Slashdot Mirror
FBI Arrests Eight On Copyright Charges
luigi6699 writes "The BBC reports that 'the US authorities have charged eight people in connection with the illegal trading of copyrighted films, music, games and software over the net.' According to Acting Assistant Attorney General John C Richter, 'cases like these are part of the Justice Department's coordinated strategy to protect copyright owners from the online thieves who steal and then sell the products they work so hard to produce.'"
ANybody have a better link? The BBC article is a bit light on the details. 8 People, Fifteen countries, and that's about it.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
If tomorrow there is a terrorist attack that the FBI failed to prevent because they were busy arresting some copyright violator, I'm going to be mighty pissed.
Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
Africus aut Europaeus?
Glad to see our government is looking out for the consumer.
Arresting teens for committing the hideous crime of downloading music and stopping monopolies right in their tracks.
Ok, maybe not the second part, but 1/2 isn't that bad.
Think what you will about it, but recieving a free copy of something someone else has invested time and money to produce is not a "right."
how someone can be an Acting Assistant Attorney General and not know the difference between theft and copyright infringement.
***Quis custodiet ipsos custodes***
Copyright Infringement
And they all moved away from me on the bench
Well think about this, if they are taken to court or pay an out of court settlement then they might not have enough money to feed them selves (etc.) as they might me heavily i debt(etc.), so then they might turn to crime as means of income. There must be a better way.
another reason to buy an FBI teeshirt, they'll NEVER KNOW WHAT TO DO
anyone remember in once upon a time in mexico when jdepp is wearing the CIA shirt and he's actually in the CIA?
that was awesome.
Heinous news is released late on a Friday so that American reporters may be scooped by the BBC.
Ed Craig "Who cares what you think?" George W. Bush, 4th of July 2001
Or do they only serve the rich?
The article says that they were trading copyright material, but the Assistant Attorney General says that they were selling it... so which one is it?
I never thought I'd ever live in a time where something that is so clearly a civil issue would be come a criminal charge. What's next, arresting people for slander or violating a contract?
How we know is more important than what we know.
Atleast the lobbyists have America's priorities straight.... And Zonk what's with the callus post, you almost make it seem like they don't have our best interests at heart. :*[
There are tons of identity thieves and pedophiles out there that the FBI hasn't gotten around to nailing, either.
Priorities? We're the FBI, we don't need no steeeeeeeenkin priorities!!!
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
Oh that's right, I don't live in America. I wonder if these other countries will actually extradite people to the US? I doubt theyt would in New Zealand as copyright infringement isn't a serious enough crime and imagine the outrage if you got 30 years jail in the US, when convicted killers often get away with 10 years here.
logically, this can refer to the rights of the copyright holders. It is the copyright holders "rights" that are being upheld. Not only are you self-righteous, but self-centered, too. This has everything to do with "rights," you just have to consider it applies to copyright holders.
One actually deprives people of something that they possesed, the other doesn't. Yet which is more heavily punished? It's just crazy.
I had an arguement about copying vs sharing, the guy was saying that copying software isn't the same as sharing, he said if you gave away your copy to the person then that would be sharing. I guess that he also thinks that someone writting down a copy of a recipe for a friend isn't sharing either.
There are many methods that could be used for allowing artists to make money and allowing people to share. One such way that I've thought could be good is for the artists to just with-hold new albums, and saying they need $X amount and once that is reached they will release it for everyone to share. I'm sure that they fans would quickly fund the artist, this way the artist would get money for their art (instead of the big labels soaking it up and dripping a little down to the artists) and more people would have access to the music. The only people that don't like this seem to be those that think 'why should I give money away and then people who haven't get to download the music/movie for free'.
#1) Sometimes a highly visable arrest is enough to deter people from an activity, without allocating many law officers. All the FBI has to do is make an example of one person, charge him with everything, throw the kitchen sink at the guy and make sure he never gets outside of a jail, and that might stop other people from doing the same act.
