I always find it interesting how the RIAA and MPAA are able to pollute these networks.
The direct relation could be the Law Enforcement putting out fake drugs.
Both are attempting to reduce the criminality by providing a "fake". The goal is to pollute the network with so much junk that the behavior will cease to exist.
If law enforcement attempted this it would be a violation on so many levels. Why do we as a society allow this to occur.
I myself have never used one of these applications outside of research (I can hear the jokes already) but it plagues me that we allow the RIAA and MPAA to use these underhanded practices.
It is the same thing we do in copyright-infringement research (e.g. movie/music piracy, though I refuse to title my articles as such). Most of the research that is done by the BSA, American Life Project, and even the MPAA uses a prediction model that takes year Y, applies the growth prediction, and then evaluates the difference in year X.
The sad fact is that the difference in Year X becomes written off as piracy or copyright-infringement and not the less obvious issues of inflation and less consumer confidence. At a recent ACJS conference I pointed out a severe flaw in a colleagues research that noted that the increase in movie-piracy (hate the term) is a direct result of the increase in Broadband connections. The results of my research shows that yes a broadband connection facilitates the behavior. However, the behavior has to be reinforced and first introduced. In all the research I have done on the subject, less then 11% of subject reported that they purchased a broadband connection to commit copyright infringement.
An interesting fact for those that reported this was that 75% did so because of friends but about 15% did so because of the actual commercial that showed individuals downloading music and video. My current research project is looking at how commercial products and advertisements facilitate in a person engaging in copyright-infringement.
I currently use my laptop and softphone from Vonage quite frequently at the local coffee house that offers free wi-fi and have tried to use it at panera bread which offers free WI-FI. However, I have been able to get it to work rather infrequently at Panera. At the local coffee house I open up my laptop, load the softphone, and then attach my headset. The question people typically ask is why not use your cell-phone.
I can receive calls for free which would otherwise use my minutes, I can dial 1800 numbers which is what my university uses for its conference calls for free, and most importantly, it is the best way to have office hours when I am away from the university. I recently did my dissertation's first defense using the softphone and system to connect to all my committee members and did not have an issue. Recently, at a conference the second author of the work was unable to attend but had some new data that he wanted to present. I loaded the softphone and dialed into him and using the conference system called raindance and the conferences system, he was able to present the data without an issue.
I see the progression of Vonage being very useful for those of us that for work have seen our laptops becoming more important then the air we breathe.
One of the fastest growing fields is criminal justice. In my opinion take the software route and merge that with a criminal justice degree. There are so many avenues that you can explore with that background. For example, look at the new AFIS-APIS systems that are being developed, the command crisis planning software, or virtually any program that is or will be used within the criminal justice system.
If you decide to take this approach, realize that this means lots of work and lots of money. Count on making certificates a part of your education and not just continuing education. What that means is for every semester, you should be taking a certificate program to supplement your degree. I just finished a computer forensics certification and have several ASIS certifications. My point is simply, you have to distinguish yourself from the pack.
But take that with a grain of salt (I know this is going to come back on/.) but I have a M.S in Criminal Justice with an emphasis on cyber and computer crime (there is a difference) I wish I could tell you all the great things I have done with my degree, but to most they are downright boring. Currently, I am the chair of a criminal justice and cyber-security program and will finish my PhD....... (when I finally finish my model)
Let me put this into perspective. If I was to beat you with a pipe but do not cause serious long term issues, it would still be aggravated assault but would net me maybe 3-5 years in prison.
While I agree the damage to the copyright holder is more egregious, prison is not the answer. If you want to deter the behavior you take out the benefit. Fines work for this behavior. Remember the prison system can not hold the current criminals; all we are doing is creating laws to create new criminality that requires incarceration.
If and when we deduct portions of these individuals pay automatically, it will actually reduce the behavior. All of those people sued and who have paid are not engaging in the behavior. Of all the research I have conducted, reducing anonymity and having an actual punishment for engaging in the behavior works.
