p2pnet - rss feed: Why DRM can’t work
p2p news / p2pnet: Currently, we’re halfway through the first decade of the 21st Century.
People have become almost attached to their VCRs, digital camcorders, DVD-based recorders, cassette/CD-RW/MiniDisc recorders, and similar media manipulation and playback equipment. It logically follows that content distributed on media for use in these devices will be in high demand. If a law were passed that effectively cuts down the uses of any kind of content to the point where customers both get less content (due to **AA homogenization of the market) AND what content is available is restricted through whatever means, the customer won’t think twice about it.
When any company that provides products in demand starts to limit customers’ options for methods in which they can use the product, they’ll be unable to retain those customers as easily, especially in the modern consumer-driven society we are living in.
Customers don’t know enough about copyright law, patent law, fair use, and many other aspects of the whole digital media revolution that they should, and that will, in the end, work against any huge media conglomerate trying to restrict content. It may seem counter-intuitive, but to illustrate the truth behind customers that are ignorant of copyright and patent law, I’ll do something that’s very practical and yet very innovative: I’ll lay down the state of current technology (with an emphasis on equipment that contains modern content protection technologies) directly on top of my experiences growing up in North Carolina. It’s not a catch-all story, but my hope is that some people will read this slice-of-life story and see the lack of usefulness behind content protection as it stands today.
When I was 13, DVD players were a few years away and computers with even the lowest end Pentium were still in the thousands. I owned a VCR, a couple of different cassette players, and a portable CD player. I owned very few music CDs, and I couldn’t make my own, but I could copy my dad’s 400-disc collection to my insane stockpile of blank tapes, and I could copy rented movies to a blank tape for later (re-)viewing or record a show off the TV while I was off at school. In fact, I made custom cassettes and recorded my favorite content on VHS for viewing after it was off ALL THE TIME.
Now, let’s cut my teenage media-loving gusto off via DRM and lawsuits, and see how things would change.
Magically, I’m thrust from my magnetic tape on a spool into a world of shiny coated plastic and computers that double as space heaters because the multi-gigahertz AMD CPUs aren’t down to Intel’s micron level yet. Instead of tapes and CDs, I have a CD burner, an mp3 player (hell no I can’t afford an iPod, and mp3 players get better battery mileage, etc). And I have DRM beating my brow everywhere. What would this be like?
I get my new mp3 player and decide the first thing I want to do is put my favorite songs from my favorite CD on it. So I find out from the internet how to “rip” a CD. Then I proceed to try to rip it so I can take the music and put it on my mp3 player.
Errors abound. Oh, I look at the CD cover for a while to see if anything insightful is there, and lo and behold, “this CD uses copy protection.”
I own the damn CD and I can’t even put some of it on my mp3 player that I paid for?! If it was a CD being put on a tape for a Walkman, I wouldn’t have that problem, but no one sells Walkmans anymore…
Okay, so half my CDs aren’t “ripping.” I find out where I can get copies of music that’s “pre-ripped” and find out about Grokster. I download the songs I own that I can’t rip due to the CD blocking it, and put them on my mp3 player. Problem solved.
I rented a DVD from the store and I want to watch it. My dad’s already watching another movie in the living room, so I have to settle for my 17″ CRT monitor on my computer. I pop the DVD in and…
…Errors abound. What the HELL?!
…”copy protected.”
I have to wait for their movie to finish, then I hook the DVD player to the VHS deck that my dad bought while they were still being sold, and proceed to watch the movie and make a copy so I can watch it again because it has to be returned before noon tomorrow, and I think I might like to watch it twice.
Analog device saved the day this time…
I listen to my mp3 player on the ride home the next few days. When I get home one particular afternoon, I want to watch that movie again, because I was talking to my friends about it today and I had some spare time to be entertained. So I pop it in the VCR and hit “play.”
…Terrible color and brightness artifacts abound. The movie sounds fine, but the image is terribly mangled. Is the VCR broken? No, because they were using it last night to watch a classic movie, and it never had a problem!
What the HELL is wrong NOW?!
The good old internet tells me that it’s something called “macrovision” which is a “copy protection” technology. Shoot me in the foot.
I’m forced to watch the TV. Oh, a show is coming on about some swimsuit models. Hormones in overdrive, I fire up my DVR to record the show so I can see the feminine curviness again and again like the politically incorrect woman-loving teenage boy that I am.
“Recording of this program is not permitted.” I think I read about this one. Didn’t they call it a “broadcast flag?” So my parents could record any TV show they wanted on that old VHS quickly and easily, but I have this $300 box here that has more computing power than a few old mainframes and I can’t even record a shallow TV show about how they take pictures of scantily clad women?!
I thought technology was supposed to make this stuff work BETTER, not WORSE!
*sigh* I spend the next few days royally pissed off about the movie, the DVR, the CD…all my expensive, shiny technology is spitting in my face at every turn, and it’s all in the name of “copy protection” or something like that.
I turn my computer on, and it crashes. What? Crash, crash, crash…this blue screen won’t go away. I do some research on a library computer and find out that the “copy protection” involved on the CD I was trying to rip actually installs badly written software on the computer that can break it. The family spends $120 having someone repair the problem, and I barely manage to explain what happened.
The ‘rents are pissed about the situation in general, though…
A few days later, my parents get a note because they’re being sued for downloading some popular songs off the Internet. My life promptly goes to hell as everything is disconnected and taken from me because my parents are being sued for something I did.
What did I do wrong? I explained the situation but the number of zeroes on the paperwork was causing my pleas to fall on deaf ears.
