This is about money that the parties and candidates spend paying "bloggers" to write about how good they are.
The issue here is not free speach. It has been spun. The issue here is if someone is being paid to write something in a blog, then they should have to make that clear on the blog. There is a difference between an opinion piece and propaganda.
If 500 people all write in support of an issue and it turns out that they have been paid to all support that issue, it isn't really a grass roots support movement, is it?
This boils back down to the same issue as the gov. paying "journalists" to create fake news reports about certain issues.
I have no problem with parties and candidates paying people to write good things about them, I just want to know if what I am reading is someone's opinion or a campaign ad.
As a community we have the power to stop the lawsuits. We have the power to stop the RIAA and the MPAA and other organizations using similar tactics.
The way we stop them is very simple. We, as a community, stop voilating their copyrights. You can make all the arguments about why it is ok for you to violate their copyrights (I wouldn't have bought it anyway, the quality of the movie sucks so why should I pay for it) but it is not ok.
It is not ok just like it is not ok to violate the LGPL because you happen to not like the terms of the agreement.
If it was a product that you had spent long hours and passion creating and you were trying to make a living off of it, how would you feel if people just ignored the fair price that you attached to your work and just started getting it for free? I know it bothers me when I see serial numbers for the game I worked long and hard on just posted on mailing lists. I feel like I have been stolen from.
You can download music for 99 cents a song these days or you can go out and buy the CD for $15. You can buy most movies for $5 to $20 on DVD. Those prices seem pretty fair in today's economy.
There may be injustice in the recording industry but the artists on those labels have signed agreemtns to be on those labels. The record companies didn't point guns at the artists and say: sign or else! Some artists even post free downloads of their music. Use your downloading power to support those artists. Download free music and short films, but just stop downloading things that the copyright holders do not want you to download.
I doubt my post will change anyone's mind about this but I couldn't sit and read any more of this without saying something.
The actions of the RIAA and the MPAA are the community's fault for not respecting the copyright holders wishes. The DMCA goes too far and may other laws do as well, but those laws would not be there had the community not forced them to try drastic measures to stop the rampant copyright infringement.
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This is about money.
This is about money that the parties and candidates spend paying "bloggers" to write about how good they are.
The issue here is not free speach. It has been spun. The issue here is if someone is being paid to write something in a blog, then they should have to make that clear on the blog. There is a difference between an opinion piece and propaganda.
If 500 people all write in support of an issue and it turns out that they have been paid to all support that issue, it isn't really a grass roots support movement, is it?
This boils back down to the same issue as the gov. paying "journalists" to create fake news reports about certain issues.
I have no problem with parties and candidates paying people to write good things about them, I just want to know if what I am reading is someone's opinion or a campaign ad.
As a community we have the power to stop the lawsuits. We have the power to stop the RIAA and the MPAA and other organizations using similar tactics.
The way we stop them is very simple. We, as a community, stop voilating their copyrights. You can make all the arguments about why it is ok for you to violate their copyrights (I wouldn't have bought it anyway, the quality of the movie sucks so why should I pay for it) but it is not ok.
It is not ok just like it is not ok to violate the LGPL because you happen to not like the terms of the agreement.
If it was a product that you had spent long hours and passion creating and you were trying to make a living off of it, how would you feel if people just ignored the fair price that you attached to your work and just started getting it for free? I know it bothers me when I see serial numbers for the game I worked long and hard on just posted on mailing lists. I feel like I have been stolen from.
You can download music for 99 cents a song these days or you can go out and buy the CD for $15. You can buy most movies for $5 to $20 on DVD. Those prices seem pretty fair in today's economy.
There may be injustice in the recording industry but the artists on those labels have signed agreemtns to be on those labels. The record companies didn't point guns at the artists and say: sign or else! Some artists even post free downloads of their music. Use your downloading power to support those artists. Download free music and short films, but just stop downloading things that the copyright holders do not want you to download.
I doubt my post will change anyone's mind about this but I couldn't sit and read any more of this without saying something.
The actions of the RIAA and the MPAA are the community's fault for not respecting the copyright holders wishes. The DMCA goes too far and may other laws do as well, but those laws would not be there had the community not forced them to try drastic measures to stop the rampant copyright infringement.