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MPAA Puts Words in Mouth of CA Attorney General
An anonymous reader writes "In another example of Microsoft Word meta data coming back to bite you, Wired News reports that a document circulated by the California Attorney General to fellow lawmakers supporting new restrictions on P2P software was actually authored by a senior vice president of the Motion Picture Association of America."
You mean government officials are just puppets to large corporations?!
MABASPLOOM!
So I'm not surprised by this. It's been happening for a long time - his pockets (and the pockets of many others) are probably lined with MPAA/RIAA green.
metadata is a good thing, as long as it is accurate and useful. Go Metadata!
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. -Martin Luther
if you switch a few of the words and/or key players in this issue you'd have a tin-foil hat brigade flooding the comments.
I think the MPAA has got something else in Lockyer's mouth too.
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
"But we remain concerned about the potential dangers posed to the public by peer-to-peer file-sharing technology."
Oh thank you! I am so glad that a piece of software for sharing innocous content is being watched by out government so that I am not harmed in any way by the pure evil contained inside.
If P2P software can be used to violate law, the argument goes, its makers should be obligated to incorporate a warning on the product or face liability for deceptive trade practices.
Yes, because we all know that hammers, cars, broken beer bottles, rolls of duct tape, and pieces of rope all incorporate these warnings...
We view with grave concern reports that at least some P2P software developers may be adding features deliberately designed to hinder law enforcement in its prosecution of crimes using P2P software.
Awww, I view with grave concern the fact that the MPAA is paying off government officials so that they can control their market by influencing, greatly in their favor, the laws that are passed and excuted upon everyday citizens.
Whether it is the widespread availability of pornography, including child pornography, the disclosure of sensitive personal information to millions of people, the exposure to pernicious computer worms and viruses, or the threat of legal liability for copyright infringement, P2P file-sharing software has proven costly and dangerous for many consumers.
This is my favorite. Widespread panic techniques. Mention that it has child porn abilities! The exposure to viruses is the OS' and the users' fault not P2P software.
God, what a bunch of trash. Glad that we have these people in office so that others can use them as puppets.
Our Constitution in the U.S. prevents Congress from making any law infringing on our natural freedom of speech. To me, P2P is communication, which is speech. Therefore, the federal government has no mandate to restrict it.
Our 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution allows the State and/or the People to cover anything the federal government can not. Should California desire to restrict P2P, it should be able to. If you disagree with California's take on this restriction, you can move to Arizona or Delaware, or another state that doesn't have such a restriction.
I'm a firm believer that State governments should be manacled by the Constitution as well, and in my perfect world the State would be just as restricted in making laws against speech. But nonetheless, I'd rather see bad laws at the State level rather than the federal level.
Keep the goons in Congress restricted from making laws, and you'll find almost everyone is happier.
I am going to hell and I am going to take all of you with me.
This new governmental policy of letting the corporations dictate public policy has just got to stop. America is being overrun by special interest politics, and with so many politicians with their hands in the cookie jar, the MPAA and related organizations essentially have a free hand in drafting legislation, policy notes, you name it.
I'd be very interested to know whether this Attorney General received campaign "contributions" from the MPAA, and how much. What do you have to pay to buy an Attorney General these days? $10,000? $50,000? I hate that everyone has their price, but what really makes me sad is how low that price is sometimes...
Use the Antiword!
Power is transferring from the state (the general state, not just California) to corporations. If this continues, companies will rule. This is perhaps the ultimate downfall of democracy, and the end point of capitalism.
It gave me an interesting idea, though. If this situation actually happens, or even if it doesn't, imagine a company run as a democracy. Regular elections for CEO (of course there would have to be some accountability rules so they don't milk it for personal gain before stepping down, but that'a already a problem anyway). I can imagine workers for such a company being more motivated, and certainly more financially healthy since the massive salaries at the top would essentially be spread around.
While a staunch anybody-but-Bush voting liberal, even I have to confess that rank corruption in the realm of intellectual property legislation is universal - the voting record declares authoritatively that both Democrats and Republicans alike have, on this issue at least, sold out to special interests with fervor and abandon.
Ah, who cares. I'll continue to reap rewards from vendors and lawyers who send .DOC files.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Considering the MPAA's activity in Tennessee this year. The MPAA is a super-powered lobbying machine, fueled by your movie theater ticket and DVD sales. We initially gave them the power to protect their products, which has been increasingly leveraged by turning consumer dollars into political "donations", which in turn allows them to increase the duration of their copyrights, ad infinitum.
These and many more support meta data. No word processor is safe. If your going to write controversial material, click File, Properties in the menu of your word processor and edit out the meta data!
However, if you kept reading your law book, you could have found that the 14th (IIRC) amendment has been established by the courts to extend the restrictions placed on the government in the bill of rights to the states as well.
IOW, California has no right to do this either.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
Independents like me are also protected by copyright.
But note: if the goal is to "legitimize" p2p so that artists get paid, how would you do it?
Would you add a new Internet tax that everybody should pay?
