I am thinking along the same lines. I think there is something to be said about the fact that it was publicized in advance, and more people "saw it coming."
Of course, I don't think users who have had their files dumped have necessarily become aware of the issue yet, or as you say, maybe they haven't wanted to admit it.
If, indeed, she doesn't use a computer, then she should be safe from the lawsuit. If she has a relative/friend that is using a computer on her internet connectiton that did indeed deal with lots of music sharing, then she's going to have some issues.
Seriously, the way that the industry's lawsuits are going, they're going to sue themselves out of business. Public relations nightmares like this are bad news for the white-hat artists, labels, and outfits. NOISE(like this lawsuit) gets in the way of providing MUSIC for FANS and keeping artists CREATIVE and focused on the FANS.
I have strong opinions about the rights of creative people's productions, but I have even stronger opinions about mis-guided, money-focused individuals who do not place appropriate value on the FANS and the CREATIVE process.
[operator_voice]We're sorry, the music fans you have reached are no longer in service or are no longer interested. Please make a note of it.[/operator_voice]
Here in North Carolina, we work in a "work at will" state. This means that you can quit or be fired without ANY reason, other than reasons covered by discrimination precedence.
It is a tragedy to lose one's job, no doubt. I would wish joblessness on no-one. However, one must always converse about one's product in a very careful way - always think of oneself as a public representative of the company. It is generally best to preserve the interests of one's company. Comments made on the internet are nearly intractable, and will generally find their way to unexpected places.
The Shuffle was and still is a great idea. It is an extremely well made product that isn't really a lot more expensive than a plain USB memory stick (relative, folks). Both my kids love their shuffles because they're lightweight, unobtrusive, and they get to load up a day's worth of tunes at one shot (they've got 1GB Shuffles).
I really enjoy my Nano, and my wife enjoys here Mini, but to be truthful, the Shuffle is more "handy."
When I'm not a mild-mannered software engineer, I compose and record music. Should I sue myself if I have hearing loss from listening to my music? Should I sue Line 6, Fender, Gibson, and a host of others for making "loud" devices? I think not.
There's a thing called a volume control. When used in moderation, volume is cool.
These lawsuits shouldn't even be picked up by the lawyers in the first place.
I really enjoyed the Unreal Tournament games from my home computers for a time. I enjoyed that it was free, and that there were always folks willing and able to frag me repeatedly as I tried in vain to respawn. It was fun - I wouldn't have paid for it, though.
I have evolved my gaming to going back to platform games and driving games. I enjoy getting fragged by my children (in Halo or whatever) much more than paying lots of money for an adaptor and subscription fees. My kids (the Cubz) are much more fun with which to interact than someone who spends 10+ hours a day gaming alone in their room.
Sorry, I didn't mean that to be cynical. On the contrary - I'm trying to say that online gaming isn't for me.
It is interesting that Microsoft has reignited this application at all. Microsoft crushed many browsers via bundled ubiquity, then pretty much stopped innovating or working it in a meaningful way.
Sincerely, I wish they would make it standards-compliant: there is a lot of wasted brain-work going on out there to constantly program-around-and-compensate-for weak implementations of important standards.
I think I'm sticking with Firefox and SeaMonkey on my Win32 machines.
Like:
*Willing to get video out on the 'net
*Dubbed for the folks who speak German
*Trying to do something technologically interesting
Don't like:
*Trying to do something technologically interesting (without understanding what they're really doing, it appears...)
*Not using their own resources for ALL distribution
*DRMing the content
*Not a price break over buying the physical DVD
*Ketchup on ice cream
This particular lawsuit (and the :-) applic.)
on
RIM - The Whole Story
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
It really does make my blood boil when one company holds the other up for ransom.
...problem is, sometimes these lawsuits are for good reasons and protect serious investments and thousands of employees.
It almost seems like this particular lawsuit is really loopy - a company that doesn't produce, doesn't intend to produce, and has no-one employed but lawyer types - sues a company that's independently thought up the stuff and made it happen.
The human cost is what scares me. We need lawsuits sometimes, but why do we need lawsuits that are just a means of taking money away from a successful entity?
I felt so strongly about this that I wrote and recorded a tune called "Patent Trolls Got No Souls."...just had to get the angst out of my system...
Tough crowd, tough crowd...
on
IT Crowd On-line
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
It wasn't that bad. If one looks at it as humor, and not with an ultra-critical eye, it is pretty funny (if a little overacted).
