Justice Dept. Boosts Number Of FBI Agents, Attorneys Focusing On Copyright Infringement
from the priorities,-people dept
As noted, yesterday was officially "World Intellectual Property Day," and it looks like the US Justice Department decided to contribute. It announced the appointment of 15 new assistant US attorneys and 20 FBI special agents, who will focus on intellectual property issues. Funny timing on this one. We had just noted that the Justice Department had moved the very real problem of identify fraud off the priority list of things to work on -- and, just weeks later, the GAO put out its report noting that the supposed "harm" done by intellectual property infringement appears to be based on nothing. So why is the Justice Department beefing up efforts to fight intellectual property issues? It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that some of the top folks at the Justice Department previously worked for the RIAA, MPAA, and the BSA -- three of the groups who were most responsible for pushing out those bogus claims about the "impact" of piracy. Nah... that couldn't possibly be related, could it?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: copyright, fbi, infringement, justice dept
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Re: Out of touch...
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It's showing you what really matters, and that’s big business baby, not you the consumer.
After all isn’t government just another paid asset of big business?
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Re:
If half the population is infringing (as you claim) then 35 people dedicated to enforcement isn't exactly going to fix it (that's a ratio of around 1 million to one).
The rest of your comment is equally logically sloppy.
The ratio of paid for/ not paid for has been gradually going one way for many years - and yet the big producers go on spending more and more on each new release.
The fact is that the world isn't split into people who get all their content "legally" and people who get it all "illegally" everyone does some of each (since it is almost impossible to be legal all the time).
Study after study has shown that the people who have the most illegal content also buy the most legal content.
What you call "simple economics" is in fact merely "simplistic economics" and it is simply wrong.
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Funny, But Not On Topic
He's not talking about how Bittorrent works, so stop reminding him.
He's talking about who rips the original digital file that then gets shared, copied, and reshared. He's saying there are few of those people. And I imagine there are also few specific "leaks" at the movie studios, and a small number of people who camcord in theaters, certainly when those groups are compared to the number of people sharing copies.
Joe and Trigger, I often agree with you, but if you guys wanna disagree with him, try addressing his point.
It's like what Masnick always says: it only takes one person to leak the .avi file, or one person to crack the DRM, and then "it's out there" for everyone. The AC is saying, aim your enforcement resources towards that one guy, and you could have a measurable impact.
Agree or disagree, but Bittorrent has little to do with what he's saying.
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Re: Funny, But Not On Topic
And like always the TAM has no clue what he's talking about. So what if all those regular people who copy and spread their BDs (sales figures are rising, no?) make it to the net a few days after a scene release?
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Re: Re: Funny, But Not On Topic
At least someone is now at least arguing against his point! You're saying that there are far more "rip & seeders" than he thinks.
I actually wonder about that. But whether he or you are right, either way, for DVDs the number of "rip & seeders" has got to be an order of magnitude smaller than the number of "download and re-sharers". And the number of leaks at the studios has got to be quite small.
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with 300 million people in the US the ratio is 8,571,428.57 to 1
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Idiotic Economics
The free market is not about propping up a business model. If it is uneconomic to produce something in the existing business environment, including so-called piracy, then it should not be produced.
You also neglect the fact that those who believe in so-called intellectual property are expanding their onerous claims to the revenue stream. So the real "theft" occurs when they "steal" rights from the consumer.
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told ya
the future all of it willbe free and art and culture willbe donated by people that WISH to do it not wish to make a buck.
Lets see how long this takes to cause the second american revolution
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Re: told ya
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#3
i see who is also out of touch with reality
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Re: #3
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Re: Re: #3
No one said this, but just because some people demand monopoly rents doesn't mean they should get what they want. If some employee refused to work without a raise they would probably be looking for another job. Musicians, and specifically corporations (since it's mostly the corporations that want these laws, not musicians) shouldn't be allowed to extort retarded laws out of the government that's supposed to represent the public. Art and music would continue perfectly fine without these laws and if you don't personally like the quality of music no one is forcing you not to pay an artist/band whatever you wish to support them. but don't make the rest of society subsidize them with retarded laws that restrict our behavior, restrict our technology, and costs a lot to enforce.