Would you add new monitoring software so that an agency can track what people are doing on the net?
Would it actually be any more helpful to independents?
Do you think that everybody whose income depends on their ability to sell their own copyrighted work should just have to find another job?
These are the real questions...
Here's what I do: Bitty Browser & Andromeda
The federal constitution is still the supreme law of the land. If you argue the federal government is forbidden from restricting P2P on first amendment grounds, then you can't argue that the state or local government has any more ability to restrict it.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
...speeches by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger are also scripted by the MPAA....
Our Constitution in the U.S. prevents Congress from making any law infringing on our natural freedom of speech. To me, P2P is communication, which is speech. Therefore, the federal government has no mandate to restrict it.
To me, the federal government is my servant and as such they should pay me taxes, not the other way around.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
I would say the document was "shared illegally".
Tsuyoikoto ha taisetsu da ne, dakedo namida mo hitsuyousa (Strength is an important thing, but tears too are necessary)
Okay I think I've almost got it. CTRL-C is cut. CTRL-V is paste. But which key is "file off the serial numbers"?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
This is a big reason why anarchocapitalists (and most libertarians) are anti-democracy: in a democracy, power tends to trickle up to the connected few who can say they have the mandate of the many.
This country was founded on a Constitution that limits the power of the majority. 51% of the country could vote to kill the other 49%, and the Constitution does not allow them to. Don't believe the hype presented by Democrats and Republicans alike, the only mandate they have is for powers specifically delegated to them by the Constitution. Those powers are small, not wide reaching, and very limited in scope.
Living document it is not. If we are to return to personal responsibility, we need to disrupt the current authoritarian control of the federal government.
metadata in Bush memo shows it was written by his dog Spot
This is not my opinion. Actually, it's not even an opinion. And I'm nowhere to be seen near it
PDF!
That's just plain dirty pool. And since when does an Attorney General have time to combat crap like this, in a state where illegal immigrants flow across the border, you have one of the largest open-air markets for drugs, and your state was just taken up the poop shoot by Energy producers.
Screw the media companies. They can fend for themselves. It's the citizens of California the AG is sworn to protect.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
That's because when you get to choose only between the Republicans and the Democrats, in reality, you have no choice at all.
It's about time Americans stopped calling themselves a democracy.
.
After reading the article on Wired, I look up, and boom. I see an ad for MSN!!
This article's mention of product liability warnings reminds me of that Bloom County strip in the 80s where sleazy lawyer Steve Dallas is contemplating whom to sue after getting pummelled and hospitalized by Sean Penn's forehead.
After explaining why he shouldn't sue Sean Penn ("juries love famous people, and he might return to beat up the plantiff"), or his wife, Madonna ("proving liability might be difficult, and she might return to beat up the plantiff"), or Opus the Penguin ("never, ever sue poor people"), he settles on suing the Nikolta Camera Corporation, a "huge, multinational corporation with gobs of liquid cash," on the grounds that they were "criminally negligent in not placing a warning sticker on their cameras that reads, 'serious injury may result from photographic psychopathic Hollywood hotheads.'"
He then finishes up by waving a flag and declaring, "America, Land of the Lawsuit... God bless her!"
I guess the P2P software companies are likewise criminally negligent in not warning people that their products could lead to some harm.
Since there's no warning sticker on this spindle of blank CD-ROMs on my desk, I think I'll see how many of them I can shove down my throat.
On the same subject, have you seen some of the warning stickers manufacturers DO put on their products? Can I get a reply with some examples? I'll start off by citing the sticker on the baby stoller that reads "Do not fold stroller with infant inside."
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
Well sure, but think about how many different breakfast cereals are available!
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
are being studiously ignored in so many other ways?
Let's take a look at guns, for example. REPLACE([Wired Article],'P2P software','assault rifles') and suddenly you've got the arguments for every single pro-gun-control group in the USA. Personally, I'm much more worried about the imminent public danger of a submachine gun than I am worried about the threat to public safety presented by Kazaa. Yet why is the state AG not addressing gun control instead of P2P?!
If we wanted to pull this little idea out a little further, how about we apply it to speeding? Car companies sell us their cars by telling us how fast we can go! McDonalds only recently started cutting back on portion size, but I don't remember any state AGs railing against the public safety risk of a Big Mac.
It's no surprise that our politicians are in the pockets of big corporations. When I talk to people about situations like this, they most often say, "business as usual," shrug, and turn away. Not enough of them get angry and vote. Our politicians are crooked because they are ALLOWED to be.
Why should I argue rationally with someone being irrational? I'll just mock them instead.
Everyone is commenting on the fact that the MPAA wrote this document, but what is more disturbing to me is the actual precedent this kind of thing sets, as mentioned in the article:
And it's interesting that this comes right around the time that Congress is passing legislation banning liability suits against the fast food industry...
So, while Congress says "Hey you have to be responsibile for your own actions with regard to the products you use, even if you use those products as intended", the state attorneys general are saying "Hey if you get in trouble, it's the product manufacturer's fault, even if you're choosing to use the software in a way not intended by the company."
