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PIRATE Act Introduced in Congress
certron writes "Xeni Jardin has written a story for Wired about the "Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation Act of 2004" aka the PIRATE Act. It and another related bill are designed to criminalize P2P filesharing by lowering the burden of proof for law enforcement and proposing jail terms of up to 10 years. The bill was introduced by Sens. Orrin Hatch and Patrick Leahy, both of whom received large contributions from the entertainment industries. Under the bill, even sharing a single file (if a judge decides the value is over $10,000) could land a user in jail. Read the full text of Orrin Hatch's remarks."
So because people are illegally downloading shit they don't own and have no rights to, we should change laws that have been the backbone of music, film, TV, and many other facets of our everyday life? BULLSHIT.
Prohibition was a failure because it was instituted poorly at a time when organized crime was booming. If it had been brought about during the Great Depression things might have been different.
'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
Ya, we don't all live in the US afterall :)
>Think about it this way -- if one or two folks go into a store and shoplift, its a problem. BUT if they get caught, they get a light sentence. Now, what if hundreds went into stores and shoplifted as if it were institutional values?
They call it shoplifting when you physically remove an item without permission.
But when you walk into my shop, and then build one beside it that is identical in every way but the title, they say it's legal and that I have to tough it out.
If I were the RIAA, I'd be asking right now, what makes it legal to steal my ideas. But I'm not.
>Theft is theft.
It is. That's why when I download albums from Kazaa, I make sure I don't delete the uploader's copy. That way it isn't theft, in any sense whatsoever. (Legal, English, and common usage). In fact, in Canada, the right to download music freely is protected by law, that's how much it isn't theft.
For reference, "stealing" appears once in the US Copyright act, used to explain the act of removing a CD/phonograph/tape/whatever from your posession and use and making it my posession. Theft doesn't appear at all.
Also, the dictionary defines theft as:
\Theft\, n. [OE. thefte, AS. [thorn]i['e]f[eth]e, [thorn][=y]f[eth]e, [thorn]e['o]f[eth]e. See Thief.] 1. (Law) The act of stealing; specifically, the felonious taking and removing of personal property, with an intent to deprive the rightful owner of the same; larceny.
Note: To constitute theft there must be a taking without the owner's consent, and it must be unlawful or felonious; every part of the property stolen must be removed, however slightly, from its former position; and it must be, at least momentarily, in the complete possession of the thief. See Larceny, and the Note under Robbery
The other definitions say the same thing, but are less clear unless you look up the used words, such as "larceny".
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Are you English or retarded?
/. history. I'm torn as to which it is.
If you wanted to twaddle your turnips you should have got off your lazy ass and invented your own fucking machine before I did. But you didn't, or didn't have the skills, so shut the fuck up and pay up if you want one.
YOU might not care about my fortunes, but I do you pretentious twit. That's why I've worked my ass off making the best damn turnip thingy ever. I designed it, I built it, why in the naming of flaming fuck should I let some moronic jackass steal my shit and fuck me out of profiting off of my work?
This is either the dumbest fucking thing I've ever read, or the most successful troll in
'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
Excuse me, but I am not a consumer. I detest that word and the image that it implies: fat, greedy, slovenly pigs who can only consume and not produce anything of value. I can create, not just software, but music, poetry and even on occasion, rants which may get modded to "+5" on slashdot.
I may, from time to time, "consume", but otherwise I am more than merely a mouth to feed or a customer to be bilked for everything he's worth. And that perception, I think, is one of the biggest problems of society today.
Nathan's blog
Quite honestly i think that the riaa should be the first entire corporation to be placed in jail for serial rape.
Unlike a lot of people I don't make excuses for my illegal filesharing. I'm a pirate, and I know it. Let's put it this way: If this was the 1700's and the RIAA was a ship I'd have approached it with a white flag flying, set off my cannons at point blank range, boarded their vessel, taken all their treasure, raped their women, killed their children, and tortured their men, then scuttled the ship. I don't complain about outdated business models or unfair laws or corporate greed (I happen to like big corporations, they happen to employ people who pay for my tuition). I don't claim that filesharing is a right. I don't claim copyright laws are bullshit. I don't go off on rants about how artists are getting screwed by the record companies. I'm not gonna lie, I downloaded 1.08 gigs of music illegaly TODAY alone. And I'll do it again tomorrow. Why? Because I like music and stealing it costs me nothing, and much like pirates on the seven seas in the days of old it's more fun, easier, and faster than obtaining it legally. I wear my pirate hat and my hook and my peg leg with pride. Filesharers should stop making excuses and fly their Jolly Roger's with pride, just like us pirates did in the days of old. Now if you'll excuse me, a band I like just released a new album. I'm a pirate, are you?
Bungo!
And? Want a medal?