No, Belize is in no way a police state. There is plenty of petty political bickering there, but it's actually one of the most stable democracies in Latin America. If he really thinks he was set up, he ought to go tell his story to Amandala, which is one of the leading newspapers there. And it's strongly anti-UDP. They'll take that story and run it over and over and over.

Don't think for a moment that these guys don't understand why people are using Hulu. This action today shows that they understand quite well. The cable companies are scared shitless that people will cancel and use Hulu instead, and that's why they're doing this.

And yet, they don't get it. They seem to think that this scheme is going to stop people from dropping cable. In fact, all it's going to do is flush Hulu down the toilet. People will still drop cable, but they'll find alternatives to Hulu, both legal and illegal.

You really have to hand it to the entertainment industry. These guys aren't afraid to walk up to their customers, spit in their faces, piss all over them, and then hand them a bill for the privilege. And I'd be willing to bet that the ONLY reason they don't hire Guido, Vinny, and Rocco to handle collections is because the lawyers told them that doing do is a liability issue.

If I worked at Hulu, I'd be updating my resume about now.

Be it ever so humble, there's no virus like HomeWrecker.

This article calls for a classic post, and I'm actually surprised no one else has done this already.

From the LA Times, way back in 1993...

The Day You Discover That Your House Is Smarter Than You Are
INNOVATION / MICHAEL SCHRAGE
November 25, 1993|MICHAEL SCHRAGE | Michael Schrage is a writer, consultant and research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He writes this column independently for The Times. He can be reached by electronic mail at schrage@latimes.com on the Internet

Tele-Communications Inc., the nation's largest cable television company, is in talks to launch a pilot project in conjunction with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Microsoft Corp. to design a "smart home." The home automation industry is expected to triple in size from $1.7 billion this year to more than $5.1 billion by the year 2000.

Nov. 28, 1995:

Moved in at last. Finally, we live in the smartest house in the neighborhood. Everything's networked. The cable TV is connected to our phone, which is connected to my personal computer, which is connected to the power lines, all the appliances and the security system. Everything runs off a universal remote with the friendliest interface I've ever used. Programming is a snap. I'm, like, totally wired.

Nov. 30:

Hot stuff! Programmed my VCR from the office, turned up the thermostat and switched on the lights with the car phone, remotely tweaked the oven a few degrees for my pizza. Everything nice & cozy when I arrived. Maybe I should get the universal remote surgically attached.

Dec. 3:

Yesterday, the kitchen crashed. Freak event. As I opened the refrigerator door, the light bulb blew. Immediately, everything else electrical shut down--lights, microwave, coffee maker--everything. Carefully unplugged and replugged all the appliances. Nothing.

Call the cable company (but not from the kitchen phone). They refer me to the utility. The utility insists that the problem is in the software. So the software company runs some remote telediagnostics via my house processor. Their expert system claims it has to be the utility's fault. I don't care, I just want my kitchen back. More phone calls; more remote diagnostics.

Turns out the problem was "unanticipated failure mode": The network had never seen a refrigerator bulb failure while the door was open. So the fuzzy logic interpreted the burnout as a power surge and shut down the entire kitchen. But because sensor memory confirmed that there hadn't actually been a power surge, the kitchen's logic sequence was confused and it couldn't do a standard restart. The utility guy swears this was the first time this has ever happened. Rebooting the kitchen took over an hour.

Dec. 7:

The police are not happy. Our house keeps calling them for help. We discover that whenever we play the TV or stereo above 25 decibels, it creates patterns of micro-vibrations that get amplified when they hit the window. When these vibrations mix with a gust of wind, the security sensors are actuated, and the police computer concludes that someone is trying to break in. Go figure.

Another glitch: Whenever the basement is in self-diagnostic mode, the universal remote won't let me change the channels on my TV. That means I actually have to get up off the couch and change the channels by hand . The software and the utility people say this flaw will be fixed in the next upgrade--SmartHouse 2.1. But it's not ready yet.

Dec. 12:

This is a nightmare. There's a virus in the house. My personal computer caught it while browsing on the public access network. I come home and the living room is a sauna, the bedroom windows are covered with ice, the refrigerator has defrosted, the washing machine has flooded the basement, the garage door is cycling up and down and the TV is stuck on the home shopping channel. Throughout the house, lights flicker like stroboscopes until they explode from the strain. Broken glass is everywhere. Or course, the security sensors detect nothing.

I look at a message slowly throbbing on my personal computer screen: Welcome to HomeWrecker!!! Now the Fun Begins . . . (Be it ever so humble, there's no virus like HomeWrecker . . . )

I get out of the house. Fast.

