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USTR Publishes Rogue Sites List
bs0d3 writes "The U.S. Government has classified some of the largest websites on the Internet as examples of sites which sustain global piracy. The list released by the United States Trade Representative draws exclusively on input from rightsholders. It includes popular torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay, file-hosting service Megaupload, and Russia's leading social network VKontakte. VKontakte says that company's copyright problems are in the past after a deal was made with the USTR. Also, for the first time in many years, China's leading search engine Baidu has been removed from the list. However, China's widely used online consumer and business-oriented online shopping service Taobao remains listed. The full report can be viewed here. It has no legal implications whatsoever, but may be referred to by policy makers regarding future legislation (e.g. SOPA)."
I'm a rightsholder too. For example, I hold the rights to this post. But I wasn't included.
I think it's more correct to say that they drew input exclusively from large media cartel members, not from rightsholders in general.
If they had asked me, for example, I would have listed riaa.org and mpaa.org as rogue sites that sustain global piracy. I don't need evidence. I'm a rightsholder!
Does anyone in the real world care about this list? Unless you're after government contracts I can't really see how business is likely to be affected by your inclusion on it.
And not Google? or Bing?
filetype:torrent $SEARCH_TERM
Another biased & agenda laden publication from The United Corporations of America.
A few I have never tried thank you for the list.
Thanks for naming all the popular sites I never knew about, keep up the good work, I tip my hat to the USTR :D
By the way, if you close these sites, any chance you could do another report so I don't have to go to the fuss of looking for infringing content?
Every site that made the list should feel proud of themselves for being useful enough to have attracted the attention of the copyright attack dog that is the USTR.
In case you're wondering, the current person filling the post is Ron Kirk, appointed by Obama in 2009. Though it doesn't seem that USTR policy differs much under Republican versus Democratic administrations; sadly this one isn't a partisan issue because both parties are generally on the wrong side.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I love how these two sites made it into the list. They are claimed to be selling "circumvention devices and components used to circumvent technological protection measures on consoles". If they are openly selling these things, I am assuming it is legal in Canada to do so - showing a lovely attitude of "If we call it illegal, it is illegal everywhere in the entire world!" from American "rightholders".
Also, that must have been from the Rightholder Group Dept of Redundancy Right Holder Group.
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
Isn't anyone wondering why we get to see lists like that, but no "shame" lists of various internet sellers of brand knockoffs? Ya know, the kind of asshats that keeps spamming /., amongst other sites, with their claims for cheap, cheap prices?
One really has to wonder why this list and not one of the real problem for economy, the commercial infringers. The damage is by some margin higher, and unlike that one, such a shame list, along with action against the operators of such sites, would not only make the economy proponents happy, I bet quite a few internet users would love to see less "cheap outlet" spam littering in their inbox and message boards.
Government really needs a few marketing goons...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
i have gone to pirate bay to download torrents of free/open source software, also i download "steal this film" which was only distributed via bit torrent. there primary use may be to break copyright but it is not its only use
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
It's not often that I get to see my tax dollars being spent on something I can enjoy. Thanks, Uncle Sam!
How long do you think it will take for this list to become a go-to list for everyone online? (before they shut the sites down, that is...)
It's frustrating to me that they never seem to list the sites that appear legit on the surface, but are really fronts for charging money for actual copyrighted content. Take movieberry.com for instance. This is a Russian site that sells movie and TV downloads for real money. There's no way it's legal in USA terms, because of low prices, but also because of things like the certain films being from obvious bootleg source.
Why target torrent and P2P sites, and completely disregard sites like this which sell illegal content downloaded straight over HTTP?
