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US Says 4.3 Billion People Live With Bad IP Laws
bowser100 writes "The US government has released its annual Special 301 report (PDF) in which it purports to identify those countries with inadequate intellectual property laws. Michael Geist digs into the report, noting the list is so large that it is rendered meaningless. According to the report, approximately 4.3 billion people
live in countries without effective intellectual property protection. Since the report does not include any African countries outside of North Africa, the US is effectively saying that only a small percentage of the world meets its standard for IP protection."
309 million people in the US
compared to
"without effective intellectual property protection":
4 300 million people in the other countries around the world
If USA is the country that promotes democracy, doesn't this thing kind of say that the rest of the world does not want US IP and patent laws dictated to the them, and that US should respect it? Just like real democracy.
It looks like ~87% of people in the world doesn't like or want ACTA. Why does US push it to other countries, and why is it done with so secret methods?
While my country also does have good copyright laws, I don't want US to dictate us.
ground breaking news, 4.3 billion people with IP laws the US don't like.
I have yet to see anyone present objective evidence that the existence of copyright, either in its current term/form the US/WIPO/ACTA is pushing, (or at all) helps the economy in the countries in question compared to other systems or models.
Obviously there are significant businesses that thrive now and could only exist with strong copyright protections. Entertainment, media creation, information aggregators and sellers - all require strong copyright to exist. Without these protections they would be hurt, somewhat, and some would go away.
There is incredible interest and energy in people to consume, remix, and to create, even with the existing, extremely long copyright term, and the vast majority of media under strict copyright protections. Would we see dramatic new businesses and opportunities arise if copyright were less stringent or not? Would these new markets and activities be better for economies than the loss of existing industries or not?
What evidence supports the belief that having these companies and these particular industries are what is best for a countries' economy, and for the people whose lives and livelihoods these laws effect? If copyright protections were opt-in for example, but the default were similar to a CC/BY for created content, what new industries would rise up and create value? Would they create more value than would be lost? I don't know of any evidence that can address that question. What if copyright protections were 14 years again, with the ability for owners to pay or re-apply for extensions? That would clear create value in new areas, but would it be better than the current system?
If anyone has pointers to evidence either way, I'd love to see it.
When you exclude most of Africa and the US you have... about 4.3 billion people.
the preceding post was not spell checked... suck it.
"without effective intellectual property protection" != "Bad IP laws"
Just sayin'.
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
Luckily the IP limit is right around 4.3 billion. Just wait until IPv6. Wait, I think I misunderstood...
A large group of countries consisting of ~4.3 billion people have released a report saying at least 300 million people are living under draconian IP laws.
Does this study include the 300 million in the US living with bad IP laws? Over restrictive is just as bad as not restrictive enough. The fact that a big company can get a $2 million dollar judgment against somebody for non-commercially (and possibly inadvertently) sharing mere tens of song tracks on a file sharing service MIGHT be a sign that our own system is just as screwed up as the systems with no copyright protection at all.
We are not trending towards a happy medium, at least not if Disney and the RIAA have anything to say about it.
This is actually irony for once, right? Because somehow they forgot to count the 300 million people in the United States who live with bad IP laws.
http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=99
i really would like to read a sensible answer to this.
Read radical news here
You know, there's a point where you have to step back and realize that you're a minority (by a long shot) and when you are on your own little unique land its *typically* not everyone else that's wrong.
What trully is inadequate is thinking that "intellectual" entities can be "property"... That's the source of all problems... Period.
If you've got an economy built solely on Intellectual Property ownership, you're fuckin' DOOMED in the near future!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
some of those countries have no respect for the patented gene sequences found in species in their countries by western scientists
ip law is a way of saying that every thought and utterance is not the common good of mankind but is a monopoly that must be respected, and everyone must contribute cash because you were the first to register something many others probably thought of as well, or in a slightly different form. ip law is a farce. it reards distributors and entrenched corporate powers, definitely at the expense of artists and inventors (NOT in support of them). it overly legalizes and bureaucratizes with hefty intrusions into basic freedoms a byzantine scheme to compartmentalize a process which has been free for the vast majority of humankind's existence: the exchange of simple information
and its not even enforceable. no warchest in all the first world nations can adequately shore up the artificial patronage system ip law defenders imagine. nevermind that ip law doesn't even make economic sense, because with all that intrusive controlling, less is earned than simply letting information go wherever its wanted, and profitting off of ancillary revenue streams created by letting it all hang out instead
ip law is an absurd joke, and is not to be respected. it is your moral duty to ignore it or actively undermine or destroy it
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
So in essence what the lobbyists are forcing the US government to claim is that the entire world is horribly wrong while only the US legal system, which they bought with their own hard-earned money, along with other jurisdictions which were bought out, are the only instances which may be seen as somewhat decent remotely fair.
