Journalism is a trade rather than a profession, a bit like bricklaying
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The music and film industries want to criminalise us all
THE BIG ENTERTAINMENT COMPANIES in Britain certainly have their claws in the policymakers. Money talks the loudest, and governments are willing to listen without even asking what the people want.
The Digital Economy Bill has been rushed through with wealthy and powerful music and film industry bosses sliming their way to influence those in the corridors of power.
They have gotten rich for years ripping us off on CDs and DVDs, and they aren't going to accept any change in their profit margins.
Instead of working with the Internet industry to create solutions to the problem of downloading, they have instead decided that the best way to deal with it is to treat people like criminals.
In the end all we wanted was the Digital Economy Bill to be looked at with a bit of care and attention. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was very impressive at the election debates on TV last night, and he was a voice of reason when asked about the Bill recently.
He said, "We did our best to prevent the Digital Economy Bill [from] being rushed through at the last moment. It badly needed more debate and amendment, and we are extremely worried that it will now lead to completely innocent people having their Internet connections cut off."
"It was far too heavily weighted in favour of the big corporations and those who are worried about too much information becoming available. It badly needs to be repealed, and the issues revisited."
So the entertainment industry has already won a big victory in the UK, but new proposals by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) show just how far the entertainment industry wants to go if it isn't checked.
In a joint filing, they are in support of actions which many would consider an attack the freedom of the Internet and very close to creating an Internet Big Brother regime that many of us fear.
For example, they are in favour of technologies and methods that network administrators can use on consumers' computers to manage copyright infringement. In other words, spyware.
And don't think some companies aren't already spying on us. Sony BMG has already got in trouble for putting software on music CDs that tracked what customers were listening to as well as installing hidden files that left some users under attack.
It shows that in the chase for big bucks, big business has no qualms about intrusions on your privacy.
But it's more than that. The MPAA and RIAA also think that people should be discouraged from carrying downloaded music into to the US.
In practice it sounds stupid, but what could happen is that the electronic devices of travelers might be checked for copies of music or film files.
That's not as outlandish as it sounds - people with actual hard copies of CDs would be stopped, so what's the difference between that and someone carrying the same content in digital form?
The MPAA and RIAA also don't want Bittorrent sites like the Pirate Bay to escape their wrath.
They see a future where the US pressures other countries to put its own concerns about copyright over policies that may be improving innovation and competition.
The music and film industries do need to do something, but this really isn't the way. What are we, China? It's not the place of big industry's to dictate to us how and what we can do on the Internet - it belongs to everybody and it is just as much, or more, ours as it is theirs.
Debate, a dialogue, solutions, a compromise that most of us will be happy with is needed, but we do not want to be criminalised and we will react hard against that.
There's one thing we can do very soon to make the policymakers listen, and that is by voting in the General Election. µ
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Thanksfully criminals don't write laws. Instead they fill prisons.
I think the content cartels are the criminals and yes, the laws should get tougher on them and yes, they should have ropes tied to each of their limbs and then tied to 4 mules and then throw a cherry bomb in the middle but thats almost too good for them, maybe instead, just scalp them leaving their skulls exposed and then let them run around screaming in the streets. I'm sure this will change their views in a hurry. :P or maybe just delete all the law changes concerning content lisencing and patents made after 1800 and then it might be a little more reasonable and the cartels could keep their scalps.
Do you think society is going to allow people to steal copyright protected works or do you think society is going to continue processing for theft of copyright protected works? I think the laws and punishment are going to get tougher because most people in the world understand stealing is a crime. Pretending it's OK to steal isn't going to change reality.
Copyrights and patents can only exist at the barrel of a government gun put to your head. Intellectual property *wretches and spits* is not a part of natural law. Government granted monopoly is theft - not private property configured in a geometry of the owner's choice.
Unfortunately, only some members of the human species are born with the innate desire for liberty and the capability to recognize this intuitively. The rest are born to be slaves, or to rule over the slaves as their masters.
I have little hope that any of you will learn in time. Ultimately, the bankruptcy of indebted governments will clear the Earth of this insane tyranny. My only consolation will be the gloating I will do after the coming collapse as my silver and gold skyrockets in value and your fiat currencies turn to dust and ash.
Copying Is Not Theft
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4&feature=player_embedded
Against Intellectual Property
http://mises.org/journals/jls/15_2/15_2_1.pdf
The Law
http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html
Learn the truth... if you dare.
Crimes far beyond copying an MP3, yet doesn't seem to bother you. -- And they won't stop there. -- Further, these changes are ex post facto, extending previous copyright indefinitely (life of author plus 75 years, easily extended by buying politicians), instead of becoming public domain as before.
If copyright infringement were stealing, there'd be no need for new statute to treat it as such, it'd be covered by existing law. But it's always been a privilege (I agree with the pre-1970 or so terms) specified for a limited time, and only by way of civil suits.
Copying is easy now because digital lowers costs, yet the cartels haven't reduced prices, they've only gone legalistic.
