Backlash Builds Against US Copyright Blacklist

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."

Comments

lies lies

[Anonymous Coward]

The USA bully another country? Never..

What will they do if we dont adopt the evil DMCA? Steal our lunch money? With the 10Trillion+ deficit over there you'll need it.

Re:lies lies

[commodore64_love]

>>>Yes, because he has an innate knowledge of every single thing the government is doing

Nope he doesn't, but he knew that he appointed 3 of RIAA's top lawyers to the executive branch. And now we're seeing the consequences of that, and yes Obama is responsible.

Re:lies lies

[commodore64_love]

Ooops. He's appointing them faster than I can keep up. Apparently there are now 5 RIAA lackeys....er, lawyers on Obama's executive branch. Plus a new copyright czar! Yay.

The content industry, including the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, are applauding President Barack Obama's appointments of at least five RIAA lawyers to the Justice Department. They urged him to continue the trend.

"The hallmarks of your administration's appointees have been competence, substantive expertise, and a commitment to your administration's agenda," the Copyright Alliance, a group of three-plus dozen content owners, wrote the president Monday (.pdf). "We have every confidence these hallmarks will be demonstrated in your future IP policy appointments."

The communication was also in response to a letter the copyleft, represented by about two dozen public interest groups, sent Obama three weeks ago. That missive urged the president to stop tapping RIAA insiders to his administration. That letter by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge and others fell on deaf ears.

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.

Re:lies lies

[shutdown -p now]

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.

Hm, wonder why

[Darkness404]

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.

Re:Hm, wonder why

[Plekto]

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.

It's interesting to note that we did the exact same thing in the 1800s with any and all technology that we could manage to get our hands on during our industrial revolution phase.

Re:Hm, wonder why

[Sique]

China has a system of blatantly stealing known technology too (see the Redberry, and Chery motors). They have no rules regarding foreign products, and in fact are encouraged to rip off what happens overseas by the govt. So I don't think that using China as an example of "innovation" is appropriate.

So this is different from Germany or the U.S. in the 19th century, or Japan in the 1950ies, or Taiwan in the 1980ies exactly how?
Every country that has managed to close up to the technology leaders of its time has used the same tactics.

Does the US Get It Yet?

[Dripdry]

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.

Re:Does the US Get It Yet?

[Darkness404]

Yes, the USA as a whole, seems to be living in a time where WWII just got over. We seem to think that in WWII we singlehandedly A) Rebuilt Europe B) Rebuilt Japan (which, does have some merit to that, but only after we managed to commit some of the most terrible crimes against humanity via the atomic bombs) C) Defeated both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. When history tells a different story. Then we also brag about our "win" in the Cold War against Soviet Russia *insert some joke here* and how by our superior diplomacy ended up saving humanity, no thanks to Russia, the other nations affected or the Russian people who opposed the Kremlin. Really, the USA thinks that they are the only thing holding humanity back from utter destruction and because of that the USA must be the country you model your countries after, including our draconian copyright laws, lack of free speech or other constitutional guarantees, the encroachment of government into business, the general failure of our economy, etc.

Re:Does the US Get It Yet?

[Anonymous Coward]

the encroachment of government into business

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

Re:Does the US Get It Yet?

[jcnnghm]

we managed to commit some of the most terrible crimes against humanity via the atomic bombs

Which is nothing compared to the war crimes the Japanese themselves managed to commit. The Japanese engaged in mass killings of civilians, numbering between 3-10 million during the war. In addition, the Japanese conducted experiments not unlike those performed by Mendle under Unit 731, which was accused of both vivisection and cannibalism. They also used banned toxic gasses on the Chinese, tortured and executed prisoners, cannibalized allied prisoners, employed sex slaves and serial rape, and ran forced labor camps which killed hundreds of thousands of civilians.

The atomic weapons used on Japan saved millions and millions of lives, and prevented even greater Japanese atrocities. Indeed, we still have purple hearts left over today from the supply ordered before the invasion of Japan, as the estimated casualties approached 1 million Americans, and nearly all the Japanese.

Re:SURPRISE!!

[commodore64_love]

Just once I'd like to see the European Union Parliament issue a joint resolution to the White House:

"Fuck off."

Just to see what would happen.

Re:Nothing new

[ipb]

More like the Evils of Access.

Re:Wait for it

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean the 6th century Battle of Cul Dreimhne in Ireland, where the anti-copyright forces of St. Columcille won and 11000 men died?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columba#Early_life_in_Ireland

Re:I speak for all of Slashdot when I say...

[Piata]

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.

Copyright issue is a scam

[NickyGotz22]

Finally an article on Slashdot where a librarian can weigh in with professional knowledge. I don't think enough people realize the mini-war going on in the publishing industry and how those vulture are trying to bleed everyone dry. I am a college librarian at a major university in Manhattan. Today I had to attend a meeting about copyright compliance. It seems that publishers are no longer satisfied with overcharging for every textbook and then overcharging again when a "new" edition (almost identical version except for a new graph or intro) comes out the very next year. Now they would like us to purchase a new copyright compliance software that will allow them to monitor (through the middlemen in the software company) how many times we upload any part of any published material and how many times the students access each pdf or document, and then charge us for every use even thought we have already purchased the book and been using that same material for years. Its nuts. Fair use and common long standing practices by many academic libraries used to mean to us that we could put up 10% of any published document and not have to worry. And i know the diligent followers of Slashdot are not surprised but this type of thuggish shake down. But its almost criminal the nerve these jackals have to try to penny pinch and financially gouge the very universities that are their life blood in this struggling market. Very rarely does a librarian threaten to burn books, but it would be a better use of em that paying those publishing bastards another cent.