But since the WTO and the US Gov't (!) accepted it, wouldn't arbitrarily blocking Antigua from the Net be illegal under a huge number of national and international statutes and subject the network providers to enormous liabilities?
Or perhaps, MIT switched their basic principles along the way? Maybe pushed to do so by their corporate sponsors, just like Congress regularly does for the very same reasons?
Look, he couldn't know what he was truly facing. This is post-factum knowledge... and it was before Carmen Ortiz grabbed the case from state prosecutors. If he really had the suspicion that he was facing the rest of his life in jail for something as petty as what he did -- and sadly this suspicion was not entirely unfounded --, committing suicide before being sentenced, was from his perspective the only thing he could do, lest he be jailed and put under permanent suicide-watch where it would have been too late. Of do you think committing suicide in jail is easy?
The Swarts case was not an example of how the system is broken because the process was cut short. A six month jail term was reasonable for the crimes committed. That he was threatened with a lot more is irrelevant until he is sentenced to that term.
It was not irrelevant, because it caused tremendous mental and emotional stress, leading in this special case to panic and even suicide. Not everyone has nerves of steel or no emotions at all to face the possibility of a 30+ years long sentence (for mere copying of a bunch of files, wtf?!), even if it was only a theoretical maximum. Unless they're hardened criminals with experience in the legal proceedings of the US judicial system, which Aaron was not...
You want to gamble online, use a canadian bank, or an antiguan bank.
The point is, that the US has a de facto monopoly on international money transfers, since almost all sites need VISA and MasterCard as payment processors. The US has abused its power by going after e.g. Russian sites trading with European customers, by simply shutting them down at VISA and MasterCard. That's what's wrong with the system: the US has a stranglehold on the international money flow, even between countries that are not doing business with the US.
What does MIT intend to do, to restore its reputation and the reputation of its Alumnis? Because, frankly, right now, it sucks to be associated with MIT, even retroactively.
Historically, Universities used to keep the State out of the equation to foster a free(er) academic climate. What happened to this free culture at MIT, and when did it change so fundamentally?
Well, that may just mean they went into the modern world too fast and too early, and had not enough time to adjust. People are a strange bunch: if you push 'em too hard, they'll push back... Even if you try to pull them away from the abyss, they'll jump right into it, just to show their (imagined) independence.
Whilst I think Turkey took a backward step politically, I think yet another US sponsored military coup would be a giant leap backwards.
Sadly, the US is blatantly and openly sponsoring a military coup and civil war in Turkey's neighbor Syria, to install an islamist theocracy there, on behalf of Erdogan and his ilk. Talking about giant leap backwards: the US is already knee-deep in its job of destroying the whole Middle East region.
I thought as a society we had long ago decided that was not an excuse. I thought all lawyers on whatever side were agents of the judicial system and were looking for justice.
You are confusing justice with the judicial system. The former is an ideal, the latter the naive attempt at delivering it. Give it some time, and every judicial system (both the judiciary and legislative branch) will inevitably turn justice upside down and morph into an instrument of power and oppression. We're human, that's the way it is. Sadly.
Copyright infringement is a civil offense that the MAFIAA somehow managed to convince the US government to treat like a criminal offense, even though it's definitely not.
I dunno. If they send people for up to 5 years to federal jail for copyright infringement, it looks to me like they've upgraded copyright infringement from a civil to a criminal activity. By the way, in many countries, copyright infringement is now criminal offense, thanks to the intense lobbying and arm twisting of the US government. It's only fair that what the US government shoves down the throats of the world's population comes back to haunt US citizens as well. Of course, it would be better if the whole Copyright MAFIAA and their sock puppet governments were dismantled and thrown out of orbit, but for that, we have to wait for the post-US/post-Europe era.
He probably didn't realize that Argentina and a couple of other countries apply the principle of equal treatment. They take fingerprints of US citizens (sometimes ONLY US citizens) because the US takes fingerprints of their citizens. What comes around, goes around. RMS, whom I respect a lot and whom I met personally once, should campaign against his own country not only taking fingerprints, but also shoving all those newfangled biometric passports down the throats of the whole world's population.
Isn't it somewhat fitting that the military of the world's biggest corporatocracy, the United States, runs proprietary software of the world's biggest software corporation? They'll finally be just eating their own dog food. Of course, that would be a delightful and easy target to hack from all around the world.
Indeed. Here in Germany, movies with violence and killings are for rated for age 16+, while movies with sexual content is rated for 18+. As if violence was less harmful than sex.
Maybe the problem that was you paid for the DVDs in the first place. No, I'm not advocating copyright infringement here, I'm just hinting at the simple truth that this bad behavior of the DVD makers won't stop as long as people continue to reward them with real money.
German Church tax is not on top of regular tax, the state assumes the churches do "Good Work" with this money in lieu of what otherwise would be a State task and so the Church Tax is taken out of your regular tax.
Sorry, but that's not true. German Church Tax is an additional tax that only registered members of the Church are compelled to pay. That's the reason why so many people are leaving the churches in droves. By quitting, they are avoiding this additional tax, and fall back to the regular income taxes that everybody with an income over some minimal amount has to pay. Of course, you're right on the historical background.
Scientology is not a cult nor a religion but a big money scam.