There has been so much interest, news, and noise about this lately. I'm personally glad that the world is examining whether or not music transferred (against the wishes of the music owners) is a problem. I'm glad folks express their opinions on this subject. However, it surprises me just how many people complain about the "music industry", but don't seem to mind not paying for their music.
Hard to see, the dark side is... but people have to make a living somehow, and creative people are no different. If someone spends time to create, write, and distribute software that is sold, why is that so different than someone who spends time to create, perform, record, and distribute music?
I'm extremely glad to see Netwerk stand up for their opinions against the RIAA. I believe that the RIAA is mis-focused, but I also believe that the RIAA's inability to get a grip on the current evolution of the music industry is not an excuse for taking music for which one hasn't paid.
If one wishes to get free music, there's a great way to do it: Lend a hand to a local band, do some tech work, spread the word about the good ones - point to a place where the band can sell their stuff to make some cash, be a fan and an advocate. Often, bands love to get technical or promotional help and would gladly throw someone a free disk or some free downloads.
Keep you chin up! At least you've seen that the job is sucking the life out of you. This is a good thing. Network with other people as much as you can, even if it is only a minute or two every day.
Keep paying the bills and remind yourself that you've only got "up" to go in your job satisfaction. Every day, send out a resume, talk to someone at another company.
A little each day! I wish the best of luck to you.
Tiny companies (with whom I've worked) generally take their backup tapes to the bank each day and rotate them in and out of their safety deposit boxes. Although this still exposes the tapes to being stolen from the employee, it is still better than no backups.
But a company that has 1/3 million patient records should be well beyond letting someone "take the data home" for a DRP.
It worries me that these could become extinct. It would be a true shame if such a miracle were to perish permanently. The world is a continually interesting place.
[must-resist-small-fish-jokes][must-resist-small-f ish-jokes]
What the heck: Now [your brand of fast food restaurant] can cut costs by making their fish sandwiches with even less content!
I know the subject seems a bit obtuse, but I'm serious.
If a company wants a job done well, but doesn't want to pay for an established and experienced person, the company should generally expect you to: ....Learn on your own time to enhance and sharpen your knowledge/skills; ....Be interested enough to read materials on your own time (materials that will help you or keep you acclimated to the ever-changing world in which we work) ....Learn on company time by using time-honored tools like trial-and-error, experimentation, searching knowledge base articles, and reading books
The gist of what I am saying is that it takes both personal time and job time to make a honed, skilled employee (probably more in IT, but I could be wrong).
I personally find my job more satisfying (and enriching to my family) if I apply myself on and off the job.
My family is number one in my life, but part of taking care of my family (as the sole provider in my house) is being viable, interested, and successful at work.
I don't actually have a law degree on this particular subject (and I don't play a lawyer/expert on T.V.).
However, IMHO, selling MP3 players with the added feature of loads of tunes/movies as a means of upping the price for the product seems as though it isn't really a legal application of the music user's rights.
In addition, is selling an MP3 player loaded with music is perhaps identical to selling hard drives, generic video tapes, audio tapes, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs with music/movies already on them? Why would selling a loaded MP3 player (much like a storage device) be any different than selling storage devices loaded with music/videos?
I'm not sure that this is the same thing exactly as transferring one's RTU of software. In theory, one can sell one's software (if the EULA allows it), provided that no copies will be retained by the seller, and that all materials, copies, and license are transferred to the purchaser. Are we saying that if we sell an MP3 player loaded up with goodies, that we will then delete all other copies of soft-copy-purchased media? Do we also give the purchaser all hard-copies (perhaps original CDs, tapes, etc.) of the media?
Whether or not one likes (the RIAA/MPAA, intellectual property, patents, or other creation protections/protectors), isn't selling MP3 players loaded with content effectively giving away "copies?"
Like I said, I don't have a law degree with this... just expressing opinions...
If the key execs are basically forgoing salary, that's fine. Despite the fact that they've been monstrously profitable via stock and other incentives, I personally think it is commendable that they don't have massive executive officer salaries as well.
If the corporate officers of a company have been instrumental in making their company profitable/valuable, I think it is important that they are well-compensated.
However, it is important for the company to remember the people who have really made it actually work where the rubber meets the road (marketing, development, sales, support, IT, and all the folks in between).
I can see from my teenage children's attitude that they see music downloading differently now than a couple of years ago. My kids and their friends don't think twice about buying music through iTunes (or whatever service their parents use).
Several things have caused this change in their behavior (that is, a change from "let's just get it from BearShare/etc. for free."): We've made a "music allowance" for the kids. We encourage them to try new music by way of a few bucks a month to blow on any tunes they want. Many of the kids who are friends of my children have parents that are doing the same thing. Another possible cause is that my children and their friends also see me working very hard for many days to create and record a piece of music - and they can see that downloading music from non-sanctioned sites/mechanisms acutally affects *real* people, people who aren't zillionaires...
