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U.S. Declares War on Intellectual Property Theft
bblazer writes "Reuters is running a story about a new US effort to stop intellectual property theft. From the article "The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday outlined what it called its most sweeping crackdown on bootleg DVDs, fake designer goods, illegal music downloads and counterfeit drugs." It also goes on to say that media (movies and music) is highly affected, but so are products like batteries, baby food and Viagra."
I don't see anyone but Al-Reuters calling it a 'declaration of war'. The headline alone is going to cause a flame war.
When will the US stop trying to "declare war" on abstract concepts like "terrorism," "drugs" and "intellectual property theft"? (Recent) history has shown that things like this just do not work.
He said the Motion Picture Association of America estimates that 2.6 billion songs, movies and software programs are illegally distributed over the Internet every month.
Because we all know how accurate their numbers are...
I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
Is there anything or anyone the US is not actually at war with at the moment?
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
Just in time for the elections. "Hey Hollywood, us government types are doing the job you want us to! How about some more 'donations'!?"
The War on Drugs. Yep that worked.
The War on Terror. Yep that's working: so far two countried fucked up and Iran's next.
So how can we deal with counterfeiting? I know: we'll declare war on it, that always works.
The US Government: the world's leading terror organisation for the last 50 years.
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
Seeing how the "war against drugs" and the "war against terror" went I would be quite worried if I was an american.
while (!asleep()) sheep++
Ashcroft said the FBI also would increase the number of agents assigned to investigations, and develop youth information programs to encourage respect for artists' rights.
Who's rights? The IP owner in this case is the record labels and movie companies, no the artists. When's the last time you looked at the copyright label on a CD or DVD?
As if the people behind this move are not rich enough, they want to extract the last drop of milk from us. Don't they understand that they are rich because we are the customers?
And like drugs and terror, you'll never stop it.
/, and in the real world).
And unlike drugs and terror, the politicians will never get the support they need from the masses to continue their latest favor crusade to the big cartels.
The war on terror is working because the majority of McWalmart Americans are convinced that them dirty a-rabs are just tootin' to bring their hoity toity core-anne over here and shove it down our capitalist lovin', god-fearin' country's throat.
The war on drugs worked because well-to-do soccer moms were and are scared that their Harvard-bound princesses will end up giving blowjobs for coke, or that their sons will end up slanging yayo in the hood.
What's going to be the hook for Joe Sixpack to endorse the "War on Piracy?" The fact that CD prices may rise even more? That Regal and AMC might up the price from 8.50 to 9 bucks?
Unlike the terror and drug "wars," the middle class constituents that these piggish fucks in DC need to support their endeavors will not see the importance of "waging war" on something that they do not percieve as a threat. They will not see the justice in their sons and daughters becoming someone's bitch in a maximum security prison for what amounts to petty "theft" (and yes, I know it's not really theft. But we must keep it simple for the simpletons, both on
The 60 million people who file swap "illegally" in this country cannot all be put in prison. If they try, they'll be met with protest and the backlash from the public. Becausse file swapping is such a part of our culture now that all the laws in the world won't make any difference. They've lost, rightly or wrongly.
RIAA estimates that $2.6 billion worth of revenues are lost and the like through file-sharing - so what are they going to do about it?
Most likely spend several times that amount of money a year in "enforcement" and making sure that the "enforcers" have a job for life.
Sigh... When the US tried to stop the use of alcohol early in the 20th century, did that actually stop the use of alcohol? No! And in addition, there was a lot of crime, because people tend to go to great lengths for what they want.
When the US declared the War On Drugs, did that stop the use of drugs? No! And in addition, there was a lot of crime, because people tend to go to great lengths for what they want.
When the US declares a War on Copyright Infringement (not: theft!), will that stop the infrigement of copyright? No! And there will be a lot of crime, because people tend to go to great lengths for what they want.
Waging a war on something does not solve the issue. Never by itself. An issue can only be solved by looking for the motives that people have for doing things.
Ask yourself: Why do people use alcohol, why do people use drugs, why do people download material from the net? Only when you know people's motives, you can start to change things, because if you don't understand the motives, and just wage a war, you deny people something that they want...
... and there will be a lot of crime because people tend to go to great lengths for something they want.
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The War on Drugs. Yep that worked.
If it ended think of all those poor DEA agents having to get proper jobs.
The War on Terror. Yep that's working: so far two countried fucked up and Iran's next.
Unless Iran actually has WMDs, in which case Syria is most likely next in line.
So how can we deal with counterfeiting? I know: we'll declare war on it, that always works.
Except that kind of copyright infringement which a fuss is being made about isn't counterfeting in the first place.
The US Government: the world's leading terror organisation for the last 50 years.
