RIAA Sets Their Sights on Russia

Conor Turton writes to tell us that the RIAA has set their sights on Russia for their newest push into anti-piracy. A recent bill was sponsored in the Senate to deny Russia's entrance into the WTO (among other things) if they did not take major action against piracy. From the press release: "The effective protection of American intellectual property has been sorely lacking in Russia. This resolution is significant because it expresses the will of the U.S. Congress that Russia must take effective action against those who would steal America's knowledge-intensive intellectual property-based goods and services. We must not enter into political arrangements with countries ill-prepared to adequately protect our greatest economic assets."

Comments

China and WTO

[mikejz84]

Hummm.....Why did this never come up when China was being admitted into the WTO???

Re:Talk about two faced liars.

[TubeSteak]

They recently agreed to remove all agricultural (export?) subsidies by 2013 or something like that.

http://news.google.com/news?q=wto+remove+agricultu ral+subsidies+2013

So, yes, they like to ignore the WTO, but when the threatened sanctions were large enough, even the U.S. caved.

BTW, this is considered a fairly significant win for the WTO

Depends how far out you go

[MMaestro]

For the most part, China does a good job at funneling tourists and foreigners into certain areas. I haven't been to Russia, but after visiting China I can tell you that you'll be shut out of most areas simply because you look differently, ESPECIALLY if you can't speak the language/local dialect. I've been to shopping areas in the Beijing area where mini-mall sized areas sold bootleg/pirated movies, software, music and hacked video game consoles with uniformed police officers standing around these kiosks openly.

Re:Russia has more important things to worry about

[S3D]

Then again, I dont really like the ramifications of a corporate funded police force that had the full backing and authority of the state.
However coprporates already running prisons in US and some other contries in the world.

The private prison industry in the United States is in the hands of four huge companies that make billions in profits every year ($2.3 billion in 2004 alone) and is in a state of constant growth. The living conditions in those prisons, such as population density, health and the severity of punishment, are disgraceful. Guards with low levels of training are employed by manpower agencies at starvation wages, with a high turnover rate in employment. The violence in those prisons is on a constant rise, as are escapes and drug abuse. Experts who examined the privatized prisons over long periods of time even argue that handing over the prisons to private hands did not make it any cheaper for the state, and that it is difficult, if not impossible, to guarantee proper supervision of such institutions. All this is dwarfed by the most worrisome fact of all: The companies who own the prisons spend millions of dollars every year lobbying for stricter legislation. They say that some 2,000 legislators around the country "work" for them, and make sure to initiate harsher minimum sentences, define new crimes and monstrous punishments (such as the "three strikes and you're out" law in California that sends a person to life in prison if they are convicted of three crimes, even if they are light), promote the appointment of tough prosecutors and cancel state-run rehabilitation plans. They do everything they can to guarantee more profits for the franchise holders.

from Google cache

Re:So this is it?

[owlnation]

For reference, the latest list of non-signatories that I could find is: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Nepal, Oman, San Marino, Tonga and Yemen. I would not want to live in any of these countries, and the ability to pirate music to my heart's content would not make up for the other issues.

Not sure what anyone could have against San Marino or its government. Or why anyone wouldn't want to live there, it's a very beautiful little collection of villages. You do know where it is, right?

Unless of course if you were Swedish, since the longest state of war (technically speaking) in European history existed between San Marino and Sweden, only to end in about 1992.

I've always loved this imagery, a tiny group of villages in the mountains of Italy fighting a country of 8 million famous for their very safe cars, social democracy, Abba and nice pine furniture.

Hail Freedonia!