California sucked in by Cdigix
p2pnet.net News:- Penn State University was the first major US teaching institution to be dragooned by the entertainment cartels as a PR, marketing and sales outlet, and other schools have been following suit.
Teaching and administrative staff act as unpaid sales reps as industry backed and supported music ‘services’ pump product at pupils. Not that school boards have a lot of choice.
It’s either that or watch their students wind up as targets in industry sue ‘em all marketing campaigns.
Now, however, things have gone much further in California, the state virtually owned by the entertainment industry.
There, through a company called Cdigix, the music and movie cartels are planning to funnel DRM-loaded (thanks to Microsoft) ‘product’ into the entire University of California School System which comprises UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego, and is attended by more than 200,000 students; and, to the California State University Cal State University Northridge and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, with a student body of about 400,000.
The two school systems have bought into:
- Ctrax tethered download
- Cflix video on-demand programming from participating companies
- Clabs, “for the online distribution of educational media”
- Cvillage, a corporate outlet for “campus media distribution” and “social interaction”
Among other things, ‘tethered’ means anyone who wants to use the Cdigix thingies has to have to Microsoft’s Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer and/or the Real Player version 10 installed on their PC or Apple systems, with all that implies.
“The deal marks the first time an entire state university system will provide approved content to the student body,” Cdigix boasts.
This would be good were it not for the facts that:
- Downloads are poisoned with DRM
- Neither students nor parents were consulted in the decision to take the cartels into Californian universities
But from the look of the online promo flag (top right), it seems students have a choice. They apparently have to physically put their names (and other data) on a dotted line to get Cdigix ’services’.
Say no more ….
Actually, say more.
What happens to the info Cdigix collects?
In general, we collect both aggregate information regarding visitors to our Web Site (for example, the user’s domain names and what pages user accesses or visits), and user-specific personally identifying information volunteered by users of the web site (for example, personal information about the user, survey information, and information obtained in registrations for features of the web site and our services). The information we collect is used for internal purposes (for example, to provide our services to you, improve the content of our web site, customize the content and/or layout of our web site for each individual visitor, or notify consumers about updates to our web site). The information that we collect may also be used for other purposes, both commercial and non-commercial. [Our emphasis] For example:
We share information with companies acting as our agents in providing our services (e.g. credit card processing, customer/support services). Our agents have agreed to information shared with them only for that purpose and to keep the information secure and confidential.
We may share information with other reputable companies or organizations whose products or services we think you might find interesting. [Our emphasis] Additional information regarding our policies with regard to these companies is included below.
We may share information in aggregated non-personally identifiable form for purposes of tracking usage of our web site services and identifying other trends in usage of our web site and our services.
We disclose information when required to do so by law. For example, in response to a court order or a subpoena, the request of a law enforcement agency, or in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) our rights or property. [Our emphasis]
We will share information in the case of a change of control of our company For example, with any company with which we are merged or to which our assets or operations are transferred. In such case, the terms of this privacy policy statement will continue to apply to your information.
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July 18th, 2005 at 8:41 pm
So in other words they set up infrastructure and offer it as an OPTION RATHER THAN a mandatory fee… then they advertise it. (is my reading of this article correct in that you must actively purchase it in order for it to be billed to you?)
I have no problem with this.
I highly disagree with the business model, but this is a free country. As long as they give you final say as to weather you’ll buy.. I don’t consider it an impingement on freedom of choice.
July 18th, 2005 at 9:06 pm
what choice? they’re given only one option for the “legal” RENTED/TETHERED/SPYWARE-INFESTED content.
and since all the schools in the system have been blackmailed into signing up for this – and probably napster and itunes as well – what’s the choice? why weren’t the students consulted? why should housing and tuition fees be raised to cover the costs for this crud? and why are admins and professors being elbowed into promoting the scheme? kickbacks.
a wave of blackmailing schemes from coast to coast – or be sued. or both. that’s the “choice”.
nice choices, those.
freedom means freedom. this isn’t freedom. it’s fascism. the student loses freedom. the system wins.
