Posted on 04/24/2006 7:51:04 AM PDT by FewsOrange
Anyone think congressmen have quit taking bribes? Think again.
And yet these same people can't get together to vote on putting up a fence on our borders. WTF?
The more the industry pushes into the DCMA restrictions, the more I go out and actively look for open source software.
Well I for one am glad to know that our leaderships priorities are straight. Criminalizing more teenagers copying music files online is a serious issue...such copyright infringment is a threat to the long term health and security of this nation. Far more significant than terrorism, energy costs, social security collapse and federl deficit spending, illeghal copying of DVD movies threatens to undermine the very fabric of western civilization as we know it.
The magic words to pass any legislation.
US-based copyright laws become increasingly irrelevant when they are so far out of line with other nations. The internet is global; copyrights on music expire after 50 years in many countries, and there are already websites based in those countries legally offering bulk music downloads for next-to-nothing. A little thing called arbitrage comes into effect.
As expected, government's main role is to expand its own mandate and soak up power. This should come as no surprise.
I hear ya. I'm ready to try a Linux variation get completely away from Windows and anything to do with the RIAA.
If the recording and video industries felt threatened by illegal imigrants, there would be a fence up along the border in a heartbeat. But they probably also use illegals, likely through sub-contractors, and don't want to lose the cheap labor.
Try SUSE or Fedora Core (hell, try any of them). I've been Windows free for a long time and it is sweet.
It is called taking the easy way out. Go after americans. Make them the criminals. With enough law on the books every single one of us knowingly or otherwise, can and would be considered a crook, but keep the borders secure, IMPOSSIBLE.
This law could make playing DVDs under Linux a federal crime.
At some point you would think that these industries would get a clue. The billions they spend trying to shut down copyright abuses does NOT return to them in increased revenues. If you make it a crime for teenage Cindy Sue to download a Shakira mp3 that DOES NOT mean that she is going to then go out and buy Shakira's album. Or take someone like a good friend of mines brother in law. I garantee you he isnt going to stop copying DVD's he gets from netflix just because this law has passed. sure in the end he has to understand that he is running the risk of going to prison for theft..but he (and most others) are not going to think that is ever going to happen to them. These laws and the enforcment of them (which is impossible in anything other then the most arbitrary methods) dont increase the sales of these companies...its already stealing now..why would making it "worse stealing" stop them moving forward. The industries would I think better serve their share holders by not spending all the dollars in litigation and lobbying to stop something that just flat out isnt going to stop.
Especially since copying dvd's and cd's you own is already allowable under fair use..once they can do it for themselves its already a lost battle. Its like passing a law in 1980 saying its illegal to record a song on the radio to a cassette tape. How on earth is it every going to be enforcable. It isnt..and that makes the legislation stupid irresponsible and a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Well, I didn't think the Bush administration could get any worse.
I was wrong.
People who voted for "Rep. Lamar Smith" might want to take a closer look next time around.
Technically, it already is. The library [libdvdcss] for decoding the the disc is illegal in the US (under DMCA), although its legality has never been tested in court. Well, it was sent to court in Norway, where the DVD CSS was cracked, but the case was dropped. But its out in the wild so its a moot point.
I understand the difficulty of enforcing such a law, the different standards applied in different countries, and the relcuctance to feed big stoopid goovermint anymore power.
The point remains:
It's 1960s, prior to the hippy and communist infestation. The King has produced another album. A john Wayne Wester n is making the rounds. suddenly, a wonderful new technology was created that allowed people to use any of these products wihthout any of the artists or actors ever seeing a red cent.
The million dollar question is, since the Good Lord proclaimed "Thou shalt not steal." and you are taking advantage of entertainment created by the hard work of others whereas they never recieve any profit from it, is it theft?
On the flip side, is recording videos and music tapes also theft?
Technology complicates morality.
Yet another reason to NOT vote for Republicans this November.
They've become addicted to the power and money that comes to those in the majority party. They need our help going cold turkey.
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