MediaSentry Hired By People's Republic of China 267
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "MediaSentry, now called 'SafeNet,' the RIAA's illegal, unlicensed investigator of choice, has been hired by the People's Republic of China to provide DRM for the Olympics coverage. The PRC says it 'owns exclusive rights to the broadcast of all audio and video content via online and mobile distribution channels across Mainland China' and wants to protect it from 'piracy.' I wonder if the Chinese government is aware of MediaSentry's track record — i.e. all the good things it has accomplished so far for the Big 4 record companies."
a match made in heaven . . . (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder if MediaSentry is aware of the Chinese government's track record?
Why still 'MediaSentry' (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why still 'MediaSentry' (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:BWAHAHAHA (Score:4, Insightful)
Tell me again (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:a match made in heaven . . . (Score:4, Insightful)
I wonder if the Chinese government is aware of MediaSentry's track record
I wonder if MediaSentry is aware of the Chinese government's track record?
Meh. They're perfect bed fellows and we all know it. They both excel at exploiting an ignorant public.
This is rich (Score:5, Insightful)
China is arguable the largest pirate nation on the planet, who has next to zero respect for intellectual property of other nations.
Now that their money is at stake here, they want to protect their content.
Funny, that.
Re:Tell me again (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:a match made in heaven . . . (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you have to pay to watch the Olympics in China?
I don't know. Didn't we have to pay to watch them here?
Not as in "pay-per-view", but as in "over broadcast TV"?
Even if we're talking about actually-free channels (do any still exist?), there's still the matter of ad revenue. If people just put clips up on YouTube, that means Google gets the revenue, instead of the Chinese Government.
Re:Why still 'MediaSentry' (Score:4, Insightful)
Everytime I see this company mentioned on Slashdot, they're still referred to as 'MediaSentry (now SafeNet)'. Why? Is it because the MediaSentry name is still so evocative? Just call them what they are and reference the fact that they are in fact that company that used to be called MediaSentry.
Mea culpa. I refer to them as MediaSentry. I don't think a crook should just be able to change its name and clean up its reputation that way.
Re:Why still 'MediaSentry' (Score:5, Insightful)
Everytime I see this company mentioned on Slashdot, they're still referred to as 'MediaSentry (now SafeNet)'. Why? Is it because the MediaSentry name is still so evocative?
It's because the name change is just a cynical attempt to try and get rid of a name that has 'negative connotations' attached to it, like Palladium becoming the Next-Generation Secure Computing Base [wikipedia.org], or the Security Systems and Standards Certification Act becoming the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act [wikipedia.org]. The new name is just designed to confuse people, so we list it alongside the old name to emphasize to everyone that nothing has changed, SafeNet is MediaSentry.
Well spoken. I'm not as eloquent. So I just say that a crook shouldn't be able to clean up his reputation by changing his name.
Enough, already (Score:4, Insightful)
Is there a way to hide copyright/RIAA/MPAA/piracy stories? They don't seem to show up under any consistent category or author. I know I can just scroll past them, but then I'm still stuck reading the summary of every blow-by-blow account of the copyright wars. I know, the *AAs are evil, copyright terms are too long, yeah, I get it, I got it ten years ago, I don't need to hear it repeated ad nauseum.
(Cue -1, Cares About Quality Of Slashdot mods)
Re:whaaa? (Score:2, Insightful)
This is what happens next. (_O_)
The Olympics are pointless... (Score:4, Insightful)
If they do return and win, they may land contracts for a breakfast cereal or two of note and they may appear on the box for a year or two until they have been largely forgotten by the public. Then they go on to write an 'inspirational' book about their 'struggle against all odds' to achieve Olympic stardom. Finally, as their notoriety reaches its nadir, they sign on to do a reality-based television show on the E! channel that exploits their pathetic downward spiral and their life on the lecture circuit 'inspiring' people.
Re:a match made in heaven . . . (Score:2, Insightful)
You forgot Google. ;)
Victims don't have a choice. (Score:4, Insightful)
No kidding - I've no need of organizations that exploit an ignorant public
I think you misspelled oppress above. People do not chose to live in China, inadequate state education, or to be the targets of RIAA attacks. Please do not insult people stripped of their homes and political prisoners with such trivializations. These thugs punish innocent people.