No mp3 player, no movies, no computer, and my parents are paying out thousands from the college savings they had for me because I got them sued and they had to settle; they’re not exactly the richest family in the city, and $500,000 is too much for them to risk being forced to pay out, I’m told.
I lose out on some of the tuition I need for my college, and I’m restricted from having fun with my electronics for quite some time…
All in the name of protecting media from thieves.
This is what the media associations and their respective member labels do when they put DRM on everything, file lawsuits, try to enact broadcast flags, and so on.
Content protection mechanisms damage customers and force them into questionable activities to exercise fair use rights, but more importantly, users who don’t know what any of it is will certainly be more likely to trip over the law (and step on rights holders’ toes) while they attempt to use the content in the ways they want to.
No business can survive without satisfying its customers.
It’s time to start satisfying.
Jody Bruchon
[Bruchon is the owner of a computer service company in North Carolina. He says his personal mission is to “assault political correctness, destroy ill logic, blow away multiculturalism, and stomp out flames of ignorance”. When he’s not doing that, Bruchon enjoys visiting his favorite sushi bars and working on his latest computer-related projects.]
February 6th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
*Riaa whacks Jody with a stick and says ‘it’s consumers not customers!!!’
February 7th, 2006 at 1:21 am
The reflections in the market of sales are showing that bar a minority few, the online sales aren’t working.
It is the dearest hope that the cartels will be able to turn the internet in the virtual market of the 21st century. Through squeezing of the sales points, the cartels have set this one upon themselves. Chain markets have demanded the cartels sell to them at far lower prices than any other market can get due to volume turnover. Since mom and pop stores can’t compete, they are and have been closing in record numbers. Chain markets are setting new price ranges as the expected price that customers will pay and no more. It has been very easy to blame “those pirates” as the problem without having to show anything in the line of proof in bottom line figures.
Instead the cartels now figure the endless shelf space of the virtual store is their answer to raise prices back to previous levels. They are scared, with just reason that since they have done the work to change it to digital files that anyone can just use them in whatever. So in the interest of “improved customer value” DRM has been added. Make no mistake, for all the trumpeting over DRM it does nothing to enhance the customer experience. It does the very opposite as is demonstrated in this article. It’s sole purpose is to styme customer actions and prevent what ownership through buying is supposed to mean. Instead, it is now a rental proposition at the price of ownership. Worse, it isn’t enough that lower quality is now supposed to be the same value as what was offered previously on the market but that it is now being considered that when the time is right, the market price of those offerings are too low. At some unannounced time in the future when the market numbers are there, it is already an all but foregone conclusion that those prices will rise.
Products that don’t meet customer expectations don’t last on the market. These less than worthless products are being shown for just what they are in the market forces and more and more are finding out what it means to buy these limited goods.
Only thing I can say is that the best is yet to come. With the sueing of their own best customers, there is no way that this sort of business will survive as it is being run. Accounting seems to be able to rule the selection process of what is to be the next hit and time after time they are wrong. Blandness rules the airwaves as the process of payolla continues without the middleman in it. Now instead of having a third party that takes a portion out of the middle of the cash flow, it is now alive by buying playlists of preposed ranks and orders to continue the influance of what will be played on the airwaves. The playlists have a fake value in the thousands and through this method the influance is still being made to control the airwaves and what song becomes the top of the most played across the nation. It has in fact become the sole limiting factor in the listener being able to hear new music.
New music is critical to the market in that without that new music there is no exposure to new listening experiences. One must hear new stuff to be able to judge if it is worth buying. Since the dropping of singles into album only sales, it has been the practice of the cartels to include filler to make enough to have an album. Another practice that has turned customers away.
DRM has the only purpose of locking the customer down. Since it is now more of a hassle to use the purchased product than it is worth, the customer is abandoning what they see as an obsolete business model supporting an worthless product.
February 7th, 2006 at 4:07 am
Consumer or customer…either way, they’re turning away from the storefront one by one.
~Jody
February 7th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
The article is right on target.
However, if we asked the question “What if DRM worked, would it be a good thing?”.
The answer is no. As structured now, copyright law actually results in the opposite of what was allegedly intended, to promote the creation of artistic works by authors. The arguments to prove this point are too long to explain here, but they are here:
The Copyright Funnel:
http://chocoweb.blogspot.com/
However, if DRM worked, it would only reduce the output, as authors would more likekly turn to other endeavors as the distribution process becomes more entangled in economical, technical and legal issues, which is precisely the reason that quality output of musical authors has decreased drastically in the last few decades.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
February 7th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Your question is like asking “What if the world is flat”. The simple fact is that DRM can never work. Unfortunately most people lack the technical knowledge to understand this, and thus we live in a world similar to when the majority of people believed the world was flat.
But say we lived in a flat world where DRM worked. It would not just restrict the output as there will always be the so-called”analog hole”: anything that can be output for human enjoyment can be recorded by technology designed to record the same sights, sounds, etc that our senses detect.
The simple fact is that any device that is used by an artist to record their work (IE: what the creator uses to create the digital work in the first place) can be used by an infringer to make unauthorized “re-recordings”. There is no possible way any technology can tell the difference between creativity and infringement as, from a purely technical point of view, there is no difference.
When these major media and content industry companies are pushing DRM what they are really doing is trying to ensure that only “authorized creativity” is possible. You can see this in the “Professional Device Hole” that they are lobbying for in the legislation http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/1875 They fully recognize that there is no technical difference between creativity and infringement, and are trying to craft laws so that only the “professionals” that are employed by these major studios are allowed to create.