#2) Follow the money. There would be no FBI without money, and they get their money from congress. Members of congress get elected, and that takes lots of money. I can't give/donate nearly as much money as organized groups like the RIAA, so members of congress won't listen to me. If the RIAA wants music file sharers chased, arrested and prosecuted, and members of congress want money for the next election, guess what the FBI will be doing?
#3) Perhaps terrorists are not a high priority because the politicians in power have been able to take advantage of the attacks. Whenever there is an attack, the people collectivly lose more rights. Police put up camera's in cities to videotape everyone (chicago and boston both have over 3,000 each). Libraries require fingerprints (Naperville). Gas prices soar. Companies like Halliburton get rich. I also noticed a direct relationship between acts of terror and rednecks getting very patriotic, which means they vote republican. For some reason, people in the south think democrats are pussies because we want to understand a problem before shooting at it.
I would also add the uber rich are not scared of terrorism because when was the last time a suicide bomber blew himself up in Beverly Hills? The terrorists target public trains and busses which the avarage joe takes to work. The rich live in gated communities, they have private security in addition to the police. And when the rich call the police, the police know to anwser quickly and with their best officers. The last thing the police departments want is a millionaire with lawyers pissed off at them.
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
Don't I wish I was born in China, and never came to the US?
The eight men were charged with copyright infringement in Charlotte, North Carolina, following two FBI investigations known as Operation FastLink and Operation Site Down.
Didn't opertion FastLink deal with child porn websites? I don't see what it has to do with the "warez scene"...
Scott Swezey
now that's new. hehe.
that sweden was one of the countries involved, does this mean swedish law is changing? Will we soon see the ever popular piratebay being closed down? I know they have always taunted in their legal threats section about how swedish law keeps them running. Curious to know how far the grasp of the DoJ reaches on this.
From TFA "It said that once a film or game is copied, the pirated material is sent to servers throughout the world in minutes and then makes its way to file-sharing networks." I usually get a max of 50 k/s upload max!
Think what you will about it, but recieving a free copy of something someone else has invested time and money to produce is not a "right."
The problem with the system is I can't own a damn thing anymore. There was a time if I wanted to tape something off TV, I would have used a VCR. Now people are paying a monthly fee for TiVo. 20 years ago, people could buy a satelite dish and get all the channels for free on C-band. And back then cable was fairly inexpensive. Today, a "basic" subscription to cable can cost over $60 a month. AND back then there were not as many commericals on television as today. What has changed? Did these companies hire specialists to determine just how much bullshit people can take before they break?
And it is not good enough to have a phone in the house, now everyone needs a cell phone. I had one employer ask me to update my file with my second phone number, a cell phone number. I did not have one. My boss gave me one hell of a look.
And take operating systems for example. There was a time that when I purchased a operating system, I could put it on any computer I owned. Now Microsoft wants me to call in and ask for permission to install Windows.
Every buisness is figuring ways to not sell a product, but to sell a reoccuring service. One day, people won't be able to buy underwear, they will have to buy a license from fruit of the loom. Perhaps washing machines will need to call fruit of the loom before you can wash underwear.
And the music industry and movie industry is doing the same thing. It is not bad enough that they want $10 to see a movie, after half an hour of commericals (what is the point of paying $10 if they will force people to watch commercials anyways, isn't that just like TV?). In addition to the $10 ticket and forced viewing of commercials, the theater has a monopoly on snacks, and they use that monopoly to charge $5 for a soda that probably costs them a thin dime. One year later, the movie gets released on DVD for $29.99. The movie quality is so-so. Three years later a nicer version comes out for $29.99.
And If I want to back up my copy, in case it gets scratched so I have a working copy, the movie industry won't let me. They shut down DVD Decryptor.
And about the music industry. Remember, they kept prices inflated to over $15 a CD. They were sued and they lost. They were ordered to give free CD's to libraries and what did they do? 100 different CD's that would be interesting? NO. They gave 100 identical copies of Christmas songs.