Dec. 18:

They think they've digitally disinfected the house, but the place is a shambles. Pipes have burst and we're not completely sure we've got the part of the virus that attacks toilets. Nevertheless, the Exorcists (as the anti-virus SWAT members like to call themselves) are confident the worst is over. "HomeWrecker is pretty bad," one tells me, "but consider yourself lucky you didn't get PolterGeist. That one is really evil."

Dec. 19:

Apparently, our house isn't insured for viruses. "Fires and mudslides, yes," says the claims adjuster. "Viruses, no." My agreement with the SmartHouse people explicitly states that all claims and warranties are null and void if any appliance or computer in my house networks in any way, shape or form with a non-certified on-line service. Everybody's very, very sorry, but they can't be expected to anticipate every virus that might be created.

We call our lawyer. He laughs. He's excited.

Dec. 21:

I get a call from a SmartHouse sales rep. As a special holiday offer, we get the free opportunity to become a beta site for the company's new SmartHouse 2.1 upgrade. He says I'll be able to meet the programmers personally. "Sure," I tell him.

My boss just sent me a link to an article about this. However, it's a Fox News link, so I feel sort of dirty even clicking on it and even more so for posting it. Please don't mod me down, since it's the only link I can find.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/30/visa-mastercard-warn-massive-security-breach-report-says/

You make excellent points, and your solution would make the studios lots of money. Unfortunately, they believe that their way will make them even more money, and they really don't give a damn whether or not they piss off people in the process.

That's the problem with most big companies these days: they have no desire of building good will among their customers. It used to be--and still is for many small businesses--that you treat your customers with respect. Some businesses do this because the owners think it's the right thing to do, but even those who don't care so much about morality might still do it because happy customers tend to be repeat customers, and, even if these businesses get less money per transaction, they will make it up in the long run. However, many large companies don't give two shits whether their customers like them. Their goal is to get as much money as they can per transaction. Will the customer be happy and come back? Fuck that! We'll find a way to make them come back, no matter what it takes. You'd think these companies would have figured out that a good deal of piracy is a direct reaction to that, and, honestly, I do think they've figured it out. It's just that they've decided that they're going to fight fire with fire and attempt to beat the dirty pirates into submission. It's turned into an arms race, and no one is willing to back down, since backing down in our society is seen as a sign of weakness.

Yeah, I know this post really adds nothing new to this discussion, but I just have to say it. Fuck you, Warner Bros.! I'll rip my DVD's--you know, the ones I paid for--on my own computer, in the comfort of my own home, on my schedule, and I'll watch them anywhere I please. And you know what, if I take a notion, I'll even set up a media server and stream them all over my house. And you won't see one extra penny from any of this.

Oh, and I'll show others how to do the same thing.

You guys had a golden opportunity here. You could have offered digital copies of the movies people already bought for a reasonable price, maybe as a streaming option, but no, you not only decided to charge them, but you went out of your way to make it more inconvenient than it would be if they simply do it themselves. You really are a bunch of geniuses. Please tell us where you got your MBA's so we can all go there and develop the acute business acumen that you obviously possess.

I wouldn't say that. How much would anyone be distracted if they were constantly interrupted by a phone ringing, a doorbell ringing, or someone tapping them on the shoulder?

I'd love to see where you work, because I've never encountered an IT department like yours. Most IT people are so overworked that they don't give two shits about what someone is doing online, with one big exception. They will most certainly care if you do something that causes problems that they then have to fix, especially if you were explicitly told not to do it. They may also care if they've been explicitly told to block certain activities by management, and you try to get around those blocks, but, again, you're doing something that's creating problems for them. If you think that they're the only people who can be dicks, then go fuck with accounting, HR, or legal, and you'll get the same reaction.

First of all, have you asked if you are permitted to do these things while you're on the clock? Maybe your job is structured so that you can, but not everyone's job is. But, at any rate, while I don't think a company that allows you to telecommute is going to care if you go in the kitchen and make a sandwich, going to the gym is really pushing it, don't you think?

But, at any rate, using a company laptop to browse the occasional personal Web site is a damn far cry from intentionally altering it to prevent the company from knowing what you've been doing. That's like the difference between using the company car to stop at the store to grab some milk as opposed to using it to take a weekend vacation and then rolling back the odometer so no one will know. I know someone who does use her company car for taking personal trips, and the company pays for the gas, but the difference is that she has been told that she can do these things. It's one of her job perks, and she and her boss are on the same page about it. That's a far cry from what this guy wants to do.