It's just astounding to me that now, in the "Information Age" we should need someone to explain why the things written in a three-hundred-and-forty-year-old document (the Constitution) are important.
If Hilary Rosen, after a decade, is still calling copying "theft", and she is
supposedly one of the more enlightened bulbs that ever shone in the RIAA
sign, then the recording industry is truly doomed.
The people who say, "It's not alright to steal a thirty-cent pack of gum" should
be forced to repeat the question, "Is it okay to make a copy of a thirty-cent pack
of gum?" several hundred thousand times until they get this most basic point.
The bottom line is, the recording industry has no fundamental right to dictate
what machines people may own or how they may use them. If new machines have
come along which make selling recordings difficult, the only sane course of
action is to figure out how to make the purchae of recordings more attractive.
At the absolute MOST, if you can't figure out how to make money from recordings,
then STOP RELEASING recordings! The government and the rest of the world do not
owe you a living based on your insistance on the clueless use of antiquated
technology.
The recording industry (and I include the DVD arm of the movie industry here)
have been given this great crutch by the government called "copyright". And not
only have they been viciously bludgeoning everyone with this crutch for decades,
but they have gone back to the government numerous times, insisting that the
crutch is not strong enough to keep them in business.
Their shrill insistence on entitlement is really starting to get irritating.
10 - Dry cleaners and popcorn producers worldwide will enjoy a resurgence in business
9 - There will never be another Justin Beiber
8 - No one will ever leave the living room to go to the bathroom during the commercials again.
7 - Viacom won't have to kill Spongebob in order to pay their CEO's salary
6 - Computers everywhere will stop allowing people to make copies and will automatically turn into television sets
5 - People will once again flock to theaters to see movies, then rent the movie from websites, then buy it on DVD, then buy it on Blu-Ray, then buy it on...
4 - Musicians and film makers will stop making a living using just the internet. All movies and music will once gain come only from Hollywood and the recording industry, as it should be.
3 - Congress will eventually give the internet to Hollywood, once it's apparent that they know how best to manage it.
2 - The "entertainment industry" will see a windfall of $100 billion next fiscal year as people go back to buying copies (see #5 above)
And, finally, the number one way SOPA defenders will gauge the success of the bill will be the disappearance of rogue sites like Techdirt, Ars Technica, the EFF, Slashdot, etc where "common" people have the audacity to publicly insist that their government work for them.
As a content owner I would have power to send a simple letter to a payment processor accusing a client of theirs of copyright infringement. If the payment processor doesn't cut off a business relationship with my target within five days, they could be dragged into a convoluted legal process.
Well, that really cuts the feet out from under Anonymous, doesn't it?
No more extensive, collaborative DDoS attacks - just accuse a website of copyright infringement, and down they go...
So, this means I can walk down the street, filming myself, and then turn around and sue all the entities with street-facing video cameras for copyright infrinement.
Still, the bigger point is that when you have so many people violating the law, perhaps the problem is with the law, and not the people violating it...
I am a constituent and I urge you to reject S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act. I am
deeply concerned by the danger the bill poses to Internet security, free speech
online, and innovation. The PROTECT IP Act is dangerous and short-sighted, and
I urge you to join Senator Wyden and other members of Congress in opposing it.
It is important to note that the Entertainment Industry, in various forms, has
opposed every technological innovation since the player piano - record players,
radio, television, the VCR, digital MP3 players - this is nothing new.
Also, independent studies* have shown that unauthorized copying is nowhere near
the problem that Entertainment Industry's lobbyists make it out to be.
Please take a stand for the American people and at least ask Hollywood to
justify their desire to have the government police the internet for them.
...Feh" is up on two wheels making comparisons to the "War on Drugs" which drags everybody straight in to the spectator field where it all goes up in flames.
That's pretty funny.
And I apologize for the (unintentional) derail.
I was just trying to make comparisons between the Fed's ham-fisted attempts to stop "piracy" (of which SB978 is a specific example) and their same clueless attempts at stopping "drug use".
And to expound upon my previous point - that the entertainment industry doesn't
get to wreck the internet and degrade the Constitution because they're
(supposedly) losing money by releasing copies:
If your dog is wandering all over town and coming home pregnant, then you need
to keep your dog in your yard. You don't get to demand that everyone else
neuter theirs.
There is a distinct parallel between criminalizing a sickness (drug addiction) and criminalizing the fundamental process of the internet (making copies).
I didn't intend to turn this into a debate on drug laws, I just wanted to compare the obvious parallel of turning a sickness (drug addiction) into a crime with turning the fundamental process of the internet (making copies) into one.
I am not usually pessimistic. But I can see how the government's War on File Sharing will continue down the same path as the War on Drugs.