Re:China's Cultural and Political Issues (Score:3, Insightful)
They see a highly consumerist country that weilds their power and lays countries to waist.
Much like the many a muslim fundamentalists think of the US.
Imagine walking the streets of NY, and seeing people spending their resource buying crap.
Thinking they need crap, using practicaly naked bodies to sell crap
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8953172273825999151
I guess they think there is an expiration date to the US way of thinking
So its a point of perspective
G
Re:a match made in heaven . . . (Score:1, Insightful)
I really wish the Olympics were pay-per-view only then I couldn't accidently swich onto it.
Re:a match made in heaven . . . (Score:4, Insightful)
The Olympics sucks. I wont even bother watching them. The coverage is fucking pathetic. If you are not interested in one of the top billing events, you can forget seeing the event at all. last time around I tried like hell to watch TaeKwonDo to no avail. I could only catch some of it in Canada since I live in Detroit. Otherwise, it was a waste.
This time I would like to see some mountain biking. My hopes are not high.
Pay per view Olymipcs. The thought is laughable.
Re:a match made in heaven . . . (Score:4, Insightful)
Isn't this typical of most current governments?
I'd love to disagree with you (you're the only foe I've managed to acquire on /. so I guess I just want to nurture the relationship =) ). But I can't - At least not entirely. Governments are a necessary evil - It makes good sense to organize a system of laws/enforcement, public services, national defense, etc. But, once established, it is a constant struggle to keep the government a public service entity instead of a mechanism for oppressing the public in favor of those that have the most influence over the "public representatives".
Also, I believe that the system in America isn't entirely broken. We have a lot of uninformed people electing bad representatives, but our elections are at worst slightly rigged (too much, but better than many and we're working on it - Even a 1% majority would stifle crooked polling IMHO - Major problem, but the world has no system that's unscammable). The biggest exploitation here is people not bothering to research dodgy information they've been fed and acting on bad pretenses. And, this happens much more on the corporate level than the political level which gives the major corps power to lobby/endorse/bribe the government reps.
China see, China do? (Score:5, Insightful)
Are you suggesting that Twitter has no right to comment on the actions of the PRC or MediaSentry? If you are, then you are following in the footsteps of the PRC and their wish to control information and suppress free speech.
I agree that Twitter is being stupid when he engages in one of his "single-person, numerous-monikas" conversations, but if he wishes to join in an intelligent conversation that he has as much right as you or I to do so.
On the other hand, if you were just informing the GP that Twitter uses a specific monika then I am confused with that fact's relevance to the topic under discussion.
Re:Why still 'MediaSentry' (Score:2, Insightful)
And Nazi supporters grand pa Bush, IBM, Volksvagen, Mercedes....did not change name and yet nobody cares.
Perhaps they managed to regain (or at least some of them..) their reputation using other means, doesn't that sort of prove the point?
Re:a match made in heaven . . . (Score:3, Insightful)
People may view the ads, but they are the product being sold to advertisers by television stations. They have no obligation to buy anything.
There's a very indirect link that's possible here, but no money moves from a viewer to the IOC here except at the sort of remove where you can link everyone on Earth, via Kevin Bacon, to the IOC.
... and please, *never* use the phrase "pray tell."
Re:Victims don't have a choice. (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, a great many people do. It's not North Korea you know; people are allowed to leave.
Re:An easier solution: (Score:3, Insightful)
Because frankly, The Olympics are boring.
Worse, when they come on, it's wall-to-wall coverage with NOTHING but Olympics news. And being a good Slashdotter and "geek" (the computer/networking kind, not the bites-heads-off-chickens kind), I'm not really all that much into sports.
I personally feel the same way about most major sports venues, the Superbowl being a prime target. Just leave it on the Sports channels so the rest of us that don't give a damn don't have to have it shoved in our faces. Of course, no matter what happens, half the people where I work are freaking obsessed with it, so I can't escape it no matter what.
I guess this is a large reason why I don't watch much T.V. anymore. Most of it is marketed to the same people that spend THOUSANDS to watch a bunch of roid-rage millionaires get sweaty for an hour or two. Bleah.