July 18th, 2005 at 9:41 pm
A Quote from the article:
“But from the look of the online promo flag (top right), it seems students have a choice. They apparently have to physically put their names (and other data) on a dotted line to get Cdigix ’services’.”
This seems to imply to me they have to sign up in order to be billed.. otherwise they are not.
To me this seems nothing more like an official school endorsement style ad campaign… rather than a fore-fed situation.
But then agian.. only time will tell.
July 18th, 2005 at 10:31 pm
I don’t know that they DO have to register. It’s what the pic implies, and it’s what I meant when I said, “But from the look of the online promo flag (top right), it seems students have a choice.”
Sorry if that wasn’t clear.
Cheers!
July 18th, 2005 at 10:33 pm
Simple but effective solution:
GNU/Linux
Try http://www.dyne.org (dynebolic 1.4.1 LiveCd) or Knoppix, and use DVDcss, Mplayer, Xine/Totem, Grip, xmms/zinf to play YOUR media.
It works, and it’s simple.
Don’t “fight” the media, “be” the media!
July 18th, 2005 at 10:37 pm
jon, it was clear to me. when i posted my capitalism message above, i didn’t think they were forced into taking it – but they aren’t given other options, as far as what you’ve shown. to me the idea is “take this or get sued. we’re going to raise tuition and housing fees to pay for the infrastructure, maintenance, and fees for professors promoting it, so you’d better sign up because it’s the only option we’re giving you.”
July 18th, 2005 at 10:49 pm
i like how you people with way to much time on your hands actually think that anyone cares about your opinion. why dont you get off your lazy writers a** and start your own company so you dont have to care about cdigix, microsoft or anything for that matter. thanks for being so consumed with the unimportant and probably living above your means crying while i’m on vacation in Belieze – Suckers
July 18th, 2005 at 11:54 pm
i like how you people with way to much time on your hands actually think that anyone cares about your opinion. why dont you get off your lazy writers a** and start your own company so you dont have to care about cdigix, microsoft or anything for that matter. thanks for being so consumed with the unimportant and probably living above your means crying while i’m on vacation in Belieze – Suckers
******************************************************
yeah right. you can’t even spell it: Belize! B-E-L-I-Z-E!
dickhead. you probably don’t even know where it is, or you think it’s a state in usa.
i guess you have just as much time as any of us to make your stupid remarks. shut up neocon. go find your crayons and colouring books and practice staying in the lines.
July 19th, 2005 at 12:00 am
yeah, and you also had time to read all the messages and think up a “witty” (stupid, ignorant) remark.
how is BELIZE this time of year? lots of hurricanes, i believe. oh yeah…right. you aren’t there. you’re somewhere in a cornfield in iowa.
July 19th, 2005 at 1:11 am
Don’t Feed The Trolls ….
Cheers!
July 19th, 2005 at 3:05 am
i can’t even pronounce cdigix.
July 19th, 2005 at 3:44 am
“see-Dijiks”… like that drug cialis…
July 19th, 2005 at 4:27 am
It’s pronounced Microsoft ; )
July 19th, 2005 at 11:37 am
No, as a student paying various “fees” at a UC, I’m pretty sure this will not be an opt-in system. If we’re extremely lucky, we’ll be able to request a partial refund at the end of the year after proving that we haven’t used any of the services. The burden of billing students is on the universities and they’re quite likely to just tack it on as a fee.
July 19th, 2005 at 1:21 pm
nope its Microshaft Winblows
July 19th, 2005 at 1:21 pm
or just plain Microshaft
July 21st, 2005 at 12:46 am
The author of this article attempts to denegrade Cdigix by suggesting that “Neither students nor parents were consulted in the decision to take the cartels into Californian universities.” This is simply wrong. It is a flat out lie. In fact, hundreds if not thousands of students were involved in the decision making process.
Furthermore, it appears that Cdigix (like Amazon.com and hundreds of other e-retailers) intends to collect user data in order to enhance the user experience. Why is this such a bad thing?
August 3rd, 2005 at 9:47 pm
UC Irvine, UC Berkley, UC Riverside, UCLA, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC San Diego, and UC Merced (the last one is new).
please do some homework in the future.
http://universityofcalifornia.edu