So why not take the EFF's argument one step further? If I drive a Ford to rob a bank, is Ford then responsible also for not warning me not to do so?
Of course, I'll probably get modded down for being off-topic...
Are people really surprised? I have to thank microsoft for the metadata feature. Without it, this particular push by MPAA would have slipped by with fewer people getting pissed. Businesses have been buying influence for a long time people. Get over it. Those who think this kind of isn't happening are living on mars. Just look at the fat tax cuts Bush gave the richest 10% of america. The rich will always try to screw us, unless we educate ourselves and make sure we don't let them. So far, it looks like the efforts of the rick to deprive the middle class is going swell. Public education is getting worse, jobs are going over-sea and business aren't hiring. Life is great, if you're rich. Otherwise, you have to keep bustin' your butt. People need to get out the vote and think for themselves. That means not buying into party lines and thinking critically for yourself.
We're a representative republic. But I guess democracy sounds so much better.
Or something.
I think the most suitable term for describing the innovation by Microsoft Word is meta-data. It symbolizes the real freedom to non-word users like me, and fight against secrets that the public should know. From the case of SCO-Microsoft, to the case of P2P-sharing, this technology opens another world of computer usage of Microsoft Word. Who's benefit from it? Of course are the public.
From another point of view, the usage of meta-data is serious, which means that if you don't want your words logged by anything, you should use plain text editor.
My bad. It was a goverment for the people buy the people.
Then get off your ass and VOTE, or run for office. These days the political climate is overwhelmingly in favor of the little guy, because people are so disenfranchised. If some 80 year old farmer from Vermont can get elected to congress for being a "regular hard working guy", why can't you? There's something like less than a 20% turnover of elected officials these days; our government is chock full of career politicians more interested in getting reelected than actually representing the people or working for good government.
People whine about corporate involvement in government, then do nothing when it comes time to do the one thing corporations can't- actually place a vote, or run for office. Voter turnout in this country is pathetic; 3rd world countries have better turnout than us, and they have to deal with gunslinging "supporters" and whatnot. In Russia, Putin's opponents simply disappear.
What's your excuse?
Please help metamoderate.
The alternative would be that the CA lawyer is just running a pirated copy of MSWord, which was obtained from sources in MPAA....
It is pitch dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
As a P2P software developer and distributor, we believe you have the ability and responsibility to better educate consumers about these known risks, and to design your software in a manner that minimizes the risks. We view with grave concern reports that at least some P2P software developers may be adding features deliberately designed to hinder law enforcement in its prosecution of crimes using P2P software. Companies that engage in such conduct, and fail to meet the important responsibilities referenced above, harm the interests of consumers in our States.
Yes. God forbid we have anonymity or encryption.
[shrug] Well, as I said earlier, I have no interest in following directives like these. Software can be developed privately and via anonymous access through Freenet if necessary. It'd be a pain in the ass, but I'm
* Not interested in adding back doors to my work
* Not interested in stopping work on problems of how to provide secure/nonabusable/anonymous P2P systems (yes, part of that is to benefit users concerned about law enforcement attention).
If the AG wants to do something to go after people operating in legal gray area, he can go after people with radar detectors (speeding can, y'know, kill people, whereas a pirated song only means that a large company gets a small amount less money), or those committing corporate accounting hanky-panky, or any number of other more damaging actions. Admittedly, there aren't people with deep pockets and old-boy connections to the government trying to finance hunting people down (note: AG can also go after corrupt government officials, IMHO), but theoretically that AG was appointed to be the servant of the people, and as the House is demonstrating, popular support for the RIAA is awfully low.
May we never see th
Oh wait.. it's the same comapanies...
Well at least I'll hear about on the radio...
Oh wait those are the same companies too...
Well at least they will discuss it in the next session of congress...
Oh right I keep forgeting.....
Novel theory: Modern Man evolved from psychopath
What do you expect, that's normal business practice.
..."
It's called lobbying.
Big companies talks to politican and tells him: "We know our business better than you.
- P2P is bad for the public in gerneral and bad for my business.
- Terrorist use P2P to coordinate their attacks.
- P2P is used for distributing kiddie porn, P2P Software comes from shady sources.
- These are bundeled with spyware and zombie bots to attack other websites.
- What about $2000 I spend for your reelection champaign?
-
Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
The same has happened in Ohio (here and here) where a new bill has been signed and is now law (thank you MPAA & Gov. Taft) directly written and influenced by big-cinema. When the public (and media) starting questioning the bill and the stealthy way it was snuck through -- also the nagging fact that a cell-phone that takes video snippets can now make you a felon if you bring it to a movie theatre.. (ok, I am exagerating, the first offense is a misdemeanor; the next one is a felony) The MPAA responded to the effect of "just pass the law like it is written and you can always go back and amend it". And, YES, in Ohio you are now a criminal if you press record on any electronic recording device in any public place that has a movie being played (ie. Walmart or BestBuy).
