(Photo Courtesy of Wired)

When I was growing up, I watched many of my peers obtain music through Napster.  Napster seemed to be a great thing for the masses of high school kids who couldn’t afford to pay for their music (or they just want something for free).  However it did cut holes in the bottom line for the recording industry.  12 years later, finally it seems that alliances of companies now actually have the teeth to end or at least curb digital piracy.  How?  By working with your internet service provider (ISP).  You already are bound to the terms of service of your internet service provider which either already gives them or will give them should they modify there terms of use the power to monitor your activities.   Working with the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other trade groups, the major ISPs can actually take action against you.  It is said to have a “graduated response” that will first educate you about legalities before finally taking you to court.  The escalation process I have been told may look something like this:

Level One:  These kind of copyright infringement letters are just written warnings sent to you via email to let you know that you might have someone that is downloading copyrighted material using your IP. They are just generic letters sent by an automation email sender by your ISP.

Level Two: These copyright infringement letters are very similar to the Level One letters except that they usually contain warnings to get you to cease further infringement, and warn you that your ISP may shut off your internet service if you continue to violate copyright laws.

Level Three: These letters are never sent via email. If you get an email letter that is claiming to be level three from an ISP then I would consider it to be a level one or two letter. At this stage your ISP may shut off your internet service at some point. I would recommend that you contact your ISP claim that the files in question were deleted, and that it will never happen again.

Level Four: At this point the letter is threatening to cut off your internet service off due to a breach of the TOS (Terms of Service) agreement with your ISP, or is explaining that your service has already been suspended due to the same. In many cases the letters will be sent by an Anti-P2P organization requesting a settlement of some sort regarding the copyright violations.

Level Five: At this level the copyright infringement letter is sent via a mail service, peace officer, or court appointed official. Usually the letter is in the form of a subpoena to either invite you to court and/or let you know that the litigation process has started. At this point its time to hire a lawyer, and fight it out.

This could potentially stop people as hefty criminal charges could be brought to bear.  For those hell bent on continuing with torrents and other forms of digital piracy, they could always lease and use a seedbox located in a country which does not allow monitoring of traffic.  What boggles my mind is that in order to do something like this, they will actually pay money to maintain their illegal activities.  For most, their is nothing to hide or fear as they are on the proper side of the law.  But beware, evildoers, big brother is watching!

Your Turn:  Where do we draw the line on protecting businesses while privacy is lost?  What should be done to people who abuse the freedom of privacy?

I saw an interesting article over at Apple Insider that said that some of the movie studios were considering an iTunes release for all of the Oscar Best Picture nominated movies this year. Honestly, I really like this idea.  It’s the best I’ve heard in a while.  Here’s why.

I love things like Netflix.  Being able to get the movies I like anywhere I want is really cool. I can sit in the family room with my family and they can watch whatever they want on the big screen TV (except when my Steelers play football!!).  I can grab my iPad, my MacBook (or any other Netflix compatible computing device), plug in a set of headphones and watch MY stuff whenever I want.  I’m still "with" the fam, even though we’re watching different programming. 

Is iTunes the digital media answer?

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Getting ready for work today, I’m very amused by this comic found on p. 6 of the January 24, 2011 edition of ComputerWorld.  Talking with some co-workers, many are ready to jump ship from AT&T.  Verizon, which has an excellent network should be ready for the influx of traffic.   Learning from all of AT&T’s mistakes should and deploying later should help for a very successful launch.    Verizon launches its iPhone on February 10 with preorders for existing Verizon customers starting on February 3.  But if you are planning to make that switch so you can get a rate of $30 a month for unlimited data, you better do it soon as according to NetworkWorld:

Verizon’s McAdam said that the $30 unlimited data plan for the iPhone 4 would be a temporary offer, and that the company would, like its rival AT&T, shift to a more granular tiered pricing model soon.

"This is part of the play by Verizon to get customers to move to the iPhone quickly, and to give AT&T customers a reason to jump ship," Gold said. "It’s not a bad move."

Many believe that Verizon will raise the price of the unlimited data plan to $120 a month.  Current Verizon rates are $15/month for 150MB and $30 for unlimited data with voice plans of $40 for 450 minutes and $69.99 for unlimited minutes.  Couple an iPhone with a service like Line2 for $10 a month or some other VoIP alternative and TextFree for unlimited texts and you have a potential winner – (Line2 I have not tried with a cellular network only my local WiFi but the results are mixed).  So for a potential $80 a month with a VoIP solution or $100 a month for unlimited data and voice (and with TextFree add unlimited texts)!  This deal seems perfect for the IT professional especially with the mobile hotspot where you can get internet linked out (hopefully without further charges from Verizon for tethering but extremely unlikely as they charge for Droid tethering at an extreme rate) to a machine when a client location doesn’t have internet yet.

I’m seriously considering getting an iPhone.  Right now I’m relying on my iPod Touch for everything such as banking deposits, VoIP, credit card processing, texting, Google Maps (load maps first and then leave WiFi area),  contacts, and scheduling.  With Verizon’s deal, I may just be enticed enough to switch carriers and go with an actual iPhone rather than my iPod Touch 4g.

I saw this cool article over at Computerworld by Sharon Gaudin on Google’s parting gift to Eric Schmidt – $100M in stock and options, vested over four years.

Wow!  That’s one heck of a thank you card. I’d definitely say, "you’re welcome!"

The article goes on to state that the management change is likely due to an agreement that Larry Page and Sergey Brin had with Schmidt – You run the company while we gain business experience, then one of us will take over. Larry Page obviously thinks that now is the time.

What to the changes at Google mean..?

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When Steve Jobs took his first medical leave of absence, the entire world held their breath for six months.  Would the company survive?  What implications would his absence have on the company’s product pipeline?  What would the industry say?  What would the industry do?  (and the million dollar question…) How would Wall Street react?

Now that Steve is going out again, this time, with no announced return date, the world is again holding their breath, asking all of the above questions, and EVERYONE seems to be waiting to see what Wall Street is going to do, say, and most importantly, who is gonna wet their pants first and pull out. Everyone seems to be sitting on pins and needles waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for the stock to crash.  All I have to say to all of this is –

Will Steve’s cancer take a bite out of Apple?

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