It has taken a decade of outright lies for us to get to the “Professional Device Hole” honesty, and it is now critical that we inform people about what the real purpose of DRM is.
February 7th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
I really should have read the article you referenced before replying
Sorry..
February 7th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
Your question is like asking “What if the world is flat”.
I agree. The question was made to facilitate the introduction of an argument, that restrictions to copying will eventually reduce first the distribution of the created works and then, as a byproduct, creativity itself.
After all, no one (that I know) has actually made a controlled experiment to see if giving monopolies over art or ideas (patents) really produces an overall benefits to society. My hunch is that the results of such an experiment, if made, would not be good for the those whose income (a bias in itself) depends on being a copyright or patent owner.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
January 29th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
The author of this article…hard to take seriously. He makes all kinds of claims about his PC expertise on his website www.nctritech.com. Came to my house and knew less than I DO (and I don’t know much) about fixing PC’s. After he sat there and toyed with stuff for two hours, milking the job, I told him I’d call someone else. I did, and the guy who showed up fixed the problem in ten minutes.
April 16th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Just so you know, “Tom Stanson” is an anonymous person who has been harassing me on Craigslist and over the telephone. He was actually blocked from posting on Craigslist because of his abusive posts. He’s also asking for a lawsuit, so feel free to ignore him.
April 16th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I can’t believe that anyone would be so low as to post the way “Tom Stanson” did. What a crock. I’ve never seen such an obvious B.S. comment before, and I’ll bet that the guy has unresolved psychological issues…
April 20th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Who has unresolved psche issues? Jody spent the whole time at my house ranting about “illegal immigrants” and mexicans — all I wanted was my PC fixed. His main rant was that they “get sick and use our emergency rooms for free care”. Guess it would be better to turn them away and let them die or rob someone for the money for care. Jeez. LOTS of folks are attacking Jody on Craigslist BECAUSE HE USES HIS ADS THERE TO TELL EVERYONE THAT ONLY HE CAN FIX A PC AND THAT ALL THE OTHER TECHS THERE ARE INCOMPETENT. What do you expect these other techs to do? Ignore that crap forever?
Personally, I can’t WAIT to hear about Jody actually filing a suit against ANYONE. On that day, he will be more Internet searchable than Paris Hilton. But if he stops with the constant disparaging of other techs, and the fraudulent/misleading ads to shoppers, I won’t post anymore about him (I won’t — can’t speak for all the other enemies he’s made).
April 20th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
And by the way, I was not and never have been banned from Craig’s List of “abusive posts” or for any other reason. I can and do post often. Another slander — actually, libel — by Jody himself. PLEASE try to sue me. PLEASE.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:12 am
This “Tom Stanson/SLander” guy is funny.
His real name, however, is Chris Flood, and if you google “919 792 0290″ you’ll see where all his ads for XS Energy Drinks are spammed all over the damn place, not to mention his overposted computer repair bullshit.
Of course I reported all of them last night, and Craigslist seems to have removed them, but Google may still turn up results.
I’ve been following this whole stream on CL for a few months now, and it seems that Jody is not cranking out the BS that Chris is.
April 26th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I am not Chris Flood and you should stop slandering him or he may just sue you. Jody slandered me on this page.
April 27th, 2008 at 7:37 am
That’s very humorous.
April 27th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
It’s pretty obvious that the comments here were hijacked by someone with a grudge. What a jackass. This fool had nothing better to do than post a half-baked story and talk smack?
April 29th, 2008 at 5:35 am
Oh my GOD that is such a blatantly obvious lie, “Tom Stanson.” You’re such a moron. Don’t you know that INTERNETS will force out the truth?
May 1st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
You’re right. “The INTERNETS” will force out the truth. http://ncfindoffender.com/details.aspx?SRN=012927S2
May 5th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Who cares?
May 5th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Dear “who cares,” the post you’ve made is illegal according to the site you’ve linked to. As seen at the URL of http://www.ncfindoffender.com/faq.aspx
—QUOTE—
I want to share information I found on the Registry. Does the law prohibit me from sharing this information?…Use and/or misuse of this information by individuals, groups or entities to commit criminal acts (to include, but not limited to, threats, intimidation, stalking, harassment) against other persons is subject to criminal prosecution.
—QUOTE—
By the posts being made here, it’s fairly clear that you’re engaging in harassment, which is a criminal act according to that website.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
G.S. 14-196.3
Cyberstalking
1. The following definitions apply in this section:
1. Electronic communication. - Any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature, transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, computer, electromagnetic, photoelectric, or photo-optical system.
2. Electronic mail. - The transmission of information or communication by the use of the Internet, a computer, a facsimile machine, a pager, a cellular telephone, a video recorder, or other electronic means sent to a person identified by a unique address or address number and received by that person.
2. It is unlawful for a person to:
1. Use in electronic mail or electronic communication any words or language threatening to inflict bodily harm to any person or to that person’s child, sibling, spouse, or dependent, or physical injury to the property of any person, or for the purpose of extorting money or other things of value from any person.
2. Electronically mail or electronically communicate to another repeatedly, whether or not conversation ensues, for the purpose of abusing, annoying, threatening, terrifying, harassing, or embarrassing any person.
3. Electronically mail or electronically communicate to another and to knowingly make any false statement concerning death, injury, illness, disfigurement, indecent conduct, or criminal conduct of the person electronically mailed or of any member of the person’s family or household with the intent to abuse, annoy, threaten, terrify, harass, or embarrass.
4. Knowingly permit an electronic communication device under the person’s control to be used for any purpose prohibited by this section.
