I just read on your website where the EFF has agreed to settle with Sony BMG. What a pathetic settlement that does nothing to assist consumers with the costs of removing the rootkit software and in addition, fails to act as any sort of a deterrent to Sony BMG. Way to knuckle under for the little guy. Unhappy in California
Hi ,
I'm sorry you feel that way and there may be nothing I can do to convince you otherwise, since I understand some people want Sony BMG's head on a pike and nothing less will do. I don't necessarily disagree, but the law limits what we can get in the context of a class action settlement. But I hope you'll at least give me a hearing.
First, you understand that the settlement *preserves* the claims of folks who have hardware damage due to the rootkit, right? They can still sue to get more and we're happy to help. The scope of the settlement is for a different harm -- the harm of merely having bought these bad CDs.
The main reason that we didn't settle those claims is that we haven't had enough people come forward with proof that the CDs harmed their computers to constitute a sufficient number for a class action. Class actions require "numerousity" and "uniformity" of claims. If you know of such people, please send them our way. They can bring small claims actions. If we do discover enough folks with a common pattern of harm, we will consider another class action.
Second, as for whether this will serve as a deterrent to Sony in the future, I guess we'll see in time. Even if we had taken the case all the way through to a trial and been completely successful, a court would not be able to order Sony to cease using all DRM under current law. So as much as I'd like to see Sony do that, this case alone was never going to accomplish that goal.
Right now they have stopped pressing *any* CDs with DRM on them, agreed to independent review of any future DRM (with a report to the lawyers involved in the case), and agreed to allow non-DRM/non-EULA versions of all of the music that was affected by the bad DRM. The cash cost of the settlement is hard to value but Sony says that the value of album downloads are $10 per album. If the 5 million people affected by MediaMax get a free album download that's a cost of $50 million to Sony. That's before the $7.50 per album for the 3 million XCP users and the extra downloads that they get, or the replacement music for the MediaMax 3 users.
While the settlement terms are the product of negotiation and so aren't perfect, I do think we got a good deal in the settlement for purchasers of the CDs. Believe me it was hard fought and there is much in there now that Sony started out by flatly rejecting. I certainly understand if you disagree and want to try for more on your own. You absolutely have the right to opt-out of the settlement and bring your own action. I'd be very curious to hear how that goes if you choose to do it.
Most important for us was: 1. stop production of any more CDs with the dangerous DRM on it. 2. get people non-DRM'd/non-EULA'd versions of their music (this was strongly resisted by Sony) 3. do it quickly 4. get people some free music (or in the case of XCP, money) for their trouble.
There's much more in the settlement than that, of course, but for the purchasers these were the core goals. Again, I appreciate your feedback. - Show quoted text - On wrote:
----.org
---- www.eff.org Electronic Frontier Foundation 454 Shotwell Street San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 436-9333 x
by thrill12 (711899) * Alter Relationship on Wednesday October 05, @03:28PM (#13725653)... (no pun intended). What in earth can make scientists behave so irresponsible. They eliminated smallpox [who.int] from almost all laboratories a few years ago to make sure it could never be used again. ---- Some think that smallpox is not gone... Although WHO subsequently allowed the United States and the Soviet Union to retain samples of variola,2 the etiological agent of smallpox, the disease began fading from the memories of most Americans.
It seems to me, that the more jobs that we have here in the USA (apologies to those readers that are not in the USA), that the more tax dollars the goverment will take in in order to fund the ever increasing beast called the Federal goverment.
Alan Greenspan said the following today:
"Early initiatives to address the economic effects of baby-boom retirements could smooth the transition to a new balance between workers and retirees. As a nation, we owe it to our retirees to promise only the benefits that can be delivered.
If we have promised more than our economy has the ability to deliver to retirees without unduly diminishing real income gains of workers, as I fear we may have, we must recalibrate our public programs so that pending retirees have time to adjust through other channels. If we delay, the adjustments could be abrupt and painful.
Because curbing benefits once bestowed has proved so difficult in the past, fiscal policymakers must be especially vigilant to create new benefits only when their sustainability under the most adverse projections is virtually ensured."
"Although domestic investment has accounted for only half our recent productivity gains, its contribution has historically been much larger. Should the pace of efficiency gains slow, it would fall to the level of investment to again become the major contributor to productivity gains. Investment, however, cannot occur without saving. But maintaining even a lower rate of capital investment growth will likely require an increased rate of domestic saving because it is difficult to imagine that we can continue indefinitely to borrow saving from abroad at a rate equivalent to 5 percent of U.S. gross domestic product."
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder how the committee voted on this.
Would it be so hard for the reporter to include that in the story?
The official site of the committee hides their voting record on matters like this very well.
I couldn't find it... Would it be that hard to have a quick link on the main page?
http://energycommerce.house.gov/
Business as usual within the beltway.
Greetings,
.org
I just read on your website where the EFF has agreed to settle with Sony BMG.
What a pathetic settlement that does nothing to assist consumers with the costs of removing the rootkit software and in addition, fails to act as any sort of a deterrent to Sony BMG.
Way to knuckle under for the little guy.
Unhappy in California
Hi ,
I'm sorry you feel that way and there may be nothing I can do to
convince you otherwise, since I understand some people want Sony
BMG's head on a pike and nothing less will do. I don't necessarily
disagree, but the law limits what we can get in the context of a
class action settlement. But I hope you'll at least give me a hearing.
First, you understand that the settlement *preserves* the claims of
folks who have hardware damage due to the rootkit, right? They can
still sue to get more and we're happy to help. The scope of the
settlement is for a different harm -- the harm of merely having
bought these bad CDs.
