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A young woman arrived in a WalMart in near Houston, with ~$4,700 worth of Walmart money orders. It has been proven conclusively that the money orders were genuine, and lawfully hers - but she was charged by the Walmart manager with trying to pass counterfeit money orders. False arrest and false imprisonment (which, by any reasonable definition amounts to kidnapping) committed by a corporation. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6932914.html

WalMart did not arrest and imprison the woman, the government did. WalMart has no power whatsoever to come to my home and arrest me. No power whatsoever to throw me in jail. The most WalMart can do is file a complaint with the government, just like any citizen can.

and they also enable the gubbermint to monitor your telephone traffic without warrants. http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2008/01/senate-blocks-vote-on-surveillance-bill-that-would-grant-telecom-immunity.ars

Once again, it is not the government that enables (or prevents) the corporation from doing this and not the other way around.

Corporations don't knock your door down, and sieze your goods? How about taking your property at gunpoint, in public, with witnesses? California

May 15-16, 2002 - The RIAA and Fonovisa representatives executed a series of voluntary surrender actions at two flea markets in Indio, CA and Torrance, CA. 11 vendors were issued notices and 3,637 alleged illicit sound recordings were recovered from both locations. Artist recordings seized included works from top-selling acts such as Thalia and Shaggy. http://www.grayzone.com/october2008busts.htm

Don't let the terminology fool you, in that story. A "voluntary surrender action" involves the presence of armed men telling you that you can't have certain items in your possession. In most times and places throughout history, this would be considered robbery.

That link doesn't even contain that story. What it does contain are several examples where pirates were found, government authorities were called in, and government authorities took care of the situation.

You are obviously missing the entire point of my post. Filling a complaint with the government and the government deciding to take some kind of action does not mean the person who filled the complaint actually has the power to do what the government can do.

Given the choice between overpowered government or overpowered corporations, I am far more scared of overpowered government because government has FAR more power to dramatically affect my life.

Corporations can't do what, exactly? Perhaps you should check out some of the draconian moves made by corporations over the past years.

A young woman arrived in a WalMart in near Houston, with ~$4,700 worth of Walmart money orders. It has been proven conclusively that the money orders were genuine, and lawfully hers - but she was charged by the Walmart manager with trying to pass counterfeit money orders. False arrest and false imprisonment (which, by any reasonable definition amounts to kidnapping) committed by a corporation. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6932914.html

Corporations routinely monitor your internet traffice, as well as your cell phone traffic, for reasons of their own, and they also enable the gubbermint to monitor your telephone traffic without warrants. http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2008/01/senate-blocks-vote-on-surveillance-bill-that-would-grant-telecom-immunity.ars

Corporations don't knock your door down, and sieze your goods? How about taking your property at gunpoint, in public, with witnesses? California

May 15-16, 2002 - The RIAA and Fonovisa representatives executed a series of voluntary surrender actions at two flea markets in Indio, CA and Torrance, CA. 11 vendors were issued notices and 3,637 alleged illicit sound recordings were recovered from both locations. Artist recordings seized included works from top-selling acts such as Thalia and Shaggy. http://www.grayzone.com/october2008busts.htm

Don't let the terminology fool you, in that story. A "voluntary surrender action" involves the presence of armed men telling you that you can't have certain items in your possession. In most times and places throughout history, this would be considered robbery.

Corporations do a lot of things that aren't publicized, and the ones that do get into the news are sanitized with meaningless phrases such as "voluntary surrender action".

Given those points as a backdrop, your assertion that what you call "piracy" (and please do stop using industry-sponsored emotive buzzwords) caused the production of films in Hong Kong to fall of is certainly false.

It is no accident that cheap methods of reproducing DVDs coincided with the demise of the HK film industry.

http://cio-asia.com/ShowPage.aspx?pagetype=2&artic leid=2175&pubid=5&issueid=55
http://english.sina.com/taiwan_hk/1/2005/0430/2961 6.html
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/8801/jcnopi racy.html
http://www.pwchk.com/home/eng/e&m_article_apr2003. html
http://www.grayzone.com/hkmarch99.htm
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDP/is _1999_March_22/ai_54400833

The above articles describe economic slumps as a factor, however they point to piracy as the primary reason of the demise of the industry. Basically few will invest in making a new film because the returns are crippled by piracy.

You forget that piracy groups have recently been associated with terrorist groups.

Read these documents.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_displ ay.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000528473

http://news.com.com/Terrorist+link+to+copyright+pi racy+alleged/2100-1028_3-5722835.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,126 0047,00.html

The latter even implies piracy gives terrorists more money than drug sales!

Terrorist groups like Al Qaeda will do more than bust your knee caps. They'll fly a plane into your skyscraper.

Also, piracy is or will soon be a big staple in Mafia fundraising. See this:

http://www.grayzone.com/ifpi4899.htm

The danger in this is that Governments will soon be interested in alleging Al Qaeda or Mafia ties every time they bust an organized piracy group of any sort. Thus, they can justify punishing piracy with much harsher methods in the future.

Who'd have thought in the past that a single charge of mp3 piracy could land you in prison for as long as a charge of forcible rape?

I guess I don't have any problems with criminals being tracked, it would probably be a better alternative for high flight risk accused, than the imprisonment they are forced on at the moment. (So what if they aren't actually convicted of a crime yet...) I think the real question is , What happens when all of us are criminals?

Like the pre-existing state statutes, the new federal statute criminalizes the unauthorized manufacture, distribution or trafficking in sound recordings and music videos of "live" musical performances. However, the federal statute also provides for the seizure of bootleg recordings or music videos manufactured outside the United States by U.S. Customs at the point of importation. In effect, bootleg recordings are now subject to seizure and forfeiture in the same manner as other property in violation of customs laws. The maximum penalties for violating the new law are imprisonment up to 10 years and/or a fine of $250,000.

If we are already paying for it, why more anti-piracy legislation?

Get the people who are SELLING copies!

I think the RIAA owes ME money for the CD-Rs that turned into coasters, backups, and frisbees.

Ironically, the RIAA assumes they have the copyright on everything. So if I buy CD-Rs to burn my own music on, I'm still paying them for the *privilege*.