"just because you mow your own lawn doesnt mean there isnt a viable business for lawn care companies."
But those lawn care companies do not demand monopoly rents. There are viable business for both lawn care companies and musicians that don't require monopoly rents. and I wish that those who do demand monopoly rents go out of business immediately.
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intellectual dishonesty or cognitive dissonance?
I cannot tell if this is a product of intellectual dishonesty, or complete cognitive dissonance. It is true that the GAO report called into question certain methodologies employed by particular rights holder organizations. But, the GAO also conceded that determining the economy-wide impacts of piracy is "difficult, if not impossible." The GAO report did anything but conclude that the effects of piracy are "based on nothing." To the contrary, the report concluded that "the problem is sizable" and that "negative effects on US industry may include lost sales, lost brand value, and reduced incentives to innovate," and that the "US economy as a whole may grow more slowly becuase of reduced innovation and loss of trade revenue." It is true that the report also identified potential positive externalities that result from copyright infringement, but the report in no way suggested that these externalities outweigh the harm caused by piracy.
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Re: intellectual dishonesty or cognitive dissonance?
The key word here is may. In other words, this is based on speculation which essentially means it is based on nothing.
"but the report in no way suggested that these externalities outweigh the harm caused by piracy."
No one said this, you need to get your reading comprehension problem corrected.
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Re: Re: intellectual dishonesty or cognitive dissonance?
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Re: Re: Re: intellectual dishonesty or cognitive dissonance?
No one said this. Just that there is a difference between "speculation" and "evidence." A contention based on "speculation" is basically based on "nothing" in the sense that it's not based on any evidence. I can speculate that magic fairy turtles cause the earth to revolve around the sun. So what? It's based on nothing. By your logic we should consider such a possibility.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: intellectual dishonesty or cognitive dissonance?
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Re: intellectual dishonesty or cognitive dissonance?
Forgive me but that looks pretty close to "based on nothing" to me.
The GAO report did anything but conclude that the effects of piracy are "based on nothing."
Now that looks like a statement "based on nothing".
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Re: intellectual dishonesty or cognitive dissonance?
Right. And that means -- exactly as I said -- that the claims of harm were based on nothing.
but the report in no way suggested that these externalities outweigh the harm caused by piracy.
Nor did I say that the report said the good outweighed the harm. You seem to have made that up entirely. All I said was that the report concluded that the studies were not based on legitimate info -- i.e., "based on nothing."
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Re: Re: intellectual dishonesty or cognitive dissonance?
This response seems equally disingenuous. That there were methodological problems with the estimates is not nearly the same thing as saying they were "based on nothing." I think you realize this. I would hope so, at least.
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Re: Re: Re: intellectual dishonesty or cognitive dissonance?
So yes, it effectively means that the assumption of harm is based on nothing.
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Conflict!!!
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Of course, because intellectual property apologists are used to committing fraud (ie: falsely asserting that no one would create art or music or innovate without strict IP laws). Why should they go after the very thing they commit on a daily basis?
Fraud? Who cares about fraud. The IP laws that protect the rich are more important.
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World Intellectual Property Day
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Priorities Wrong Much?
The added benefit is that future financial execs would avoid excessively risky investments and loans, so we'd never again have a government bank bailout.
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Benchwarmers?
Seriously though this is senseless can they just finish with ACTA first and then we deal with these guys?
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-TFLN.
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Criminals are spoiling it for everyone
Here's what's actually inside that bunker:
http://netload.in/dateibw9cmNKppF.htm
It's people like this CB3ROB who make pirates and downloaders look like criminals. Not good.
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But isn't the Music Business in Ruins From Sharing?
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Re: But isn't the Music Business in Ruins From Sharing?
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But isn't the Music Business in Ruins From Sharing?
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