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my ethical dilemma

#1 User is offline   Zortrium 

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Posted 15 May 2007 - 03:29 PM

As I discovered earlier today, one of my summer jobs this year (doing software development for my school's IT department) will involve designing a system to make it easier to comply with RIAA demands regarding student filesharing. In other words, the RIAA sends a threatening notice against a particular user on campus, at which point someone pulls up my software to go disconnect that user from the network. Does this make me a member of the RIAA cult of flesheating zombies? Discuss.
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#2 User is offline   LNSU 

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Posted 15 May 2007 - 04:04 PM

yes. DO NOT MAKE THE SOFTWARE! or make it buggy. Please.
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#3 User is offline   dude3 

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Posted 15 May 2007 - 07:18 PM

As powerhungry and predatory as the RIAA is, the pirates they seek to combat are by no means ethically defensible.

When faced with a choice of two evils, let the $$$ be your guide.
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#4 User is offline   LNSU 

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Posted 15 May 2007 - 07:31 PM

Now that I reread the original post, follow the money. I agree that artists should be paid fairly for their music. However, I disagree with the RIAA's methods.

This post has been edited by LNSU: 15 May 2007 - 07:31 PM

VXI

#5 User is offline   Anaxagoras 

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Posted 15 May 2007 - 07:32 PM

Yeah. But make sure to inconvenience them the tiniest bit, just because it's the RIAA you're doing this for.
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#6 User is offline   LNSU 

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Posted 15 May 2007 - 07:46 PM

Tiny? Make them have to jump through a beaurocracy treatment similar to something such as getting any afghanistan officials to do anything without bribing them. I read an article on this recently in the National Post. Everything gets weighed down without bribes.
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#7 User is offline   Pufer 

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Posted 15 May 2007 - 11:56 PM

So long as it gets you beer money, it's alright. Anyway, as with any position in a large bureaucratic machine, you're paid to show up. Anything you accomplish, much less accomplish well, is a bonus to the establishment, not necessary.

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#8 User is offline   Lektor 

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Posted 16 May 2007 - 09:43 AM

View Postdude3, on May 16 2007, 01:18 AM, said:

As powerhungry and predatory as the RIAA is, the pirates they seek to combat are by no means ethically defensible.

When faced with a choice of two evils, let the $$$ be your guide.


Agreed. What he could do, however, is make the software, get paid for it, then put some kind of back door into it. Then after releasing the program, sell the back door to someone else. Lots of $$$!

View PostPufer, on May 16 2007, 05:56 AM, said:

So long as it gets you beer money, it's alright. Anyway, as with any position in a large bureaucratic machine, you're paid to show up. Anything you accomplish, much less accomplish well, is a bonus to the establishment, not necessary.

-Pufer


Very true. Plus if you say no, someone else will do it anyway.
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#9 User is offline   mrxak 

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Posted 16 May 2007 - 04:50 PM

While it sounds like the software will be used to comply with the RIAA, think of it like this: It'll also be used to disconnect people with child porn.
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#10 User is offline   Solid 

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Posted 16 May 2007 - 05:36 PM

What Would Machiavelli Do?
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#11 User is offline   Avatara 

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Posted 16 May 2007 - 06:53 PM

Obviously the real solution is to add a secret backdoor so if the RIAA comes after you, you can disconnect them.
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#12 User is offline   wolfman_rec 

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Posted 17 May 2007 - 01:20 PM

View Post3vil L337, on May 16 2007, 04:36 PM, said:

What Would Machiavelli Do?


:P

Pull a Nedry and if anyone tries anything illegal make this come up on their screen sixty billion times:


"Ah-ah-ah! You didn't say the magic word!
Ah-ah-ah! You didn't say the magic word!
Ah-ah-ah! You didn't say the magic word!
Ah-ah-ah! You didn't say the magic word!
Ah-ah-ah! You didn't say the magic word!
Ah-ah-ah! You didn't say the magic word!
Ah-ah-ah! You didn't say the magic word!
Ah-ah-ah! You didn't say the magic word!
Ah-ah-ah! You didn't say the magic word!"