One research project I worked on involved sending letters to random college students regarding their "perceived" engagement in copyright infringement. We then monitored their internet usage. 66% of those students bandwidth usage was reduced by half.
Re:Free thought is a challenge to authority!
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EZTree Shuts Down
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Actually mens rea is becoming almost as important if not more important then Actus reus in the eyes of the court. Conspiracy to commit a crime will net you almost more punishment then actually committing the crime.
Thoughtcrime in action ladies and gentlemen.
I worked on a study determining what impact the TpB would have on an individual's ability to engage in copyright violations. In a small random sample, we had about 350 students. (Much more information then this, just citing some key points) When given the choice between a napster clone and a torrent website in a scenario comparing the two mediums. They preferred the torrent version (they liked being anonymous (as it was perceived). However, when given the requirement that they needed to register with a valid email address, phone number, and place of resident which would be verified less then 18% would use such a service.
Where did we get the "registration model" it has been proposed as a method to reduce the copyright infringement by the RIAA and MPAA to protect their interests. Goes back to the tried and true question many of my intro students point out. "If you have nothing to hide or done nothing wrong, why does it matter if they go and search your house?"
After several classes going over the importance of the 4th Amendment, I inevitably out of frustration come back to It Just Does for those that simply do not get the issue at hand.
It has become a very sad state of affairs when we assume that everyone is guilty and sadly when it comes to anything P2P or torrent related you are assumed guilty.
Education opens the doors to bigger and better things. It gets you in the doors and from there you build your experience. Anyone that is audacious enough to tell those young/.'s among us that are still in high school and just starting college that it is pointless are seriously setting a bad example. While it is true that many people have excelled in the industry without a college degree. Today's market demands those degrees, especially terminal degrees. The standard computer certificates mean very little in the industry.
Maybe because I spent six years on a M.S in criminology and security management, I am biased in the fact that an education does payoff.
I know that I would not be here with experience alone. I have dedicated my life to teaching others the trade and while I can spot security threats and analyze those threats in real-time and combat them accordingly with my experience, education provided me the tools necessary to accomplish those situations.
I use to due security consulting for a company. I tell you this if all I presented them was experience, I would not have worked for them. Having that "paper" eased the shareholders and executives and the experience was simply an added bonus.
So who would you rather higher?
JaneY has 10 years in network administration.
JaneX Has a M.S in ISS and 4 years of work experience in network administration.
All the companies I have worked for and the university which I teach would one-hundred percent go with JaneX
Its not like we are all sitting at are computers trying to be the first to post on a news story and forbid there be a error in the post.... or are we.....
Oh wait I am one of those sitting at my computer waiting to post.....
You forgot one thing. One of the activities that all students go through in First grade-third grade is creating a list of important numbers and posting it near the phone. This list contains, the police, fire department, ambulance, poison control, and other important numbers. These are the actual numbers not just ----911----. We also go as far to advise parents to place these numbers on speed dial.
Anyone remember when the 911 system was shut down in Louisana (Hacker related) and the people where in uproar cause they had to dial the 7 digits.
have we become so lazy..... Better stop before I get a -2 troll:)
People tend to forget there is an inherent social aspect to these games. People build friendships albeit those deemed "untraditional". In the old days of MMO's communication was reserved to the keyboard. Today we have synchronous communication with Voip systems that let entire guilds communicate in real-time with voices. If this does not elicit a connection then there is a problem. One of the key problems with this research is that it missed on this social interaction that does not produce an addicted phenomenon but rather a social connection.
People are connected in multiple ways over the internet and live communication is bridging the way that we communicate. I have interviewed several MMO players that use several communication methods, including video conferencing and their reason for playing is simply the friendships that they have built.
Is it addiction when you get together with friends and play? When people get together to watch football, play football, or talk about football do we call that an addiction? No.
