Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

U.S. Puts 12 Nations On Watch For Piracy

Posted by Zonk on from the colbert-angry-wants-board-back dept.

ColinPL writes with a link to an AP article about a public scolding the US has given China, Russia, and several other nations. Failure to 'sufficiently protect' American copyrights is the cause of the Bush administration's ire, and has resulted in these countries showing up on a 'priority watch list' that could eventually lead to economic sanctions. "In addition to Russia and China, the 10 countries placed on the priority watch list were Argentina, Chile, Egypt, India, Israel, Lebanon, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela. In elevating Thailand to the priority watch list, the administration said it was concerned by a range of issues including a 'deteriorating protection for patents and copyrights.' Thailand is currently in a dispute with international drug companies including Abbott Laboratories of the United States over the cost of drugs to fight AIDS and other diseases. The Thai government in January issued compulsory licenses allowing the use of much cheaper generic versions of two leading drugs in Thailand."

13 of 429 comments (clear)

  1. That told them! by Threni · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If only China and Russia were big enough to not give a shit about US policy...

    1. Re:That told them! by ATestR · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Except that the economy of China gets a big influx of money by selling to USA. Sure they can stop selling all their cheap goods over here, but if they do, what are they going to do with them?

      --
      âoeAny society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
  2. Let's be honest by halivar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This isn't just the Bush administration. If you vote for either of the Big Two, the person you voted for has been bought and paid for by the MAFIAA, and they are in full support of sending the copyright Gestapo after law-breakers worldwide.

    1. Re:Let's be honest by Silver+Sloth · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sure they can... the US can bomb the crap outta them, like they do anyone else who raises their ire. This is known as gunboat diplomacy. It's a fine method of practicing international affairs except that, as the NYT reports this morning (sorry, lost the link), everywhere that the US is at war has led to an increase in terrorist attacks.

      Bombing the crap out of people always ends up with them doing the best they can to bomb the crap out of you and it's noticeable that all the worldwide military might of the US still hasn't defeated terrorism.
      --
      init 11 - for when you need that edge.
    2. Re:Let's be honest by jimicus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The U.S. Constitution requires that the federal government respect the sovereignty of foreign nations.

      That's odd, because I could have sworn Iraq was a foreign nation with its own sovreign government until a few years ago.

    3. Re:Let's be honest by owlnation · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Except that they can't do much. Sure, the U.S. government can impose economic sanctions on non-compliant countries, but that only takes you so far.
      True, and certainly in China's case - who will this hurt exactly? What percentage of US goods are in fact manufactured in China? Quite a large one I'll bet, certainly a significant one. Similarly, Turkey doesn't really need the US, but the US really does need Turkey as a base.

      The fact is, speaking as a European, nobody outside the US gives a damn about US laws. In fact, we find attempts like this to assert themselves legally, to be rather lame and sad. It's just hot air and rhetoric for the voters back home I guess

      Anyway, in the highly improbable event that any of these countries paid any attention the the US on piracy and actually stopped it, there's still be many other countries to which pirates could easily and successfully move to. There's also plenty of piracy from within US borders too.

      The only way to beat piracy is to include fair use in copyright - assuming copyright needs to exist at all.

      The *IAA needs to develop new business models or simply die - those are the only two choices available.
    4. Re:Let's be honest by thrillseeker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      as the NYT reports this morning (sorry, lost the link), everywhere that the US is at war has led to an increase in terrorist attacks.

      no increase observed in the part the US cares about - the US.

    5. Re:Let's be honest by Entropius · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But there has been a massive *decrease* in the amount of resources the US has to take care of itself. There is infrastructure to be built, research to be done, debt to be paid down, an education system to be fixed, and on and on ... and all of these things are being neglected because of the sheer cost of these wars.

      If bin Laden's goal is to, by terrorist attacks, cause material damage to the USA, he doesn't have to attack us. The USA has an autoimmune disorder of the first degree -- we're doing more damage to ourselves than bin Laden could ever dream of doing.

  3. USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dear United STATES of AMERICA.

    You have your own part of the world. Please stay within it's boundaries and spend the saved time READING Wikipedia's article on law. You DO NOT and SHALL NOT ever control other nations laws. You cannot even abide by the very laws you were founded on these days, so why do you expect others to do the same?

    Lots of love
    Rest of the world.

  4. What? No Canada? by BladedThoth · · Score: 4, Insightful

    After the MPAA threw it's hissy-fit tantrum a while back about how Canada is the #1 place for movie piracy because it's where screen records come from, that they're thinking of delaying out movie release for weeks, yada yada yada, Canada doesn't make it anywhere on the list? Heh. Maybe the federal government isn't quite as stupid about what the *AAs are doing as they typically act like.

  5. Thailand? by Don_dumb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Copying drugs to fight AIDS and other diseases.

    Those bastards!

    --
    If this were really happening, what would you think?
  6. Bush Logic by SlantyBard · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok, they want to put Thailand on this list partly because Thailand has told them we are only going to pay a certain amount for anti-viral HIV medication instead of the hugely inflated US prices. Seems to me that saves US dollars in the end because it is US men (and other westerners too) going over for underage sex with potentially HIV infected girls which if treated appropriately would keep US healthcare costs down by decreasing transmission to US citizens.

  7. Re:I wonder by malsdavis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is indeed a strange twist when the pirated versions are better than the originals.

    I noticed this absurdity last week when I had to download a pirated version of a CD I had just bought so that I could actually play it in my car.

    Utterly absurd and needless to say, the next album I want I will downloading (via illegal sources of course, those legal sources are the worst of all).