MPAA is also trying to sneak one through in Hartford and probably also your own state legislatures. (A similar law took effect Jan. 1 in California. Michigan lawmakers introduced legislation in December, and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania passed equivalent bills in 1999)
And you truely are a fool if you are one of those who say, well even though *technically* it is the law, they'll never *really* enforce it that way. Forget police state. Just go look at EFF, I'm starting to be worried we'll all soon be living in a corporate state.
Meta-Black-mail. Or Meta-mail.
Meta data terrorism: Meta-Terrorism. Or Metorism.
Gotta go Meta.
[signature]
So does this mean that if I get prosecuted for using KaZaA I can then sue Sharman Networks for failing to warn me of the legal implications of my use of its software?
I'm a firm believer that State governments should be manacled by the Constitution as well, and in my perfect world the State would be just as restricted in making laws against speech.
Um, they are. States cannot make laws which (explicitly) violate the US constitution.
A recent (and highly controversial) example of this would be the US Supreme Court ruling that the Texas anti-sodomy laws are unconstitutional. The majority decision read in part - "[consenting adults'] right to liberty under (the US Constitution) gives them the full right to engage in their [personal] conduct without intervention of the government...".
(Btw, Justice O'Connor agreed with and voted with the majority decision, but in a separate opinion indicated that the law should have been overturned because it violated the 14th Amendment which guarantees equal protection for all persons. Another example of the principle of US law trumping state law).
(Also btw, I am just using the above example because it is a recent and clear example of US Constitutional law trumping state law. I don't wish to get sidelined into a flame/discussion about the validity of decriminalizing homosexual behaviour (at least in this thread)).
So, getting back to the parent's original point - if the Feds decided that P2P was inherently constitutional, it would make it extremely difficult for states to pass law restricting it. Conversely, were the US gubbamint to place significant restrictions on P2P and those laws held up in the federal courts, then that would pretty much preclude it's use anywhere in the US, given the interstate nature of the 'net.
Oh yeah - IANACLE.
- Jeff
"Long as you're not afraid, nobody can run your life for you. Remember that. Hell is being scared of things. Heaven is refusing to be scared." - Tom Robbins
The AG didn't even cite the IP of the hardworking Record Industry Exec. I say he needs to pay for his flagrant copyright violation. Think of the children! What is Stevenson's children supposed to eat, when people are stealing his work wholesale.
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
However, if you kept reading your law book, you could have found that the 14th (IIRC) amendment has been established by the courts to extend the restrictions placed on the government in the bill of rights to the states as well.
Through a process called "Selective Incorporation", meaning that each amendment is applied to the states as soom as a court says so. This is why your local/state can't violate your 1st amendment rights, but it is currently legal for cities like Morton Grove IL to outlaw handguns.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
What I want to see is the Attorney General make an official statement while a senior vice president of the MPAA drinks a glass of water....
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
Young man, turn that computer off.
I said, young man, listen up we're the boss.
I said, young man, you're causing us loss.
You've got no right to download those films.
Young man, there's a place we'll send you.
I said, young man, you're gonna ache when we're through.
I said, young man, you're gonna get the big screw.
You're gonna die young in jail.
It's fun to work for the M.P.A.A.
It's fun to work for the M.P.A.A.
You can supress, all the creativity.
And wipe out those brats for free.
Business, is the king o' the game.
I said, business, the money's insane.
I said, business, no work and all gain.
Everyone of us will get rich.
Congress, is gonna listen to us.
I said, congress, they know we's the boss.
I said, congress, we don't care what it costs.
They gonna do all we say.
It's fun to work for the M.P.A.A.
It's fun to work for the M.P.A.A.
You can work there, with your Harvard degree.
You can change all the laws for free.
M.P.A.A.
M.P.A.A.
M.P.A.A.
M.P.A.A.
Copyright RIAA, 2004. Reproduction in any form strictly prohibited and subject to excessive civil and criminal penalties.
"Since there's no warning sticker on this spindle of blank CD-ROMs on my desk, I think I'll see how many of them I can shove down my throat."
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
It has unintentionally made life miserable for some many people who actually deserve it.
Democracy isn't a system of government, it's a determination of accountability. The US has been a democracy pretty much since the beginning, even when State governments were allowed to pick Senators (because all of the state governments were democratically elected.)
Even the Bill of Rights, long held to be an example of something that trumps democratic involvement and hence, somehow proof America isn't a democracy, is modifiable should the people choose to modify it.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Well, i would easily believe that P2P software is used mainly for trading of copyrighted material and pornography. Even done a search for something other than porn or copyrighted material? Probably some people have, but not everyone, probably not even a majority
Now, I am aware of bittorrenting legally and the like (indeed, I got bittorrent banned at my work because I use it to get redhat isos), so please don't jump on me for actually supporting a point in the article.
Doesn't make it right that they write up these docs for the AG.
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
Go to hotbot.com, click on "Advanced Search", check the "MS Word" box under "Page Content". Then search for whatever you're interested in.