Anyone bother to notice he is the EFF. This was not an issue over ID cards or the SECRET law or policy that they have. The issue at hand is getting focus back on the EFF and the issues that they are focusing on currently. They have been fighting National ID cards since 9/11
And in regards to ID cards. All online airline ticket services make it WELL known that you will have to have an ID card on you at check-in and to board the plane with an e-ticket. I know for a fact that the EFF uses one of those services and there are several notices regarding IDs and what qualifies as an acceptable ID.
In addition, I was able to travel to several key cities on an expired drivers licence. I was able to do so with a 5 min search before entering into the boarding area.
Anyone that thinks this is about a serious issue regarding your freedom is mistaken. This is an issue over creating more publicity. You do not have to have a valid ID card to fly. You will just be marked for additional searches.
What we all tend to forget is that Microsoft is losing lots of money. Anyone take a look at the numbers involving piracy of Microsoft's products. The numbers are outstanding. The tech elite and pirates among us make up only a small portion of that pirated media. Individuals who purchase a copy of windows, office, or any Microsoft product for 5 dollars or any amount that is well below the retail average know that it is illegal. This step ensures that those laymen among us that thought they where sticking it to the man, will indeed get stuck themselves.
No matter how much we have distain for Microsoft and its ILLEGAL business practices (Linux user here because of those practices), it does have a valid interest in protecting its products from piracy. If over 35% of your business and retail software was pirated wouldn't you take drastic steps to protect your interest?
I applaud all those that are able to reverse engineer the products, as it makes companies work harder to create better mechanisms of encryption. What I do not applaud is those that simply use the tools developed by "REAL" reverse engineers and call themselves crackers.
First post on Slashdot after many years reading the site. Hope it will not be my last:)
Slashdot Mirror
11111, 11112, 11113....... Its called the poormans hack.
I always find it interesting how the RIAA and MPAA are able to pollute these networks.
The direct relation could be the Law Enforcement putting out fake drugs.
Both are attempting to reduce the criminality by providing a "fake". The goal is to pollute the network with so much junk that the behavior will cease to exist.
If law enforcement attempted this it would be a violation on so many levels. Why do we as a society allow this to occur.
I myself have never used one of these applications outside of research (I can hear the jokes already) but it plagues me that we allow the RIAA and MPAA to use these underhanded practices.
It is the same thing we do in copyright-infringement research (e.g. movie/music piracy, though I refuse to title my articles as such). Most of the research that is done by the BSA, American Life Project, and even the MPAA uses a prediction model that takes year Y, applies the growth prediction, and then evaluates the difference in year X.
The sad fact is that the difference in Year X becomes written off as piracy or copyright-infringement and not the less obvious issues of inflation and less consumer confidence. At a recent ACJS conference I pointed out a severe flaw in a colleagues research that noted that the increase in movie-piracy (hate the term) is a direct result of the increase in Broadband connections. The results of my research shows that yes a broadband connection facilitates the behavior. However, the behavior has to be reinforced and first introduced. In all the research I have done on the subject, less then 11% of subject reported that they purchased a broadband connection to commit copyright infringement.
An interesting fact for those that reported this was that 75% did so because of friends but about 15% did so because of the actual commercial that showed individuals downloading music and video. My current research project is looking at how commercial products and advertisements facilitate in a person engaging in copyright-infringement.
Happens all the time, guess someone missed the submission, Its been sitting at pending since Tuesday :)
I thought it was an interesting story that would break up the eventual SW reviews and M$ rules the world and should die threads.
I currently use my laptop and softphone from Vonage quite frequently at the local coffee house that offers free wi-fi and have tried to use it at panera bread which offers free WI-FI. However, I have been able to get it to work rather infrequently at Panera. At the local coffee house I open up my laptop, load the softphone, and then attach my headset. The question people typically ask is why not use your cell-phone.
