You don't need to shoot them (at least, not at first.) Just point out that they've got a really, really nice office... be a shame if something happened to it. Of course, if they were to purchase your very-reasonably-priced arson insurance, you would make sure that nothing happened to it.
If they refuse your insurance offer, then you kneecap the bastards. I mean, they'll understand it's nothing personal, just business, being little more than gangsters themselves.
You can still run a server though: us an alternate port SMTP service. Yes, I have to pay a few bucks a year but it's worth it to be independent of Comcast's mail system. For inbound mail, my Web host allows me to set up my own MX records, and forwards incoming mail to any port that I want.
A couple of things that may have escaped your attention:
One, it's not the ISPs business to determine what is or is not acceptable traffic. That's a moral/legal judgment that they have no authority to make, are not equipped to make, and could not under any conditions be trusted to make. I don't pay them to monitor my communications and tell me what is right and what is wrong. Let the copyright holder go after me if he or she really believes that I've infringed upon any of their legal rights.
Two, owning up to copyright infringement may or may not be the right thing to do from an ethical perspective, but it's the exact wrong thing to do if you don't want to end up penniless. Keep firmly in mind that the media companies (not all, just the majors that are funding the likes of the RIAA) have no interest whatsoever in redress of grievance. They have no concern with such niceties as "right" and "wrong", as most of us understand the terms. They want deterrence. That means they need to destroy as many people as they can before they're stopped, because that's what they've determined is their best course of action.
Go check out this blog if you want to learn more about what's really going on, and why the infringers are not the real evil here.
On the other hand, running a mail server is against your terms of service, so Comcast isn't being that generous... they can kill you off any time they want. They're just choosing not to for the moment. Me, I stopped using Comcast's SMTP and POP3 servers years ago. Even if they did block Port 25 I'd never notice it (maybe they have, for all I know.)
I also don't know exactly who's ass that 5% number was pulled from. I personally know a lot of people that got broadband simply because they wanted to download stuff they couldn't with dial-up. I suspect that Comcast's real problem is that there are far more than five percent of their user base that want to pull down forty or fifty gigabytes a month, and that's entirely Comcast's fault for not anticipating the market and reacting accordingly.
It's happening more and more. Our local water district is now a private company called "American Water" or some such. What the hell? Shouldn't we have been consulted before something as important as our drinking water was privatized? Huh. I guess not. I might add that the quality of said essential bodily fluid has dropped to the point where I can't drink it out of the faucet anymore. I have to use a filter, or buy it in bottles which is just ridiculous. We get these "water quality reports" in the mail every couple of months, listing levels of various contaminants, and isn't it wonderful that we're just barely within Federal guidelines? I suppose, but when I let the stuff evaporate the quantity of white powdery residue keeps increasing, and we're afraid to drink it.
I wasn't particularly thrilled when Altiris bought Wise Solutions (because we use Wise Installation Studio) but I was definitely displeased when Symantec bought Altiris. I've noticed that the latest release of Wise is slower and less stable than previous versions. Still a good product, don't get me wrong, but I don't like it one little bit when companies that I depend upon get bought out, particularly by outfits like Symantec. Hell, even if the new owner is a decent operation, shit changes, and often not for the better..
whose motives are driven by shareholder (not necessarily customer) demands.
Precisely... and when you realize just how many millions of subscribers got off dial-up and went to a broadband connection in order to be able to download "stuff", you realize that ISPs would be shooting themselves in the head if they did that. This would reduce profits, reduce broadband penetration, and the stockholders (who, themselves, are presumably broadband users) would probably get a bit torqued. The media people have said repeatedly that Internet providers have been leveraging people's desire to "steal" materials into more customers. True enough, I suppose... but unless the studios want to make up for millions of lost customers they're not likely to get too much cooperation.
Besides, the ISPs really don't have any particular motivation to do this, solid-gold check or otherwise. The fact that the entertainment folks want to turn ISPs into copyright cops doesn't mean the ISPs have to pay the slightest bit of attention. AT&T has been making noises about turning themselves into such a farce, but if they do it'll hit the bottom line. Honestly, Microsoft and Intel are much better places to go when it comes to DRM and controlling content distribution.
Even there, though, people are showing a distinct unwillingness to go to Vista, for a variety of reasons. If I found out that an OS upgrade would start controlling and limiting my online activities... well, Linux is sounding better and better every day.
Not me... but my girlfriend was born there. She goes back every few years to visit her family, and I hear a lot about what it's like over there. It would be an interesting place to visit but I don't think I'd want to live there. It was a fairly decent place once upon a time, but after a succession of massively corrupt governments it had gone way downhill.
What really frosted my petunias was that this was all done with little fanfare, and was presented to the public as a fait accompli.
Actually, it turned out that it was more of a long-term lease than an outright sale, with the company involved receiving the lion's share of tolls, with the State still providing most of the maintenance. At least, that's what it said in the newspaper article I read on the subject.