.doc file relating to SCO. One wonders what facinating goodies might be hidden in metadata in SCO documents...
For example, checking this box and then searching for "sco" returns 4600 web pages containing a link to a
May we never see th
> corporation. Unfortunately, I forget the name
> of the person that introduced this.
> -- ravind
The company is called Semco, it's in Brazil, and the CEO is Ricardo Semler. You can read about it in his excellent book Maverick!. He's written a follow up called The Seven Day Weekend which I'm getting when it's available here in paperback.
"If democracy and self-rule are the fundamentals, then why should people give up these rights when they enter their work place? In politics we fight like tigers for freedom, for the right to elect our leaders, for freedom of movement, choice of residence, choice of what work to pursue -- control of our lives, in short. And then we wake up in the morning and go to work, and all those rights disappear. We no longer insist on them. And so for most of the day we return to feudalism. That is what capitalism is -- a version of feudalism in which capital replaces land, and business leaders replace kings. But the hierarchy remains." - Kim Stanley Robinson, Blue Mars, 1996
That's in a case where the water isn't nearly as muddy as with the MPAA's shenanigans. There are legitimate reasons for which copyright laws exist, the MPAA is maneuvering behind those.
I have 10-year-old twins, one of whom once testing a little high for lead levels in my old apartment; gee, I guess there was no danger after all. Is there any cover at all for stacking a CDC board's medical decision with voices from the paint industry?
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
It maybe that Money != Power
But money can buy you power, awful lot of it. And then it maybe that Power != Money
But power can earn you an awful lot of money. It is as simple as that.
It is not only that: the US government is willing to jail a guy for swapping an MP3, and denting the profits of a record company by, say, US$2. But the guy who stole US$7 trillion from his own employees and shareholders goes scott free.
I don't know how one can even consider US government a democracy, when it is definitely not the wish of the people that is being carried out. Money speaks: loud and clear.
The saddest part is, there's really no difference between the Democrats and Republicans when it comes to carrying out the wishes of their big corporate bosses.
And the US is the leader of the free world. And you are not safe even if you are in Australia. Right.... time for me to move to the new planet
Indefinitely Detained US Citizen
So what if artists don't get paid? Who the hell promised that they WOULD get paid forever? Will people will stop making music just because they can't sell 10 million CD:s? No. Can I get a job as a professional scribe, doing nothing but copying bibles by hand? No. Can I make a living building sextants? No.
Beautifully stated. I wish my friends in the movie and music industries would all listen when I try to tell them the same thing. But they won't, so they're doomed to follow the buggy whip manufacturers to death and obscurity.
Besides, artists will always be able to earn a living. Britney and Beyonce may not make millions of dollars a year anymore (actually, those are bad examples, since Pepsi will probably keep paying them both for a while, especially if they do a commercial where they kiss each other, but I digress), but they'll still do better than Joe Sixpack ever will. It's the industry executives, with nothing really to fall back on, who are really and truly screwed.
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
I can't imagine who at Slashdot would have a problem with what happened. It's effectively Open Source Legislating (OSL). The "code" was stamped with the author's name, and was reused with attribution.
[You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
Its time to take political action against the MPAA and RIAA including a campaign to try and reduce copyright length back to the originoal 14 years (with 1 manual extention allowed for 28 years maximum).
With millions of P2P users I am sure a political party (like the Green party maybe) that supports a progressive copyright reform platform can get elected.
I agree with you. I don't normally download copyrighted materials without permission (as far as I know). I have on occasion. Whooptie-doo, come get me. I do download copyrighted works with permission, from indie artists and such. And I downloaded a bunch of Metallica stuff from their website. I was a sucker and bought their latest CD. The only redeeming quality was the passcode included with it that allowed me to download a bunch of free tracks from their website. What if I put those on a P2P network?
See, here is the dividing line for me on this whole issue. There are bad guys on both sides, but there are no good guys that I can see on the MPAA/RIAA side. I don't believe their BS about "protecting the artist" for one AMD clock cycle. They are in it to retain their stranglehold on the music industry. At least with P2P, there are some legal uses for it. Placing restrictions on it for the benefit of the corporations is NOT the correct thing to do. People are using it to break the law? Go after them, that is your right. They tried this, but in a half-assed attempt and got a nice PR road rash from it. The laws are there, they don't have to get any new ones passed. Just because they couldn't easily reach out and grab the perps isn't the rest of the world's problem.
There's no "good fight" here to join...