I can receive calls for free which would otherwise use my minutes, I can dial 1800 numbers which is what my university uses for its conference calls for free, and most importantly, it is the best way to have office hours when I am away from the university. I recently did my dissertation's first defense using the softphone and system to connect to all my committee members and did not have an issue. Recently, at a conference the second author of the work was unable to attend but had some new data that he wanted to present. I loaded the softphone and dialed into him and using the conference system called raindance and the conferences system, he was able to present the data without an issue.
I see the progression of Vonage being very useful for those of us that for work have seen our laptops becoming more important then the air we breathe.
One of the fastest growing fields is criminal justice. In my opinion take the software route and merge that with a criminal justice degree. There are so many avenues that you can explore with that background. For example, look at the new AFIS-APIS systems that are being developed, the command crisis planning software, or virtually any program that is or will be used within the criminal justice system.
If you decide to take this approach, realize that this means lots of work and lots of money. Count on making certificates a part of your education and not just continuing education. What that means is for every semester, you should be taking a certificate program to supplement your degree. I just finished a computer forensics certification and have several ASIS certifications. My point is simply, you have to distinguish yourself from the pack.
But take that with a grain of salt (I know this is going to come back on /.) but I have a M.S in Criminal Justice with an emphasis on cyber and computer crime (there is a difference) I wish I could tell you all the great things I have done with my degree, but to most they are downright boring. Currently, I am the chair of a criminal justice and cyber-security program and will finish my PhD....... (when I finally finish my model)
Let me put this into perspective. If I was to beat you with a pipe but do not cause serious long term issues, it would still be aggravated assault but would net me maybe 3-5 years in prison.
While I agree the damage to the copyright holder is more egregious, prison is not the answer. If you want to deter the behavior you take out the benefit. Fines work for this behavior. Remember the prison system can not hold the current criminals; all we are doing is creating laws to create new criminality that requires incarceration.
If and when we deduct portions of these individuals pay automatically, it will actually reduce the behavior. All of those people sued and who have paid are not engaging in the behavior. Of all the research I have conducted, reducing anonymity and having an actual punishment for engaging in the behavior works.
One research project I worked on involved sending letters to random college students regarding their "perceived" engagement in copyright infringement. We then monitored their internet usage. 66% of those students bandwidth usage was reduced by half.
Actually mens rea is becoming almost as important if not more important then Actus reus in the eyes of the court. Conspiracy to commit a crime will net you almost more punishment then actually committing the crime. Thoughtcrime in action ladies and gentlemen.
I worked on a study determining what impact the TpB would have on an individual's ability to engage in copyright violations. In a small random sample, we had about 350 students. (Much more information then this, just citing some key points) When given the choice between a napster clone and a torrent website in a scenario comparing the two mediums. They preferred the torrent version (they liked being anonymous (as it was perceived). However, when given the requirement that they needed to register with a valid email address, phone number, and place of resident which would be verified less then 18% would use such a service.
Where did we get the "registration model" it has been proposed as a method to reduce the copyright infringement by the RIAA and MPAA to protect their interests. Goes back to the tried and true question many of my intro students point out. "If you have nothing to hide or done nothing wrong, why does it matter if they go and search your house?"
After several classes going over the importance of the 4th Amendment, I inevitably out of frustration come back to It Just Does for those that simply do not get the issue at hand.
It has become a very sad state of affairs when we assume that everyone is guilty and sadly when it comes to anything P2P or torrent related you are assumed guilty.
Education opens the doors to bigger and better things. It gets you in the doors and from there you build your experience. Anyone that is audacious enough to tell those young /.'s among us that are still in high school and just starting college that it is pointless are seriously setting a bad example. While it is true that many people have excelled in the industry without a college degree. Today's market demands those degrees, especially terminal degrees. The standard computer certificates mean very little in the industry.
Maybe because I spent six years on a M.S in criminology and security management, I am biased in the fact that an education does payoff.
I know that I would not be here with experience alone. I have dedicated my life to teaching others the trade and while I can spot security threats and analyze those threats in real-time and combat them accordingly with my experience, education provided me the tools necessary to accomplish those situations.