So, no, sharing is not theft. What is theft is what the corporations are doing to people.
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
Yes theft is an often misused concept in regards to copyright infringement, but in this case it wasn't.
In terms of law: no it's not theft. (It's not stealing either). No physical objects were removed from anyone's possession. It's not theft!
A simple test for theft: take a picture of the object before it is stolen, then take another picture after the crime. You can see that the object is gone! If you cannot do this, then it's not theft!
I'll probably be modded down for this...
"......online thieves who steal and then sell the products they work so hard to produce......'" Im sure they work REAL hard, maybe 1% as hard as the average blue collar american? and they make more a minute than I make an hour..... Sorry guys, Not only do I think your grossly overpaid, I have a hard time swallowing calling what you do "Hard work"
The stupidity needed to mod something like this 'insightful' is incredible
This is the single best slashdot troll I have ever seen. Bravo, sir.
Living in China is probably great _IF_ you are one of the _RICH_, well-connected people.
If you're a poor person - well, let's just say that poor people in China are an object lesson about what you get when you let pure, undiluted capitalism run amuck.
Yes, China's economic system is a lot more capitalistic than any other First World country's economic system right now - the U.S.'s economic structure is positively socialistic compared to China's (although I'm sure the U.S. rightwing-nuts are trying hard to fix that - apparently by looting the U.S. government until it financially collapses).
"cases like these are part of the Justice Department's coordinated strategy to protect copyright owners from the online thieves who steal and then sell the products they work so hard to produce."
Wouldn't it be nice if it instead read:
"cases like these, (x="IBM, HP, APPLE"), are part of (y="Open Source")'s coordinated strategy to protect online theives from the copyright owners who then sell the products thousands work so hard to produce."
Have fun modifying the quote yourself. Here's an exciting example to get you started!
x="Garage Bands, Indie film makers, story writers"
y="Creative Commons"
I8-D
I'm wondering why this story is posted on slashdot. It's simply the FBI enforcing the law. Apart from it being nothing new it makes me instantly think that this is relavent because of the assumption that the majority of slashdot readers take part in illegal download activity. I understand that any interesting changes to copyright law in any country or a big new itunes-style movie store might be worthy news, but why this?
These people were likely the old fassioned type of copyright theft, where you make money out of selling illegal copies, or producing good quality counterfiets and selling them to legitimate retail outlets as if they were the real thing.
:)
They definately do need to be locked up, if I pay for software I at least expect it to be legit
I have heard that there is a small startup (in Oakland?) that is developing software that will take source code and manipulate it so that source code and compiled output are different enough from the original to be nearly undetectable. In addition to this software I believe they're planning on providing consulting and development services to take the Open Source code and manipulate it even further to obfuscate the code.
Othes have tried this (Kiss Technologies)) They still got caught based on text strings embedded in the binary.
Jeeeeeebus christ this crap keeps going on and on. Doesn't the Justice Department know the meaning of the word "thieves" or "steal"? Clearly not, as copyright infringement, even for commercial gain, is NOT theft. It's NOT stealing. It's copyright infringement. Just like how it's not murder or grand theft auto, it's not stealing by any legal definition.
The police officer said the "thieves" made money with the illegal trading, but the BBC article said the films were sent to P2P networks. So how do they make money from things that can be downloaded for free? The police also say those 8 people were the primary source of illegal trading. Is that really serious, just 8 people and that's it?
Mod the damned troll down.
You're right but that's only one side of the equation. You want consumers to follow the rules but corporate empires can continue to fix prices, gouge the consumer, whittle away at our fair use rights and we're just supposed to take it?
cases like these are part of the Justice Department's coordinated strategy to protect copyright owners from the online thieves who steal and then sell the products they work so hard to produce.