I see you're a glass-half-full sort of guy. Well, apparently you've never been to Nigeria, say, and many places in the U.S. are worse... try carrying that laptop on the South Side of Chicago and I guarantee you'll be relieved of it in short order. Maybe your life as well. So yes, the world can be just about that bad, the trick is in knowing the locale (by doing your research first) and avoiding the worst spots.
I know way too many engineers that went into the field because they were not as literate as they should have been, and believed (mistakenly) that engineers simply design and build things and don't have much use for the written word.
The wake-up call (often expressed by a temporary fugue state approaching catatonia) happens right after they're tasked to write a fifty-page spec and cost justification for a major project. That, or they're told that they're responsible for all project documentation and user manuals, something along those lines. And then there's the normal business communication that is required in our connected world, where the quality of one's writing can have significant effects on business relationships and future advancement.
This idiotic scenario is a direct equivalent of a government selling all roads and bridges in the country to the highest bidder, thus ensuring that toll-booths pop up right at the end of everybody's drive-way asking for $10 fee to travel every yard or some such, regardless of the direction you take driving, cycling or walking.
Well, in my State that's already happening, and to a foreign-owned corporation at that.
Any licensed Engineer who seals drawings just because some MBA ordered them to even if they don't think they're ready (or haven't taken the time to review them) is not fulfilling their professional obligation and are themselves liable for some pretty strict discipline if anyone (contractors, competitors, etc) find serious problems in them down the line - this is actually a remarkably rare case IRL.
Okay, I'll buy that. But systemic issues cannot be ignored either: like I said, as a software developer I have a slightly different perspective.
The bulk of Congress people aren't too bad. The problem is the system doesn't place sufficient checks on the ones that are. And don't underestimate the power of private sector influence upon Congressional malfeasance: the military-industrial complex alone is responsible for an enormous amount of crap.
You shouldn't direct any special malice against Sony BMG
Yes... yes, I think you should. Remember, the RIAA is funded by these assholes (and the others you mention) to the tune of several hundred million dollars a year. The RIAA continues to exist only because the member companies support it. Only two things can stop the RIAA's reign of terror: the government, and the sponsoring corporations. Otherwise they'll continue down the same path because they don't care, and they have no reason to stop.
Slashdot Mirror
The moral of the story is ... anything too concentrated can be dangerous, whether it be horse manure, money, or politicans.
You don't need to shoot them (at least, not at first.) Just point out that they've got a really, really nice office ... be a shame if something happened to it. Of course, if they were to purchase your very-reasonably-priced arson insurance, you would make sure that nothing happened to it.
If they refuse your insurance offer, then you kneecap the bastards. I mean, they'll understand it's nothing personal, just business, being little more than gangsters themselves.
Unlike most private schools, Harvard doesn't need them.
I other words, we're being jerked around by yet another major corporation and its shareholders. Not exactly a surprise, mind you.
You can still run a server though: us an alternate port SMTP service. Yes, I have to pay a few bucks a year but it's worth it to be independent of Comcast's mail system. For inbound mail, my Web host allows me to set up my own MX records, and forwards incoming mail to any port that I want.
A couple of things that may have escaped your attention:
One, it's not the ISPs business to determine what is or is not acceptable traffic. That's a moral/legal judgment that they have no authority to make, are not equipped to make, and could not under any conditions be trusted to make. I don't pay them to monitor my communications and tell me what is right and what is wrong. Let the copyright holder go after me if he or she really believes that I've infringed upon any of their legal rights.
Two, owning up to copyright infringement may or may not be the right thing to do from an ethical perspective, but it's the exact wrong thing to do if you don't want to end up penniless. Keep firmly in mind that the media companies (not all, just the majors that are funding the likes of the RIAA) have no interest whatsoever in redress of grievance. They have no concern with such niceties as "right" and "wrong", as most of us understand the terms. They want deterrence. That means they need to destroy as many people as they can before they're stopped, because that's what they've determined is their best course of action.
Go check out this blog if you want to learn more about what's really going on, and why the infringers are not the real evil here.
On the other hand, running a mail server is against your terms of service, so Comcast isn't being that generous ... they can kill you off any time they want. They're just choosing not to for the moment. Me, I stopped using Comcast's SMTP and POP3 servers years ago. Even if they did block Port 25 I'd never notice it (maybe they have, for all I know.)
Yeah ... and besides, who's the big FIOS provider? Verizon, of course, and so far as I'm concerned that's no big improvement over Comcast.
I also don't know exactly who's ass that 5% number was pulled from. I personally know a lot of people that got broadband simply because they wanted to download stuff they couldn't with dial-up. I suspect that Comcast's real problem is that there are far more than five percent of their user base that want to pull down forty or fifty gigabytes a month, and that's entirely Comcast's fault for not anticipating the market and reacting accordingly.
It's happening more and more. Our local water district is now a private company called "American Water" or some such. What the hell? Shouldn't we have been consulted before something as important as our drinking water was privatized? Huh. I guess not. I might add that the quality of said essential bodily fluid has dropped to the point where I can't drink it out of the faucet anymore. I have to use a filter, or buy it in bottles which is just ridiculous. We get these "water quality reports" in the mail every couple of months, listing levels of various contaminants, and isn't it wonderful that we're just barely within Federal guidelines? I suppose, but when I let the stuff evaporate the quantity of white powdery residue keeps increasing, and we're afraid to drink it.
