Obama Administration Announces Massive Piracy Crackdown

[Newby]

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=30920

Some key gems:

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."

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 piracy-loving nations like China to change their ways, but it did say it would try to do so by "being as public as we possibly can" about infringement.

And

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.

But it's cool, right? I mean, if it was Bush, it would not be cool, but Obama? Yeah, that's cool. Eh?

[rabbit]

I thought it was already a criminal offense to bypass DRM.  Fuck these laws.  I can't watch DVDs I own on my laptop because I run Linux...and now I won't be able to even SEARCH for a digital copy of what I already own?  I'm moving to Switzerland.

[Sidoh]

sigh... so fucking lame.

[Hitmen]

But it's cool, right? I mean, if it was Bush, it would not be cool, but Obama? Yeah, that's cool. Eh?

shut up crazed

[iago]

Yeah, Obama's done a lot of shitty things. So has bush. This is why I don't vote or believe in democracy -- "anyone who is capable of becoming president should not be allowed to lead."

[deadly7]

But it's cool, right? I mean, if it was Bush, it would not be cool, but Obama? Yeah, that's cool. Eh?

HOW DARE YOU CRITICIZE OBAMA? HE'S BLACK THAT MEANS YOU ARE RACIST. OMG HATER. ALSO HE'S BLACK SO YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HE'S BEEN THROUGH! HE'S TOTALLY JUSTIFIED. YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND.

[deadly7]

Yeah, Obama's done a lot of shitty things. So has bush. This is why I don't vote or believe in democracy -- "anyone who is capable of becoming president should not be allowed to lead."

There's nothing inherently wrong about democracy. The problem becomes when the electorate, such as what we have today, is stupid. With Fox News, MSNBC, and all the other biased reporting, people just vote based on who has become the loudest voice today. Campaign reform is necessary, but those that understand the requirement for that also realize it will never happen because the politicans like being bought out by individuals and/or companies. Hence the validity of your quote. In the olden days (when the constitution was first created, for example) democracy was actually very successful.

[Newby]

But it's cool, right? I mean, if it was Bush, it would not be cool, but Obama? Yeah, that's cool. Eh?

shut up crazed

I was really hoping for Warrior to pop out of the depths of inactivity to defend, but even after asking him about it on AIM, he mentioned the only politicians that'll avoid shit like this are gonna come from our generation.

[deadly7]

I was really hoping for Warrior to pop out of the depths of inactivity to defend, but even after asking him about it on AIM, he mentioned the only politicians that'll avoid shit like this are gonna come from our generation.

Warrior's an optimist, eh. No politician is going to start campaigning against the MPAA/RIAA when they fund so much of the incumbent's coffers. Even our generation has extreme radicals that think companies are the world's gift to us, and that IP laws are necessary.

[iago]

Yeah, Obama's done a lot of shitty things. So has bush. This is why I don't vote or believe in democracy -- "anyone who is capable of becoming president should not be allowed to lead."

There's nothing inherently wrong about democracy. The problem becomes when the electorate, such as what we have today, is stupid. With Fox News, MSNBC, and all the other biased reporting, people just vote based on who has become the loudest voice today. Campaign reform is necessary, but those that understand the requirement for that also realize it will never happen because the politicans like being bought out by individuals and/or companies. Hence the validity of your quote. In the olden days (when the constitution was first created, for example) democracy was actually very successful.

I think that there IS an inherent problem with democracy, and that it's destined to turn into exactly what you described. People do what they're told, and the average person will believe what they hear and vote for whoever is better at yelling louder.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), that doesn't even matter. The choices are never any good to begin with.