Another thing that is boosting "online" music sales is supply and demand. There aren't ANY stores in our area that have more than a rack or two of CDs. You can't just go the record store or the discount store and get a wide variety of choice in our area anymore... The only way (again, in our area) to shop music variety is with music services on the Internet.
Without belaboring the need for physical US cent coins... That's a different discussion...
However, remember that US cents are now primarily zinc, with a thin copper-plate coating. The amount of copper used for these "throw-away", "low-value" coins is significantly less than it was in 1984 (when cents were converted to primary zinc content).
With that said... It would be a very good idea for the world (especially the US) to be better about recycling in general, and for common civic recycling systems to begin dealing with copper.
Pragmatically, highly skilled AND communicative people generally are a benefit to companies and society alike. Whether or not they immigrated is irrelevant.
If a company wishes to replace skilled (and more expensive) folks with less expensive and less-skilled folks, said company has the right to shoot itself in its corporate foot if it wishes. Again, whether or not the hiree is an immigrant is irrelevant.
Immigrated IT workers do not equate to less-qualified or less-excellent workers. Folks are skilled and effective, or they are not - irregardless of their nationality or immigration/emigration status.
On the human side, it is natural for local workers to worry about being replaced by less-expensive and/or less experienced workers. Wanting to protect one's job is natural and reasonable. However, pointing fingers at anyone other than the collective mind (of themselves and their company) is counter-productive. It is a cooperative situation that is best resolved by: working hard; expressing interest in improving (and an interest in being a part of) the hiring process; and ceasing the entitlement frame of mind.
Help the company do better - it will help you most of the time. If it does not, you are better off working with a different company.
I think it is great that folks think like this. Innovation comes from places that aren't often trod. If you think about it, this type of non-mainstream thinking gave us Lexan(tm) and Post-It(tm) notes.
"Everything is musical if you give it a chance(tm)."
Slashdot Mirror
I am thinking along the same lines. I think there is something to be said about the fact that it was publicized in advance, and more people "saw it coming."
Of course, I don't think users who have had their files dumped have necessarily become aware of the issue yet, or as you say, maybe they haven't wanted to admit it.
Spelling... eye dough kneed dispel chequer...
If, indeed, she doesn't use a computer, then she should be safe from the lawsuit. If she has a relative/friend that is using a computer on her internet connectiton that did indeed deal with lots of music sharing, then she's going to have some issues.
Seriously, the way that the industry's lawsuits are going, they're going to sue themselves out of business. Public relations nightmares like this are bad news for the white-hat artists, labels, and outfits. NOISE(like this lawsuit) gets in the way of providing MUSIC for FANS and keeping artists CREATIVE and focused on the FANS.
I have strong opinions about the rights of creative people's productions, but I have even stronger opinions about mis-guided, money-focused individuals who do not place appropriate value on the FANS and the CREATIVE process.
[operator_voice]We're sorry, the music fans you have reached are no longer in service or are no longer interested. Please make a note of it.[/operator_voice]
Here in North Carolina, we work in a "work at will" state. This means that you can quit or be fired without ANY reason, other than reasons covered by discrimination precedence.
It is a tragedy to lose one's job, no doubt. I would wish joblessness on no-one. However, one must always converse about one's product in a very careful way - always think of oneself as a public representative of the company. It is generally best to preserve the interests of one's company. Comments made on the internet are nearly intractable, and will generally find their way to unexpected places.
The Shuffle was and still is a great idea. It is an extremely well made product that isn't really a lot more expensive than a plain USB memory stick (relative, folks). Both my kids love their shuffles because they're lightweight, unobtrusive, and they get to load up a day's worth of tunes at one shot (they've got 1GB Shuffles).
I really enjoy my Nano, and my wife enjoys here Mini, but to be truthful, the Shuffle is more "handy."
When I'm not a mild-mannered software engineer, I compose and record music. Should I sue myself if I have hearing loss from listening to my music? Should I sue Line 6, Fender, Gibson, and a host of others for making "loud" devices? I think not.
There's a thing called a volume control. When used in moderation, volume is cool.
These lawsuits shouldn't even be picked up by the lawyers in the first place.
I was promised a flying car, dangit!
It is a good thing, however that not all predictions come true.
