No More MP3s At Work

from the crack-down dept

It seems that the highly publicized RIAA "fine" for a company caught having a MP3 music server at work for employees is having the desired effect. Many companies are banning file sharing at work. Of course, I still think the original fine was something of a sham for the sake of publicity. I can't see why a company would ever agree to pay $1 million for doing something that isn't even clearly illegal. Many companies are banning files sharing at work because it's taking up bandwidth - which makes sense. However, some are saying they're doing it to stop illegal downloads. Either way, it appears that the bans put in place by companies aren't working. No matter what they do, employees are still finding ways to get music. Interestingly, they mention someone who was fired just for having MP3s on her computer. What if she had ripped all those songs from CDs she personally owned (so she didn't have to bring CDs to work every day)?
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2002 @ 10:25am

    workplace is not a playground

    I am of the opinion that the office is a place of work; it's not a playground, and employees' entertainment -- particularly when it gets in to the legal gray area of potentially illegal MP3s -- should not be a consideration for managers. So when people bitch and moan about not being able to listen to music at work anymore, I have this to say: Shut up, or you're fired.

    Simple as that.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Mike (profile), 27 Jun 2002 @ 10:30am

    Re: workplace is not a playground

    I'm glad I don't work for you, then. :)

    I'm actually of the belief that people work better when they're happier (though, there are mixed results on studies to that effect...). I also believe that employees who are forced to do nothing but work all day are actually less productive than employees who are occasionally allowed to do other stuff. If you're only working, you're going to burn out. But, people who can take small breaks to recharge often get better results.

    Obviously, if someone is totally slacking off, then they deserve to lose their job. But, as long as people can get their work done, I'm not concerned about if they do some personal stuff at work.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Timaaay!, 27 Jun 2002 @ 1:06pm

    Physician, heal thyself

    So I guess you are going to fire yourself for reading TechDirt at work?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Bob Bechtel, 28 Jun 2002 @ 4:40am

    RIAA

    How about a little paranoid fantasy? Since the "fine" was a settlement of a lawsuit reported only in an RIAA press release, it would have been trivial for the RIAA to cut a deal -- let us issue the press release, send us $1M, and we will "invest" $1M (maybe more to cover your legal fees to date) with your company to further "education" and "technological solutions" to the file sharing problem. Oh, and that "investment" is yours to spend as you see fit. Net cost to the company -- zero. Treat the "fine" as a business expense, reducing net income and thus taxes, while booking the returned "investment" as capital. Hmmm. Maybe the guy at Worldcom was just not creative enough!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2002 @ 1:15pm

    Re: workplace is not a playground

    Troll.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Horacio, 11 Sep 2002 @ 8:06am

    Re: workplace is not a playground

    so, i suppouse you are a employer and not an employee.. it�s sad that you said that..

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.