The main reason that we didn't settle those claims is that we haven't
had enough people come forward with proof that the CDs harmed their
computers to constitute a sufficient number for a class action. Class
actions require "numerousity" and "uniformity" of claims. If you
know of such people, please send them our way. They can bring small
claims actions. If we do discover enough folks with a common pattern
of harm, we will consider another class action.
Second, as for whether this will serve as a deterrent to Sony in the
future, I guess we'll see in time. Even if we had taken the case all
the way through to a trial and been completely successful, a court
would not be able to order Sony to cease using all DRM under current
law. So as much as I'd like to see Sony do that, this case alone was
never going to accomplish that goal.
Right now they have stopped pressing *any* CDs with DRM on them,
agreed to independent review of any future DRM (with a report to the
lawyers involved in the case), and agreed to allow non-DRM/non-EULA
versions of all of the music that was affected by the bad DRM. The
cash cost of the settlement is hard to value but Sony says that the
value of album downloads are $10 per album. If the 5 million people
affected by MediaMax get a free album download that's a cost of $50
million to Sony. That's before the $7.50 per album for the 3 million
XCP users and the extra downloads that they get, or the replacement
music for the MediaMax 3 users.
While the settlement terms are the product of negotiation and so
aren't perfect, I do think we got a good deal in the settlement for
purchasers of the CDs. Believe me it was hard fought and there is
much in there now that Sony started out by flatly rejecting. I
certainly understand if you disagree and want to try for more on your
own. You absolutely have the right to opt-out of the settlement and
bring your own action. I'd be very curious to hear how that goes if
you choose to do it.
Most important for us was:
1. stop production of any more CDs with the dangerous DRM on it.
2. get people non-DRM'd/non-EULA'd versions of their music (this was
strongly resisted by Sony)
3. do it quickly
4. get people some free music (or in the case of XCP, money) for
their trouble.
There's much more in the settlement than that, of course, but for the
purchasers these were the core goals.
Again, I appreciate your feedback.
- Show quoted text -
On wrote:
----
---- www.eff.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation
454 Shotwell Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 436-9333 x
Over time, no matter how much humans conserve, every obtainable drop of oil will be extracted and used.
gg eff, way to stand up to 'em!
not
Or you could boycott China by stop buying anything "Made in China".
But we won't do that, will we?
I quit CoH a few months ago after one too many nerfs. Their dev team pretty much does what they want to, damm the customers.
We'll see how long it takes their customer base to drop below their break even point.
(Speaking of my local paper here)
Such as:
Follow up stories on crimes that were reported locally, say a year or so ago, and nothing else is ever reported on the people that were charged.
An expose of how new and used car dealers screw over their customers. (Never happen due to ad revenue of course)
A handle with sensors doesn't make it intelligent
Nuke the RIAA
by thrill12 (711899) * Alter Relationship on Wednesday October 05, @03:28PM (#13725653) ... (no pun intended). What in earth can make scientists behave so irresponsible. They eliminated smallpox [who.int] from almost all laboratories a few years ago to make sure it could never be used again.
g ursky_smallpox.html
----
Some think that smallpox is not gone...
Although WHO subsequently allowed the United States and the Soviet Union to retain samples of variola,2 the etiological agent of smallpox, the disease began fading from the memories of most Americans.
Nearly a quarter century later, the disease has entered U.S. consciousness once again as intelligence suggests that other countries besides the two depositary nations have retained or obtained variola.
http://www.homelandsecurity.org/journal/Articles/
The RIAA invades private home computers? Since when is montoring net traffic an actual invasion of a home?
Next comes Planet of the Apes
And the winning IP addresses are?
Why are people still logging out and back into instances every few minutes?
It's not a birthday, it's a birth anniversary. Do you wish people "Happy Wedding Day" twenty years into their marriage?
Terrorists make way more money from Saudi donations and Africian diamond smuggling than this bullshit.
I nominate the guy that invented shirts for chicks that show off their belly's. Now THAT is worth an award.
How does time travel account for the fact that the earth moves again?
Beware the killer waves
Now that Congress is looking into it, I can sleep better at night!
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/
TinyURL is a good thing: http://tinyurl.com/
It seems to me, that the more jobs that we have here in the USA (apologies to those readers that are not in the USA), that the more tax dollars the goverment will take in in order to fund the ever increasing beast called the Federal goverment.
2 004/20040827/default.htm/
Alan Greenspan said the following today:
"Early initiatives to address the economic effects of baby-boom retirements could smooth the transition to a new balance between workers and retirees. As a nation, we owe it to our retirees to promise only the benefits that can be delivered.
If we have promised more than our economy has the ability to deliver to retirees without unduly diminishing real income gains of workers, as I fear we may have, we must recalibrate our public programs so that pending retirees have time to adjust through other channels. If we delay, the adjustments could be abrupt and painful.
Because curbing benefits once bestowed has proved so difficult in the past, fiscal policymakers must be especially vigilant to create new benefits only when their sustainability under the most adverse projections is virtually ensured."
"Although domestic investment has accounted for only half our recent productivity gains, its contribution has historically been much larger. Should the pace of efficiency gains slow, it would fall to the level of investment to again become the major contributor to productivity gains. Investment, however, cannot occur without saving. But maintaining even a lower rate of capital investment growth will likely require an increased rate of domestic saving because it is difficult to imagine that we can continue indefinitely to borrow saving from abroad at a rate equivalent to 5 percent of U.S. gross domestic product."
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/
If your whole life will be on one disc, backup becomes even more important!
Agreed, Innocent is not the same as being found Not Guilty in a court.