Amazing how much you can accomplish with a few million in PR money and a high profile K Street lobbyist. Copyright infringement is not theft. No, that doesn't make it okay, but it is most definitely not theft. The manufacturer may have lost sales and be owed money, but no one stole anything from them. What irks me is that no one got up in arms about copyright infringement, so RIAA and groups like them started lobbying the public consciousness and change the definition to "stealing" because that's a better inflamatory term for a call to action.
Now we see someone who should be smart enough to know the difference parroting the RIAA party line. What happens when the same person decides the definition of "terrorist" includes anyone Turd Blossom doesn't like?
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
They'd just have to go to Chinatown, NY NY, to find dozens of people selling DVDs (camrips) and stuff...
There is nothing I want more than to see Hollywood die because of piracy. DoJ isn't the right-wing regime that lefties claim. They are communists.
So, lets say you spent a few hundred hours in your spare time creating something. You release it for free, because that's just what you do.
Someone then took your work, altered it so as to hide its origins, then sold it for $50 a pop.
Now, tell me that wouldn't anger you.
"Well then sell it yourself, and don't release it for free!"
Bullshit. Just because we live in a society thats centered around the almighty dollar doesn't mean we all should succumb to it.
And how is violating a licensing agreement, such as the GPL, any different than violating a law or commiting copyright infringement. You are breaking the law either way. Yes, if you break a licensing agreement, you are breaking the law. You could be subject to fines. A Licensing Agreement is a Legal Agreement between two parties.
If one goes to the trouble of taking code from a free open source program, what's to stop them from finding and stealing code from a closed source or proprietary program? What's to stop them from raping babies and burning crosses? Where does it end?!
How about, someone painted a nice piece, or several, and offerd them online as free images.
Someone else came along, took the free pictures, maybe altered them a bit, and started selling them for a few hundred dollars. Do you believe that is fair? Just? I know our society is not fair or just, but it doesn't mean it HAS to be that way.
Especially if people go out of their way to break the law, or offer software that would break teh law. And that is what this proposed software would do.
I cannot code. I cannot program. But that doesn't stop me from using and advocating Open Source Software.
--quote--
>This is exciting, because most FOSS software isn't accessible to the general public, but by reducing the costs required to produce software by using an existing code base we should see many new products that are actually afordable and useable by the end user population.
---------
o_O
WTF?!
OK.
Mplayer. VideoLan/VLC. Firefox. OpenOffice.
How are ANY of those NOT ACCESSIBLE to the general public? They are offered as binaries, pre-compiled and ready for use. Yes, source code is also offerd if you want to mess around and muck with things. But for teh laymen, its easy enough to download and use. ACCESSIBLE, even!
As for reducing costs for commercial productions by using established code bases, well, its still stealing. And if you use GPL'd code, you either have to release the sourcecode, or NOT USE GPL'D CODE! Yes, someone already did the work.
Incorporating work into your own to speed development is not a new idea, and I know its been done before. But I still can't advocate stealing someone's work that they were offering free, and then charging for it, especially as you'd be breaking the law. BREAKING TEH LAW BREAKING TEH LAW.
Meh. I'ma go bang my head against a wall for an hour now.
Companies can easily integrate BSD code into their products = better code to many end users.
(And while there are some companies using GPL code, they aren't that many)
Microsoft-bashing aside, the fact that they integrated BSD network stack inside their OS really made lots of end users life better. If that code was GPLed, not only those end users would have the bad network stack, but they would probably NEVER use it.
i wish u never came here.
"this may be the case, but it doesn't really matter ... ... ... ... ... ... "
the producers would have developed the software anyways
if there is a coypright violation that has real impact on a developer then they'll just take it to the courts
are so wealthy that they can easily hire a lawyer to defend their IP rights
I agreed that it would be very very hard for the "little guy" to properly defend his IP
by using GPLed code and releasing it as a closed source product
Your justifications for breaking the law, breaching agreements and ignoring licencing are weak. Following these illegal activities is not recomended.
b3 4phr41d 0f my 4bov3-4v3r4g3 c0mpu73r kn0wI3dg3!