3. Any offense under this section committed by the use of electronic mail or electronic communication may be deemed to have been committed where the electronic mail or electronic communication was originally sent, originally received in this State, or first viewed by any person in this State.
4. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.
5. This section does not apply to any peaceable, nonviolent, or nonthreatening activity intended to express political views or to provide lawful information to others. This section shall not be construed to impair any constitutionally protected activity, including speech, protest, or assembly. (2000-125, s. 1; 2000-140, s. 91.)
May 5th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Whoa there “who cares,” I’d be careful if I were you, because the fact of the matter is that the person who is the most dangerous is the one who has the least to lose, and it seems pretty irresponsible to try to damage someone like that, especially if “nc general statutes” and “the law” are posting correct information about the law here; you should probably think about what you do before you fuck up royally.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
“This section does not apply to any peaceable, nonviolent, or nonthreatening activity intended to express political views or to provide lawful information to others. ”
The intent was to provide lawful information to others. Must be lawful information since it is the LAW that the information must be disseminated on the Internet and by other means, too. Seems to me that it is particularly important to alert others if the person concerned used State computers to distribute child porn, and advertises for work on other people’s computers.
As for threatening or harassing behavior, seems clear to me that this is clearly meant to intimidate and threaten: ” I’d be careful if I were you, because the fact of the matter is that the person who is the most dangerous is the one who has the least to lose.” Bet I can guess who posted that.
May 6th, 2008 at 6:29 am
What is the article here about? It’s about DRM and why DRM is not a viable way to run a business. The information you’re trying to disseminate (A) has nothing to do with the article and (B) is presented among other context that implies it is being used to harass rather than to inform. Your intent is clear by the surrounding context in which you’re choosing to post, and if you’re the same poster as “Tom Stanson” and “Slander” above, even more so.
The article isn’t advertising anything, and the author isn’t employed by the State (see the part about “running a company?” Doesn’t mention the State anywhere in there, eh?) Your intent is clear. Your excuse is insufficient, and a judge wouldn’t buy it for a second.
As for your final statement, that’s just the truth and a friendly warning about the action you chose to take. Do your research. Criminals aren’t likely to do anything wrong if they’ve got a stable home, a stable job, and stable family and social support. A lay-off or home burning down is one thing, but someone like you who prefers to maliciously attempt to cause such destabilization puts yourself in a very non-lucrative position should the guy totally go off the deep end. Or file a lawsuit or something.
May 6th, 2008 at 7:12 am
it is very very intresting that the same funky dude responds so quick to a 2 yr old article, looks like a stalker or sumthin, what a dushbag
May 6th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
“Criminals”, as you call them, do need social support. A really good way to gain that support is to not go onto public forums everyday, like Craig’s List, and disparage everyone else while also saying very misleading things to try to increase business. I suspect that if Jody had not once again started that crap again a few days ago, some of the posts made since then — there, here, whatever — would not have happened. What comes around, goes around. And people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. THE FACT IS: JODY BROUGHT ALL THE CRITICISM ON HIMSELF WITH HIS DISHONESTY AND HARASSMENT AND SLANDERING OF OTHER TECHS. This is not Chris Flood, Tom Stanson, Mike Weymouth, or whatever. Virtually every tech on CL and then some are talking about Jody, as are a lot of customers, apparently, past or would-be. My opinion is that if Jody were to end the arrogant, harassing, slanderous behavior once and for all, everyone would forget about him and these “threads” would cease to exist.
May 6th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
What “arrogant, harassing, slanderous behavior” are you referring to, sir? Please substantiate your statements with some information. I am following the rules on Craigslist to the “T,” I am NOT disparaging other technicians on Craigslist, I am not being dishonest, I am not harassing nor have I *EVER* harassed ANYONE, and I have not committed slander against ANY PERSON AT ALL, EVER.
Also, and probably MOST IMPORTANTLY, I would like to know why you are STILL as yet unable to send me E-mail and talk to me civilly. Your complaints are not even legitimate if you don’t try to work it out with me first. p2pnet AND Craigslist are NOT the appropriate forums to handle a dispute you have with me. Sending E-mail to me (and don’t claim you can’t find the address) or calling me and having an honest and civil discussion about your problem with me IS. If I simply would have received a well-thought-out E-mail explaining what the problem is that you two people have with me, we could have settled this like decent human beings. Instead, you’ve chosen to attack me anonymously across the Internet and attempt to intimidate me into doing–what, exactly? I don’t even know what the hell you EXPECT from me, because YOU WILL NOT EVEN PICK UP THE TELEPHONE OR PUNCH A FEW LINES ON YOUR KEYBOARD AND TALK TO ME ABOUT IT.
I run my own business, trying to make ends meet during a time in which the cost of most things I need to even live at all have at least doubled over only the past seven years, and I wrote this article for p2pnet to illustrate a point so that readers could hopefully better understand it. I won’t lie and pretend like I have never made any mistakes or done some really fucking dumb things in my past, but hey, I’ve grown up and I’ve tried to do the best I can, especially in the past two years, to be a good person. I won’t always get it right, damn straight, because I’m human, but the things you two people are doing is going too far. You won’t tell me what your problem is, you won’t tell me your name, you won’t tell me what you expect me to do to make you stop following me all around the Internet and you’ve even gone so far as to make false statements about me, my business, and my business relationships with my clientele. That’s not just really, really wrong, it also breaks the law, and I’m pretty much running out of options here because you won’t open your mouths and explain one damn thing to me about what’s going on.
