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BitTorrent User Guilty Of Piracy
DIY News writes "A Hong Kong man has been convicted of movie internet piracy in what is believed to be the first case involving BitTorrent file-sharing software. The man was found guilty of copyright infringement for distributing three Hollywood blockbusters using BitTorrent."
...and in other news, smoking causes cancer!
To think that my mod points expired yesterday. If only I had my last remaining one to mod you up.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I'm not going to take sides in the debate over the Gitmo detainees, but it is far from settled what protections and privileges they enjoy. You may want to look at United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez at 494 U.S. 259. If you don't want to read the whole case, there's a very brief summary here. In general, the protections of the Constitution apply to citizens or aliens within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States who are "part of the national community." These guys are battlefield detainees being held as prisoners of war. They are not in the territory of the United States voluntarily (as was the case in Verdugo). I'm not sure our Constitutional jurisprudence guarantees them much of anything (I'm not saying that's right or wrong, just that it is). Also, these combatants are not sponsored by any state, so (in the Administration's analysis) they're not even subject to the Geneva convention. I'm not a constitutional scholar (so anyone who is can feel free to correct me), but I'm not aware of any precedent that grants enemy combatant POWs any of the rights and privileges of citizens.
Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.