Ignoring the whole advertising thing-not because it's not a ghastly prospect, just because everyone else seems to have touched on it already-I think the government having this is just as bad. Consider, folks protesting something just plain wrong-not war maybe, but, I dunno, baby eating. And these are popular protests that the government is ignoring, so they escalate to civil disobedience, ala civil rights protests. Do we really want the government to be able to cripple things like that? On the other hand, I suppose it's entirely likely that the Supreme Court might ban these on an invasion of privacy basis. We can but hope.
Hunter S. Thompson, I think it was, tried to get elected to mayor of Aspen on a platform of (among other things) tearing up town streets and replacing them with grass. More and more I think that's a great idea.
Then, of course, someone comes and calls me an idiot, but that's how these things go
Based on just that article, it looks like France has essentially signed their Mint over to various corporations and banks. I suppose having virtual money is convienent (As a student, I get to use it for running down to the vending machine, which is great), but it seems like making this a government-only project thing would be better.
It's really sort of weak when you look at it altogether:
Dear Student:
This email is being sent to all students at USC to make sure they have the same information about copyright compliance.
Introduction
The University of Southern California is committed to the education of its students. Part of the educational process includes the provision of internet connections for students in classrooms, residences, libraries, eating establishments, and other places on campus. Students who live off campus may also access the internet through USC's computers via modems. Over the past two years the university has made efforts to make students aware of policies governing the use of its computing facilities and systems to enhance their educational experience and keep them from violating university, state, federal polices and laws that would negatively impact their student status.
As a part of this ongoing effort we want to alert you to the fact that many of you are risking complete loss of access to the USC computer system and both disciplinary and legal sanctions. Below is an overview of how students are placing themselves in jeopardy by inappropriately using USC's internet connections.
Is File Sharing Worth Losing Student Privileges at USC?
You are undoubtedly aware of the development of file-sharing software such as Napster, Gnutella, and Hotline, also known as peer-to-peer networks ("P2P networks"), and the fact that the use of P2P networks to share copyrighted material, such as movies, music and software, can violate the rights of copyright owners. As you probably know, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the majority of Napster users are directly infringing federal copyright law by sharing music files without the permission of musical artists and recording companies who own these materials.
Copyright infringement occurs whenever you make a copy of any copyrighted work - songs, videos, software, cartoons, photographs, stories, novels - without purchasing that copy from the copyright owner, or obtaining permission some other way. Infringement also occurs when one person purchases an authorized copy, but allows others to reproduce further "pirated" copies. For example, if a student purchases a CD and creates an MP3 copy on his or her hard drive, and then uses a P2P network to share that MP3 copy with others, both the student and those making copies are infringing the owners' copyright rights and violating federal copyright law.
USC prohibits any infringement of intellectual property rights by any member of the USC community. As an academic institution, USC's purpose is to promote and foster the creation of intellectual property. It is antithetical to this purpose for USC to play any part, even inadvertently, in the violation of the intellectual property rights of others. The USC policy regarding student use of USC computing resources clearly states that a student who reproduces or distributes copyrighted materials in electronic form without permission from the material's owner may be removed from the USC computer system and face further disciplinary action.
Further, infringing conduct exposes the infringer to serious legal penalties. In response to the growth of infringement through P2P networks, the recording and motion picture industries have increased their efforts to identify and stop those who download unauthorized music and video files. Organizations such as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) can and do monitor P2P users, obtaining "snapshots" of the users' Internet protocol addresses, the files they are downloading or uploading from their P2P directories, the time that downloading occurs, and the Internet service provider (ISP) through which the files travel. (Gathering this information is not a violation of the users' privacy rights, because the user has voluntarily made his or her P2P directory available for public file sharing.)
Once this information is obtained, RIAA, MPAA and others can demand that an ISP remove any infringing copies from its system and may obtain a court order directing the ISP to identify the infringing user and to cut off the infringing user's access to the ISP's system. Further, if the user is determined to have infringed copyright rights, whether through P2P networks or other means, he or she can also be subject to sanctions such as the destruction of all unauthorized copies and monetary damages. In some cases, criminal sanctions - imprisonment and fines - may be imposed.
