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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."
THIS is a valid reason for the US to not co-op with russia?
Major corruption? Bah
A weak if existant democracy? Bah I say!
But piracy? Close the borders, its war!
I knew the policymakers had deep pockets, but damn!
The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
these guys would it? Nah, they pay royalties to some other russian front who pays to ... well ... not the RIAA.
We must not enter into political arrangements with countries ill-prepared to adequately protect our greatest economic assets.
I don't know which is sadder, that the RIAA has such influence over Congress, or that this might be true.
You cannot legislate away theft. If you want to curb it, you have to remove the economic incentive to steal. For music/video, you do that by making it easier/cheaper to buy the content from a legitimate distributor than to copy it. The "man" thinks they can also do this by limiting the quality of the output from illegitimate sources (using onerous copy protection systems that probably won't work anyway). They need to believe this if they have any hope of maintaining their rather excessive markups on their product. I am of the opinion that they'll kick and scream some more and eventually mostly give up and use pricing to fight piracy. But we'll see....
China has a rather severe ``piracy'' problem as well, yet you don't hear the USA motioning to deny China access to the WTO...
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
Given the huge number of social and security issues that Russia faces at the moment (corruption, poverty, keeping track of its nuclear arsenal) I expect that they will put this item pretty low on their list of priorities.
If the RIAA really wanted this to happen, they would pretty much have to offer to pay for the enforcement and prosecution. I would not be suprised if Russia would accept an offer that involved the RIAA paying for the police salaries, especially since the police would also server more useful functions.
Then again, I dont really like the ramifications of a corporate funded police force that had the full backing and authority of the state.
Good thing that I am basically talking out my ass then, I suppose.
END COMMUNICATION
Even if Russia passes DMCA look-alike laws, they don't have any resources for enforcement.
Because American corporate interests (and especially the RIAA and MPAA) need China as one of the greatest growing markets in the world. As usual, American corporate entities show just how hypocritical and amoral they truly are.
(Yeah, I realise the question was probably rhetorical)
...that any country can "steal" something considered "property" of the other country-without committing an overt, forceful act that would normally be considered an act of war?
Something seems very wrong with this definition of "property", and every attempt to shoehorn it into that box seems to be more of a stretch then the last.
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
This is the same USA that ignores any rulings handed down from the WTO that it doesn't like?
Why is this cartel being allowed to speak for the US, with Senators as mouthpieces? I'd trust them with diplomacy about as much as I'd trust Enron's stock. If they manage to impose their poisonous interpretations of intellectual property law, maybe we'll have the answer to the question "who lost Russia?"
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
That ephemeral, rather than concrete, goods are now being touted as Americas most valuable possessions is nothing short of depressing.
A nations ability to manufacture real goods is the true measure of its vitality.
Which is why we should all consider learning Cantonese as a second language.
Some days it's just not worth
chewing through my restraints.
From TFPR: "The effective protection of American intellectual property has been sorely lacking in Russia ". (Emphasis mine..)
Why should the RUSSIANS (or insert your favorite country here) care for "protection of AMERICAN intellectual blahblah.."?... When first and foremost, they're supposed to be caring for their own "intellectual blahblah"...
And this will somehow pass, and we'll go on trying to get countries to uphold US Law in their own land, and more and more and more people will get to love us, don't you think?...
Geez...
Karma: Bad (but who really cares anyway?)
>> We must not enter into political arrangements with countries ill-prepared to adequately protect our greatest economic assets.
And exactly why should Russia give a hoot about protecting the RIAA's assets? This continues to emerge as a huge issue in international relations.
In the Internet age, the only way to make copyrights & patents work is to enforce them wordwide. And agreements can be made, as long as both involved countries have IP to protect. France, Germany, UK, Japan, I can see why they'd cooperate. But most of the world's nations don't have much commecial IP to protect. I don't see how IP can be protected worldwide without bullying the crap out of a lot of little countries. In fact, I don't think even that will work.
Sure is gonna be messy over the next few decades.
