

Most recommended from 157 comments

b10010011

Whats a Posting tag?

join:2004-09-07

Bellingham, WA 1 edit 73 recommendations b10010011 Member If sharing a password is piracy then... Not being refunded for streams I pay for but not use is consumer fraud.



If the stream is already paid for, "loaning" that stream to my son is no more piracy than loaning my son a DVD I paid for. sims

join:2013-04-06 34 recommendations sims Member Piracy. Yep we've gone so far with the piracy rhetoric that now you are a pirate even if you pay for things.



Dude set stream limits and don't worry about it the only other thing you can do is piss off the people who are paying you. rradina

join:2000-08-08

Chesterfield, MO 920.3 39.3

·Charter

32 recommendations rradina Member Petty Cost Savings... I've been around the block several times and whenever stupid ideas are legitimized, the corporation is looking for ways to make up lost revenue and/or cut expenses. Regardless of the old adage that you will never save your way to success, every department is asked to cut costs.



The ridiculousness typically starts with facilities. The facility department is usually tasked with maintaining the campus. What do they cut? Coffee service. Furnishings. Paint. Lighting. Grounds. Cleaning. Trash. Physical security. Plumbing. Bathrooms. OK -- you get the idea. When they "cut" expenses, here's the stupid shit they do:



- Marginally acceptable toilet paper is replaced with paper-thin sandpaper

- Coffee service is reduced to motor oil that few drink or eliminated entirely

- Cleaning is done less frequently resulting in disgusting conditions

- Trash pickup is changed so employees bus their own trash to collection areas

- Pest control is eliminated resulting in lots of spiders, gnats and mouse shit everywhere (only enhanced by trash pickup changes)

- Paper towel dispensers are useless because the new cheaper towel rolls are so thin they jam the mechanisms

- Grounds maintenance becomes optional

- Furnishings outlive their useful lives or are not maintained and become workplace hazards (broken chairs, busted door handles, lights that don't work, broken AV that's never repaired, plugged drains, etc.)

- Hand soap becomes pink slime that has a chemical stench and requires three times as much to lather

- Office supplies are never in stock or require pre-order (yes, you have to order a pad of paper)



The absolute worst is when the facilities director gets a bonus because they hit their target by reducing costs by some target percentage. Truth be told it was thousands of dollars, not the millions needed to truly make a difference. Disregarded is the fact that those savings lowered morale and ultimately increased the speed at which the company is spiraling the drain.



Cracking down on password sharing? I'd bet a paycheck it's a result of the same bullshit shenanigans corporations play when revenue is down and they are looking for "creative" ways to contain costs or stem revenue losses.

Scott

Kneedragger

Premium Member

join:2000-11-13

Stockholm, NJ 1 edit 22 recommendations Scott Premium Member F him. a lot. time.com/money/4707743/h ··· charter/



if i made this much, maybe i could upgrade my cable a tier or two............. if i made this much, maybe i could upgrade my cable a tier or two.............

BBBanditRuR

A Warm Embrace

join:2009-06-02

Outer Rim 21 recommendations BBBanditRuR Member Dumb Pipes



Wink wink... It'd be pretty much a non-issue if the ISP was just an ISP, they'd care nothing about a content provider's issues...Wink wink... Roadkill

Premium Member

join:2008-06-17

united state 20 recommendations Roadkill Premium Member Really? I mean REALLY? What comes next after stamping out all shared passwords? Will there be a push to count the number of people in the room watching? If you watch something twice; should you pay more? This article makes Tom Rutledge sound much like RIAA and MPAA. Will all IP numbers be recorded and tracked with dire consequences if two different IPs log on one customer name? My biggest question: How will you manage to keep any customers if password Natzi's run amuck in America. What used to be a 2 stream customer will become $0.00 dollars from any customer. Go drink some more koolaid Tommy Boy. shmerl

join:2013-10-21 15 recommendations shmerl Member Have they anything better to worry about? Those who want to pirate, already do it elsewhere with ease. Password sharing doesn't change anything in the picture.

maartena

Elmo

Premium Member

join:2002-05-10

Orange, CA 13 recommendations maartena Premium Member Hard to do..... Only way you may be able to do it is only allow connections from the same IP as the first stream that has been started on your account. But this would screw people like me that has 5 static IP's, and where my Roku has the generic assigned broadband IP, I have configured my firewall to specifically award a static IP to my workstation (on which I watch streams all the time) which is completely different.



And I am sorry: I pay for an X amount of streams, and if my wife wants to watch one stream, and I am at work waiting for server updates to complete and want to watch a second stream while I wait.... I should be allowed.

Corehhi

join:2002-01-28

Bluffton, SC 10 recommendations Corehhi Member What ever......same story once again Back in the Napster days the record companies were all whipped up about pirates. What I said back then.



The fact that I downloaded some long lost song is not costing the record company any money since I would never buy it or at least not at their price.



ITunes and you tube solve that problem. Pandora etc. I simply don't have to pay for music legally and the record companies still make a lot of money. I might buy something for 99 cents on ITunes and I'm fine with that. Pretty much every thing is free now.