Whilst the US Government may have made the "top 10" since 1954 it may not have been number one for each of those 50 years. The US Government faces stiff competition from Israel, Britain, Russia and France.
Hmmm, you are a good example of what often is wrong with the USA. How about choosing a solution somewhere BETWEEN "waging war" or "let the bad guys run rampant"? You know, not black, not white, but gray.
no, we should let the CIA do all the drug dealing, and only the terrorists that are US funded should be allowed to run rampant.
/sarcasm
That would be the best solution
Are you suggesting that the government stop trying to aprehend and prosecute hard drug users/dealers?
Because the problems prohibition creates are often worst than any problems that the drugs create. The US gave up on alcohol prohibition for this reason.
First post! Had to comment on this one. I'd say that the situation in Iraq or Afganistan is quite different from the situation in Europe in 1940s. And USA would have happily sat on their assess during the war if Pearl Harbor wouldn't have happened. Hmm... I remember even that it was Germany who declared war against USA (big mistake, should not have done it and world might be very different place now). I'm not endorsing nazi Germany. Soviets would have crushed them by themselves in the end and taking Europe to the dark ages.
Hervanta, Tampere, Finland.
I don't know about you, but I can make a distinction between an isolated act of terrorism on US soil but a party as yet unproven, and the mass invasion of countries and genocide that was being undertaken by Germany.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
And why was the Taliban there in the first place?
Oh right. War on communism. Religious fanatics were better than communism, so the U.S. put the Taliban in charge.
-Amalcon
If you've ever met a real cocaine or heroin addict (there is no such thing as a casual cocaine/heroin "user", only "addicts")
This I doubt. I've seen a lot of studies that show cocaine users as being mostly casual (including our prezodent, so the rumours go), with a smaller core of hardcore addicts.
At any rate, the current witchhunt isn't helping anybody. If it were cheapa to get, then at least the addicts could blow their brains out in peace instead of dying in police raids, hanging out in prisons getting cornholed and robbing people for their next fix. Yeah, that's cold, but it makes sense from a least-harm perspective. Maybe you don't need to legalize Cocaine all the way, but it doesn't need to be this illegal - make it a $100 fine for possession and sell it at the pharmacy to addicts with a script for $2/gram. That way I don't have to worry about the DEA serving a warrant on the wrong house.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
If you look historically at opiate use (heroin is an opioid, or synthetic opiate), you'll see that it very much mirrored alcohol use in our society: the majority of users were able to consume casually, and a small subset allowed themselves to become addicted.
Incidentally, opiate addiction is far less dangerous than alcohol addiction: there are few, if any long term negative consequences to an opiate addiction (as clearly evidenced by the rampant use of opiates amongst artists in the UK, many of who consumed astoundingly high levels of opiates daily and managed to live healthy, productive lives well into their 70s). Unlike alcohol, opiate withdrawal cannot kill. Unlike alcohol, opiates do not cause extreme liver and brain damage with possible dementia.
I won't speak on drugs like crack and methamphetamines, because I'm not remotely interested in them. I think that they're dangerous, but I support people's right to use them if they so choose. If education is given, people will understand the dangers associated with these drugs, and if they decide to consume them anyways, they're playing with fire. Many people partake in many dangerous and silly activities on a daily basis, but we support their right to do so (e.g. car racing?).
The only drugs that I support to be fully controlled are antibiotics, because antibiotic abuse is the only abuse where it's clear beyond the shadow of a doubt that the long-term damage caused by overconsumption will harm society as a whole instead of just the individual.
I would divide your statement in two sections. First, you speak about what they did on the inside of their country. Nobody messed with them about that. They could have killed everybody in their country before others cared about them. International disputes are about international issues. In-country atrocities are easily overlooked by other countries. Like the things people from the US say about China, but they never think about messing with them. The US has now a history of using internal issues of other countries, in order to invade them and pillage what's left, and in the meanwhile showing off their power to kill people. And they call it preemptiveness, or deterrance. Smacking someone, or threats are deterrance, actually killing people by the dozen is just plain common murder.
Then you speak about their relationship with the outside, now it sounds like you are talking about the US, nowadays. The only difference with Germany is that the US has now actually more power to kill than every other nation combined, and that is why they don't get the same treatment, because in this story the US are the crazed bastards killing everybody in their way, but there's noone able to stop them.
>there is no such thing as a casual cocaine/heroin "user", only "addicts"
You're either joking or are painfully naive. A person is no more likely to become addicted to either of the above than they are to alcohol, and less likely than tobacco.
http://www.ccguide.org.uk/addicts.html
>It takes over your life. It creates a dysfunctional circumstance in which the person quickly loses the ability to carry on a normal life, hold a steady job, and maintain a loving relationship with family.
Oh god, you've swallowed the propaganda whole. Poor thing.
-- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!