File Sharing At Work Scaring Employers
from the stop-it-all-now dept
More and more companies are cracking down on employees who use file sharing apps while at work. Some are afraid of exposing internal documents to the outside world, or some other type of security breach that the sharing products might allow. Others are simply worried about the liability issues of their employees trading music. The RIAA, of course, would like companies to be scared to death that they might come knocking on your door to take away your employees MP3s and fine you millions of dollars (as they've done once before). Does anyone else think this article reads like a script from a PR campaign from the RIAA designed just to scare some companies?
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No, I think it sounds reasonable...
However, I doubt that this argument will be taken seriously by Mike, who seems to feel that copyrighted content should be free of the fetters and obstructions that companies might like to put in place to protect their IP and stay in business. Face it, folks: online piracy IS a problem, and innovation and creative will eventually begin to suffer if the file-sharing bonanza is allowed to continue.
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Re: No, I think it sounds reasonable...
I think things like forcing a company to pay a fine because they had an *internal* mp3 server is a little silly.
As for your last point, that really has nothing to do with the argument at hand, but there's pretty much zero evidence that what you claim would actually happen. In fact, most musicians I know still get excited that anyone out there gets to hear their music at all. They do seem to like to do it for the music - and not necessarily for the big bucks that they'll add to the record company coffers.
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typical argument
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Re: typical argument
Anyway, you keep claiming my arguments are "empty" or simply insulting me... and yet, you provide very little to back up your arguments.
Do you happen to work for a record label?
My point from the beginning of all this has simply been that the music labels themselves are being incredibly shortsighted in going after people like this. All they are doing is pissing off their own users. I've said it a million times. That's a bad and very dangerous business model. Obviously, you disagree. I hope you work in a business that makes it's money by pissing off it's customers.
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Re: No, I think it sounds reasonable...
>However, I doubt that this argument will be taken seriously by Mike, who seems to feel that copyrighted content should be free of the fetters and obstructions that companies might like to put in place to protect their IP and stay in business.
Mike doesn't say in this article that corporations shouldn't block access. He simply says it's happening and states that he feels RIAA is going about things the wrong way.
>Face it, folks: online piracy IS a problem, and innovation and creative will eventually begin to suffer if the file-sharing bonanza is allowed to continue.
My TV and my newspaper continue to tell me it's a problem but I'm still not seeing the problem. I was collecting MP2's back in '95. I hear how each year the recording instudry is making more and more money over the previous year. I'm hearing that sales records are being broken left and right. From 1995 to 2000 (I don't know about 2001 or 2002) music sales continuously increased. Now that we've hit a recession the industry complains that p2p networks are the cause for their sales slump. I think the high unemployment rate might have something to do with it. Business does not always expand without a contraction here and there. How does RIAA know I'd buy the album that contains the song I just downloaded anyhow? How do they know I don't already have the album but I've chosen to download it because the album is not with me or I don't know how to make an MP3?
As for software... They used to tell us that the reason software was so expensive was because they factored in the cost of piracy. If piracy wasn't taking place the cost would come down. Where's the problem here? Is the BSA so concerned about my wallet that they've mobilized the software heavyweights to help me? I don't think so. They've already covered their losses with their prices.
I don't know how many times I've said this but I'll say it again... How is file sharing (application or music) different than the library? I can go to my local library and borrow the NY Times best sellers and read them for free. When I'm done I return them. If I feel the need to read them again I can borrow them once again... for free. The library didn't put an end to writing or storytelling or the creativity behind the stories.
Face it... online piracy is not the problem it's made out to be. True innovation and creativity will continue regardless of sharing (by any means) or wealth. After all... how else can you explain Linux.
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Where's it all going ?
And where is it all going to go ? Is it illegal for me to buy a CD and listen to it with my friend in the car ? Obviously he didnt pay any money but gets to enjoy the CD free of charge.
Plus your point about how there is going to be real problems if this "file trading bonanza" is allowed to continue is null. File Trading has exsisted for years and years and I have never read one report of a record or software company going out of business as a direct result of piracy.
The genie is so far out of the bottle he wouldnt even be able to spell bottle if you asked him. Nature's highest law is adapt or die and companies need to start exploring this avenue.
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