I think the fight to join is the fight of freedom. With freedom, you have the choice to break the law or not. Without it, your only choice is to conform or to break the law. Look at the recent goings-on with Howard Stern and other DJs who are getting hammered by the puppets at the FCC. Clear Channel is using a government agency to do its bidding. I heard people at work say "I am glad Stern is getting kicked off the air, I hate him." I could have argued, but instead I educated them. It doesn't matter if you like him or not, he is being thrown off the air because he spoke out against Clear Channel, GWB, and the religious right. It doesn't matter if you like him or not, he should have the right to say what he wants to say (within the established rules, of course). He didn't violate any rules. They pulled some clips of him from 3 years ago, and said it violated their standards! And instead of fining him, they just cut his show from their stations. There was no appeal, no nothing. And what he said was nothing you can't hear elsewhere on TV/Radio. It is a farce, and it is only one of many going on in this country. And before you say "Hey, if you hate this country so much, why don't you leave?", remember this - I love this country, and the reasons this country is so great is BECAUSE of our freedom. Freedom that is systematically being taken away from the people in favor of large corporations.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Interestingly, several times I've heard mentioned today flat taxes on media to support artists. ( Rather than replying to one commentor, out of the many, I thought I should start a new thread. ) The biggest arguement to this is that "I shouldn't be charged, I don't listen to music," or "I don't burn music onto CD-Rs."
This is a silly arguement. Not everybody is on is on welfare, but who pays? There are several good reasons for there being things everyone pays into, and only a few people get benefits from. ( Welfare helps to stimulate the economy, single mothers don't horde their cash. )
However, I too think that a flat tax for music _IS_ silly. Why should any person declaring themselve an "artist" get welfare. The issue with flat taxes are not so much who pays, but WHO _gets_ paid.
Remember what happened when the PDF regarding Carnivore was released with the "sensitive material" (like developer names and such) blacked out? Someone figured out how to easily reveal the names and re-released the document, embarrassing the FBI.
After all, if I'm going to be punished one way or another, I might as well take advantage.
This is the exact same reason the murder rates were ridiculously high several hundred years ago in Europe (or at least Britain). There were so many poor people, the theft rate was quite high. The penalty for theft was made death by hanging, and hey, whaddaya know, that's the same as the punishment for murder. So why not kill the guy so you can take more of his stuff with less risk of getting caught?
If the punishments for minor infractions are made similar to those for greater infractions, people will tend to think less of committing the greater. If we're forced to pay more for using the Internet because of the people piracy, well then, why shouldn't we commit piracy, too? After all, we've already paid for it, haven't we?
Of course, they'll still sue you. And levy the taxes on a dozen forms of media, and raise CD/DVD/movie prices. Because they don't get that treating customers as criminals is not the way to handle this, and all they see is $$$$.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
Ninety-nine percent of all laws are passed by the interested parties. The law makers are just reacting to the 'paying' constituency.
Pick an issue, a 'dead dog' issue, and start up some agit-prop about it, real agit prop no the freebie email campaign kind, and you'll be able to get whatever you want passed without recourse to the law.
Your problem is that you aren't pre-emptive. You guys wait until the opposition is 'talking to its friends', who aren't its friends at all but merely respond to whoever makes the most noise, and of course they put the screws to you.
Why wasn't P2P agitating way back since the beginning FOR, instead of trying to row upriver...
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Wow!!! That is quite a plan. Surely it has to work. I think we might be in the midst of one of the greatest cultural awakenings of all time! Why don't we put them on other instrumentalities of crime, such as knives, cars, baseball bats,and guns (i forgot...people kill people, not guns...so label all of the people instead). We can make these warning labeled people register to buy panty-hose and ski masks (wait...some towns have already outlawed those). As we all know, warning lables have rid our society of smoking, drunken driving, and climbing up the wrong side of ladders. We should encourage our lawmakers to keep up the good work. As for the involvement of an organization with deep pockets, I am neither shocked nor surprised. In fact, my faith in the American Way would have been destroyed if business interests weren't somehow involved in the drafting of legislation.
this is the same guy who wouldn't stop the SF mayor from issuing gay mariage licenses. whatever you think of gay marriage, an AG is supposed to uphold the law, and let the courst/legislators make changes. he is a favorite for governor. and you wonder why my great state is so fsck'd up.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
It sounds like you're doing exactly what you're accusing the EFF of doing. If you want to engage in substantive dialogue rather than gross generalizations, talk about what you find wrong with their clearly labelled premises and conclusions.
Personally, I think the concept of a tax is incorrect as well. However, if you've read The Future of Ideas by Lessig, or Digital Copyright by Jessica Litman, you might be more amenable to look at copyright historically, and see that the EFF is actually taking a dangerous route by allowing any compromise in this area (because in the 20th and 21st centuries, the public's side always compromises, while the copyright holder's side always has remained relatively rigid. The result is less and less rights for a public that wishes to participate in culture and not simply consume).
Copyright is an important law, but it is not a moral black/white law, and it has always functioned best when it is loose. As heretical as it sounds to today's ears (inculcated as we have been with an increasingly propertized concept of copyright over the last few decades), I don't think noncommercial usage should require payment, and I think stepping back from a 'solution' that is the only solution we should allow. Any other fix, via a tax or a 'smart' internet which charges and monitors for copyrighted-work transfer, would be a much more serious loss to all the public, including and especially future artists, than noncommercial personal copying.
Haha, why not? They are guilty of treason, tyranny, corruption... Spies get put to death, and these people are far more damaging to our country than most spies. Furthermore, our public officials should be held to much higher standards than citizens.
