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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.
...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?
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?)
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.
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.
...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
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
"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.