MadDwarf
I download a small amount of music (let's say, 10 songs a month) for free, and the occasional movie that isn't out on video (Star Wars: ROTS, only after seeing it once in the theatre), as well as some TV shows I can't get in Canada because of CRTC rules (Real Time With Bill Maher). Sure that may be illegal, but shouldn't it also be considered that the RIAA/MPAA rips me off as I usually by at least one DVD and one CD per month. It's not like I go out of my way to rip people off, in fact, in two of these cases, I only download what I can't even pay for. And now, it seems, I can be arrested for it. What a stupid world we live in...
Child Porn is mythical at this point. Yes, I'm sure it occurs, but there's so little, its mostly used as a justification for any kind of rights loss.
I mean, think of it. If you were running a child porn enforcement agency, your job would be done in about 12-18 months, particularly since the web is a public medium.
All this proves is that the public are idiots who will believe anything the media and governement tells them without any kind of critical thinking.
n/t
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
There are tons of identity thieves and pedophiles out there that the FBI hasn't gotten around to nailing, either.
What would the point of "nailing" pedophiles be?
You don't "nail" Satanists. Nothing wrong with being a Satanist. The problem comes in if some guy starts cutting human hearts out on an altar somewhere -- then you're nailing a murderer who happens to be a Satanist.
Similarly, you could maybe nail someone guilty of sexual abuse of a child who happened to be a pedophile, but what would be the benefit of nailing pedophiles?
Identity thieves, on the other hand, have committed a crime.
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
http://www.riaa.mil/
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
I wonder what the incentive is to bust copyright breakers
over terrorist bombers or drug cartels?
It seems our priorities are in order eh?
we all know the profits of oil companies are _way_ more important. Priorities man, priorities!.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
In the cinema. .. )
Solution? Download some crap wmv to at least satisfy myself.
Should I be guilty?
Should I be bothered?
(Look at me, am I bothered now? Am I bothered? Do I look bothered?
On another note,
My vow still stands rock solid.
After they sued a 12 YEAR OLD GIRL for download some shitty Barbie song.
I've never ever purchase a MUSIC CD EVER AGAIN.
I would buy 2 CDs a month, all after sampling them via downloads.
You fat greedy bastards don't get it.
Music Internet Sharing was doing you a favour - through exposure.
Now eat your own shit.
At least from me you are $200 per year - worse off.
Thick morons.
Oh and I urge ANYONE to boycott buying music CDs as a protest.
Ah yes. It's too bad the FBI can handle only one investigation at a time and only has one field officer... Seriously, why is the parent "insightful" at all? What "insight" does it bring to the table? It's like saying "Gee, I hope the Seattle Fire Department can handle more than one call at a time..." Well, of course they can. Why doesn't the parent just say what he/she means: "I don't like coptright law, and the FBI should have better things to do". That, of course, would not be as witty, but the parent could say something that actually was "insightful".
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
apparently by looting the U.S. government until it financially collapses
Stopping the US government from sucking money out of the economy in the form of Taxes is 'looting the government'??
Wow. You should carry a big sign around on the sidewalk downtown that reads 'High Taxes Are Good.'
Tool.
I wish I had mod points, this is one of the best posts I have seen about how the world is going to hell I have seen in a long time.
Good job
* Carthago Delenda Est *
I took them to my local distribution node, also known as "the library".
Test 1 2 3 4
Over the last couple of years I have sold most of my CDs (several hundred), not gone to a movie and have lived in a world where I listen to a few CDs (the Ally McBeal soundtrack and the Neil Diamond Jonathan Livingston Seagull CD) on an ongoing basis.
Guess what? It doesn't significantly impact the self-perceived quality of my life to any extent.
That would suggest that *much* of the entertainment media (movies & sound-tracks) are "add-ons" -- i.e. they must create the demand and the consumers buy into it.
From my perspective the entire copyright debate tends to boil down to a question of whether or not you are producing something which people are willing to pay to see/hear. From my rather jaded viewpoint the answer is no.
