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Backlash Builds Against US Copyright Blacklist

Posted by kdawson on from the not-so-black-and-white dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The release last week of the US copyright blacklist is beginning to generate a backlash in countries around the world. Reports from Canada, Europe, and Asia all note that the US claims are very suspect and that the report is little more than an attempt to bully dozens of countries into following the US DMCA model."

14 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing new by gcnaddict · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nothing to see here, folks. Move right along.

    Seriously, there's nothing here. Countries will always try to vilify other countries in order to satisfy their own interests. The Axis of Evil is a pretty good example.

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  2. SURPRISE!! by infalliable · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I do not think there is anything surprising about that conclusion that the entire thing is an attempt to force other countries into "compliance"

    1. Re:SURPRISE!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, I hear that air superiority went quite well for you at Pearl Harbour in World War II and in Vietnam where you were sent running with your tail between your legs after suffering thousands of casualties. Very successful in Korea too I notice, I mean, North Korea is a nice friendly nation now thanks to America's success their right? What about Somalia too in the 90s, that went really well right? Or wait, you were sent running their too.

      How's that air superiority going in Afghanistan and Iraq by the way where your soldiers get slaughtered by men in cloth dresses with rifles that are about 35 years old and about as accurate as a blind man with a water pistol? I hear your air superiority worked great over New York on 9/11 also!

      It's funny, because when it comes to wars, the US hasn't really actually won that many in the last century. About all it's won was the Pacific campaign of World War II but even that was only because the Russians covered it's arse in defeating Germany and because it had vast amounts of allied support to the West of Japan in China and from the South from Australia etc.

      In fact, what wars has the US won by itself in the last century? I'm not sure it's actually won any, even in the first Iraq war it needed massive amounts of allied support. That's a stark contrast to European nations like say, Britain that unilaterally sent the Argentinians running back home in the Falklands for example.

      The US has far and away the biggest military in the world, but it can't win wars because it doesn't have a single general capable of anything loosely resembling tactics and because it's soldiers can't fight for shit. That's before you even get started on their poor engineering abilities in the field and their inability to win the required hearts and minds of the civilian population which has time and time again left them running from the battlefield with many dead and their tails between their legs.

      The problem is, the only thing Americans ever manage to actually shoot are each other or their allies.

    2. Re:SURPRISE!! by malkavian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Repeat until they have all the money.

      Nope, repeat until people realise that the corporates have been stealing from them (theft of the public domain), and come to the conclusion that Copyright Law is now no longer a deal that the people are willing to enter into, and thus just take back by rampant piracy. At which point copyright laws are completely useless and unenforceable as you've just criminalised most of your population, which is pretty much a yardstick of a bad and unworkable law.

    3. Re:SURPRISE!! by phulegart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wow.

      I'm to blame for the presidents I did not elect.
      I'm to blame for the wars I did not fight in.
      I'm to blame for the economic policies I disagree with.
      I'm to blame for the economic expansionism I don't want to be happening.
      I'm to blame for the Military Industrial Complex that Eisenhower warned my grandparents and parents about.
      I'm to blame for most of the wealth being in the hands of the smallest population demographic.
      I'm to blame?
      I'm an Average American.

      I don't like the way things are. I believe that we proved once before that it took a Revolution to attempt to make things right, and that is what it is going to take to make it right again. Of course, what was a good idea to start with, is now a set of rules that are argued to be needed, just because they are there. Sometimes it is incredible how ardently a rule is argued to be needed, and the strength of the argument is based on how OLD the rule is.

      The 2nd Amendment (IE a change to that Constitution so many people wave around and say should not be changed) protects the people with the right to bear arms crap. I'm sorry. That Amendment was put in when there was no police force, no army, a need to shoot your dinner before you ate it, and an occasional need to shoot the indigenous people when they got upset at our invasion. Thus, the need to protect every citizen's right to keep and bear arms. Times have changed. We don't need the 2nd amendment any more.

      The 16 amendment brings taxes into bear. We started the country because we were being taxed without being represented. This is why there was no Income Tax before the 16th amendment. Now, once again, we are not being represented for our taxes. That means there is legal precedent to support a revolution.

      The 18th amendment dealt with prohibition. Taking away Alcohol from the people. The 21st amendment proved that NONE of these amendments are sacred, and any or all could be repealed... in the repealing of the 18th amendment.

