Australian Police: Cracking Down On Piracy... Except When The Police Are The Pirates
from the double-standards-much? dept
Just days after Australian police participated in a headline generating raid to stop music piracy, an audit of police computers not only found DVD piracy is rife throughout many police department computers, but the police have decided not to prosecute because the activity was so widespread. Apparently, the fact that unauthorized file sharing is also widespread throughout the wider population doesn't stop the police... but when it's their own doing the sharing, it gets forgiven.
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Typical
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Re: Typical
In December I bought my first Mercedes(well my first to actually drive and not simply restore). Previously I'd been driving Dodge, Lincoln, Mercury and Ford and had been pulled over in all of them.
Anyway, I decided that I wanted to put some aftermarket parts on my car in January and was sitting in the car putting them on while it was parked on the side of the road. At some point in time I hear a vehicle pull in behind my car and thinking it was my wife I looked back and saw it was a cop. First thought is "holy crap, I'm about to get shaken down". I lean out the door and ask him if I could help him and he says "I saw you on the side of the road with your trunk and doors open and thought you might need some help." So now upon purchasing a Benz, I now have what appears to be one of the best roadside assistance programs on the planet. I've sped at 10+ mph over the limit only to pull in the slow lane and realize that a cop had been following me the entire time and didn't give a rat's ass about me speeding.
I'm not rich, hell it's not even a remotely new Benz, but it seems that they see the car and something tells them that if I can afford to keep the car in decent shape, I can afford to pay for all sorts of other stuff, like attorneys. I don't know for certain but I think it's going to affect my car purchases in the future, heh.
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This is a surprise?
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Yeah, I once was stopped my a bike cop because I was exiting a mall through an entrance, he made me u-Turn and head back. As I did that, he proceeded to calmly exit the mall through said entrance. Lovely.
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For example, in WA state it varies greatly. City Cops tend to be power tripping dicks (at least in my town, never gotten pulled over Vancouver, 15 min south). The State Police however are some real cool cats.
I've gotten pulled over for speeding several times by the state police. On different interstate highways. The only times I've gotten pulled over for speeding, I was doing well over 15+.
Every time they knock it down to me doing 5 over. The last time I had forgotten to renew my vehicle registration and tabs PLUS I didn't have my current car insurance card in the car.
The tabs and registration ALONE were 800 dollar plus fines. I was just told to renew them and be on my way.
Cops are like people. If the majority of people speed through a certain road, or "pirate" music/movies, so will the same percentage of cops. This doesn't surprise me.
It looks REALLY bad. It IS really bad. The police are SUPPOSED to enforce the laws equally in most countries. Don't know if that is the case in Australia, but yea.
If its just "too widespread" to be a real problem to deal with in your department, stop wasting money doing it out in the rest of the world.
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Any self respecting IT guy in that department would quit before being fired.
Part of my job as an IT Infrastructure Support Analyst is to make sure the computers are properly locked down so that the users cant download things from P2P or other files without an Admin password. Im not saying that they cant download anything, but to install files, etc they need a member of the IT staff to do it for them.
We routinely and randomly check computers for illegal content and PUNISH employees caught violating the terms of computer use on our system. They need to know that when they are on work time, the computers should be used for WORK purposes only. Use your home computers to download illegal movies/music cops, then the RIAA can sue you instead of us...
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Like posting to tech blog forums in the middle of the day...
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No, TFA didn't mention "music" piracy (I'm surprised), but it did mention, as you say, ripping DVDs. Now I don't know about Australian law, but that kind of thing is usually illegal in the US. It's not "music" piracy, it's "movie" piracy. Piracy nonetheless.
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You obviously don't work with cops. They're used to telling civilians what to do, not the other way around and that kind of stuff doesn't work with them. Try telling them what they can and can't do with their computers and they'll have you called in on the carpet pretty darn quickly.
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That's why so many of them have those special stickers they put on their and their families' private cars so that they don't pulled over by other cops like regular people. Some of those stickers even wind up being sold on eBay.
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PD
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More widespread than that
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Re: More widespread than that
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Re: Re: Re: More widespread than that
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no different than all the cops that speed, but pull people over."
Very different, depending on context. Police need to speed to catch up to speeders. Police do not need to pirate videos for their own personal enjoyment in order to catch pirates.
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And I'm sure you are a shining example of honesty and virtue.
People on this forum really need to take a moment and think about what life would be like without police officers. What if you were being chased by some maniac with a gun and had no one to call? Or what if a loved one was shot and you had no one to find out who did it? Quit being morons and saying all cops are bad guys because like ANY profession there are always a few bad apples (I have known quit a few sys admins that are full of themselves and abuse the power THEY have).
As for the piracy, that is bad but chances are they are not "ignoring" the problem. IT might not have found a good solution for stopping them. Just because officers are doing it doesn't mean IT should be free and clear from blame. After all, they let it happen. People will always get away with what they can.
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BTW, nobody said all cops are bad guys. However, you painted everyone ("People will always get away with what they can.") as bad, which would include cops. Is this the voice of personal experience? Or just shameless use of the glittering generality propaganda technique?
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It is there job to not just build the infrastructure but provide security, policies, and regulations on that infrastructure. Your other analogies are completely wrong in terms of the infrastructure. In a corporation, IT is responsible for the systems, ensuring they don't break down, and proper use of those systems. Especially in regards to public safety, there are strict federal rules to follow to ensure security of private information. Which obviously you know nothing about or even thought about.
BTW, nobody said all cops are bad guys.
Re-read posts 1, 2, 3, 12...
However, you painted everyone ("People will always get away with what they can.") as bad, which would include cops.
I never said they were bad, I simply stated human nature. Is a child being "bad" when sneaking cookies from the kitchen until Mom or Dad says to stop? No, it's curiosity and human nature.
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I did. That isn't exactly what they said. But then again, you have quite a reputation for lying. Shall I post some links?
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It is the same everywhere
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status system not legal system
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The RAID and DVD content storage are not the same!
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Re: The RAID and DVD content storage are not the same!
Selling: to transfer goods to or render services for another in exchange for money; dispose of to a purchaser for a price(dictionary.com) —Synonyms: exchange, vend. See trade.
barter: The exchange of goods or services for other goods or services, rather than for money.(dictionary.com)
The two are mostly the same, so by "swapping" copied DVDs they received payment for the movie in the form of another movie. It would be the same as saying I will sell you this disk for $5 and I would like to buy that movie for $5. The two exchange disks and money both bought a movie and still have the same amount of money in their pocket at the end of the day.
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Re: The RAID and DVD content storage are not the same!
So, you're saying that's legal in Australia? Since when?
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ummm....no
There is a big difference between catching real criminals (ie: murderers, rapists, etc.) and busting someone for j-walking or going 5-10 miles over the speed limit. Maybe it is you who needs to take a moment and think before you post.
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Hypocrisy?
Hypocrites with "double-standards" the South Australian Police may be, for lack of prosecution, but not because another State's police force performed a raid on the same or similar crime.
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