As an ISP for its students and faculty, USC has received an increasing number of notices from RIAA and MPAA identifying the IP addresses of USC students who are sharing copies of music and videos without authorization. USC will be forwarding such notices to the individual students involved and taking further steps to ensure that the infringing conduct ceases immediately, including, where necessary, depriving that student of any access to the USC computer system and further disciplinary sanctions. Obviously, if the complaining organization decides to take further steps to identify and prosecute the infringer, such conduct also runs the risk of incurring sanctions under federal copyright law, which can include monetary damages, and, in cases that are sufficiently extreme, criminal penalties - both imprisonment and fines. Copyright law provides no exception from liability for university students.
You should be aware that sharing music, videos, software, and other copyrighted material is a violation of law and can expose you and those with whom you share to legal sanctions, as well as sanctions under USC's own policy. Please do not put yourself, your friends, parents, and USC in the awkward position of having to confront such issues. We trust that you will take this issue seriously and conduct yourself accordingly.
Sincerely,
Jerry D. Campbell Dean of Libraries and Chief Information Officer
Sincerely,
Michael L. Jackson Vice President for Student Affairs
Generally, MS is intelligent. It might be in the same way that the Joker or the Penguin are intelligent, but there is none the less a certain cunning. Now, though, they're being stupid. Just when they're about to go head to head with AOL, they try as hard as they can to isolate both their political connections and their consumer base. MS should be concentrating on becoming 'l33t'. AOL still has the reputation of being the newbie service, but MS could, if they tried (by being for Open Source) become much cooler. They could never replace Linux, but they can at least concentrate on getting a slightly better image.
And yes, I'm writing this on Win2K, and my e-mail has 'hotmail' in it..
Slashdot Mirror
Ignoring the whole advertising thing-not because it's not a ghastly prospect, just because everyone else seems to have touched on it already-I think the government having this is just as bad. Consider, folks protesting something just plain wrong-not war maybe, but, I dunno, baby eating. And these are popular protests that the government is ignoring, so they escalate to civil disobedience, ala civil rights protests. Do we really want the government to be able to cripple things like that?
On the other hand, I suppose it's entirely likely that the Supreme Court might ban these on an invasion of privacy basis. We can but hope.
"I know I'm coming off as a troll, but seriously. Read this through and think about it. No one likes an arrogant asshole."
My Mom likes me. HA.
Well, I'm a hippie college student right now so it's not really an issue...ask me again in 10 years
Hunter S. Thompson, I think it was, tried to get elected to mayor of Aspen on a platform of (among other things) tearing up town streets and replacing them with grass. More and more I think that's a great idea.
Then, of course, someone comes and calls me an idiot, but that's how these things go
I suspect /. readers have not been the prime demographic for anything Microsoft has released, with the possible exception of some doomsday devices.
Based on just that article, it looks like France has essentially signed their Mint over to various corporations and banks. I suppose having virtual money is convienent (As a student, I get to use it for running down to the vending machine, which is great), but it seems like making this a government-only project thing would be better.
It's really sort of weak when you look at it altogether:
Dear Student:
This email is being sent to all students at USC to make sure
they have the same information about copyright compliance.
Introduction
The University of Southern California is committed to the education
of its students. Part of the educational process includes the
provision of internet connections for students in classrooms,
residences, libraries, eating establishments, and other places on
campus. Students who live off campus may also access the internet
through USC's computers via modems. Over the past two years the
university has made efforts to make students aware of policies
governing the use of its computing facilities and systems to enhance
their educational experience and keep them from violating university,
state, federal polices and laws that would negatively impact their
student status.
As a part of this ongoing effort we want to alert you to the fact
that many of you are risking complete loss of access to the USC
computer system and both disciplinary and legal sanctions. Below is
an overview of how students are placing themselves in jeopardy by
inappropriately using USC's internet connections.
Is File Sharing Worth Losing Student Privileges at USC?
You are undoubtedly aware of the development of file-sharing software
such as Napster, Gnutella, and Hotline, also known as peer-to-peer
networks ("P2P networks"), and the fact that the use of P2P networks
to share copyrighted material, such as movies, music and software,
can violate the rights of copyright owners. As you probably know,
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the majority
of Napster users are directly infringing federal copyright law by
sharing music files without the permission of musical artists and
recording companies who own these materials.