From my perspective, you’re just trying to intimidate and harass me for your own personal enjoyment. You haven’t thrown me a bone to explain otherwise for months. You’ve signed me up for spam on my business E-mail accounts under the name “Jody Coolkid” and you’ve expended numerous days’ worth of effort trying to cause me as much trouble as possible. With that energy and dedication, you could have been doing really good things with your time and making a difference, volunteering somewhere or maybe rebuilding old PCs for families who can’t afford a computer for their children (something that I’ve done quite a few times). Why do you insist on spending all your time trying to trash me, my skills, my reputation, and ruin my livelihood? What’s in it for you, other than a cheap thrill? What’s the point of all this dumb childish bullshit?
I’m not going to waste my time threatening you, posturing at you, whatever. All I’m going to do is ask you to explain yourself, and I don’t want a political explanation that says a lot yet doesn’t actually mean anything, I want to know what your own personal vice is with me, and why you and I are engaged in this stupidity together instead of finding ways to help each other prosper, and why you’ve chosen this path instead of simply letting me know what your issues are and working with me to get the result you’re after.
Can you do that? Or must I proceed with handling the situation in the same fashion that I have been for the past five months or so? How do you want to take care of this? You can E-mail me directly at computersolutions@nc.rr.com if you’d like to discuss this privately and don’t know my E-mail address to do so. RSVP.
May 6th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Wow. You yourself admitted to the FACT that you had written disparaging things about other techs, on CL, just a few weeks ago, and apologized for it. You yourself admitted then that certain things you posted were misleading, and (for a while) changed them. And a LOT more than two people are posting things about you. Several have emailed ME criticizing your acts. Everyone has made it clear as day what their problem with you is/was (disparaging and slandering other techs, misleading statements, etc). You have slandered Chris Flood many times, when you accused him, online of posts that others made. You have slandered me in your last post HERE — I have NEVER posted ANYTHING about you on CL, have NEVER called or emailed you. If I wanted to harass you, I could have posted links to your registration thing on CL — never have. How clear do people have to be? Disparaging other techs, making blanket statements that they’re all incompetent (not the exact words, but you yourself admitted you went over the line, and apologized, and stopped). Clearly, you are simply writing self-serving things to try to prove to others who haven’t followed this all, that you are Mr. Ethics, while also trying like hell to find out just who the people are criticizing you, presumably so you can retaliate (” I’d be careful if I were you, because the fact of the matter is that the person who is the most dangerous is the one who has the least to lose.” — THAT’s a threat).
But I’m done. Said so before. Then you started with your b.s. again. By the way, I FLAGGED that “fag” statement on CL yesterday, a dozen times. My criticisms have been specific. If you don’t get it by now, you never will — whether it’s an email, phone call, or post is irrelevant. So quit fishing for someone to (physically?) attack, and just quit with the b.s. — your “quality write up” is clearly intended to mislead and you said so yourself and the fact that SO MANY have said so should be proof enough. Your posting day after day, in violation of CL rules, speaks for itself (you’ve done it again this last week). THAT is all I have to say. Can’t speak for others — there clearly are others, far more than two, who have a beef with you. You have slandered and threatened others, and again, what comes around, goes around. What do you expect? That you are immune from criticism even while you disparage others? People were criticizing you, with specifics, long before the registratio n thing ever appeared.
My suggestion is that you simply STOP with the misleading ads, the overposting, the slander, the false accusations, the blanket criticism of other techs, and be the person you CLAIM above to be. And quit with these “I’m so ethical! I would NEVER slander/threaten/etc” like the above. As long as you tell THAT lie, people will respond. And many of the posts above that are critical of you are not mine. I regret that it has come to this, but despite all the SPECIFIC criticisms, well explained to you, many times, YOU chose to keep it up until it got out of your control. Choose to quit assuming that you know who I or any other person posting is, and playing your games to try to discover who they are (why? so you can attack or kill them?), and your “problem” may just go away.
Personally, I respect an entrepreneur and a person who tries to overcome the things of his past. I think your circumstances kind of forced you to pursue your own business, but that’s fine. But you should work on the man in the mirror, and quit with the misleading, slanderous, threatening.
I will not post another thing regarding Jody. If you don’t get it by now, you never will. And although the government clearly thinks the public needs to know all about your worst moments, I DON’T. Unless, of course, you show a pattern of conduct that shows you wish to mislead the public, and therefore cannot be trusted, still. Sometimes a person just has to get a wake-up. If you’ve had yours, prove it by NOT posting some b.s. answer in response to this, by not posting that “quality write up” (you know, clearly implying someone wrote a review of you/your work that you wrote yourself on your own site), by NOT breaking the CL rules. Do unto others, and they will do unto you (good stuff, I mean).
I am NOT speaking for myself here, but many others will find hypocritical conduct especially offensive when it comes from someone with that little thing you’ve got. A lot of them have kids and these things infuriate them. Don’t feed it. Humble yourself, rather than tear down others (on CL or whatever). As far as your statement above about livelihood, your b.s. on CL has hurt others’ livelihood –THAT IS WHY THE OUTPOURING OF CRITICISM. DO YOU GET IT NOW? Rhetorical question. My advice is, just move on and be the ethical, non-hypocrite you claim to be.
If you openly criticize and slander others in a public forum, they will return the favor. Simple. You are not immune. You are in fact, sort of vulnerable. I would LOVE to see all the negative crap end on CL. I did nothing BUT flag negative crap on CL, until finally, even after all the criticism from so many, you still arrogantly posted your misleads/slanders. My hope was to end ALL the negative crap on CL by getting the primary cause — YOU — to wake up and quit it. Thought you had decided to, recently, when you posted the apology and changed up your ad/site. Then once again, on Sunday, you fell back into the old habits. INSANITY: Doing the same things, over and over, expecting different results.
