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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."
In soviet Russia, files share YOU!
MoM++ - A Classic Expanded - [Master of Magic 1.5]
http://mompp.sourceforge.net/
Amazing how much they have in common. Hopefully the RIAA has as much success as the first two.
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.
I'll think of something as soon as I stop laughing at the notion of "American intellectual property".
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Hummm.....Why did this never come up when China was being admitted into the WTO???
On a more serious note: So, the **IA wants to blackmail Russia into providing protection of intellectual property rights or risk not being accepted into the World Trade Organization... Like that will work.. 'cause in Soviet Russia, YOU blackmail music... no wait, that's not right...
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.
Knowledge Intensive Intellectual Property? Please.
Here's some knowledge intensive U2 lyrics for you:
WoooAoo! WoooAoo! WoooAoo! WoooAoo!
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah,
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.
I can feeeeEEEEEEeeeeeel.
I'll subscribe to Slashdot when I see a month without a dupe, a typo, or an article the "editors" didn't read.
in communist russia...
slashdot cliches you
...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.
"knowledge-intensive intellectual property-based goods"
Hey! Wait! I know those three chords - D-A-G.
"our greatest economic assets."
Hey! Wait! I know those... never mind
In Soviet Russia the music listens to YOU!
qz
This is the same USA that ignores any rulings handed down from the WTO that it doesn't like?
I think this article itself proves the corporate stronghold on American Politics.
...subtract the one...
...carry the two...
...that's really only about 8.5% of the US economy, which totals at about 11 trillion.
"greatest economic assets."
Such a statement is ill-worded. The world wide record industry, according to the RIAA site , is a mere 40 billion dollars. Now, this may seem grand, but on the scale of the entire United States GDP, it's only...
If that's bad math, which I have a rousing suspicion that it is, then please be a good samaritan and fix it.
I would also consider it good samaritan-ship to be generous and share music, isn't that what they teach us to do in school? To share? It's not as if a bucaneer would ripping it directly off their site w/o permission, they'd really only be sharing music with their friends?
Is their really any difference between lending a CD to friend and sharing music via online?
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"
The rules made by the US dictate you
fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
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 just picked up a VAIO, and was reading the new license agreement. It now includes verbiage that SONY has the right (or a third party) to monitor the system. I have HIPAA covered data on my network, and can not allow anyone access to this data whatsoever, even if they are saying that they are looking for something else. Even a hint of a leak could cause a penalty to be triggered. I guess SONY has lost this sale. For anyone else, I would advise you ALL to look carefully at the license agreements, and think twice about SONY.
I was wondering if anyone knows how much money it costs to buy a piece of legislation. It is a well established fact that our elected officials are addicted to contributions, gifts, and other quid pro quo from special interest groups. I suspect it only costs around $5,000 to $10,000 to get a piece of legislation introduced.
If that is the case, we could start the Slashdot Political Action Committee and bury the RIAA/MPAA with some really interesting legislation. Just a thought.
>> 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.
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.
Sorry, but "In Soviet Russia..." jokes are a copyrighted material by the RIAA.
In Soviet Russia, the ecording Industry Association of America owns you!
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!
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/10be
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
AllOfMp3.com is legal.
;-)
gotcha
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.
.... being fed their own testicles before being stuffed in a trunk.
I have a hard time imagining that Russian piracy rings would be filled with nice-nice people who would be scared of a few lawsuits or even Russian "law enforcement."
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
That's funny because I proxy all my peer-to-peer traffic through a server in Russia. I wonder if my mass downloading has anything to do with this?
As I recall, Hitler's fatal mistake was to attempt to conquer Russia, as well.
;)
I wonder if this parallel is symbolic of anything?
(To the lemmings who will doubtless now pour out of the woodwork screaming about Godwin's Law, please go back to sleep. That law refers to gratuitous overuse of references to Hitler or the Nazis...it doesn't say they should not be mentioned at all. Although even if it did, personally I'd hardly care...so don't bother.)
One way China is ahead of the game is their artists / music industry have given up on CD sales revenue. The artist makes money, or tries to, by selling concert tickets and with marketing tie-ins. In India bootlegs are available the day they are released. It won't come as much of a suprise to \.ers that, as the US moves toward this model, it is corporate profits and support staff who seem to be taking the heat / losing the livelyhood.
As a career sideman, I feel no pain for the old industry passing (especially the lawyers), but the job of recording engineer is going the way of the hatmaker. Actually that analogy breaks down: The job of recording artist and recording engineer are being merged and will not pay very well. There used to be more work for painters, too.
OT: There's a bigger issue here about labor and specialization - the best singer I've ever knew (hits in the 60s) was taking an occasional plumbing job in the 80s and wasn't bitter: The way he put it was: $30 an hour. This while commanding $2-$4k for 20 - 40 oldies shows a year. I didn't quit playing during the 90s net boom and still work a lot now. I also stay buzzword compliant - this year: AJAX(ugh) and psych-folk(cool).
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
In Soviet Russia, Russia sets their sights on the RIAA!
A cunt maybe, but at least not an anonymous coward.
I hope the folks at the RIAA have a good supply of gas masks:
...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
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.
If they aren't careful, the Russian Mafia will set their sights on the RIAA. Their extortion tactics won't fly over there.
knowledge-intensive intellectual property-based goods and services
Since when does Britney Spears and the rest qualify as this?
Ryosen
One man's "Troll, +1" is another man's "Insightful, +1".
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
Actually you bias is showing: gov is bad. Starve your govenment to death, and then live in a land run by corporate power. Shareholders don't care about human rights. Governments are the only form of "checks and ballances" strong enough to stand up to corporations. Kill governments, and you kill your "inalienable" rights.
That's why they want the U.S. government to do their dirty work.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
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.
09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0
May Peace Prevail On Earth
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 isn't Sarin, it isn't a CBW agent (although it could be used for temporary area denial). Just think of a very, very powerful stink bomb. It probably was used during a shake down by a rival outfit offering "security services".
I'm following this with more than a little interest as I'll be staying a few klicks away from their next week (Moscow district in St Petersburg). Back to the subject, the cheap CDs were still available from a nearby market.
See my journal, I write things there
It isn't copyright which is questionable part of US business, nor their right to protect it (or seek protection);
Problem is USA tries to proactively protect IP by using software patents, and even tries to enforce patents(and laws like DMCA) outside of it's borders (preventing infringing companies from doing business in USA even if it isn't connected to actual "infringement", or arresting people for doing something what is legal in their countries). For every sane person copyright is more than enough to protect software. Important is what happened in Europe, it was the turning point of sw patents not only in Europe, but in the whole world. Directive was, luckily, rejected because public didn't buy the patent hype, but rebelled. If it was accepted, many world countries would probably follow.
US patent office grants trivial patents, not because they are incompetent, but because it is a policy with a goal to prevent non-US companies from competing, even if they are fully capable. And since most other countries don't implement anything simmilar, US patent holders can compete there, while domestic companies can't compete back in US because of patent law. This is called protectionism. Hopefully, it isn't working. See Creative vs. Apple case which is coming. Shitty US patent directives used directly against US company, it is the only way current situation can ever be changed. Since many foreign companies care to file patents in USA system, it's primary purpose(keeping tech advantage) is obstructed.
Similar bull**it happens with drug patents and/or patenting genome. Can you imagine, hepatitis C genome (created by natural evolution, not some research group) is patented by US company, so noone is allowed (without paying a license) to use it to develop drugs/detection methods/vaccines! Obviously, greed is what describes US legislators.