If an individual has a perspective that all copyrighted information will eventually be available for free (which is true to the best of my knowledge) *and* that human lifespan is only limited by our current lack of knowledge with respect to the biology of aging and how to prevent it, then the media producers have a significant problem... I.e. "How do I produce material which people are willing to pay to see now... vs. material which they will (legally) be free to see/hear sometime in the future?"
Even though the material producers have pushed laws which extend copyright protections far beyond their original intent -- the progress in extending the human lifespan has not been locked in stasis either. Unless copyright protections are pushed beyond the maximum feasible human lifespan I will eventually have *legal* access to all of the material for free.
So it would appear the entire "copying" debate is wrapped up in the question of whether or not one has access to it "now" or at sometime in the future. One could obviously draw analogies between the entertainment realm and other forms of self-gratification.
What I want to know is when are they going to get all of those Asian bootleggers off Ebay? Just yesterday, I was on there looking at GBA games and there were so many listings for bootlegs coming out of Hong Kong that I quite shopping. They overrun the site with listings and hardly anybody is bidding on that stuff. THOSE are the people the authorities need to go after because they are actually profiting from stolen merchandise, and they are doing it right out in the open. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to catch them on there anyway?
...All I can say is that my life is pretty strange...
These people were likely the old fassioned type of copyright theft
Excuse me. Did you just say copyright theft? I'd be very interested to hear what that word actually means. Does it mean that someone stole the copyright? Or did you just conjur up a new word to dillute the difference between copyright infringement and actual theft?
Is it really that hard to have an oppinion without distorting the arguments to support it?
That's it for todays pedantish rant. But yeah, I do agree that these people should be locked up.
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
- selling
it?Also, there are many branches at the FBI, so I'm sure one group deals solely with copyright infringement or international theft (and this case apparently falls into both).
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Shouldn't that be:
"Running Linux is like owning a Lightsaber. It's 'an elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.'"
Other then that, I think you're absolutely right. Linux, prepackaged or build your own, it's certainly not as "clumsy or random as a blaster", err, I mean certain other proprietary OS. Hmm, can you imagine if someone created a monopoly on lightsabers? Can you picture the Jedi lining up at the local saber store to get the latest model? (It was supposed to be out years ago but this new Vista-saber does it all man! It must have been worth the wait. I hear it lets you change the color of your blade. Sweeeeet...)
Jabba's Sabers, Inc.--"We're your source for the Force!"
Unfortunately, Jedi mind tricks don't work on him and if you tried it you get to pay double! Yes, Jabba was pretty secure in his galactic-wide monopoly--until the Jedi learned to build their own lightsabers...
Identity Theft & Cyber-Fraud
A close relative was the recent victim of a stealth dialer. She got a phone bill in the thousands, with calls listed to all over the world. The phone co. took the charges off when it was explained to them. The company perpetrating scam was reported to the FBI but they said there was nothing they could do about it.
How can that be??
You are correct, IMO. Priorities are not being set correctly...
I'm not sure exactly the process, i THINK it's related to my IP addy being routed through the local servers around here, but I've noticed that whenever I get to a site with one of a few 'dating personals' banner ads laying waste to the top section of their site, it will come up saying something like "Meet women in XXXXXXXX Today!!!" where XXXXXXX is a town suspiciously close to where I live.
I am VERY wary about my internetting...if a banner ad can yank this info, imagine what everyone else can find out given a proper traceroute program and an IP address.
--"Hm. It seems the waffle couldn't handle it."
The 'you choose not to' argument is becoming bullshit, and this is not modded up enough.
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/press_room/press_rel eases/2005_4157_internetpiracy072805.pdf
...pedophiles out there that the FBI hasn't gotten around to nailing, either.
I don't think the FBI has a chance of nailing pedophiles unless they are a bureau made up of 11-year olds.
Once again, our business-worshipping government, while claiming to fight terrorism, act as terrorists themselves, colluding with corporate terrorists such as those in the entertainment industry to pass ridiculous intellectual "property" laws and arrest innocent college kids.