The two are very similar in terms of ignorance of reality, twisted philosophy and general hypocrisy.
The War on Drugs has cost billions of dollars, ruined millions of lives and contributed to severe erosion of Constitutional liberty and loss of respect for government and the police.
It's also turned drug production and sales into a hugely profitable business and then turned that business over to terrorist cartels and warlords.
Given that, it doesn't take a large stretch of the imagination to see the War on File Sharing turning into an amazing bonanza for a few special interests, further limiting the rights of "normal" citizens and pushing large portions of the tech and innovation industries onto foreign shores.
What is deeply frustrating about all this is that the solution is rather simple.
The entertainment industry does not have a "right" to make money from any particular technology.
If they are losing the amount of money that they claim, then the simple answer is to abandon the technologies that are costing them money.
Stop releasing digital content!
Then it can't be pirated.
Restrict all movies to theaters, all music to live performances and low-quality FM broadcasts.
On the post: Why Adversarial Hearings Are Important: Rulings Change When The Other Side Is Heard
Spit Take
But apparently we do. Thanks.
On the post: Morality, Non-Zero Sum Games, Externalities & Why Someone Profiting Off Of Your Work Isn't A Bad Thing
This is Getting Old
supposedly one of the more enlightened bulbs that ever shone in the RIAA
sign, then the recording industry is truly doomed.
The people who say, "It's not alright to steal a thirty-cent pack of gum" should
be forced to repeat the question, "Is it okay to make a copy of a thirty-cent pack
of gum?" several hundred thousand times until they get this most basic point.
The bottom line is, the recording industry has no fundamental right to dictate
what machines people may own or how they may use them. If new machines have
come along which make selling recordings difficult, the only sane course of
action is to figure out how to make the purchae of recordings more attractive.
At the absolute MOST, if you can't figure out how to make money from recordings,
then STOP RELEASING recordings! The government and the rest of the world do not
owe you a living based on your insistance on the clueless use of antiquated
technology.
The recording industry (and I include the DVD arm of the movie industry here)
have been given this great crutch by the government called "copyright". And not
only have they been viciously bludgeoning everyone with this crutch for decades,
but they have gone back to the government numerous times, insisting that the
crutch is not strong enough to keep them in business.
Their shrill insistence on entitlement is really starting to get irritating.
On the post: A Question For SOPA Supporters: How Will You Gauge SOPA's Success?
Tim, It's Simple
10 - Dry cleaners and popcorn producers worldwide will enjoy a resurgence in business
9 - There will never be another Justin Beiber
8 - No one will ever leave the living room to go to the bathroom during the commercials again.
7 - Viacom won't have to kill Spongebob in order to pay their CEO's salary
6 - Computers everywhere will stop allowing people to make copies and will automatically turn into television sets
5 - People will once again flock to theaters to see movies, then rent the movie from websites, then buy it on DVD, then buy it on Blu-Ray, then buy it on...
4 - Musicians and film makers will stop making a living using just the internet. All movies and music will once gain come only from Hollywood and the recording industry, as it should be.
3 - Congress will eventually give the internet to Hollywood, once it's apparent that they know how best to manage it.
2 - The "entertainment industry" will see a windfall of $100 billion next fiscal year as people go back to buying copies (see #5 above)
And, finally, the number one way SOPA defenders will gauge the success of the bill will be the disappearance of rogue sites like Techdirt, Ars Technica, the EFF, Slashdot, etc where "common" people have the audacity to publicly insist that their government work for them.
On the post: SOPA Gives Me Powers That I Don't Want
Awesome
Well, that really cuts the feet out from under Anonymous, doesn't it?
No more extensive, collaborative DDoS attacks - just accuse a website of copyright infringement, and down they go...
On the post: Funny How Microsoft's Views On Responsibility To Competitors Differ Based On Who's In The Antitrust Hot Seat
Re: Not So Fast
Really?
I still can't buy a "naked" new laptop, anywhere.
Period.
Seriously Mike - how could you possibly say that?
On the post: Funny How Microsoft's Views On Responsibility To Competitors Differ Based On Who's In The Antitrust Hot Seat
Not So Fast
Really?
I still can't buy a "naked" new laptop, anywhere.
Period.
Seriously Mike - how could you possibly say that?
On the post: Apparently The Creative Class Is Dead Because No One Works At Tower Records Any More
Tangentially
for the retarded...
by Lead Butthead
it's called "patent trolling," "eternal copyright," and "software patents."
On the post: Forget Wiretapping Laws, Now You Might Be Able To Use Copyright Law To Stop Anyone From Recording You Ever
Lemonade
So, this means I can walk down the street, filming myself, and then turn around and sue all the entities with street-facing video cameras for copyright infrinement.