It would only be good with the corresponding GIF and sound files though. That would make me pirate stuff.
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#13 User is offline   Pufer 

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Posted 17 May 2007 - 11:49 PM

View Post3vil L337, on May 16 2007, 04:36 PM, said:

What Would Machiavelli Do?


Become a kiss-up who writes a lot of stuff that he doesn't actually believe in an attempt to get back in favor with the Medici so that he may come back from exile and regain his position as a nominally important statesman?

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#14 User is offline   jrsh92 

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Posted 19 May 2007 - 09:29 AM

Burn in heck, RIAA person.

Yes, HECK!

This post has been edited by KedFiller: 19 May 2007 - 09:30 AM

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#15 User is offline   Anaxagoras 

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Posted 19 May 2007 - 10:25 AM

View PostPufer, on May 18 2007, 12:49 AM, said:

<snip>

Yeah, he really was a kiss-up. Surprisingly, though, quite a bit of the advice he gave the Medici is still useful even today.
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#16 User is offline   Solid 

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Posted 19 May 2007 - 06:55 PM

View PostPufer, on May 18 2007, 12:49 AM, said:

Become a kiss-up who writes a lot of stuff that he doesn't actually believe in an attempt to get back in favor with the Medici so that he may come back from exile and regain his position as a nominally important statesman?

-Pufer


A+
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#17 User is offline   mrxak 

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Posted 19 May 2007 - 07:29 PM

View PostPufer, on May 18 2007, 12:49 AM, said:

Become a kiss-up who writes a lot of stuff that he doesn't actually believe in an attempt to get back in favor with the Medici so that he may come back from exile and regain his position as a nominally important statesman?


Ah, somebody who actually read his work!
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#18 User is offline   Rickton 

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Posted 19 May 2007 - 10:12 PM

Write the software, dude.
But have it only block indie music transfers. Because indie musicians deserve money.
Of course, they're also the ones the RIAA doesn't care about. Huh. Quite a dilemma, that.

This post has been edited by Rickton: 19 May 2007 - 10:12 PM

Currently making Possession 2, a game where you play as a ghost and possess your enemies.

#19 User is offline   Sundered Angel 

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Posted 19 May 2007 - 11:32 PM

View Postmrxak, on May 20 2007, 12:29 AM, said:

Ah, somebody who actually read his work!


I dunno. Preamble aside, The Prince isn't actually very sycophantic. It strikes me more as very, very jaded. You know, the way you feel after you drop acid twice a day for three weeks after the second wife to cheat on you does so with your father, breaking both you and your mother's heart.
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#20 User is offline   mrxak 

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Posted 21 May 2007 - 01:31 AM

Lol?
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#21 User is offline   Zortrium 

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Posted 21 May 2007 - 02:11 AM

View Postmrxak, on May 21 2007, 02:31 AM, said:

Lol?

This post has been brought to you courtesy of the Mrxak Committee For Highly Substantive Posts™.
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#22 User is offline   mrxak 

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Posted 21 May 2007 - 01:11 PM

View PostZortrium, on May 21 2007, 03:11 AM, said:

This post has been brought to you courtesy of the mrxak Committee For Highly Substantive Posts™.


This post has been brought to you courtesy of Zortrium: The healing yellow pill.
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#23 User is offline   wolfman_rec 

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Posted 23 May 2007 - 10:08 AM

:P lol
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#24 User is offline   Anaxagoras 

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Posted 01 June 2007 - 07:51 PM

lol wut.
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#25 User is offline   Rickton 

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Posted 03 June 2007 - 04:29 PM

If you're going to pull a topic up after more than a week, at least make your post more substantial than "lol wut."
I mean, I know this is the ATT and everything but that doesn't mean your posts have to be entirely stupid and pointless.

This post has been edited by Rickton: 03 June 2007 - 04:31 PM

Currently making Possession 2, a game where you play as a ghost and possess your enemies.

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