Our government should instead concentrate on real crimes which involve harm to person and actual, tangible property rather than wasting time protecting their big business buddies in an extortionistic manner while claiming to fight terrorism at the same time.
Besides, if these entertainment companies cannot compete with these so-called "pirates," they are inefficient, bad businesses and thus deserve to go out of business.
Intellectual "property." I can frigging claim photosynthesis as my property and demand "royalties" from every farmer and gardener if I had the force to back me up. So ridiculous. Now you can say the same thing about all forms of property, but in order to maintain a civil society we do need some forms of property, such as land and objects. But intellectual "property" is clearly unnecessary and does more harm than good.
Just my 2-cent rant.
is already beyond the convievable human life span. Looks like you won't be seeing much in your life time.
I'm certain they have priorities.
Do you really want the FBI to allocate 100% of their resources to fighting terrorism and ignore everything else?
Does that mean that buggy manufacturers should have sued Ford for creating a cheap horseless carraige and 'stealing' all of their revenues?
Does that mean if I don't get a job, I can sue the person who did for 'stealing' the job from me?
Does that mean I can get sued for aiding and abetting computer if I put up a 'dell-sucks.com' website and dell's revenues drop?
Your definition is way too overgeneral --- to a point that even though I think I think similiarily to you, I cannot agree. Nobody is obligated to a revenue stream.
'High Taxes Are Good.' (sarcasm)
First off the US does not have "high taxes". In fact by industrialized standards as a percentage they are quite low.
Second Bush is decreasing taxes collected (especially from the rich) while increasing spending not on social services but on... cough... cough... fighting the spread of "weapons of mass destruction" A grade 2 student can tell you if you have a surplus budget then subtract 100 billion in taxes and spend hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons... oh my god.... you end up with a record deficit.
I'm sure extremist right wingers everywhere will eventually use the looming budgetary crisis as eternal proof of poor fiscal management of government because as we all know how well the current crop of right wingers are capable of balancing a budget.
Unlike times of the pharaohs, taxes and laws supposedly exist today to improve all our lives. Not to create yet another police state to protect the rich. I thought we got past this subject with Kings, Emperors and Sultans but apparently some people never learn and lust to be dominated.
I applaud Gates humanitarian efforts but like every bazilionaire out there without the millions of little guys he'd still be living in some cave somewhere.
Bottom line: Argue all the moral, economic and legal rhetoric you want but this is the physical reality. Every human society involves symbioses and the moment elements of that society become parasitic (no matter what ideology they represent) and there is no incentive and dignity for the little guy--- it eventually ends in a giant bloody mess.
~ free... to post to the NSA archives
Oh. Wait. You're a new struggling band and you don't have the money for any of those things? What to do?
I know. Maybe you can convince someone that you're good and/or marketable, and as such THEY can front the money for all the things you can't afford.
Generally speaking, people tend to work for the people who can pay them. Which means that unless your lead singer has a trust fund, none of the people you mention are going to work for you...
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Walk through a science grad school department in the US, what do you see? What happened to the people born here? Oh wait, they all went to business school and got MBA's, and they all want to manage the flow of brain-capital that we "import." Why do we have to import? A child born in the US is not dumb, what's wrong with the system that can't output science graduates? Oh, it's too uncool to be a nerd, you get no respect, because intelligence and wisdom is so overrated. The guys who get the respect are the ones who can beat you up and screw you over. Money money money, and carving out your fair share with your teeth and nails is the only admirable way to be, and when you're easily taken, because you give but don't suck too well, you're to be laughed at, because you can't make it on your own.