Winning!
On the post: Changing How We Handle Advertising And Sponsorships
For the Record
Having things moving on the page when I'm trying to read is extremely annoying.
On the post: I Coulda Been A Credenza: Brando Estate Sues Over Couch Named Brando
One Comment
On the post: Dear Musicians: The RIAA Is About To Totally Screw You Over (Again!)
The RIAA Is About To Totally Screw You Over
"...the RIAA officially making it clear that it intends to totally screw over musicians.
"...the RIAA ... will do everything it can to screw over artists..."
"...how the RIAA was totally screwing them over.
"...a bunch of big name musicians going very public about how the RIAA is screwing them over...",
"...while it's actively and vocally trying to totally screw them over."
Wait. Is this an article about the RIAA trying to screw over artists?
On the post: France Three Strikes Law Suggests A Huge Percentage Of French Citizens At Risk Of Losing Internet Access
Deja Vu All Over Again
See "Drug War", especiall, "Marijuana"
On the post: Lobbyists Ramp Up Pressure To Get PROTECT IP Passed
My Letter
deeply concerned by the danger the bill poses to Internet security, free speech
online, and innovation. The PROTECT IP Act is dangerous and short-sighted, and
I urge you to join Senator Wyden and other members of Congress in opposing it.
It is important to note that the Entertainment Industry, in various forms, has
opposed every technological innovation since the player piano - record players,
radio, television, the VCR, digital MP3 players - this is nothing new.
Also, independent studies* have shown that unauthorized copying is nowhere near
the problem that Entertainment Industry's lobbyists make it out to be.
Please take a stand for the American people and at least ask Hollywood to
justify their desire to have the government police the internet for them.
Regards,
*
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-423
http://www.unc.edu/~cigar/papers /FileSharing_March2004.pdf
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ippd-dppi.nsf/eng/h_ip01456.html
On the post: Feds Response To Rojadirecta Demonstrates How S.978 Can Be Abused To Put People In Jail
That's pretty funny.
And I apologize for the (unintentional) derail.
I was just trying to make comparisons between the Fed's ham-fisted attempts to stop "piracy" (of which SB978 is a specific example) and their same clueless attempts at stopping "drug use".
On the post: Feds Response To Rojadirecta Demonstrates How S.978 Can Be Abused To Put People In Jail
Also
get to wreck the internet and degrade the Constitution because they're
(supposedly) losing money by releasing copies:
If your dog is wandering all over town and coming home pregnant, then you need
to keep your dog in your yard. You don't get to demand that everyone else
neuter theirs.
On the post: Feds Response To Rojadirecta Demonstrates How S.978 Can Be Abused To Put People In Jail
Re: Re: Re: Feh
Yes. Thank you.
On the post: Feds Response To Rojadirecta Demonstrates How S.978 Can Be Abused To Put People In Jail
Re: Re: Re: Feh
There is a distinct parallel between criminalizing a sickness (drug addiction) and criminalizing the fundamental process of the internet (making copies).
On the post: Feds Response To Rojadirecta Demonstrates How S.978 Can Be Abused To Put People In Jail
Re: Re: Feh
I didn't intend to turn this into a debate on drug laws, I just wanted to compare the obvious parallel of turning a sickness (drug addiction) into a crime with turning the fundamental process of the internet (making copies) into one.
On the post: Feds Response To Rojadirecta Demonstrates How S.978 Can Be Abused To Put People In Jail
Feh
I am not usually pessimistic. But I can see how the government's War on File Sharing will continue down the same path as the War on Drugs.
The two are very similar in terms of ignorance of reality, twisted philosophy and general hypocrisy.
The War on Drugs has cost billions of dollars, ruined millions of lives and contributed to severe erosion of Constitutional liberty and loss of respect for government and the police.
It's also turned drug production and sales into a hugely profitable business and then turned that business over to terrorist cartels and warlords.
Given that, it doesn't take a large stretch of the imagination to see the War on File Sharing turning into an amazing bonanza for a few special interests, further limiting the rights of "normal" citizens and pushing large portions of the tech and innovation industries onto foreign shores.
What is deeply frustrating about all this is that the solution is rather simple.
The entertainment industry does not have a "right" to make money from any particular technology.
If they are losing the amount of money that they claim, then the simple answer is to abandon the technologies that are costing them money.
Stop releasing digital content!
Then it can't be pirated.
Restrict all movies to theaters, all music to live performances and low-quality FM broadcasts.
Problem solved.
On the post: Google Wants Another Court To Determine If Accessing Open WiFi Is Wiretapping
Enough!
It's not wireless, for Chrissakes.
It's a series of airborne tubes.
What is wrong with people?
Next >>