This is the wish list of the US government (a.k.a. MPAA/RIAA). Whether the list was created in the boardroom of the MPAA/RIAA or actually a government office is inconsequential, as they can be considered the same thing. The US government has been 'owned' by these private interests for at least two decades. However, in some countries (perhaps all of them), copyright laws may not hold these to be illegal. The US government *wants* their laws to apply everywhere, but in reality that just isn't the case. Its like the word 'piracy'. Piracy, by definition, is theft at sea. You have to be over salt water committing the crime of theft, in order to be a 'pirate'. Infringement is the use of someone else's licensed work without a license. Its not 'theft' (anywhere). American laws want to allow licensees infinite terms on licensed works. Internationally, no work should be given a monopoly for more than 15 years on any work. This is a fair and reasonable amount of time. I'm pressing for my government to limit copyrights and patents to 15 years, after which the become public domain (in perpetuity). Likewise, no 'licensed work' may be sold. Its a monopoly given by the government to a specific person (the creator of the work), not to someone who didn't create the work.
It's about time. There would be no RIAA or MPAA actions if there were not large site engaged in the support of "piracy".
You can buy the movies and music. And no ... if you do not choose to buy them, you are not entitled to them for free.
For providing me with a neatly organized list of websites I ought to take a look at.
Piracy in its traditional meaning, is a combination of breaking and entering, vandalism, and robbery with violence.
Copyright infringement is potentially depriving someone of something they may have potentially gained .
There's quite a big difference, so why use the same word?
"The U.S. Government has classified some of the largest websites on the Internet as examples of sites which sustain global piracy."
Disney has pirated a lot from the brothers Grimm, Mark Twain, Hans Christian Anderson, etc. And, they continue to pirate our culture.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
"Government really needs a few marketing goons..."
These guys are not on the list so they would excel at doing the job! Hell what I am saying they would have a better chance if they were on the list.
http://www.netgoons.com/category.php?cat=marketing
I'm convinced that anything which legislates against common human behavior will never have the desired effect. This generalization is, of course, with exceptions and limitations (consider laws against theft and murder and the like) but largely holds true of many things. Laws against prostitution, for example has never stopped it and does little to even inhibit it. A law against smoking wouldn't help. There are countless other examples where civil behavior will simply always be a fact of human society. I hold that file and information sharing is one of these things and what's more, I hold we can't really be human without it. I know it sounds absurd, but what we are talking about is sharing human culture, heritage, art, expression... these are the things that make us human. Trying to package it and make it a "product" is okay within limits, but at some point, it becomes anti-human and I hold we have passed beyond that point quite some time ago.
"The [Internet] is infested with [pirates]. I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the [United States Trade Representative] as being members of the [Pirate Party] and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy on the [Internet]." - Joseph McCarthy, updated for the 21st Century
The Streisand Effect?
Yes, plenty of people do not have rights -- like you and me. At least that is how the copyright lobbyists view things.
Palm trees and 8
The favourite pasttime of US legislators and other policy wonks: Finding fault with everybody who isn't paying them at the moment. That anybody but them are still taking them seriously is saying very bad things indeed about the gullibility of mankind.
the internet killed it
it is unenforceable law
millions of global media hungry technology savvy and most importantly POOR teenagers has made this so, and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do this short of destroying the internet
not that they won't try, and not that they understand or accept this, but maybe someone should scream into these ignorant fucking media dinosaur's ears until they understand that no amount of purchased congresscritter whores, hired tech hacks, or lawyer goons can stop this
game over morons. please don't destroy the most imporatnt media invention since the written word and the printing press in your disability to comprehend fucking reality
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
the govt
Nice when they publish a list and you learn some new sites!
Don't make me load Flash then have to click twice to allow it store date on my machine please - I just want to read a document.
Source is here: http://www.ustr.gov/node/6520 (pdf)
Here's some Pastebin goodness: http://pastebin.com/Q5WzwXq0
Can we have the same list for porn, please?
Can anyone who speaks Chinese to a check on how much counterfeit product and pirated copyrighted material is still being offered up on Baidu?
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
The list should include itself - it's linking to pirate sites!
since what they hold are licenses to the exclusive use of given movies, songs, et cetera.
Everyone knows that the corrupt regime in Washington is taking bribes from the corporate interests who benefit from these ridiculous reports.
It is a very sad commentary on the state of democracy in the United States, when the greedy, corrupt, and powerful, are strong arming unpopular, and fascist legislation into existence. It does not however change the fact that the people did not want this legislation, and it has absolutely no democractic legitimacy.