It's amazing the number of people who support the rights of rich corporations over their own rights. We don't have anything resembling a free market and capitalism, we have CORPORATISM, and it's getting worse daily.
When did stealing not become a crime?
Ok, so the opposition to filesharing goes something like this : It's nice to see a nice balanced response from the government, to what is essentially people stealing a product (and therefore dues) from another.
It's a flawed argument. It assumes each download is a would-be purchase, it assumes the optimal distribution known as p2p has a payola equal. It also assumes the current hunger for new music will be sustained in a non-free environment.
Cast your mind back to 1993. We had charts manipulated by corporations, we had format shifts which benefitted only the same corporations, we had a very limited choice and body of work. We had out-of-print issues, and we had the same corporations complaining about home taping and music sharing.
On balance we've not really progressed, the corporations are land-grabbing once again, but this time the politicians are assisting them. Cross-party, Lib Dems included.
isn't it odd despite all the complaining over copyright companies are still willing to charge for titles more than 50 years old. these have reached the limit of copyright terms in the uk.
maybe shorten the term to 10 years and set up a free library for expired tracks?
gives the artists plenty of time to make a living of a track, encourages new releases, provides for those who don't want to pay for music and keeps a reserve of our musical heritage.
As Pre-posturus as it sounds. The so called Freedom to Pirate should not be considered a freedom at all! In fact there was a day recordable media to record sound and video was considered too much, now you want bit perfect free music available with no blush and don't see this isn't a right at all.
Your Right to get HQ free stuff doesn't really exist. If you want free speech then I say make 1 internet for media and one where people can exercise free speech and drm the media internet to the full extent the riaa wants to or can. Then the text only free speech internet can fill the void of people claiming they must have this. So you see your tying freedom to free stuff and if you have frredom without free stuff your angry and want both freedom and free stuff. See now, it's not like that in the real world why should it be in the www?
Asavin, most regrettably you forgot to include a reasonably detailed outline of an alternative solution to the problem. And, just so you know, any "solution" that involves modification or elimination of copyrights will, quite rightfully, *not* be taken seriously. Unless you would also, as an example, "eliminate" political corruption or any other criminal behaviour by legalizing it.
Sorry but this is crap, I contacted my local MP, who is a LibDem MP and he didn't even bother turning up to vote.
I just got the generic copied and pasted response.
Now I'm not saying any of the other parties are any better, hardly any MPs actually bothered to vote, and a fair few of them didn't actually turn up to find out what it was all about, they just voted.
Considering an election is coming up in just under 3 weeks, they're saying what they can just to get a few more votes.
Rob
There is more than ONE thing that can be done. In fact all it would take is voting with your wallets instead of election votes.(This is better method because bankrupt corporations cannot buy ANY politicians or push for any laws to be made.)
You people remind me of CRACK Cocaine addicts crying about the high price of crack yet people still keep buying it. The rich dealer would be out of money and a job IF PEOPLE STOPPED BUYING CRACK PERIOD.(same goes for music and movie corporations...hint hint)
Oh wait people can't stop buying digital entertainment ,because it's the new entitlement , right ? You are born with the right to be entertained by digital entertainment , sorry I forgot.
Gee hard to imagine how people ever lived/survived before these music and movie corporations existed. I guess they got off their @$$ and actually did physical things out in the world like camping, fishing ,gardening ,and other hobbies. But now all we have are digital junkies crying because their fix is becoming too costly.
So be realistic and either stop paying for digital entertainment and find different ways to entertain yourself , OR STFU and pay for your entertainment addictions and whatever comes with it.
The music industry has for too long made money not by producing new and good music but by using other techniques to generate revenues. They are crazy because the bond between customer and producer must be strengthened, not torn asunder by lawsuits and spying.
They need to dramatically reduce the price of recorded music to a sustainable level. Once a CD is $5 retail then really put the squeeze on the downloading, but to maintain ridiculous prices (a CD costs perhaps $1 to make) they annoy people.
Second, no matter what they do to the pretty honest people of the UK, Australia, US and Canada, they are failing to grasp the 99.99% piracy rates in Brasil, Russia, China, India. These countries need a punitive import duty on all their products until they cut it out. It is completely outrageous to punish the more honest citizens while letting the hard-core pirates go unpunished.
I sell labeling software, and consistently the Island of New Caledonia out-buys all of southeast Asia. One has 20k people, the other 2000000k people. That is a 10,000:1 honesty ratio. There are more chinese millionaires than people in NC, so let's not use some bullshit argument about how the chinese can't afford to buy music. They REFUSE ON PRINCIPLE to purchase our music and why the USA will allow 5000 ocean containers per day into the country without a whimper about this is beyond comprehension, unless you imagine they politicians are being paid off.
Yay for supporting USING democratic options and not for spoiling ballot like the cynical comment at the end of the previous article by NickF.
Elections are but 5-yearly, but democratic shaping of society is inter-generational.
Reading news like this is really pissing me off.I have been boycotting the buying of any new products from these asses.i only buy used stuff and wish millions did too.
what are these guys on anyways ? CRACK !!!
they sure have a lot of nerve and i do hope it will bite them back.