Right now, the emphasis is not on value generation, but on "skill to tap the market." Well, news to you, the market only has so much tappable stuff, if everyone just takes and nobody generates. Blame the ones who give having a dilemma coming here anymore. This "tapping the demand" is run amok. Let's promote even more of this system, let's extend copyright from 70 to 90 years, because that enhances the information generation part? Soon we'll even oxygen and sunshine into property, and you'll have to purchase your fair share from the owners that squatted everything, because, after all, you shouldn't get anything useful for free, including sunshine, oxygen, and information. This "tapping demand" drives everything to the point where human dignity means only as much as its cash-value, as its market value. This "free market" is allowed to get out of hand. Basic necessities, such as illness and death, are used to bankrupt just about anyone who living in a sustained debt society. Try to diverge from it, the powers the be, "the invisible hand", will come down with his full wreath upon you. How dare you undermine the sacred flow of capital? I've personally seen people punished into a miserable job and miserable life, and you can tell their biggest sin was saving, and - oh my God! - buying a house by paying cash, instead of a mortgage. He's crazy! He's crazy! Oh my, how would this economy function without mortgages and payday advance businesses being a norm. Just imagine all the jobs we'd lose! Ugh, everyone suck, nobody create. Where is the balance? (By the way, among the advanced nations, only the US and South Africa doesn't provide a national healthcare as a dignity right, even Canadia has it. Maybe I should have gone to Canada, I don't belong here.)
How can you hope for any longterm vision, any kind of long term sustainability? The market shouldn't be everything. For instance, in schools the market doesn't function well, because the rate of return on your investment is too slow - it takes 30 years to properly educate a child, and even then the risk is that they stay dumb and not be geniuses is pretty significant. Talk about wasted investment, money down the drain, improper allocation of resources as far as the market is concerned. How about I put my money into this payday advance business, it generates cash now, within 2 weeks, as soon as payday is here, that's a much more proper way in the "Holy Almighty Market's" eyes.
Consider China in return - when the gov't built a dam to provide electricity, some families protested that they didn't want to move and abandon their homes, because their family has lived in the same house for 800 years. Now that might be quite over the edge, but talk about stability, no wonder they last as a culture. The US that has made it 200 years so far. Talk about mortgages when you lived in a home for 800 years, where are they? Yeah the flow of capital and an economy running in an overdrive doesn't function well in a society and value system that's stable, that only wants what it needs, and knows what it wants - and education first, a future first, stability first. I'm sure even in China these days there are plenty of corrupt, grub first then ethics, live on borrowed cash people, too, they've always been
You've got a cartel situation, with 4 major studios that own the majority of affiliate studios, ditto for record labels and publishing houses. Sticking a feather up your ass doesn't make you a chicken, and having a bunch of subsidary companies that all follow the same rules as the parent doesn't a "free market" make. Of course, you go ahead and keep apologizing for big corporations. It's so cool and rebellious to be against the people who are against "the man."
Are you an example of a identity thief? My brain seemed to malfunction for a second and thought you were one particular linux developer... :)
key phrase in the article: "online thieves who steal and then sell the products"
It's one thing to download warez/mp3's/divx/etc (for personal/backup/try-b4-ya-buy), but to try to profit from it, is displicable (it goes against the ethics of most who enjoy downloading from other peers), and they deserve whatever fait awaits them in the corporate-lobbied court of law.
the only permanence in existence, is the impermanence of existence.
No, getting the government to give lots of money to themselves & friends while at the same time cutting taxes to themselves is "looting the government".
Riiigght...thanks for demonstrating your superior debating skills.
No one can own a song. I have a natural right to copy a CD, and sell that copy. Nothing is being taken from the 'copyright' holder, and No Harm is being done.
Abolish Copyright. Restore Freedom.
Scarcity of information is not 'a general state of things'. Copyright creates an artificial scarcity, and destroys the free market of information.
Abolish Copyright. Restore Freedom.
Monopoly is a board game, and board games are a wholesome activity. Therefore, monopolies must be good for society!
Admit it, you think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
see this excellent and surprisingly large list of rights that marriage gives you: http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=14687 7&threshold=4&commentsort=0&tid=109&tid=219&mode=t hread&cid=12306231