The problem with this system is that it opens people who already aren't that skilled at running a computer to a new kind of attack. Imagine someone spoofing your IP and broadcasting worm packets, running up your fines.
ISPs probably would have too much volume to deal with to investigate every packet, so it becomes easier to pay the fine than fight the system.
This is an excellent opportunity for the RIAA to leverage a private currency. They could control the cost per unit in US$, and actually charge sub 1 cent prices for certain independant artists, to encourage sales.
There was a good bit on Kuro5hin about this a little while back.
No, I agree with you - the iTunes model is an excellent option. The trick is users only want the songs they like, and are willing to pay a respectible amount per song.
The paradigm shift I was referring to was the way they control the market - by promoting a few albums from a popular artist with one or two songs I want to hear and eight tracks of crap, to offering a broader range of artists good material. The option today is either pay $20 for a bunch of tripe I don't want to hear, or get it from Kazaa. There's a happy medium here that the RIAA members are almost ignoring.
There's still pay-for-airplay, concert tickets, and even albums to make money from, but there's a huge untapped market that only Apple is taking advantage of.
If they'd put the efforts they've expended in filing lawsuits and tracking down file-sharers into developing effect cross-licensing, and a good online distribution system, everyone would be in a better place today - the file-sharers, the artists, and even the RIAA themselves.
A lot of people used Napster, before it was shut down. There was sentiment against file swapping for a short while, but then Kazaa, Morpheus, and others stepped in, and file swapping increased.
After the RIAA sues a few thousand people, and the tide turns against swapping, it will slow again.
But the fact of the matter is that the RIAA members need to come up with a new business model. File sharing will always be around in some fashion, and the technology will just get more and more complex - making it easier to do truely anonymous swapping.
It's been said a million times on here already - the RIAA is just like SCO - they need to adopt a new business model if they're going to survive. Litigation alone won't support them forever.
At 5 wpm, the code test isn't that hard to cram for. I learned enough to pass the test, and I'll never use it again. Not that I'm opposed to CW, but I'm just more interested in voice operations.
That said, I support having the 5 wpm test to get a General license or above. If nothing else, it reflects a committment to radio communications.
N4JCK President, Charlotte Amateur Radio Club
North Carolina ARRL Affiliated Club Coordinator
For my money, I don't know if it gets any better than the IBM Linux ads that Avery Brooks did... particularly memorable was the ad that went something like "In the early ninties, a Finnish college student named Linus Torvalds develops a new operating system, and then he does something remarkable - he gives it away."
That and "Where the flying cars? I was promised flying cars!"
RedHat already implements this concept fairly well with their BlueCurve interface. Relatively standard look and feel whether you use KDE or Gnome. Coupled with the easy RedHat install, it could easily be the distro to target the unwashed masses.
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The problem with this system is that it opens people who already aren't that skilled at running a computer to a new kind of attack. Imagine someone spoofing your IP and broadcasting worm packets, running up your fines.
ISPs probably would have too much volume to deal with to investigate every packet, so it becomes easier to pay the fine than fight the system.
There's got to be a better solution than this.
This is an excellent opportunity for the RIAA to leverage a private currency. They could control the cost per unit in US$, and actually charge sub 1 cent prices for certain independant artists, to encourage sales.
There was a good bit on Kuro5hin about this a little while back.
No, I agree with you - the iTunes model is an excellent option. The trick is users only want the songs they like, and are willing to pay a respectible amount per song.
The paradigm shift I was referring to was the way they control the market - by promoting a few albums from a popular artist with one or two songs I want to hear and eight tracks of crap, to offering a broader range of artists good material. The option today is either pay $20 for a bunch of tripe I don't want to hear, or get it from Kazaa. There's a happy medium here that the RIAA members are almost ignoring.
There's still pay-for-airplay, concert tickets, and even albums to make money from, but there's a huge untapped market that only Apple is taking advantage of.
If they'd put the efforts they've expended in filing lawsuits and tracking down file-sharers into developing effect cross-licensing, and a good online distribution system, everyone would be in a better place today - the file-sharers, the artists, and even the RIAA themselves.
A lot of people used Napster, before it was shut down. There was sentiment against file swapping for a short while, but then Kazaa, Morpheus, and others stepped in, and file swapping increased.
After the RIAA sues a few thousand people, and the tide turns against swapping, it will slow again.
But the fact of the matter is that the RIAA members need to come up with a new business model. File sharing will always be around in some fashion, and the technology will just get more and more complex - making it easier to do truely anonymous swapping.
It's been said a million times on here already - the RIAA is just like SCO - they need to adopt a new business model if they're going to survive. Litigation alone won't support them forever.
At 5 wpm, the code test isn't that hard to cram for. I learned enough to pass the test, and I'll never use it again. Not that I'm opposed to CW, but I'm just more interested in voice operations.
That said, I support having the 5 wpm test to get a General license or above. If nothing else, it reflects a committment to radio communications.
N4JCK
President, Charlotte Amateur Radio Club
North Carolina ARRL Affiliated Club Coordinator
For my money, I don't know if it gets any better than the IBM Linux ads that Avery Brooks did... particularly memorable was the ad that went something like "In the early ninties, a Finnish college student named Linus Torvalds develops a new operating system, and then he does something remarkable - he gives it away."
That and "Where the flying cars? I was promised flying cars!"
RedHat already implements this concept fairly well with their BlueCurve interface. Relatively standard look and feel whether you use KDE or Gnome. Coupled with the easy RedHat install, it could easily be the distro to target the unwashed masses.
Me, personally, I'm a Gentoo man.