Before someone says something - I'm not defending piracy, I for one am a pirate, and I won't deny or make an excuse. (OSTs, Games, Movies, the typical things. Well, those things are what people pirate anyways.)
Just getting tired of these things. 'Law', 'law', 'law', to that, I say, lawl. Pass this bill and it's game over for the US. Maybe the government should actually insert a coin and try again. Obama -> Osama.
Also with the whole right and wrong, don't bother. It's right & wrong, not one or the other. Going to be egotistical and say, it's a fact. 'Two sides to a story'. Two sides to piracy. Or is that too much to comprehend. It's about the piracy law, not whether it's good or bad. Piracy can be good, is that shocking? We also know it's bad. Whatever. People these days.
On with my wall of text.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->While they may never be able to truly defeat piracy and drive it from the lurking depths of the internet, copyright protection attack-dog organizations like the RIAA and MPAA have long dreamed of the day when they would no longer have to pay for their own copyright enforcement. Now that dream is on the verge of coming true, thanks to the Obama administration. - <b>Meh, so they're going to use other people's money instead? What difference does it make, it's still wasted money. Put it towards something better....
Let me get this straight. Instead of using money for bigger prisons, because of the ever increasing crimes and children missing cases, or other such cases such as jobs, you're going to aim for something 'petty'? I thought the law is to protect citizens, not hurt them.</b>
He states, "This is theft, clear and simple. It's smash and grab, no different than a guy walking down Fifth Avenue and smashing the window at Tiffany's and reaching in and grabbing what's in the window."
<b>What? You're comparing digital stuff with physical violence? Why would he just smash it? You'd think he'll be unarmed? What he's doing has a possibility of someone's death. This is 2010, not 2001.
Where I live, a lot of things happen. I hear gunshots from time to time, as well as see flowers on the side of roads, meaning someone has died. Don't bother comparing random violence with harmless internet actions. It's not like you're doing things to help this neighborhood. I'm not saying my neighborhood is the worst. There are much worse, lawless areas. Sadly, not many people can do anything about it. (I get touchy on the subject of life.)</b>
According to the Obama administration,<b> the RIAA, and MPAA</b>, the world economy is pretty much doomed if we don't start prosecuting pirates at home and abroad. Without such a crackdown, <b>businesses will go bankrupt</b> the coalition argues. <b>Biden</b> states, "<b>Piracy hurts, it hurts our economy.</b>"
<b>1 - Seriously? The RIAA and MPAA pull random crap out of their ass, and with the things below such as the judge having connections to such organizations, you're going to listen to them? They're as one sided as a troll.
2 - Oh please, shovel-ware companies will go bankrupt because of such atrocities, music-based companies won't be as affected as badly. Guess what, downloads also show off popularity, popularity means it's good, meaning some of those downloaders will actually buy it! Shocking. PEOPLE BUY STUFF!? TOTALLY! OMG!!
3 - Seriously? We have a freaking oil spill with gallons by the millions, and you're talking about PIRACY hurting our ECONOMY? Not only is the spill affecting people, it's also ruining nature. Lack of care for US citizens, as usual.</b>
<i>(Look at Twilight. As much as I hate it, it is popular, and is making money. You're going to say that's hurting the economy?)</i>
Interestingly, the statements seem to fly in the face of a recent Government Accountability Office study released to U.S. Congress earlier this year, which concluded that there is <b>virtually no evidence</b> for the claimed million dollar losses by the entertainment industry. That study suggested that piracy could even benefit the economy. -
<b>People like to try before they buy. Not to mention emulators, I tried the DS (well, more like I tried games for it)and, now I want to buy a DS. Of course, it's not limited to games. Bad songs? Not your style? Avoid buying that and buy something else. Not to mention the bolded part.</b>
Another noteworthy study from three years back notes that virtually every citizen violates intellectual property laws in some way on a daily basis. -
<b>This means everyone will be charged anyways. You're no better than pirates, you're just stealing money from people. Example of easy money : let's say 1 million people, at $1. Because the average person does not find $1 significant, they will give that $1. They have made 1 million dollars in no time at all.</b>
The White House press release was full of buzz phrases, but short on details. It did however indicate that the U.S. government may increasingly monitor filesharing networks and BitTorrent sites and assist media groups in their prosecution/threat letter efforts. It speaks of improved "law enforcement efforts at the Federal, state and local level."
<b>Don't you have anything better to do with your time? Yes, waste resources while staring at crap online. We already had idiots watching porn as the economy declined. Less law enforcement online, more law enforcement in reality.</b>
The biggest effort, though, will be devoted to cracking down on piracy websites in the U.S. and overseas. The administration was short on details of how exactly it would convince <b>piracy-loving nations like China</b> to change their ways, but it did say it would try to do so by "being as public as we possibly can" about infringement. <b>China - piracy is abundant because it makes money. Fake games, etc. Kind of no way to convince them, since well, it's money. Just like the above, US wants money, China wants money. </b>
The press release states, "As we shine the spotlight on foreign governments that have rogue actors doing illicit business within their borders, it's the government's responsibility to respond."
