There is a 18MB MP3 File of him speaking at the O'Reilly Conference, you can download it here