Vote in the general election, throw the bums out who voted in favor of the bill, and only vote for those who oppose it and support the media corporations.
Should be quite effective.
Basically Entertainment Cartel and gov say everyone must eat cake.. hmm
@ bigger_luddite
"this is why the public should always oppose the accumulation of money and power. Never works out well..."
If we were to oppose the accumulation of money and power, that would mean adopting something other than capitalism.
But capitalism does not "have" to override democracy. Our politicians let this happen, but the answer to this is relatively obvious. Do not elect (or re-elect) politicians which allow industry to exert disproportionate control over the government. A corporation is legally considered to be "one" legal person, but fictionalized persons like this are not even guaranteed one democratic vote (let alone openly controlling government agencies as they do at present).
Shrugging one's shoulders and watching your democratic rights and freedoms get flushed down the loo is not apt to stop this process. Identifying and removing from government all those that let industry subvert democracy is the answer.
Ben "Only a fool or member of the "entitled" generation would think you can steal whatever you want by hiding behind a PC monitor."
Your so right! But then again you probally voted for all those cctv cameras too didnt you? just because you have given your rights away to the tv police dont make your comments any less insane in the new light. oh and btw no one has been saved from a crime with all the cameras...after the fact..and dead..yes they work great!! sheesh
Good. Come and arrest me, Ben. Comer and chuck me in prison. Remember that people like you used to work for the Church and burned pirates for printing books!
Make us burn.
Nobody beyond the age of 18 isn't a criminal, if you look at the law strictly then every hour you break at least one law, no matter who you are and what you are doing.
There are just so many laws, and many of them actually conflict, and many are not applied by anybody, or in certain circumstances where the letter say they should but no cop or judge or lawyer or even DA (or equivalent) does.
DRM based contents will be available for your brain to consume. No needs for a device at all.
If you illegally download or distribute copyright protected works be it music, video, software, etc. you are a criminal and should be prosecuted. Only a fool or member of the "entitled" generation would think you can steal whatever you want by hiding behind a PC monitor. They build prisons for the ignorant people in denial.
We should establish 'mention-rights' and charge the companies each time they mention europeans or you or me specifically, and they need to ask prior permission too I'd say, which they get - pending approval.
So I hope they don't mention europeans after this post without paying since that would severely damage my, and european, profit margins, I estimate a loss of several billion per year, billions I'd spend and thus would create jobs, jobs that are lost if they mention europeans.
So expect another increment of corporate tyranny in due course.
Here's the problem with politicians: "It badly needed more debate and amendment..." -- No, that starts by conceding about 90 percent of the argument, reducing it to details.
Copyright used to be merely a right to sue in court, granted by the public for public good. Now it's become, as so much of "industry" has, special privileges for cartels that supersede both public interest and individual rights.
So, in brief: this is why the public should always oppose the accumulation of money and power. Never works out well. Getting even this relatively minor area back to where it was 20 years ago may be next to impossible.
And that's why one should be a Luddite and oppose *all* change.
was on a slippery slope when it banned dancing back in 1994, -but I never honestly believed that the industry that would take us to fascism was showbiz. Always figured it would be big oil or the arms industry or some other traditionally "evil" industry. But showbiz?! Creators of entertainment!? Jesus! I *work* in showbiz. I produce original content for money. I make parties. Where people are having fun. And dance(still legal in Norway). And to "protect" me and others like me showbiz teamed up with corrupt politicians to institute fascism?! I'm outraged, is what I am. Because that's what it is, fascism: corporatism as the Mussolini qoute right here on the inq says. This act lets corporations go outside of the legal system, outside of due process -in order to blackmail and harass whoemever they choose without the slightets shred of evidence. Subverting the courts, subverting democracy, subverting freedom. Turning the government into a parody of itself. And for what? What did these politicians sell themselves for? A two week holiday? £100.000? That's what our freedom was worth? A holiday? Chump change?
I think Sid Vicious said something about this in a Leftfield song -went something like "Burn, Hollywood, Burn! Take down, Tinseltown -Burn down -to the ground!"
There already is software as-good-as-forcibly installed on people's computers in name of the MPAA/RIAA members, it's called vista/w7 and all DVD player software, and the familiar 'arcsoft' crap that calls home every 2 seconds, and all audio drivers now boast support for taking rights away, and audio over HDMI will not work at all without stifling drivers that control YOU instead you controlling your computer, and hardware accelerated video on windows only works in a 'protected-path' manner sharply reducing your rights and control.
I can't even update my audio drivers because updates disable the possibility to use 'what-u-hear' (aka 'stereo', or what in other words: what is being played) as input source, another 'victory for freedom' freedom of the big companies to control you as slaves that is..
And sony also sneaked in crap software via gamedemos, that was/is not removed after you removed the gamedemo.
Basically the ship is already sinking and the captain already is no longer on board, good luck to us trying to salvage this wreck then eh.
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