No, I don't really think killing them would be just, but given that citizens who betray this country are often sentenced to death, I say, "String em up!"
Seriously, some fucking heads need to roll for this sort of thing.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
I don't like to include all the damned names and TLAs of every product that I've used in the human readable text of my resume--looks like hell--but why not pile in all the keywords that their poor software is scanning for into hidden text?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
A system like that just means they're not really held responsible for the quality of the upcoming work. If it gets crappy reviews, they already have the money. This would mean moviemakers would work just hard enough to get popular then release movie after movie with lame deritive plots, poor acting (but of course important celebrities), and repetitive explosions... oh wait.
- Use LaTeX and xv for text and presentations
- Use Word and Presentations, and give the guy a copy
After you do the presentation, if the guy likes you, he'll do a presentation to his boss, who will pick out his favorite projects from the first filtering from his underlings. The underling you presented to is usually lazy, so in all likelyhood, this presentation will consist of cut-and-pasting from your Word and Presentations documents. If you give him the documents inIf I were a lazy administrator drone in the attorney general's office, I would have documents on my desk from MPAA, P2P United, EFF, FSF, RIAA, etc., all in .doc format. I would then read all of the documents, discuss with the attorney general what our stance should be, and cut-and-paste sections presenting that stance from all of the documents on my desk. It saves me time, and avoids duplication of work. It's how the government works.
I don't doubt many politicians are corrupted by the RIAA/MPAA. The fact that they have MPAA-authored text, however, is not direct evidence of this. The best ways to find corruption is to follow the money, as well as to look for unreasonable actions. This may be an unreasonable action, but the fact that the document went through or from the MPAA/RIAA says nothing.
How can they think a tax is the right way to go about this.
Your saying even though I dont download music I have to pay a tax to musicians I hate, and would never listen to, we should have to pay a tax?
Being musicans is their job, if they cant afford to live off their music, they should get a better job.
If the Music industry cant surive off their current technology, they need to change it, not change the world around them.
TruePunk | Games
Mannheim Steamroller is a great example of a successful music group that can't live on concerts, IMHO. I love Chip Davis' work and own all the Fresh Aire and Christmas CDs. But I don't like going to their performances.
I've been to a couple, but the problem is, they sound just like the CD. One, the Ice-Capades-alike, I honestly didn't realize the band was there until the end, when they stood up for applause. I thought they were just playing a CD. Thanks to synthesizors, amplifications, click tracks, and a few other technology bits, the performances are indistinguishable from playing the CD.
If the CD can stand in that well, I don't know why they perform at all. I'd rather just have the CD, thanks.
I know they aren't the only group who does this. I know I've also seen a lot of things like Superbowl performance or Emmy performances that are indistinguishable from the CD (and I don't think they were all lipsynching, though maybe I'm wrong). Living on performances isn't a good idea for a lot of groups who make good music, but don't really gain any benefit from giving a "concert".
It is obvious that artists deserve compensation for their work. Anyone who claims otherwise is a twit. However it is also obvious that the RIAA is not the way to give artists compensation for their work. I agree that it'd be nice to build a perfect replacement for the RIAA then dismantle the RIAA. Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world, so that isn't going to happen. Whatever we replace the RIAA with will also have problems and unfairness built into it, I guarantee. I think that a "pay the musicians internet tax" is a very bad idea, as are taxes on blank media. The main reason is that a) under the current setup the money goes to the RIAA, not artists, b) it charges everyone not just people who want music, and c) It means that my money goes to support bands I don't like, I want more specific payments.
The "Tip Jar" model has multiple problems, primary among them is that it relies on the honesty and generosity of Joe/Jane average. I honestly don't know what a good solution will be, I do know that to meet my definition of "good" any solution must include the destruciton of the RIAA. Not because I hate them, but because its self evident that they are leeches who impede the idea of getting money to artists.
I do know this though: if we can find a way to get even $.50 to a band for every album downloaded they'd be making double what they make now. Hell, I'd pay $.25 per track (around $2.50 per album at an average of ten tracks per album). I think that given the relatively low price people may be more willing to pay than conventional wisdom says they are. How to get and gather those payments I don't know.
"Mission Accomplished" -- George W. Bush May 1, 2003
Just use xtraceroute!
The classic cyberpunk situation of no government at all other than the 'megacorps' doesn't seem to fit too well.
I actually prefer the model in SLA industries, which is a world in which all of the corporations eventually merged into a single huge one which basically makes everything.
If it's active in a particular country, it can undercut or buy out ANYTHING that country's industry can produce several times over, so if it's there, everyone works for them, and then buys stuff made by them. SLA actually print their own money for countries it is active in. Of course, you can choose to be paid in local currency instead if you choose, but since you're inevitably going to buy from SLA eventually and you'd incur a fee turning it back to SLAbucks there's no point.
There are still governments, too. They say stuff sometimes. But basically they know they have the choice of either having SLA in their country or not. If they hack it off, SLA can just leave, leaving the country to build an entire economic infrastructure from scratch with no ability to trade with any SLA-linked nation (SLA won't stop them, but they'll have nothing to offer that SLA can't offer better). So they effectively have control with the illusion of choice.