I see no difference between Scientology and the catholic and protestant Churches in some countries in Europe. For example, in Germany, to be member of those two, you're compelled to pay a mandatory church tax, which is collected by the State (!), no less. How's that extortion scheme different from the one of the likes of Scientology & Co.?
Slashdot Mirror
But since the WTO and the US Gov't (!) accepted it, wouldn't arbitrarily blocking Antigua from the Net be illegal under a huge number of national and international statutes and subject the network providers to enormous liabilities?
Or perhaps, MIT switched their basic principles along the way? Maybe pushed to do so by their corporate sponsors, just like Congress regularly does for the very same reasons?
Look, he couldn't know what he was truly facing. This is post-factum knowledge... and it was before Carmen Ortiz grabbed the case from state prosecutors. If he really had the suspicion that he was facing the rest of his life in jail for something as petty as what he did -- and sadly this suspicion was not entirely unfounded --, committing suicide before being sentenced, was from his perspective the only thing he could do, lest he be jailed and put under permanent suicide-watch where it would have been too late. Of do you think committing suicide in jail is easy?
You know, they call the criminal justice system "criminal" for a good reason...
Or perhaps it was exactly what Carmen Ortiz and Heyman were hoping for. Who knows?
It was not irrelevant, because it caused tremendous mental and emotional stress, leading in this special case to panic and even suicide. Not everyone has nerves of steel or no emotions at all to face the possibility of a 30+ years long sentence (for mere copying of a bunch of files, wtf?!), even if it was only a theoretical maximum. Unless they're hardened criminals with experience in the legal proceedings of the US judicial system, which Aaron was not...
Beautiful garden analogies. I'm wondering what CommonLisp, Scheme and Prolog would be like. Or even ML and Haskell if you're truly masochistic.
The point is, that the US has a de facto monopoly on international money transfers, since almost all sites need VISA and MasterCard as payment processors. The US has abused its power by going after e.g. Russian sites trading with European customers, by simply shutting them down at VISA and MasterCard. That's what's wrong with the system: the US has a stranglehold on the international money flow, even between countries that are not doing business with the US.
Yes, Altera boards are great. Add a book or two to the mix, and you're all set.
There, fixed for you.
Bad grammar you use must for secure password...
Well, that may just mean they went into the modern world too fast and too early, and had not enough time to adjust. People are a strange bunch: if you push 'em too hard, they'll push back... Even if you try to pull them away from the abyss, they'll jump right into it, just to show their (imagined) independence.
Sadly, the US is blatantly and openly sponsoring a military coup and civil war in Turkey's neighbor Syria, to install an islamist theocracy there, on behalf of Erdogan and his ilk. Talking about giant leap backwards: the US is already knee-deep in its job of destroying the whole Middle East region.
You are confusing justice with the judicial system. The former is an ideal, the latter the naive attempt at delivering it. Give it some time, and every judicial system (both the judiciary and legislative branch) will inevitably turn justice upside down and morph into an instrument of power and oppression. We're human, that's the way it is. Sadly.
We train supercomputers to drop bombs on people. But their programmers won't allow them to say "fuck" because it's obscene!
Quite obviously, this looks like the asymmetric variant of a Rorschach-Test. Now, did I pass, or should I've been more creative?
I dunno. If they send people for up to 5 years to federal jail for copyright infringement, it looks to me like they've upgraded copyright infringement from a civil to a criminal activity. By the way, in many countries, copyright infringement is now criminal offense, thanks to the intense lobbying and arm twisting of the US government. It's only fair that what the US government shoves down the throats of the world's population comes back to haunt US citizens as well. Of course, it would be better if the whole Copyright MAFIAA and their sock puppet governments were dismantled and thrown out of orbit, but for that, we have to wait for the post-US/post-Europe era.
He probably didn't realize that Argentina and a couple of other countries apply the principle of equal treatment. They take fingerprints of US citizens (sometimes ONLY US citizens) because the US takes fingerprints of their citizens. What comes around, goes around. RMS, whom I respect a lot and whom I met personally once, should campaign against his own country not only taking fingerprints, but also shoving all those newfangled biometric passports down the throats of the whole world's population.
Isn't it somewhat fitting that the military of the world's biggest corporatocracy, the United States, runs proprietary software of the world's biggest software corporation? They'll finally be just eating their own dog food. Of course, that would be a delightful and easy target to hack from all around the world.
Indeed. Here in Germany, movies with violence and killings are for rated for age 16+, while movies with sexual content is rated for 18+. As if violence was less harmful than sex.
Maybe the problem that was you paid for the DVDs in the first place. No, I'm not advocating copyright infringement here, I'm just hinting at the simple truth that this bad behavior of the DVD makers won't stop as long as people continue to reward them with real money.
Well, YouTube is something their customers want. Ads isn't.
Sorry, but that's not true. German Church Tax is an additional tax that only registered members of the Church are compelled to pay. That's the reason why so many people are leaving the churches in droves. By quitting, they are avoiding this additional tax, and fall back to the regular income taxes that everybody with an income over some minimal amount has to pay. Of course, you're right on the historical background.
I see no difference between Scientology and the catholic and protestant Churches in some countries in Europe. For example, in Germany, to be member of those two, you're compelled to pay a mandatory church tax, which is collected by the State (!), no less. How's that extortion scheme different from the one of the likes of Scientology & Co.?