I really enjoyed the Unreal Tournament games from my home computers for a time. I enjoyed that it was free, and that there were always folks willing and able to frag me repeatedly as I tried in vain to respawn. It was fun - I wouldn't have paid for it, though.
I have evolved my gaming to going back to platform games and driving games. I enjoy getting fragged by my children (in Halo or whatever) much more than paying lots of money for an adaptor and subscription fees. My kids (the Cubz) are much more fun with which to interact than someone who spends 10+ hours a day gaming alone in their room.
Sorry, I didn't mean that to be cynical. On the contrary - I'm trying to say that online gaming isn't for me.
The folks that work/have worked on this rock! I appreciate their efforts tremendously and am using it as my secondary browser full-time.
Paraphrasing Dori from Finding Nemo, "The SeaMonkey took my money, but they gave me an internet suite."
It is interesting that Microsoft has reignited this application at all. Microsoft crushed many browsers via bundled ubiquity, then pretty much stopped innovating or working it in a meaningful way.
Sincerely, I wish they would make it standards-compliant: there is a lot of wasted brain-work going on out there to constantly program-around-and-compensate-for weak implementations of important standards.
I think I'm sticking with Firefox and SeaMonkey on my Win32 machines.
Like:
*Willing to get video out on the 'net
*Dubbed for the folks who speak German
*Trying to do something technologically interesting
Don't like:
*Trying to do something technologically interesting (without understanding what they're really doing, it appears...)
*Not using their own resources for ALL distribution
*DRMing the content
*Not a price break over buying the physical DVD
*Ketchup on ice cream
It really does make my blood boil when one company holds the other up for ransom.
...problem is, sometimes these lawsuits are for good reasons and protect serious investments and thousands of employees.
...just had to get the angst out of my system...
It almost seems like this particular lawsuit is really loopy - a company that doesn't produce, doesn't intend to produce, and has no-one employed but lawyer types - sues a company that's independently thought up the stuff and made it happen.
The human cost is what scares me. We need lawsuits sometimes, but why do we need lawsuits that are just a means of taking money away from a successful entity?
I felt so strongly about this that I wrote and recorded a tune called "Patent Trolls Got No Souls."
It wasn't that bad. If one looks at it as humor, and not with an ultra-critical eye, it is pretty funny (if a little overacted).
Wow! Well-said!
There has been so much interest, news, and noise about this lately. I'm personally glad that the world is examining whether or not music transferred (against the wishes of the music owners) is a problem. I'm glad folks express their opinions on this subject. However, it surprises me just how many people complain about the "music industry", but don't seem to mind not paying for their music.
Hard to see, the dark side is... but people have to make a living somehow, and creative people are no different. If someone spends time to create, write, and distribute software that is sold, why is that so different than someone who spends time to create, perform, record, and distribute music?
Thank you for your opinion. Well put...
I'm extremely glad to see Netwerk stand up for their opinions against the RIAA. I believe that the RIAA is mis-focused, but I also believe that the RIAA's inability to get a grip on the current evolution of the music industry is not an excuse for taking music for which one hasn't paid.
If one wishes to get free music, there's a great way to do it: Lend a hand to a local band, do some tech work, spread the word about the good ones - point to a place where the band can sell their stuff to make some cash, be a fan and an advocate. Often, bands love to get technical or promotional help and would gladly throw someone a free disk or some free downloads.
Keep you chin up! At least you've seen that the job is sucking the life out of you. This is a good thing. Network with other people as much as you can, even if it is only a minute or two every day.
Keep paying the bills and remind yourself that you've only got "up" to go in your job satisfaction. Every day, send out a resume, talk to someone at another company.
A little each day! I wish the best of luck to you.
Tiny companies (with whom I've worked) generally take their backup tapes to the bank each day and rotate them in and out of their safety deposit boxes. Although this still exposes the tapes to being stolen from the employee, it is still better than no backups.
But a company that has 1/3 million patient records should be well beyond letting someone "take the data home" for a DRP.
A fireproof safe is far better than a Pinto.
It worries me that these could become extinct. It would be a true shame if such a miracle were to perish permanently. The world is a continually interesting place.
f ish-jokes]
[must-resist-small-fish-jokes][must-resist-small-
What the heck: Now [your brand of fast food restaurant] can cut costs by making their fish sandwiches with even less content!
I know the subject seems a bit obtuse, but I'm serious.
....Learn on your own time to enhance and sharpen your knowledge/skills;
....Be interested enough to read materials on your own time (materials that will help you or keep you acclimated to the ever-changing world in which we work)
....Learn on company time by using time-honored tools like trial-and-error, experimentation, searching knowledge base articles, and reading books
If a company wants a job done well, but doesn't want to pay for an established and experienced person, the company should generally expect you to:
The gist of what I am saying is that it takes both personal time and job time to make a honed, skilled employee (probably more in IT, but I could be wrong).
