True that the main purpose is market research but the questions are not invasive from a privacy standpoint and I for one would like companies that make mp3 players to know things like I want them to support OGG, or I perfer firewire to USB.
"From what I've seen so far, there really isn't any reason for a desktop user to upgrade, unless they absolutely, positively, have to be running GNOME 2.2. It's good, it's solid, it works - but not any better that 8.0."
Good point, I have been running RH 9 for about a week and have noticed very few differences between 8 and 9. That said I haven't had any problems with it either (both install and use.) So far I'd say the upgrade decission (for personal systems) should be based on wether you have to time to upgrade and if you want to have the latest version of everything.
How is the RIAA (Recording Industry Assholes Association) finding out what is being traded on these networks? From my understanding (based on the file sharing network at my school) is that the system is only accessible to people on the school's local network (which requires a direct connection to a on-campus drop or use of VPN software AND the use of a school-issued userid/password). Is the RIAA illegally breaking into people's LANs, hiring campus spies or what?
Just checked.searching gcc on MSN's web search returned 27 hits many unrelated to the complier although the first link was to gnu.org, Google returned 5,690,000.
People might buy this if it is included in cable boxes (no extra hardware) and very cheap ($5/month or less with no upfront cost). It is unlikley to replace Tivo but I think if it is included people will use it just because it is much easier to just press a button on the remote than go buy a tivo and hook it up.
It is a viable model but the pricing is still too high. $0.99/track equal $15-20/album when CDs can often be found for $10-12 or even less. I would say services like this will be successful when prices reach $0.25-0.50/song assuming they have a good catalog, high quality files (with minimal, if any, DRM) and the service works well.
This is a totally different issuse. The question is not should you be able to read all the emails sent to the government but rather cane any random person demend a list of all the email address the government has. I, for one, don't like the idea of spammers being able to go to the government and get lists of every address the government has on file.
When people spam Hotmail users Microsoft has to pay for the bandwidth the spam uses and gains nothing. On the other hand, when M$ sends its own spam they get to promote whatever the spam is selling and (excluding MSN and Hotmail accounts) other people pay for the bandwidth, so it costs them almost nothing.
M$ would love it if they could send spam but no one else could
Does anyone know what format these downloads will be? I assume they will be something proprietary and encrypted but am curious what rights the user will have.
Can a downloaded file be played on multiple computers (e.g. can a file be moved from the users desktop to his/her laptop?) or put on a portable MP3 player?
Also if a user loses their songs (disk crash,new computer, etc) is there anyway to replace them or will they have to pay/use download quota to get the same songs again?
Will download music still be playable after user quits the music service (or AOL)?
It is quite likley that the record labels/RIAA are offering and endorsing services like this that are almost certian fail in order to allow them to go to congress and say "we offered legal, online music distribution and no one signed up for it because of Kazaa so we need mandatory DRM legislation."
Yeah this is some busniess plan:
1. Take a service that has already been offered to the internet at large and failed (i.e. Pressplay and other RIAA endorsed music services that have limited libraries, restricted formats and limits on cd buring)
2. Limit the potential user base from anyone on the net (including AOL users) to only AOL users
3. Raise the price
I'm sure this is going to work.
Even if terrorists were using ebay to communicate (which strikes me as unlikley but possible) what are the chances that, in a stituation like you example, the police would find the particular auction the terrorists were using, figure out it was code and than request the information. Also why do you think a terrorist using ebay for communication would register with accurate contact information.
1. Breaking into someones house is a crime even if nothing is stolen or damaged (breaking and entering)
2. There is no way to tell is network traffic is legal or not without monitoring it first. While there is no way a person can legally enter your house without premission there are many ways to generate network traffic (even P2P traffic) without breaking the law or AUP.