Yeah...on the math... that makes the recording industry more like 0.36% of the US economy, right? Since we're talking about a $40 billion worldwide recording industry we should really count in at least the EU GDP, which is another $10-12 bn, so the recording industry is probably considerably less than 0.2% of the economy. Heck, that's almost visible, if you look hard! I don't really understand why they've been able to cause so much trouble with so little basis.
I really don't think this will go very far in Russia. The Russian's might play lip service to protecting US IP rights, as the Chinese did earlier this year, but the Russian's have too many real problems for this to be a priority.
The music industry is desperate, because the fat profits are drying up. And if that "problem" weren't enough they are being faced with disruptive technologies that almost make them obsolete. Face it, big music labels are only needed for marketing. With a few thousand dollars worth of equipment you can put together a good home studio, make your own CD, and sell your music online. And if you are good enough to get some grassroots buzz, you will probably make as much that way as signing with the big label. As someone said "last throws."
Think Deeply.
The RIAA stands for Recording Industry Association of AMERICA. Last time I checked, Russia wasn't in either of the American continents. "The effective protection of American intellectual property has been sorely lacking in Russia." That's because it's RUSSIA! Not America, you ignorant turdbrains!
"An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought." - Simon Cameron
I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
US companies are the best (worst) at pillaging other countries intellectual property and claiming it for themselves. Just look at native uses for various plants that have been patented by a rotten system, with the original traditional "owners" being denied access to any benefits. Maybe some of these pirating companies and countries see you greedy cunts as fair game. Call me a troll or whatever the hell you want to - I actually dont give a flying fuck either way - but its only a matter of time before other rapidly developing countries - India and China two name two will tell the US to get stuffed, and they'll have the economic clout to do so.
Not to mention complete, balls-out arrogance as to their own importance:
We must not enter into political arrangements with countries ill-prepared to adequately protect our greatest economic assets.
So the RIAA did $12 billion in sales last year (link) That's *total* of all sales, including sales of downloads. In comparison, General Motors had $193 billion in revenue. (link)
You tell me which one's the real "great economic asset".
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
I can't be reading this.. if this is right.. that means wait.. arn't all their cd's made in china.. wait.. we might just get some jobs back in the US.. go RIAA shoot your self in the foot
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
...the US' greatest asset, or more appropriately the rubbish that the bulk of the RIAA and MPAA members produce.
C'mon, now, if that stuff is all our greatest asset, then we're pretty much done for as a country and an economic power. And it's as disturbing that Congress views it that way too.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
To you and all others who dragged in the "Russian Mafia". It is irrelevant, and not just because the godfather lives in the Kremlin. It is irrelevant mostly because there is virtually no "piracy" in Russia. The distribution that takes place is entirely legal and is carried out by legitimate businesses.
Singapore didn't sign on to the Berne Convention until 1998. That was after they had transformed a largely agrarian society into a technological powerhouse in the space of less than a century.
It's not a coincidence, in the sense that the USA pressures any country that wishes to trade internationally to implement copyright protection.
Singapore did the right thing, and built a strong economy first before implementing copyright--like the USA did. Russia made the mistake of implementing copyright as part of the "market reforms" that the west told them would transform their country, and look at their economy now. So now we're going to tell them that the problem is they haven't tried it hard enough...
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Governments are the only form of "checks and ballances" strong enough to stand up to corporations.
Governments are also the means by which the aforementioned corporations come into being, and through which they get their power. Government also was responsible for the "legal person" fiction corporations enjoy, without the pesky responsibility to follow the laws that real people have. Heaven forbid the shareholders might actually held responsible for the company's actions...
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
I honestly don't see how piracy can be rooted out in Russia any time soon. I lived in Zheleznodorozhnyj (near Moscow) for 15 years and the amount of "intellectual property" flowing around is humongous. Out 2000-odd local area network had a dozen local ftp servers filled to the rim with hundreds of gigabytes DVD rips, albums, software and what not. I myself shared 50 gigs or so (shh! don't tell anyone...) It is practically impossible to find legitimate copies of CDs and DVDs, no matter how many tons of pirated discs they publicly crush with bulldozers every week! And, as many people previously commented, it is most rediculous to prevent such a large and influential country to enter WTO because of IP.