I use to due security consulting for a company. I tell you this if all I presented them was experience, I would not have worked for them. Having that "paper" eased the shareholders and executives and the experience was simply an added bonus.
So who would you rather higher?
JaneY has 10 years in network administration.
JaneX Has a M.S in ISS and 4 years of work experience in network administration.
All the companies I have worked for and the university which I teach would one-hundred percent go with JaneX
Well had there been a COMDEX then maybe things like this wouldnt happen. http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jht ml?term=comdex&_requestid=508760
Taken from the Yahoo page with a link to techweb.
Yahoo is really falling behind.
Its not like we are all sitting at are computers trying to be the first to post on a news story and forbid there be a error in the post.... or are we.....
Oh wait I am one of those sitting at my computer waiting to post.....
You forgot one thing. One of the activities that all students go through in First grade-third grade is creating a list of important numbers and posting it near the phone. This list contains, the police, fire department, ambulance, poison control, and other important numbers. These are the actual numbers not just ----911----. We also go as far to advise parents to place these numbers on speed dial.
Anyone remember when the 911 system was shut down in Louisana (Hacker related) and the people where in uproar cause they had to dial the 7 digits.
have we become so lazy..... Better stop before I get a -2 troll :)
When I can sell my DRM media to a friend after I am done with it then I will except DRM. Plain and SIMPLE!
No but the executive is.....
People tend to forget there is an inherent social aspect to these games. People build friendships albeit those deemed "untraditional". In the old days of MMO's communication was reserved to the keyboard. Today we have synchronous communication with Voip systems that let entire guilds communicate in real-time with voices. If this does not elicit a connection then there is a problem. One of the key problems with this research is that it missed on this social interaction that does not produce an addicted phenomenon but rather a social connection.
People are connected in multiple ways over the internet and live communication is bridging the way that we communicate. I have interviewed several MMO players that use several communication methods, including video conferencing and their reason for playing is simply the friendships that they have built.
Is it addiction when you get together with friends and play? When people get together to watch football, play football, or talk about football do we call that an addiction? No.
So KOTOR is now simply known as KOR.
Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire or KCOTMEOOTBE
Anyone bother to notice he is the EFF. This was not an issue over ID cards or the SECRET law or policy that they have. The issue at hand is getting focus back on the EFF and the issues that they are focusing on currently. They have been fighting National ID cards since 9/11 And in regards to ID cards. All online airline ticket services make it WELL known that you will have to have an ID card on you at check-in and to board the plane with an e-ticket. I know for a fact that the EFF uses one of those services and there are several notices regarding IDs and what qualifies as an acceptable ID. In addition, I was able to travel to several key cities on an expired drivers licence. I was able to do so with a 5 min search before entering into the boarding area. Anyone that thinks this is about a serious issue regarding your freedom is mistaken. This is an issue over creating more publicity. You do not have to have a valid ID card to fly. You will just be marked for additional searches.
What we all tend to forget is that Microsoft is losing lots of money. Anyone take a look at the numbers involving piracy of Microsoft's products. The numbers are outstanding. The tech elite and pirates among us make up only a small portion of that pirated media. Individuals who purchase a copy of windows, office, or any Microsoft product for 5 dollars or any amount that is well below the retail average know that it is illegal. This step ensures that those laymen among us that thought they where sticking it to the man, will indeed get stuck themselves. No matter how much we have distain for Microsoft and its ILLEGAL business practices (Linux user here because of those practices), it does have a valid interest in protecting its products from piracy. If over 35% of your business and retail software was pirated wouldn't you take drastic steps to protect your interest? I applaud all those that are able to reverse engineer the products, as it makes companies work harder to create better mechanisms of encryption. What I do not applaud is those that simply use the tools developed by "REAL" reverse engineers and call themselves crackers. First post on Slashdot after many years reading the site. Hope it will not be my last :)