My guess is, within a month, you’ll be at it again. Prove me wrong by not doing it, and not by posting some more b.s. like the post above. Respond with more b.s., and I’ll respond again (here, not on CL). And given your apparent threat above, I won’t respond with an email or phone call. Talk b.s. in public forum that affects my livelihood, and I will respond in a public forum.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW? Again, if not, then you never will.
May 6th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Also the “quit fishing for someone to physically attack” is uncalled for, and implies that I do such things. Never been in a fight my entire life, and I prefer to avoid them (partly because that’s the right way to live, partly because I’d likely get the living shit beat out of me and be humbled about my fighting skills for a long time). I don’t believe that conflicts can be solved with one or both parties hiding behind curtains and throwing stones, that’s all. You may not have gone too far, but MANY others HAVE, and I want to know who they are so that I can confront them about what they have done. Note that CONFRONT does not mean PUNCH IN STOMACH. That’s OK; what goes around comes around, right? They’ll get what they deserve through karma if nothing else, so never mind. Let God sort it out.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Unfortunately, it seems that my postings here get randomly eaten by WordPress so that last one doesn’t make a lot of sense; suffice it to say that you misinterpreted a lot of things about me, I’m rewriting the quality page anyway because it’s too negative, and if you want anything else changed you need to E-mail me. I’ve asked Jon to delete this entire article because of this crap, but he’s not answering me, so while this will probably remain available to post on, it will fall on deaf electrons. E-mail or call if you have anything you want to complain about. End.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Dear Anonymous, see Craigslist please. Thank you.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I hope Jon DOES delete this thread. It really is not the right place for this.
I guess we just have different perspectives regarding any “misrepresentations”. Understandable, since I don’t know you, and all I know is what I’ve seen online, and for all I know, some of the things posted were by people claiming to be you who may not have been. But glad you view some of the things on that page as too negative and that you are man enough to admit it. I wouldn’t presume to be so much of a “control freak” as to tell you “what I want changed”. I think you are probably a very intelligent guy and can figure that out just fine for yourself.
I agree with you that many others have gone too far with some posts. That “fag” thing yesterday was absurd. I have defended you more than I have criticized you, with emails and with posts and with flags.
Hope someday you will no longer have to deal with that registration business — seems kind of “Scarlett Letter” to me, frankly, and that it really does nothing to help anyone and probably does more harm than good (people in that position have families, even kids, too). Seems like bad public policy to me. I think that once a person has done his time, or probation, or whatever, the slate should be wiped clean for the most part. Everyone deserves a second chance. And who among us is perfect? I’m sure not, and not totally thrilled with my own conduct here (why should I bother?). Guess I beleived, rightly or wrongly, that the criticism on CL was to a degree justified, and that it was the root cause of the degradation of that group, which affected my livelihood.
There is nothing I would like more in my life right now than to see all that crap disappear forever on CL. I will always flag ANY negative crap on there (even about Chris — LOL, sort of).
Good luck. That’s it from me. You get the last word, if you want it!
May 6th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Oh yeah, by the way Anonymous…on that Scarlet Letter issue, did you happen to notice the other little detail that was snugly stuffed between the lines where you saw “state employee” and “conviction?”
That’s right, this all happened in Durham County. March 2006, one of Nifong’s ADAs suddenly, two years after the arrest and four years after the incident it was all about in the first place, Nifong’s staff calls my lawyer out of the blue because of a loophole in North Carolina law that makes it possible to convict someone of a Class F felony under the same criteria as the Class I that they poked me with. I was the poor sap who happened to have an open semi-high-profile case in Durham County right before Nifong’s election. They totally fucked me over, and the day that I was essentially forced to plead guilty (and would live on to wish I never had), I lost almost all of my faith in government and the legal system. They spent so much time at the beginning telling the judge what a horrible threat to children I am, and AFTER I AGREED TO THE PLEA BARGAIN the ADA said (and I quote directly from the News & Observer of Raleigh): “I think he was more or less addicted to downloading,” Montgomery-Blinn said. They knew good and damned well that I didn’t deserve the crap they were giving me, but it’s not about justice anymore, it’s about making convictions through whatever means necessary.
I saw the Lacrosse case coming a mile away, because they fucked me the same way they TRIED to fuck those boys. And yes, I *do* feel that the profanity is necessary to illustrate the point. The problem was that they actually had a victim in the rape case, and said victim made a fool of herself and everyone else, whereas all I had was a computer that anyone in the office could access (and sometimes did) that happened to trigger a red flag somehow, and even though I found huge holes in the forensics that clearly showed they were tainted (my public defender’s forensics guy found an AOL IM icon with a modification date very close to the date that the SBI acquired my equipment, months after the seizure, guess what that means they did that they weren’t supposed to do with evidence?) You see the point.
Despite this bullshit I was handed, I’ve been very lucky to live in around good people in an admittedly liberal college town with a lot of people that don’t know and/or don’t care and/or just keep away from me in general. The sheriff’s department knows me well enough to know that I’m a nice guy with practically no chance of doing anything illegal (they pretty much take my registration card every six months and tell me to be on my merry way), and everyone that comes into contact with me would never guess because I’m not what people would expect if that shit on that website was their first impression of me. I do my best to spit in the face of those who say that people on that list are all baby rapists waiting to jump out of a bush.
So, while I have to carry around the Scarlet Letter of the new millennium, I do my best to prove that the letter I wear is a crock of shit and that you can’t judge a book by the scarlet letter on its cover.