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"Godwinning": Calling cliche and quits on any comparison, valid or invalid, to either the ramp-up to power or the actual government of the Nazi party in post-Weimar Germany, and the ascension of fascism in both the U.S. and Russia.
Usefulness: shutting off discussion of actual similarities between the fascist takeovers of Italy and Germany to the fascist takeovers of Russia and the United States. Takes away the most powerful arguments of those who must use the comparison to bring home the fact that Americans gravitate naturally towards a superpowerful, unconstitutional dictator coupled with hypermilitarism, suppression of dissent, and directed fear against a faceless adversary. Oh, like in the last five years.
Godwin! 9-11! Terrorism! War! 9-11! Muslism with nukes! Crazed enemies without provocation! Godwin! Must take out the treacherous Poles, er, Iraqis, before they strike first! No similarities between the Nazi's methodology and the current admin's. Nothing to see here, move along, Godwin, 9-11. Thank you, and 9-11.
Maybe Russia is the home of piracy but the US are the home of the bullying over other countries and people. US people should fight the greedy corporations that would enslave the world.
May Peace Prevail On Earth
Russia is a home of "piracy", that is one of the last areas in the world offering resistance against the evil *AA organizations that are buying laws and corrupting democracy all over the world.
Our only chance for survival of a civilisation is that this criminal industry is sucked empty, their sources of money must be undermined so they can no longer afford to buy laws and politicians all over the world.
I hope Russia stands firm and does not fall for this ongoing WTO blackmail (if you want to join you have to betray your civilians by introducing law such and such).
This is Russia, guys. They don't probably realize what that really means...
First of all, 'Russia' and 'property' are mutually exclusive. Russian society has always been based on the concept of common ownership of assets and the traditional 'obshchina' (~ commonship) values dating back to the pre-Viking times are still as strong here as ever. You don't own anything here, you work for the good of all and add whatever you produce to the common pool, from which you are entitled a share. When Forbes starts to count the money in the Russian richest guys' pockets, I can't help smirking. They don't understand that nobody really owns anything here. Tomorrow your friends may decide that you have too much and gone too far and they come along and say, hey, do you know that things are not done like that? To share is the law!
Yeah, to share is the law. If the concept of 'property' which has always been alien to Russians is somewhat unapplicable here, then the concept of 'intellectual property' is almost an oxymoron here. You don't even 'own' anything in the western meaning here, why would anyone respect rights to something intangible?
Now this might sound somewhat of an exaggeration, but, you have to live here to understand. (Although many of you would rather not live here, depending on how strong your feelings about being able to truly own anything and have certain rights are.)
Now you see where that brings us to. There is no respect for IP here and there won't be any at least for a couple of generations more. There is no moral objection against sharing software, songs or movies at all. There are pirated copies of pretty much everything sold openly in certain specialized markets, and they only way for the legal owners to compete is to ask for the same price as pirates do, which is 70-100 roubles (2.5 to 3.5 USD) for a CD.
And if anyone is going to try to change this... I'd just say, good luck, suckers. You will need a lot of it, and it wouldn't help you either.
It's a Sony. What do you expect ?
The company that brought the single worst piece of DRM crap (their abortion of a rootkit) yet introduced.
Don't want any of this crap ? don't buy Sony. It's that simple.
Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
Well, actually even non-Soviet Russia seems to be pretty good at bullying other countries.
Dude, I suggest that you look at a map sometimes, OK? Checnya isn't a fscking country. It still is a part of Russian Federation, no matter how I oppose the war. And Chechen oil resources are pathetic.
the fact that Americans gravitate naturally towards a superpowerful, unconstitutional dictator coupled with hypermilitarism, suppression of dissent, and directed fear against a faceless adversary.
HEY!
Only fifty-one percent of Americans gravitate towards such a state, thank you very much.
The reason why Godwin's Law (someone will say Hitler) and it's Corollary (that means Game Over) are useful is that regardless of the merits of the comparison, mentioning the Nazis invariably provokes an emotional reaction. Emotion is the enemy of thoughtful, reasoned debate.
There very well are some valid comparisons between the American state today and the German state 70 years ago, but please, if you wish to engage in rational discourse, try not to use language that suggests a party to the debate wants to kill 5 million Jewish people.