I wasn't particularly thrilled when Altiris bought Wise Solutions (because we use Wise Installation Studio) but I was definitely displeased when Symantec bought Altiris. I've noticed that the latest release of Wise is slower and less stable than previous versions. Still a good product, don't get me wrong, but I don't like it one little bit when companies that I depend upon get bought out, particularly by outfits like Symantec. Hell, even if the new owner is a decent operation, shit changes, and often not for the better..
whose motives are driven by shareholder (not necessarily customer) demands.
... and when you realize just how many millions of subscribers got off dial-up and went to a broadband connection in order to be able to download "stuff", you realize that ISPs would be shooting themselves in the head if they did that. This would reduce profits, reduce broadband penetration, and the stockholders (who, themselves, are presumably broadband users) would probably get a bit torqued. The media people have said repeatedly that Internet providers have been leveraging people's desire to "steal" materials into more customers. True enough, I suppose ... but unless the studios want to make up for millions of lost customers they're not likely to get too much cooperation.
... well, Linux is sounding better and better every day.
Precisely
Besides, the ISPs really don't have any particular motivation to do this, solid-gold check or otherwise. The fact that the entertainment folks want to turn ISPs into copyright cops doesn't mean the ISPs have to pay the slightest bit of attention. AT&T has been making noises about turning themselves into such a farce, but if they do it'll hit the bottom line. Honestly, Microsoft and Intel are much better places to go when it comes to DRM and controlling content distribution.
Even there, though, people are showing a distinct unwillingness to go to Vista, for a variety of reasons. If I found out that an OS upgrade would start controlling and limiting my online activities
Not me ... but my girlfriend was born there. She goes back every few years to visit her family, and I hear a lot about what it's like over there. It would be an interesting place to visit but I don't think I'd want to live there. It was a fairly decent place once upon a time, but after a succession of massively corrupt governments it had gone way downhill.
What really frosted my petunias was that this was all done with little fanfare, and was presented to the public as a fait accompli.
Actually, it turned out that it was more of a long-term lease than an outright sale, with the company involved receiving the lion's share of tolls, with the State still providing most of the maintenance. At least, that's what it said in the newspaper article I read on the subject.
One could have a filter on the end user's computer
Over my cold, dead body. This is my property, not his.
Ass.
I see you're a glass-half-full sort of guy. Well, apparently you've never been to Nigeria, say, and many places in the U.S. are worse ... try carrying that laptop on the South Side of Chicago and I guarantee you'll be relieved of it in short order. Maybe your life as well. So yes, the world can be just about that bad, the trick is in knowing the locale (by doing your research first) and avoiding the worst spots.
I know way too many engineers that went into the field because they were not as literate as they should have been, and believed (mistakenly) that engineers simply design and build things and don't have much use for the written word.
The wake-up call (often expressed by a temporary fugue state approaching catatonia) happens right after they're tasked to write a fifty-page spec and cost justification for a major project. That, or they're told that they're responsible for all project documentation and user manuals, something along those lines. And then there's the normal business communication that is required in our connected world, where the quality of one's writing can have significant effects on business relationships and future advancement.
This idiotic scenario is a direct equivalent of a government selling all roads and bridges in the country to the highest bidder, thus ensuring that toll-booths pop up right at the end of everybody's drive-way asking for $10 fee to travel every yard or some such, regardless of the direction you take driving, cycling or walking.
Well, in my State that's already happening, and to a foreign-owned corporation at that.
I'm auctioning the oxygen inside FCCs Washington offices, who'll start me at $1 billion?
You should auction off the CO2 in the FCC's offices. They need more oxygen in there, not less.
I'd say the chance of at least an attempted theft is 100%.
Any licensed Engineer who seals drawings just because some MBA ordered them to even if they don't think they're ready (or haven't taken the time to review them) is not fulfilling their professional obligation and are themselves liable for some pretty strict discipline if anyone (contractors, competitors, etc) find serious problems in them down the line - this is actually a remarkably rare case IRL.
Okay, I'll buy that. But systemic issues cannot be ignored either: like I said, as a software developer I have a slightly different perspective.
The bulk of Congress people aren't too bad. The problem is the system doesn't place sufficient checks on the ones that are. And don't underestimate the power of private sector influence upon Congressional malfeasance: the military-industrial complex alone is responsible for an enormous amount of crap.
You shouldn't direct any special malice against Sony BMG
... yes, I think you should. Remember, the RIAA is funded by these assholes (and the others you mention) to the tune of several hundred million dollars a year. The RIAA continues to exist only because the member companies support it. Only two things can stop the RIAA's reign of terror: the government, and the sponsoring corporations. Otherwise they'll continue down the same path because they don't care, and they have no reason to stop.
Yes
Did you ever figure out who it was from?
Are they just attracted to grody companies of dubious morals, or do they help make them that way?
It's a synergistic effect. The whole is lesser than the sum of its parts.