A better analogy would be putting a surveillance camera on your porch that records everyone walking by. (I don't know if doing this would be legal or not)
While it is technically possible for a university to monitor all network traffic it is impractical due to the about of computer power and storage needed to record the billions of packets that pass through a large university everyday and the manpower needed to review the massive ammounts of data (think multiple terrabytes a day) this would collect.
Also, in general, universities strive to protect the intelecual freedom and privacy of their students and faculty (although U Wyoming seems to be an exception). For example the univeristy I attend (UMD) includes the following language in their AUP (which can be found in it's entierty at http://www.inform.umd.edu/aug/:
"To the extent possible in the electronic environment and in a public setting, a user's privacy will be preserved. Nevertheless, that privacy is subject to the Maryland Access to Public Records Act, other applicable state and federal laws, and the needs of the University to meet its administrative, business, and legal obligations."
While this language is admitadly quite weak it is better than nothing and would prevent monitoring of this kind unless it is determined that ISPs are liable for copyright infringment commeted by their users.
Normally I am 100% against any form of censorship. However this is very different from laws such as CDA and COPA for 2 reassons 1. what constitues child porn is clearly defined and 2. possesion of such material is already illegal (as opossed to "normal" porn which adults can legally have and distribute). W
hile I think we can all agree that eliminating child porn from the internet (and world in general) would be a good thing my concern is are isps only responseable for blocking the 425 sites the attorney general found (which would be a ressonable order) or are they expected to block all child porn which would likley be impossible
Labeling is important (even if it does cost tax payer money) because a person is more likley to not buy a DRMed product because they saw the label then they are to go to the trouble of returing one theyu bought without knowing it was copy-crippled
The difference is that the Tipper Gore wanted things labelled based on something that is not clearly definded (i.e. what is offensive or innapropriate for children) whereas does this cd have copy-protection is a clear cut technilogical question. In addition it is generally accepted that the ultimate goal of Tipper's group was to force retailers to refuse to sell music marked objectionable to minors whereas copy-prevention labeling would be strictly for the purpose of informing potentional buyers, what they can or can't do with a cd (without cracking the protection, of course).
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True that the main purpose is market research but the questions are not invasive from a privacy standpoint and I for one would like companies that make mp3 players to know things like I want them to support OGG, or I perfer firewire to USB.
Good point, I have been running RH 9 for about a week and have noticed very few differences between 8 and 9. That said I haven't had any problems with it either (both install and use.) So far I'd say the upgrade decission (for personal systems) should be based on wether you have to time to upgrade and if you want to have the latest version of everything.
How is the RIAA (Recording Industry Assholes Association) finding out what is being traded on these networks? From my understanding (based on the file sharing network at my school) is that the system is only accessible to people on the school's local network (which requires a direct connection to a on-campus drop or use of VPN software AND the use of a school-issued userid/password). Is the RIAA illegally breaking into people's LANs, hiring campus spies or what?
Just checked.searching gcc on MSN's web search returned 27 hits many unrelated to the complier although the first link was to gnu.org, Google returned 5,690,000.
in Microsoft product?!? I'm shocked
Does anyone know how this will work? What prevents you from pluging a VCR or tivo into your mystro or a tv connected to it
People might buy this if it is included in cable boxes (no extra hardware) and very cheap ($5/month or less with no upfront cost). It is unlikley to replace Tivo but I think if it is included people will use it just because it is much easier to just press a button on the remote than go buy a tivo and hook it up.
Seriously though, I would like to know how much of this spam came from people AOL sold their users email addresses to
It is a viable model but the pricing is still too high. $0.99/track equal $15-20/album when CDs can often be found for $10-12 or even less. I would say services like this will be successful when prices reach $0.25-0.50/song assuming they have a good catalog, high quality files (with minimal, if any, DRM) and the service works well.
This is a totally different issuse. The question is not should you be able to read all the emails sent to the government but rather cane any random person demend a list of all the email address the government has. I, for one, don't like the idea of spammers being able to go to the government and get lists of every address the government has on file.