Although the website says “MARCH 17 2006″ the incident was, if memory serves well enough, back in January of 2002, and I had barely been out of high school and employed in the Real World and driving a motor vehicle for six months at that point, not even 19 years old yet…I hope like hell that one day this country comes to its senses and doesn’t do to my children what it has done to me. But all of that aside, let this be the end of this chapter of my life. I have felt empowered to do great things today, and I’d like to funnel all the energy that this saga has been wasting into building my business like I’ve wanted to since I was six years old. (You know that my whole idea with Tritech was to bring lots of *really good* techs together under one name and try to funnel work to people that deserved it, right? That was the point, but apparently that was totally missed and I didn’t help it.)
So, starting tomorrow, it’s time to make good things happen. Sally forth, tallyho, bingo, yahtzee, and all that rubbish. I’ve spent too much time on this page, so I’m leaving. Good night.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:26 am
I sympathize Jody. Really. I have known good people caught up in the criminal injustice system. Seems to me that “plea bargains” are nothing but legalized blackmail. And prosecutors are IMMUNE from suits or prosecutions for their misdeeds!? Absurd. They have every incentive to just seek convictions, not justice. I recently read an article about how the registration rolls are full of people convicted of PISSING IN PUBLIC, like at Mardi Gras, and about one young guy in Hawaii who has to register because he pinched a girl on the butt in a nightclub. If every girl who’s ever pinched or bit my butt in a public place was registered they’d need more computers. Lots of double standards. I lived in Europe a few years, and cultural anthropology is my hobby. In Europe, it is all about truth-finding. No plea bargains, no immunity for prosecutors. Under German law, their is a professional panel of judges and you can’t fool those guys. They’ll let you sit in jail, whether suspect, witness, victim, detective, whatever, until you satisfy them you have told the truth. Once you’ve done your time, the slate is not even accessible to anyone except certain gov entities and only relevant if you’re trying to take a really sensitive job (you could in many cases still be a COP — saw an article once about how former criminals are apparently really good detectives). Nifong should burn in hell for that crap (not to mention the whore that accused those guys). I read “The Scarlet Letter” in college. I admired the way the protagonist wore that badge like a badge of honor — and eventually, that won over even her harshest critics. If you know you’re innocent, you should too. Sounds like you have made the decision to move forward bravely and be a good person. That is admirable. Don’t let the anger (understandable) consume you. I know it’s hard to forgive “a system” — where do you even start? Seems to me you’re on the right track. I’d trust you with my PC over most of the posters on CL. Will refer jobs I can’t do to you.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:55 am
He was dowloading Pornography of toddlers, infants, and pre-teens
that is sick
June 30th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Dear “megans law Chapel Hill,”
You are incorrect. His easily accessible and insecure work computer allegedly contained illegal images. The case was plead out as these cases so often are, so the stuff that hit the media was never tried in a court of law and proven, therefore when you say what you’ve said, you are spreading information that you don’t actually know is true. That act is called “libel” and is illegal. You could get in a lot of shit for posting it.
June 30th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
The person who posted that “megans law Chapel Hill” headered post is harassing all over the place. Trust me, I’m about to sue them. They won’t do it again.
July 12th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
OK, police report filed at the Carrboro Police Department. We’ll see how funny it is when you have to eat your fucking words for stalking me, asshole.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Jody, you bring so much of this on yourself with your “Internet Crusades” against, first (?) illegal immigrants, then those stupid “Eve Carson” attackers, and so on and on. You only make enemies with that, and draw attention to yourself, and make yourself more “searchable” on the Internet, and give more people more reason to search. Ever heard: People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones? Truly, your “crusades” have some good points, especially with regards to the “white flaunt lie/Eve Carson” thing. But you are OVERCOMPENSATING FOR WHAT YOU THINK OTHERS MAY THINK OF YOU. You’ll rest easier when you realize how little they do, except when you invite it. If someone were really out to get you they’d have told those “white flaunt” idiots about your record — they are basting you without even apparently knowing about that. Why don’t you work on the man in the mirror and quit trying to fight with everyone, even if you are sometimes right. Pick your battles. Work on your business — seems you are probably pretty good at it when you focus on THAT. You seem to get angrier by the week. Taking out your anger on whomever on the Internet (or filing police reports) will only get you more criticism, attention. And wastes your time and energy. Just be a good person and forget the naysayers and assholes. You’re letting them get to you. Courage: Grace Under Pressure. One man’s pressure is another’s “who gives a fuck”. And imagine what a person could do if they REALLY had it in for you, posting all over blogs and…EVERYWHERE, if they ended up charged with “stalking” you. They could easily have your name come up with a million hits from a hotspot no matter what the court did and no one could prove it was them. Be sensible, stay off the Internet mostly, and you’ll rest easier. Externalities no more generate stress than do potential stressors. It’s YOUR reactions, and actions, that generate this shit. Just be cool. Fuck ‘em.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:02 am
STALKING YOU!? LOL! You make THREATS above! THREATS to inflict physical revenge! Let’s see, the State is going to charge someone with informing the public of information that the State requires the public to be informed of. Yeah, a jury will buy that. Wake up, Jodykins.
August 8th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Wow. There are a lot of juvenile comments here. The whole fucking internet has been taken over by children or something. All of you just shut the fuck up and behave like adults, and everything will be great. I’ve never seen such fucking whining in my life!
August 8th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I feel that this is ridiculous. We must ask why the posters here are attacking this person in the first place. Why do we discuss the content of the attacks in the first place? The purpose behind the attacks is more interesting. That these people must attack in the first place is itself revealing and shows how level headed and professional such individuals are. I agree with the last statement by Irrelevant, it sums it up well: “Fuck ‘em.”
