(no subject)
Jan. 8th, 2007 12:08 am
Jan. 8th, 2007
Why I hate corporate policies.
Jan. 8th, 2007 03:46 pmI have a new phone. It is a cellphone. It was a gift. It is quite spiffy, in most ways.
In some ways, it is not spiffy - and these are not TECHNICAL ways, nor are they necessary ways.
Basically, my phone can play all kinds of different audio files, as ringtones.
My phone can speak to my computer through four or five different ways.
The connection is obvious, right? Make your own ringtones! Hey, the manual for the phone model says you can do this! The website of the provider says you can customise your ringtones any way you want! And they link to the manual for the phone model when you ask how! That means it's easy, right?
Wrong.
You see, the provider (who shall remain nameless but whose name is similar to Irginvay Obilemay) LIES. When they say "customise it any way you want", they mean "you can get a 20 second ringtone, downloadable from our website, and your selection is very limited unless you like Justin Timberlake and Kevin Federline". They've DISABLED the functionality on the phone - actually crippled a listed sales feature on their site and the manufacturer's site.
And when I called support, their stated reason for doing so is "copyright concerns" - as in "you could get music or video from anywhere and out it on your phone".
#1: Uh, yeah. That's the whole reason that FEATURE exists, so I can produce or procure my own music and put it on my phone.
#2: Oh, and this is your business how, again? Copyright concerns? Right, because Dell is liable when people steal music, and Samsung is liable when people trade video tapes, and all that. Newsflash: copyright violation is *my* worry, *my* fault, and *my* liability, and since I have all the rights I will ever need and then some to the material I'm trying to use, I'm not worried. Since I'm not worried and it's NOT YOUR BUSINESS, why the fuck did you disable that feature?
#3: You don't prohibit me from copying it to my phone and playing it as "radio". That works just fine. So, let's take Metallica for a moment: Is playing the CD on my computer illegal? No? Is copying the CD to my computer illegal? No? Is copying it to my phone illegal? No? Is setting my phone to vibrate and manually queueing up the track every time I feel it illegal? No? Then why the fuck have you CRIPPLED MY PHONE to make it so that I can't do just that automatically?
(And if you start saying "yes, it's illegal" at any point, then I will do two things: First, I will point and laugh at your pathetic ignorance, and wonder out loud at your continued ability to breathe with that low level of brain function. Second, I will then point out that, illegal or not (not, for the record), I *can do* all of those, and so your prohibition doesn't actually stop me from infringing copyright)
#4: Hey, are you saying that you, as my provider, hold the position that YOU are responsible for any copyright infringements I make with my phone? That appears to be exactly what you're saying, and you've added functionality to ensure that I *can't* accidentally violate copyright! Wonderful! I've just queued up a Metallica album to automatically push itself to every Bluetooth source it sees, as soon as it sees them - and you're on the record as having said that YOU'RE responsible for all those violations that you're protecting me from! How wonderful that it's not my fault, your phone stopped me from doing anything *else* wrong so how was I to know that THAT was wrong?
The *real* reason they've used misleading advertising to sell a phone with the features they're advertising disabled is that for those 20 seconds of Justin Timberlake, it will cost you $4.
But I'm angry enough to make a stink about the misleading advertising, until I can get them to publically admit that.
In some ways, it is not spiffy - and these are not TECHNICAL ways, nor are they necessary ways.
Basically, my phone can play all kinds of different audio files, as ringtones.
My phone can speak to my computer through four or five different ways.
The connection is obvious, right? Make your own ringtones! Hey, the manual for the phone model says you can do this! The website of the provider says you can customise your ringtones any way you want! And they link to the manual for the phone model when you ask how! That means it's easy, right?
Wrong.
You see, the provider (who shall remain nameless but whose name is similar to Irginvay Obilemay) LIES. When they say "customise it any way you want", they mean "you can get a 20 second ringtone, downloadable from our website, and your selection is very limited unless you like Justin Timberlake and Kevin Federline". They've DISABLED the functionality on the phone - actually crippled a listed sales feature on their site and the manufacturer's site.
And when I called support, their stated reason for doing so is "copyright concerns" - as in "you could get music or video from anywhere and out it on your phone".
#1: Uh, yeah. That's the whole reason that FEATURE exists, so I can produce or procure my own music and put it on my phone.
#2: Oh, and this is your business how, again? Copyright concerns? Right, because Dell is liable when people steal music, and Samsung is liable when people trade video tapes, and all that. Newsflash: copyright violation is *my* worry, *my* fault, and *my* liability, and since I have all the rights I will ever need and then some to the material I'm trying to use, I'm not worried. Since I'm not worried and it's NOT YOUR BUSINESS, why the fuck did you disable that feature?
#3: You don't prohibit me from copying it to my phone and playing it as "radio". That works just fine. So, let's take Metallica for a moment: Is playing the CD on my computer illegal? No? Is copying the CD to my computer illegal? No? Is copying it to my phone illegal? No? Is setting my phone to vibrate and manually queueing up the track every time I feel it illegal? No? Then why the fuck have you CRIPPLED MY PHONE to make it so that I can't do just that automatically?
(And if you start saying "yes, it's illegal" at any point, then I will do two things: First, I will point and laugh at your pathetic ignorance, and wonder out loud at your continued ability to breathe with that low level of brain function. Second, I will then point out that, illegal or not (not, for the record), I *can do* all of those, and so your prohibition doesn't actually stop me from infringing copyright)
#4: Hey, are you saying that you, as my provider, hold the position that YOU are responsible for any copyright infringements I make with my phone? That appears to be exactly what you're saying, and you've added functionality to ensure that I *can't* accidentally violate copyright! Wonderful! I've just queued up a Metallica album to automatically push itself to every Bluetooth source it sees, as soon as it sees them - and you're on the record as having said that YOU'RE responsible for all those violations that you're protecting me from! How wonderful that it's not my fault, your phone stopped me from doing anything *else* wrong so how was I to know that THAT was wrong?
The *real* reason they've used misleading advertising to sell a phone with the features they're advertising disabled is that for those 20 seconds of Justin Timberlake, it will cost you $4.
But I'm angry enough to make a stink about the misleading advertising, until I can get them to publically admit that.