Hi, we're from the government.....

[Mr. Ron]

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9719339-7.html



Ohhhhh boy.

[ringworm]

what a waste of time and taxpayer money

[Reaganista]

i don't think adding an intent requirement is all bad

it would open the door to people arguing that they didn't realize that they were infringing

and i don't understand at all how you can prove someone attempted to infringe on copyrights in the p2p sense but was ultimately unsucessful

[GreyHam]

god bless the UK is all i can say...youd think the government would have better things to spend time and money on

[griftadan]

we can barely enforce the laws now, this has got to be a joke

[EinzingerIsGod]

What about a law that forces you to resign your job when you force people to take the fall for your own bullshit?

[ringworm]

yeah, make some laws with a cap on CEO earnings and what usually happens when fraud or scandal is perpitrated by high ranking officials or company owners instead of slapping them on the wrist and giving them billion dollar pensions

[Shen_Akamatsu]

It sounds like a last attempt by the Bush administration to cover up some of their failures. That and a waste of taxes. Shouldn't we be more concerned about paying for the war?

[Iscariot]

no one will ever be punished under these laws because it will just be too expensive and take too much time to process all of the bs "he said she said" claims

i also am not in favor of the wiretaps think of how many people download music/movies/software in the us every day and the government wants to wiretap everyone they're suspicious of

the whole country would be under complete government surveillance

[Chrysostom]

* Create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software. Anyone using counterfeit products who "recklessly causes or attempts to cause death" can be imprisoned for life. During a conference call, Justice Department officials gave the example of a hospital using pirated software instead of paying for it.

WTF?

[samariah]

i thought u left this joint

[Smokey D]

it would open the door to people arguing that they didn't realize that they were infringing

But ignorance of the law isn't and shouldn't be a defense.

Actually, though, this doesn't seem too crazy, as it only criminalises intent to distribute not intent to download.

[Otherside]

sharing is caring SD, sharing is caring

[Smokey D]

And property is theft!

But more importantly, I don't really care because I download music to listen to it not to distribute.

[sweboy]

sharing is caring SD, sharing is caring

Sharing is caring.

[Smokey D]

Then there's no such thing as intellectual property, patents or anything that rewards inovation.

[lfantwister]

Except that nice warm feeling of ingenuity

[AmericanWeiner]

* Permit more wiretaps for piracy investigations. Wiretaps would be authorized for investigations of Americans who are "attempting" to infringe copyrights.

what is wrong with this country

[Mad Malik]

You guys in the US have to stop this ****.

[AmericanWeiner]

The government is not under our control anymore. I'm sorry.

[Mad Malik]

You should tell your king to fix that.

[Danger Bird]

Hey, how's Canada?

[AmericanWeiner]

You should tell your king to fix that.

Ssshh, they might be listening. We can be shot with rubber bullets for dissenting. :(

[Reaganista]

But ignorance of the law isn't and shouldn't be a defense.
not ignorance of the law ignorance of what you're doing

[Smokey D]

You'd still be liable, though maybe diminished responsibility would apply.

[sexymuffin]

tbh i'm probably going to move out of this country when i'm eighteen i don't even want to hear **** from these ****wads that control what gets put into movies and the douchebags that hand out platinum albums.

these twats are all rolling and dough and don't give a **** about the rights of their employees. the mpaa is such a ridiculously bullshit organization it's amazing they even exist.

[Smokey D]

The problem with downloading is that disincentivises record companies from taking bets on new music, because the chance for a pay off is greatly reduced. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing to be concerned about, but I don't think downloading is going to stop either.

[Chrysostom]

i thought u left this joint

Who left the what now?

[Mr. Ron]

She's talking to me. I thought I had to leave but it was not so.

[EinzingerIsGod]

I really hope our next administration is more open and honest with the public. If people feel like their government actually listens to what they say they're more apt to take a stand on what they believe in.

I think a more open administration would possibly lead to a wave of social movement, something this country is in dire need of, and we can actually reverse all the bullshit that's gone on the past seven years.

[AmericanWeiner]

I'm afraid to say that we've probably already lost footing in this slippery slope. The US will eventually be (moreso) the joke of the world for its habits of putting druggies, pranksters, and file sharers in the big house with murderers.

We're a hoard of barbarians waiting on the Romans to come and get us. :\

[MattSharpIsCool]

Wiretaps for downloading music? That seems a little extreme.

[Meatplow]

what level of suspicion will allow them to use wiretaps though? massive breach of privacy IMO

in turn i feel that the privacy act also harboring people who collect other sensitive materials such as child & rape p0rn, hate/racism propaganda and weapon/drug recipes a touchy issue.

[Kayetan]

I'm not even going to try to explain how wrong this and everything else about everything is.

[Liberi Fatali]

The problem with downloading is that disincentivises record companies from taking bets on new music, because the chance for a pay off is greatly reduced. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing to be concerned about, but I don't think downloading is going to stop either.
But is the future locked into this market structure?

[sexymuffin]

The problem with downloading is that disincentivises record companies from taking bets on new music, because the chance for a pay off is greatly reduced. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing to be concerned about, but I don't think downloading is going to stop either.

the music industry is evolving and in a big way

i believe in the future we're going to see more and more self-made bands appearing who make money playing shows and selling merchandise. this is where bands make the majority of their money now anyways.

a show experience and merchandise cannot be downloaded, but an album can, and you can already sense this change is taking place with many bands encouraging the public to pay absolutely nothing for their material and just come out to their shows when they tour. the big record companies are going to crumble into nonexistance soon enough, and music will go back into the hands of the fans and the musicians.

that's what i hope to see at least.

[Dr Hooch]

the music industry is evolving and in a big way

i believe in the future we're going to see more and more self-made bands appearing who make money playing shows and selling merchandise. this is where bands make the majority of their money now anyways.

a show experience and merchandise cannot be downloaded, but an album can, and you can already sense this change is taking place with many bands encouraging the public to pay absolutely nothing for their material and just come out to their shows when they tour. the big record companies are going to crumble into nonexistance soon enough, and music will go back into the hands of the fans and the musicians.

that's what i hope to see at least.

No that's what would happen if the world wasn't sick

What will happen is that as soon as all the money is in shows that whole area will start to be dominated by large promotor companies who will start to control the whole of live music, decide who gets the big shows just like the record labels do now and then in 10-20 years it won't be a recording contract bands are after it'll be a touring contract

[sexymuffin]

i'm never going to make it as a musician :(

[Danger Bird]

The problem with downloading is that disincentivises record companies from taking bets on new music, because the chance for a pay off is greatly reduced. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing to be concerned about, but I don't think downloading is going to stop either.

The music business is a business. No matter what, they are always going to look for the most profitable groups, making a shitload more money isn't going to make them want to "take chances."

[AmericanWeiner]

plus, ticket costs will go up. They already are.