That's exactly the same kind of "control" that firms have in the real world, which is why I prefer that model.
Everyone is just posting comments like "this is what happens all the time". Well, that may be true, but they can always spin it to appear that they were not influenced (see: Pres. Bush) by contributors.
This is hard proof that our Attorney General (if you live in CA) is undeniably in-bed with the MPAA. If you look up the political donations, and find the MPAA as a big contributor, then not only could you get him kicked out of office, but he could potentially face criminal charges.
It's one thing when corruption is subtle. It's quite another when corruption can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
In accordance with U.S. Law we are obligated to warn you that this device can be used in illegal activities such as Breaking & Entering, Public Defacement, and even Murder. We urge you to maintain usage of this tool (crowbar) in only legally sanctioned activities and remain aware of and avoid these illegal activities.
Mill Avenue Vexations
But we remain concerned about the potential dangers posed to the public by peer-to-peer file-sharing technology.
p2p is terrorism at it's finest! It causes the death of many people, and is more fatal than second-hand smoke! Fellow members of society are adversely affected by your useage of such applications, because surely the data residing on your machine can cause heart problems for your neighbor, will cripple their offspring, and will ultimately blow up their house.
"Harmful to the public." What kind of bullshit are they trying to pawn on us? One can argue that the RIAA and MPAA are harmful to the public, by way of the negative influences upon the younger generations of society. One can argue that I could fend off an army of attacking barbozons with a spoon. One can argue that Rush Limbaugh is both detrimental and beneficial at the same time. I don't know how they can argue that p2p applications themselves, though, are harmful to society.
You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
It'd be nice if this kind of disclosure would be required by law. (Who had what kind of input into this Document, a Change History, etc.)
I don't think it's necessarily bad if this kind of things happens, but it should be transparent.
get 7 free Japanese lessons.
Nowadays in holland we are all hooked up the gas network. How does the coal man and oil man make his living? Answer they don't. They lost their job because of changes in technology. Same with factory workers. Typists. Farm hands. Miners. Type setters. Etc Etc Etc.
Artist are a spoiled lot. Everyone else has had to adjust to technology taking their jobs away. Now it is your turn. Exactly were is it written you are guaranteed to make a living selling pieces of plastic at 100 times production cost?
Maybe you will just have to go back to 100 years ago. Before copyright and the music industry and simply perform live. At least you job is not entirely gone. You will just have to work like all the other performers who work live.
Did shakespear, beethoven and all the other greats need the MPAA/RIAA?
So my answer is: YES. Others have lost their jobs because of changes. Answer me in turn: why should you be excempt?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
The only way this could have happened if they used the MPAA wordfile to add their own text too.
So they did not use simply the text. They used the entire MS word file from the MPAA. You only do this if your own additions are going to be minor. At least that is how it works when I write a document.
Copy and pasting a quote, acceptable. Just adding your name to an MPAA drafter document, unaccaptable.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Write and complaint to the Office of the Robot, er, the Office of the Attorney General of the State of California.
CA State AG Public Inquiry Unit
or
You can contact the Public Inquiry Unit at (916) 322-3360 or, within California, by calling (800) 952-5225.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Warning: it is possible to do illegal stuff with this rock. Doing illegal stuff with this rock is illegal. The Maker of this rock will not be held liable for any illegal activity done with this rock.
"The document proposes an unprecedented legal theory with regard to peer-to-peer file-sharing services. If P2P software can be used to violate law, the argument goes, its makers should be obligated to incorporate a warning on the product or face liability for deceptive trade practices."
So far this story doesn't appear to be getting a lot of mainstream press, but Forbes Magazine does cover it in this article. A lobbyist for the MPAA confirms that they had something to do with it, but the MPAA VP denies authorship: "They sought our input. We didn't write the letter." Otherwise there doesn't seem to be much media interest. Not at all surprising.
I wonder how many of Lockyear's words in this DVD decryption case also came out of the mouth of the MPAA.
Side observation:
In the excerpts from the letter, the attorney general uses the term "consumer" 7 times to refer to the general public. He uses the term "citizen" only once, urging the business audience to be "good corporate citizens." Our government increasingly refers to us as "consumers." Apparently they recognize who the actual "citizens" are, whose rights they diligently strive to enforce.
does anyone else (maybe just non americans?)find this line in particular a bit scary?
In the future, we will not hesitate to take whatever actions we deem necessary to ensure that you fulfill your duties as a responsible corporate citizen.
I'd like to think of myself as a free human being personally, and have feel no responsibility to any corporation, only to me, people I care about, and our dying world.
watch "the money masters" on google video
But the two-party system provides an outlet through which the electorate can voice their opinion on whether upper-class politicians whom corporations have wrapped around their little fingers get into power or well, higher upper class politicians in the pockets of the corporations get into power. Dude, we have like, plenty of choices, yeah?