Meanwhile, the world has enjoyed centuries of cultural and scientific progress and an amazing economic progress, all happening without this sort of totalitarian and draconian type of legislation which is profoundly anti-democratic. In fact, humanity saw great progress being achieved whenever someone found a way to facilitate the dissemination of cultural and educational works, whether by inventions such as writing and the printing press. The internet is the modern day's version of the printing press but can only be a modern day's revolution if the freedom to freely access copyrighted works without the copyright owner's authorization is acknowledged, respected and defended, something which these industry idiots are on a mission to undermine.
Slashdot, fix your code or at least hire someone who is competent at it to do it for you.
I just re-read my post and realized I fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never use an apostrophe in the possessive "its" when death is on the line!
Copyright was not created back in the days of yore, nor enshrined in the constitution to protect / help the economy.
The express purpose for granting an artist exclusive copy right for a limited period was to encourage the production of more art. (the US constitution is pretty explicit, but so is centuries of common-law before that).
How / why am I having my tax dollar spent on this non-issue. I don't think we have a shortage of art looming, and if we do: I don't see that copyright laws in India are the problem.
"Canada
Canada will remain on the Priority Watch List in 2010. The United States looks forward to the government of Canada’s implementation of its previous commitments, recently reaffirmed in 2010, to improve IPR protection, and is encouraged by the high level of cooperation between the Canadian and United States governments on IPR matters. However, Canada has not completed the legislative reforms in the copyright area that are necessary to deliver on its commitments. The United States urges Canada to enact legislation in the near term to update its copyright laws and address the challenge of Internet piracy. Canada should fully implement the WIPO Internet Treaties, which Canada signed in 1997. Canada’s weak enforcement of intellectual property rights is also of concern, and the United States continues to encourage Canada to improve its IPR enforcement system to provide for deterrent sentences and stronger enforcement powers. In particular, border enforcement continues to be weak. The United States encourages Canada to provide its border officials with the authority to seize suspected infringing materials without the need for a court order. The United States will continue to follow Canada’s progress toward implementing an adequate and effective IPR protection and enforcement regime, including its progress on actions to address Internet piracy and improve border enforcement."
Ya. We'll get right on top of that.
Though I am pretty sure our Conservative government has bigger problems than your stupid IP laws.
Intellectual Property is intellectual theft.
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
According to the report, approximately 4.3 billion people live in countries without effective intellectual property
In other news approx 2 billion people sighed that they have to live with insane copyright law dictated by a cartoon mouse and a few industrial, and wish they were living in democraty, where voting would matter, and the voice of the people (demos) would be heard. Sadly they will have to put up with the facist(*) geronto-ploutocraty they live in...
(*) (Fascist as the classic definition of "industry in collusion with authoritative governement")
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
I don't think we have a shortage of art looming, and if we do: I don't see that copyright laws in India are the problem.
Didn't you know? Hollywood stopped making movies when China started bootlegging them. That's why Ghostbusters II and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade never got made. Not to mention Titanic, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, or any Harry Potter movies.
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
80% of the world lives on less that $10 a day, 50% live on less than $2.50 a day
2.5 Billion people don't have access to good sanitation, and nearly a billion use unsafe drinking water. But let's make sure they have good IP laws, yes? Something about 'eating cake' comes to mind while reading this article.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
Are you sure of that? I remember a time when one got a lot of entertainment from radio and television where the only way we paid was from buying the items they advertised in the programs.
The greatest enemy the media industry faces today is their own greed. They have forgotten the main principle of the capitalist market economy: "KEEP THE CUSTOMER SATISFIED". They have replaced it with one they borrowed from the socialist world: "ACCORDING TO OUR PLANS, WE SHOULD GET THIS MUCH PROFIT"
The very simple fact is that the market has rejected business plans that say people should pay $0.99 for a song, or $17 for a CD, or $15 for a DVD.
Entertainment should be cheaper, much cheaper. I would be dead in a short while without oxygen, or water, or food. But I can subsist much longer without entertainment. With no pressing need, I'm not willing to pay too much for it.
Bring me the $0.10 song, the $1.00 CD or the $1.50 DVD and I'll readily buy them. At higher prices, I will not buy *anything* from the media industry.
All residents of the US are living with bad IP laws.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Thank you for pointing that out. Though marked -1 Troll, sopssa's posts there appear to me to be his opinions (right or wrong), honestly held and reasonably expressed: not attempts to incite trouble.
Even though this is off topic, I think it is worth mentioning. If not here, where? Moderation affects all Slashdot discussions. If too many mods forget how and why the system works, it can break down. It works reasonably well (unlike most mainstream news sites I have seen) because it focuses on the quality of discussion, not whether one agrees or disagrees. Modding down is meant as a last resort to weed out posts that harm reasoned discourse. It is not supposed to be used merely to express disagreement. It's too late to do much good, but as I seldom spend all my mod points I used some there.