August 10th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Geez, I browse through here to dig up some DRM criticism articles as references for something, and look at this shit-storm I found. First off, “Huh?” forgot that everyone who visits a Registry has to agree not to use the material within to harass a registrant or face criminal charges. You can’t use “notifying the public” as an out, it doesn’t work that way. Harassment statutes (and now the new ones coming into play about cyberstalking) do _not_ have sex offender registry information exemptions codified into them. I can’t for example ride down to a courthouse, find that you have a felony conviction, and then run around the Internet telling everyone all about your felony criminal record and expect to just get away with it, citing “potential public danger.” Like it or not, sex offenders have the same rights granted to all other citizens, and that includes the equal protection of the law. You can’t use the fact that someone was convicted of breaking the law to then break the law yourself. Do you think that a jury will relieve you of responsibility just because the victim was an ex-convict? If you do, you’re delusional or power-mad, because that simply won’t happen. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and all it takes is the district attorney to get up there and tell the jury about your vigilantism to get you in deep doggie doo-doo.
As for Jody, considering how you seem to have appeared from nowhere on this page and started all the shit that then ensued, that makes you the instigator, and I say he has handled it fairly well. If he feels threatened enough to file a police report, so be it. Don’t under-estimate what one determined individual can do, and that goes for everyone here. That’s probably why the report was filed in the first place.
What does any of this shit have to do with digital rights restrictions? Not a damn thing. Jon should really delete all of these comments.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I have to agree with Reader’s Write above…the comments on this article are disgraceful and have no relevance to the article at all whatsoever…the comment tree should be pruned, this is not the place for the commission of silly personal attacks.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I want to find the person that posted this cockshit on 4chan and punch them in the penis.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
%3C%61%20%68%72%65%66%3D%22%23%22%3E%2E%2E%2E%3C%2F%61%3E%0A%3C%73%74%79%6C%65%20%74%79%70%65%3D%22%74%65%78%74%2F%63%73%73%22%3E%0A%2E%63%6F%6D%6D%65%6E%74%6C%69%73%74%20%6C%69%2C%20%23%63%6F%6D%6D%65%6E%74%66%6F%72%6D%20%69%6E%70%75%74%2C%20%23%63%6F%6D%6D%65%6E%74%66%6F%72%6D%20%74%65%78%74%61%72%65%61%20%7B%0A%09%63%6F%6C%6F%72%3A%20%23%66%66%66%66%66%66%20%3B%0A%09%7D%0A%3C%2F%73%74%79%6C%65%3E
August 13th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
One thing that is interesting is that when I correlate this page to activity in the Raleigh Craigslist Computer Services page or Chris Flood’s phone number page on 800notes.com, this page only sees NEW Jody-hater commentary appear when something anti-Chris Flood appears on either of the two previously mentioned web pages, even if it’s unclear if Jody is doing the negative posting, or even if it’s clear that he is *not* doing it. From this we can conclude that negative posts, especially the most recent ones, are Chris Flood posting anonymously as “revenge” for a perceived wrong, focusing on a concrete (Jody) instead of something he can’t as easily target and “defend against” (other anonymous people online).
The first time I noticed it, it may possibly have been pure coincidence. Coincidence of the same thing doesn’t usually happen twice in a row, much less three or more, and while coincidence does not necessarily imply correlation, more similar coincidence only supports the inference that it’s not really a coincidence at all, especially since we’re talking about three or more unrelated websites–unrelated except for Chris Flood’s involvement and attacks against Jody.
August 14th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Pretty much every time Jody OR Chris gets attacked on CL, I and most techs on CL get strange calls, usually from anonymous callers, or harassing emails, often in which the communicator identifies himself as Jody or Chris (and usually the return email address, though not always, is their’s). Though the communications from Chris are foul and full of lies, while Jody’s are just irritating. I think anytime someone criticizes Chris, he assumes it’s Jody, and vice versa, even when it’s not. Bottom line: Both should just obey the rules, the laws, and practice some decency and common sense. Two big losers who can’t get hired anywhere else, frustrated by powerlessness, trying to “exert power” with mostly anonymous keyboard attacks. Pathetic.
August 21st, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Dear “Right…”,
You have not received mail from me. I have not mailed other CL technicians for quite some time. Also, be aware that it is quite simple to forge another person’s address into your message. All that must be done is to change the “E-mail Address:” field in the mail program of choice temporarily and write the message. The SMTP server doesn’t check that stuff, so if you’re getting mail from me, feel free to forward it back to me so I can see what I supposedly said. I’ve been so busy working lately that I haven’t had time to repost my ad but maybe once a week if I’m lucky.
If I can’t even make it to CL to post my ad, why would I mail you at all? If someone attacks me on CL, I don’t even get to see it anymore, because quite frankly, I don’t give a flying fuck.
Jody
September 16th, 2008 at 1:15 am
The shit storm cometh!!!!
September 25th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I posted an ad on CL a while back and got some very nasty emails from Chris Flood. That guy is a scumbag and anyone that does business with him should prepare for the worst.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Now it looks like someone is talking shit about Jody on 800notes.com and CallFerret. I’m amazed that one person scares these I.T. amateurs so damn bad that they have to behave like this. I’m shocked Jody isn’t tracking them down or something…..
October 12th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
It’s all the same person. The guy is psycho.
October 14th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Looks like two people to me, one had a gripe and fixed it with the author, the other is a cock fucknut who can’t leave people alone. I’d fucking shove my thunder-foot up his anus if I met him