Same with movies or shows, down the road they end up on NetFlix, Amazon or somewhere for little money. It's to the point where even the kids are talking about shows when they come out on NetFlix because they don't have cable. Very popular in my neighborhood to be a cord cutter. Kids are expensive something got to give and cable TV service is an easy one. Okay kids, you want a cell phone or cable TV, guess which one they pick? I'm also betting that the IPhone X is going to be a poor seller because it's just to expensive for a family plan.

ISPGeek

Premium Member

join:2017-04-02

Saint Petersburg, FL ·Frontier Communi..

10 recommendations ISPGeek Premium Member Full of himself as usual.... "But Rutledge has long whined about the practice, claiming that password-sharing leniency shows a "complete lack of control and understanding in the space.""



The guy really does believe this shit, when it is he that is clueless about the space and pretty much everything else involving the customers he SERVES, yes get it through you head you dope, you are in a service industry, stop telling the customer what they want and need and start giving them what they are asking for. The only thing you are leading is the demise of big cable and the sooner you figure it out the sooner your satisfaction ratings might ease up off the floor...

davidc502

join:2002-03-06

Mount Juliet, TN 10 recommendations davidc502 Member Prices If prices for the service where reasonable, you wouldn't have nearly as much piracy. People pirate because the costs are too high. I'm not saying it is right, I'm just saying that is how it is.

skipon11

Premium Member

join:2005-06-09

Pittsburgh, PA 8 recommendations skipon11 Premium Member Password sharing If it was an issue,these services would be not be making money,HBO is right,it's a non issue! Skippy25

join:2000-09-13

Hazelwood, MO 8 recommendations Skippy25 Member No loss So being that a vast majority of these people would not pay for the service anyway, it is no loss to them.



You may call it Piracy if you want, which watching streams does not full under, but it is a $0 cost loss.

tim_k

Buttons, Bows, Beamer, Shadow, Kasey

Premium Member

join:2002-02-02

Stewartstown, PA 5 recommendations tim_k Premium Member what? quote: ...has reduced the demand for video because you don’t have to pay for it.... If he said that he must be on drugs or something. If he said that he must be on drugs or something. NYC45

join:2017-02-01 4 recommendations NYC45 Member Disney probably feels that paying customers are sharing watch ESPN with friends so that is the reason why their crappy sports network is losing millions. davidhoffman

Premium Member

join:2009-11-19

Warner Robins, GA 4 recommendations davidhoffman Premium Member Password sharing. If Dan the doofus lets the girls in room 222 of the Wayward Women Dorm use three of the four streams and his roommates come back to find they cannot watch various versions of Star Trek simultaneously then that is on him. Netflix and Hulu get paid anyhow, thus the content owners get paid. Dan gets punished somehow. The password gets changed. The girls either suffer without or give up several triple shot mocha cappuccino skinny latte whatever drinks each month to pay for services.

Defiance

Computer Elite

Premium Member

join:2002-09-11

Burlington, WI 2 recommendations Defiance Premium Member hmm In that case I consider Monopolies Piracy.. Quit buying out and trying to merge with everyone Charter. You suck!

Anon4c168

@2601:403.x 2 recommendations Anon4c168 Anon This is not piracy; its actually a common enterprise licensing model In corporate software deployment like high end engineering and graphics design packages, you have different licensing models from the software vendors. This way a user enterprise can get the right cost for their usage profile and the vendor can get the right price for the features they develop and support calls they serve. Think about the difference between a small design firm of 5 partners in one office, versus a 5000 person multinational consultant. The small firm is probably best buying two node locked seats for the two guys that do that work. The multinational has 2000 employees that might do that work, but not at the same time, and buys floating 500 seats. Just a few examples here:



- Node Locked License; license key hashed to CPU/MB/HD serial numbers; MS Windows (buy once)

- Node Transferable License (pool); license key hashed but movable, often in groups, often annual sub'; MS Office 365 (service)

- Floating License Pool; license manager server, often on 1 hr min checkouts, you buy N simultaneous users

- Floating License Token; license manager server, as many users at once, you buy time-tokens, aka metered service



There is no piracy here. HBO and Netflix have a different business model, and its most like the floating license pool (N streams at once only, anyone can use them). They already paid for their content and they are happy with the revenue from selling in streams. The fact that each user is "named" or not does not make them more profit. The vertically integrated ISP want a node locked single license model, because first and foremost, it matches their current set top box model. Cultural change for big companies is the hardest. Tom Rutledge "grew up" under a certain business model with his is cronies, and they cannot see the world any other way. Obviously node lock also give vertical ISP the leverage to strong arm customers into higher prices, short term, but it is not sustainable, and again it is more about being unable to adapt.



Conclusion: this debate is just stupid on both sides. There are a wide array of successful digital rights management models. The right tool needs to be picked for the right job. Don't use a channel lock pliers for a hammer. Don't use a fine cutting blade for a screwdriver. And so on. buddasahn

join:2000-11-27

Brecksville, OH 2 recommendations buddasahn Member Villainous? Dude...your salary, and what you charge your customers are villainous. DICK! STFU!!!

Rogue Wolf

voted for you for GOAT

join:2003-08-12

Troy, NY 2 recommendations Rogue Wolf Member They Create What They Hate Because these "crackdowns" are going to hurt paying customers, not pirates- they always do. And nobody's going to want to pay for a service that doesn't even let them use what they pay for, even if that is a CEO's wet dream.