Such efforts have shown mild success. After lots of threats against the Swedish government by the U.S., the European Union nation finally tried admins with the nation's largest torrent site The Pirate Bay last year and found them guilty.<b> The trial was later exposed to be a perversion of the justice system, with the judge who gave the verdict have multiple ties to copyright protection organizations. The verdict -- $3M USD in damages and a year of hard prison time for the admins -- is currently being appealed.</b>
<b>All you did was show corruption, US. And abuse of sorts. The law isn't the law when it's one sided. False justice, ftw. Also, who are they giving $3M to? Someone will profit from this in the end. PROFIT, no justice. Also wasting money and resources by attacking TPB, so what is this $3M going to be for?
"Reimbursement for lost time"? And DAMAGE? That's laughable. My house was egged on one Halloween a few years ago and my brother's car was broken into as well. That's real damage. Those fags almost hit my mom once as well. Oh someone downloaded something illegally! It's damaging something! Reputation? Money? Not really. Is it too much to handle if I said it could have the opposite effect?</b>
The White House's vision is perhaps a prelude to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which will go before Congress later this year. The bill would make P2P or BitTorrent client development a criminal offense if the distributed software was used for infringement. It also implements an interesting provision called "imminent infringement", which allows the government to charge people who they think might be about to infringe with a civil offense (for example if you searched "torrent daft punk"). This is among the first official "thought crime" provisions to be proposed by the U.S. government. The bill also makes it a criminal offense to bypass DRM.
<b>1 - You can't guarantee if the software will be used for infringement or not. Aiming at the developers? It's the people's action that are illegal.
2 - Imminent offense? Lawl. Torrents are the biggest way to find things, from super rare releases to modern music. Because of that, people are able to, gasp, try before they buy! If you think they are, you're gonna' charge 'em? SMART MOVE. It's like Arizona's law, to an extent.
3 - DRM? If there weren't so many retarded ways of protection, then no one would need to bypass it.</b>
Ultimately, it should be interesting to see how <u>American <b>taxpayers</b></u> react to President <strike><u>Obama's</u></strike> <u>Osama's</u> decision to spend their money on efforts to prosecute them and try to choke out piracy at home and abroad, particularly when the <u>current evidence is <b>inconclusive</b> of its effects</u>. One thing's for sure, though. <u>Top politicians</u> on both sides of the aisle are firmly behind the music and movie industry anti-piracy and <u><b>money-collection</b> </u>efforts.
<i>I couldn't help but underline parts of this, because it just shows how much the 'President' is failing here.</i>
<b>Summary - Let's use our tax money on us to make us give out more money. 'Perversion' of the law, much? They're going on a bias of, piracy definitely hurts the economy and always has even though we have no proof of it!
Where's our freedom? Why the unjust actions? You're going to hurt consumers. YOU are going to HURT the ECONOMY. You're only making money for yourselves, not the industry.</b><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Inb4 some one defends the US or says why am I still living here if I hate it so much, I'm sorry, unlike you, I'm not made of money, nor am I smart enough to learn a second language (tbh - I haven't actually tried to learn another language, because, well, high school is lacking. Oh hey, there's a subject to spend money on. And it'll actually matter, I know, surprising.) Seeing the world, from a world of sand to living in the heart of nature, but I digress.
Anti-US? Sure, why not. Say that after 'my' media is left alone. I could care less about the US if that happened. Games are like parents to me, they're not just mindless entertainment. Music supports me. Anime/movies/cartoons entertain me and teach me. I pirate and I buy.
Besides, I'm pretty sure import sites make more money by charging $80 for an item as opposed to it's 'actual' price in foreign places. GameStop has also been around for years. Rental stores such as Blockbuster, too. Oh, let's not forget about Gamefly and Netflix. Why buy when people can rent? All these companies make 'easy' money. (Which may involve hard work behind the scenes. It's not just one person and one dvd, when orders come in, and then when returns come in, etc.) They aren't going bankrupt any time soon. They provide some sources of media, so why don't you count them in?
-Sigh- the one thing that has gives interest in life that'll eventually get me in trouble with this redundant crap? Whatever, a risk I'm willing to take. If that many citizens are 'breaking' the 'law', then they can't arrest and charge all of us. I'm pretty sure if they tried that, they'd regret making such a dumb bill and wish they made one relating to prisons and all that crap. That or, Civil War 2. Ironically, if it does happen, someone will probably make Civil War 2 - The video game.
I just wish they'd stop doing stupid crap and focus on the country for once. Shoddy schools, people getting scammed so easily, crime here and there, you know, the usual.