I personally find my job more satisfying (and enriching to my family) if I apply myself on and off the job.
My family is number one in my life, but part of taking care of my family (as the sole provider in my house) is being viable, interested, and successful at work.
I don't actually have a law degree on this particular subject (and I don't play a lawyer/expert on T.V.).
However, IMHO, selling MP3 players with the added feature of loads of tunes/movies as a means of upping the price for the product seems as though it isn't really a legal application of the music user's rights.
In addition, is selling an MP3 player loaded with music is perhaps identical to selling hard drives, generic video tapes, audio tapes, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs with music/movies already on them? Why would selling a loaded MP3 player (much like a storage device) be any different than selling storage devices loaded with music/videos?
I'm not sure that this is the same thing exactly as transferring one's RTU of software. In theory, one can sell one's software (if the EULA allows it), provided that no copies will be retained by the seller, and that all materials, copies, and license are transferred to the purchaser. Are we saying that if we sell an MP3 player loaded up with goodies, that we will then delete all other copies of soft-copy-purchased media? Do we also give the purchaser all hard-copies (perhaps original CDs, tapes, etc.) of the media?
Whether or not one likes (the RIAA/MPAA, intellectual property, patents, or other creation protections/protectors), isn't selling MP3 players loaded with content effectively giving away "copies?"
Like I said, I don't have a law degree with this... just expressing opinions...
If the key execs are basically forgoing salary, that's fine. Despite the fact that they've been monstrously profitable via stock and other incentives, I personally think it is commendable that they don't have massive executive officer salaries as well.
If the corporate officers of a company have been instrumental in making their company profitable/valuable, I think it is important that they are well-compensated.
However, it is important for the company to remember the people who have really made it actually work where the rubber meets the road (marketing, development, sales, support, IT, and all the folks in between).
I can see from my teenage children's attitude that they see music downloading differently now than a couple of years ago. My kids and their friends don't think twice about buying music through iTunes (or whatever service their parents use).
Several things have caused this change in their behavior (that is, a change from "let's just get it from BearShare/etc. for free."): We've made a "music allowance" for the kids. We encourage them to try new music by way of a few bucks a month to blow on any tunes they want. Many of the kids who are friends of my children have parents that are doing the same thing.
Another possible cause is that my children and their friends also see me working very hard for many days to create and record a piece of music - and they can see that downloading music from non-sanctioned sites/mechanisms acutally affects *real* people, people who aren't zillionaires...
Another thing that is boosting "online" music sales is supply and demand. There aren't ANY stores in our area that have more than a rack or two of CDs. You can't just go the record store or the discount store and get a wide variety of choice in our area anymore... The only way (again, in our area) to shop music variety is with music services on the Internet.
Without belaboring the need for physical US cent coins... That's a different discussion...
However, remember that US cents are now primarily zinc, with a thin copper-plate coating. The amount of copper used for these "throw-away", "low-value" coins is significantly less than it was in 1984 (when cents were converted to primary zinc content).
With that said... It would be a very good idea for the world (especially the US) to be better about recycling in general, and for common civic recycling systems to begin dealing with copper.
(: soapbox start :)
:)
Pragmatically, highly skilled AND communicative people generally are a benefit to companies and society alike. Whether or not they immigrated is irrelevant.
If a company wishes to replace skilled (and more expensive) folks with less expensive and less-skilled folks, said company has the right to shoot itself in its corporate foot if it wishes. Again, whether or not the hiree is an immigrant is irrelevant.
Immigrated IT workers do not equate to less-qualified or less-excellent workers. Folks are skilled and effective, or they are not - irregardless of their nationality or immigration/emigration status.
On the human side, it is natural for local workers to worry about being replaced by less-expensive and/or less experienced workers. Wanting to protect one's job is natural and reasonable. However, pointing fingers at anyone other than the collective mind (of themselves and their company) is counter-productive. It is a cooperative situation that is best resolved by: working hard; expressing interest in improving (and an interest in being a part of) the hiring process; and ceasing the entitlement frame of mind.
Help the company do better - it will help you most of the time. If it does not, you are better off working with a different company.
(: soapbox end
I think it is great that folks think like this. Innovation comes from places that aren't often trod. If you think about it, this type of non-mainstream thinking gave us Lexan(tm) and Post-It(tm) notes.
"Everything is musical if you give it a chance(tm)."