      Did you know that with a cell phone, every citizen could now potentially vote on every issue? This means we do not even NEED a Congress anymore. The creation of our Constitutional Republic here (it's not a democracy) was done because at the time it was impossible for each Citizen to represent himself (women couldn't vote then). Now, this is not the case. It IS possible for each citizen to represent him or herself, and vote. I'm not saying it WOULD work immediately, I am saying that it is POSSIBLE now. Does this mean that Congress will be dissolved? Absolutely not.

      What I don't like, is how people outside the US of A blame me. I'm held accountable for the actions of my government, when the ability to change my government was removed from my hands long before I was ever born. The only option I have available to me, is to join in a revolution. There would never be enough people to be able to make the changes necessary within the system. The Patriot act is already in place. Now, anyone who opposes the government enough, can be whisked away as a "terrorist". But it is still all MY FAULT! If I travel, I'll get shit on, because I'm an American. That pisses me off. Not because my government is great, but because the person giving me shit (aka, the parent I am replying to) is too fucking stupid to see that the problems my government is causing, have nothing to do with me. I am not making policy, I am not enforcing policy. I am not even agreeing with policy. But if I speak up, I get ignored. If I get too loud to ignore, I'll be put away.

      You do not blame the cashier at the corner store, if the potato chips are stale (or just taste bad). You do not blame the cashier at the corner store if the "thing" you just bought there breaks. People still do though. People are ignorant, and they lash out at the most available target. The easier the target is to hit, the more likely they will try to hit it. it gives them some satisfaction knowing they had a person and a face to vent at, and they never stop to

      --
      "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." -D. Adams
  3. Hm, wonder why by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hm, I wonder why other countries don't want a DMCA style law, could it be that the DMCA is effectively killing the US software/hardware market? Why do we see so many (innovative and clone) products from China? Because they don't have the stupidities of US patent and copyright laws. Imagine the marketplace being flooded with choices, of phones that can do as much as the iPhone, yet cost hundreds less (unlocked of course) and including features not currently found in most phones (open hardware*, dual-sim slots, etc). The USA could easily be first in the technology market, if our lawmakers weren't in the pocketbooks of the RIAA, MPAA and other backwards lobby groups.

    *Well, perhaps open hardware is the wrong word, but basically hardware that if off-the-shelf, contains very little proprietary components and can be easily studied/modified.

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    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  4. Re:lies lies by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >>>The USA bully another country? Never..

    New face in the highest office.

    Same old shit.

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  5. Does the US Get It Yet? by Dripdry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We seem to continue operating under the false assumption that we are still the biggest dog on the block.
    After effectively skewering the financial system, starting a couple wars, and heaven knows what else we still expect to be taken so seriously.

    I recognize we still have the most bombs, but when or country acts like a petulant child it's still tough to be serious about it. It isn't leading the world, it isn't change. It's thinly veiled fascism.

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    1. Re:Does the US Get It Yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      the encroachment of government into business

      No, you have that backwards. It's the encroachment of business into government that's the problem.

  6. Re:lies lies by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Obama is proving that there is equality by making sure people realise that politicians of all colours pull the same old shit.

  7. Blacklist? by dwm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    According to the original article, this is a routine annual report listing who we are happy with or unhappy with concerning copyright and such. There's also no mention of DMCA. Evidently, countries come and go off these lists all the time. It's just a way for the USA to communicate what it does and doesn't like about other countries behavior. It's called diplomacy. How does anyone get "blacklist" out of this?

    By the way, it mentions that North Korea was taken off the bad-boy list. Does anyone really think North Korea instituted a DMCA-like law?

  8. Re:I speak for all of Slashdot when I say... by Piata · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Artists definitely deserve their dues when it comes to creative artwork... but when their work generates revenue for 70+ years after it's creation for a corporation and not the artist, there's something seriously wrong.

  9. Re:lies lies by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think we all must be duped. When Obama said he was bringing change, he actually meant collecting spare change to help pay-off his burgeoning deficit, not that he was going to listen to the People.

    The mistake of many people dissing Obama now is that, when he said "change", they automatically presumed that it is going to involve their pet issues first. On Slashdot, this tends to be FOSS and copyright issues. In practice, though, when speaking of "People" as a whole, those issues aren't even on most people's radar, so it was pretty silly to believe that Obama would do something specifically about them.

  10. Re:lies lies by lxs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well to be fair, he did change from bowing to Big Oil to bowing to Big Media, as many expected him to do anyway.