Copyright infringement occurs whenever you make a copy of any
copyrighted work - songs, videos, software, cartoons, photographs,
stories, novels - without purchasing that copy from the copyright
owner, or obtaining permission some other way. Infringement also
occurs when one person purchases an authorized copy, but allows
others to reproduce further "pirated" copies. For example, if a
student purchases a CD and creates an MP3 copy on his or her hard
drive, and then uses a P2P network to share that MP3 copy with
others, both the student and those making copies are infringing the
owners' copyright rights and violating federal copyright law.
USC prohibits any infringement of intellectual property rights by any
member of the USC community. As an academic institution, USC's
purpose is to promote and foster the creation of intellectual
property. It is antithetical to this purpose for USC to play any
part, even inadvertently, in the violation of the intellectual
property rights of others. The USC policy regarding student use of
USC computing resources clearly states that a student who reproduces
or distributes copyrighted materials in electronic form without
permission from the material's owner may be removed from the USC
computer system and face further disciplinary action.
Further, infringing conduct exposes the infringer to serious legal
penalties. In response to the growth of infringement through P2P
networks, the recording and motion picture industries have increased
their efforts to identify and stop those who download unauthorized
music and video files. Organizations such as the Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of
America (MPAA) can and do monitor P2P users, obtaining "snapshots" of
the users' Internet protocol addresses, the files they are
downloading or uploading from their P2P directories, the time that
downloading occurs, and the Internet service provider (ISP) through
which the files travel. (Gathering this information is not a
violation of the users' privacy rights, because the user has
voluntarily made his or her P2P directory available for public file
sharing.)
Once this information is obtained, RIAA, MPAA and others can demand
that an ISP remove any infringing copies from its system and may
obtain a court order directing the ISP to identify the infringing
user and to cut off the infringing user's access to the ISP's system.
Further, if the user is determined to have infringed copyright
rights, whether through P2P networks or other means, he or she can
also be subject to sanctions such as the destruction of all
unauthorized copies and monetary damages. In some cases, criminal
sanctions - imprisonment and fines - may be imposed.
As an ISP for its students and faculty, USC has received an
increasing number of notices from RIAA and MPAA identifying the IP
addresses of USC students who are sharing copies of music and videos
without authorization. USC will be forwarding such notices to the
individual students involved and taking further steps to ensure that
the infringing conduct ceases immediately, including, where
necessary, depriving that student of any access to the USC computer
system and further disciplinary sanctions. Obviously, if the
complaining organization decides to take further steps to identify
and prosecute the infringer, such conduct also runs the risk of
incurring sanctions under federal copyright law, which can include
monetary damages, and, in cases that are sufficiently extreme,
criminal penalties - both imprisonment and fines. Copyright law
provides no exception from liability for university students.
You should be aware that sharing music, videos, software, and other
copyrighted material is a violation of law and can expose you and
those with whom you share to legal sanctions, as well as sanctions
under USC's own policy. Please do not put yourself, your friends,
parents, and USC in the awkward position of having to confront such
issues. We trust that you will take this issue seriously and conduct
yourself accordingly.
Sincerely,
Jerry D. Campbell
Dean of Libraries and Chief Information Officer
Sincerely,
Michael L. Jackson
Vice President for Student Affairs
I've always felt that we needed to way to get snowboarders to pay less attention to what they're doing.
Select -1
Ctrl+Shift+F110
Abort
Why, you can win every game!
Generally, MS is intelligent. It might be in the same way that the Joker or the Penguin are intelligent, but there is none the less a certain cunning. Now, though, they're being stupid. Just when they're about to go head to head with AOL, they try as hard as they can to isolate both their political connections and their consumer base. MS should be concentrating on becoming 'l33t'. AOL still has the reputation of being the newbie service, but MS could, if they tried (by being for Open Source) become much cooler. They could never replace Linux, but they can at least concentrate on getting a slightly better image. And yes, I'm writing this on Win2K, and my e-mail has 'hotmail' in it..