You do know that Bill Gates named the company after his penis right?
When people spam Hotmail users Microsoft has to pay for the bandwidth the spam uses and gains nothing. On the other hand, when M$ sends its own spam they get to promote whatever the spam is selling and (excluding MSN and Hotmail accounts) other people pay for the bandwidth, so it costs them almost nothing.
M$ would love it if they could send spam but no one else could
Can a downloaded file be played on multiple computers (e.g. can a file be moved from the users desktop to his/her laptop?) or put on a portable MP3 player?
Also if a user loses their songs (disk crash,new computer, etc) is there anyway to replace them or will they have to pay/use download quota to get the same songs again?
Will download music still be playable after user quits the music service (or AOL)?
It is quite likley that the record labels/RIAA are offering and endorsing services like this that are almost certian fail in order to allow them to go to congress and say "we offered legal, online music distribution and no one signed up for it because of Kazaa so we need mandatory DRM legislation."
Yeah this is some busniess plan: 1. Take a service that has already been offered to the internet at large and failed (i.e. Pressplay and other RIAA endorsed music services that have limited libraries, restricted formats and limits on cd buring) 2. Limit the potential user base from anyone on the net (including AOL users) to only AOL users 3. Raise the price I'm sure this is going to work.
If anyone is particularly interested in SecurID there was a very informative article about the system in 2600 last year (I forget which issue)
Just remember, when you download a mp3 your ripping off the artist and everyone knows that's the record label's job
Even if terrorists were using ebay to communicate (which strikes me as unlikley but possible) what are the chances that, in a stituation like you example, the police would find the particular auction the terrorists were using, figure out it was code and than request the information. Also why do you think a terrorist using ebay for communication would register with accurate contact information.
1. Breaking into someones house is a crime even if nothing is stolen or damaged (breaking and entering)
2. There is no way to tell is network traffic is legal or not without monitoring it first. While there is no way a person can legally enter your house without premission there are many ways to generate network traffic (even P2P traffic) without breaking the law or AUP.
A better analogy would be putting a surveillance camera on your porch that records everyone walking by. (I don't know if doing this would be legal or not)
Also, in general, universities strive to protect the intelecual freedom and privacy of their students and faculty (although U Wyoming seems to be an exception). For example the univeristy I attend (UMD) includes the following language in their AUP (which can be found in it's entierty at http://www.inform.umd.edu/aug/:
"To the extent possible in the electronic environment and in a public setting, a user's privacy will be preserved. Nevertheless, that privacy is subject to the Maryland Access to Public Records Act, other applicable state and federal laws, and the needs of the University to meet its administrative, business, and legal obligations."
While this language is admitadly quite weak it is better than nothing and would prevent monitoring of this kind unless it is determined that ISPs are liable for copyright infringment commeted by their users.
Normally I am 100% against any form of censorship. However this is very different from laws such as CDA and COPA for 2 reassons 1. what constitues child porn is clearly defined and 2. possesion of such material is already illegal (as opossed to "normal" porn which adults can legally have and distribute). W hile I think we can all agree that eliminating child porn from the internet (and world in general) would be a good thing my concern is are isps only responseable for blocking the 425 sites the attorney general found (which would be a ressonable order) or are they expected to block all child porn which would likley be impossible
Labeling is important (even if it does cost tax payer money) because a person is more likley to not buy a DRMed product because they saw the label then they are to go to the trouble of returing one theyu bought without knowing it was copy-crippled
The difference is that the Tipper Gore wanted things labelled based on something that is not clearly definded (i.e. what is offensive or innapropriate for children) whereas does this cd have copy-protection is a clear cut technilogical question. In addition it is generally accepted that the ultimate goal of Tipper's group was to force retailers to refuse to sell music marked objectionable to minors whereas copy-prevention labeling would be strictly for the purpose of informing potentional buyers, what they can or can't do with a cd (without cracking the protection, of course).