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Obama Administration Announces Massive Piracy Crackdown

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Kifimbo

Member
I wonder what they're going to do when they see such action having minimal effect. Digital distribution is the future.

Easy. They'll ask for a tax on ISP providers. They already asked in Canada. Everyone, whether they download anything "illegally", would have to pay 1-2$ more every month. Unless they realize than this kind of tax is a big incentive to download illegally.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
Wozz said:
I'm with you.. So lame, the worst thing is he's using OUR tax money to prevent us doing this..

WTF

I WOULD NEVER HAVE VOTED FOR OBAMA IF I KNEW HE WAS GONNA TRY AND STOP US STEALING SHIT. F*CK YOU OBAMA

They aren't banning theft. That's already illegal.

They're making the bitorrent protocol illegal, among other things. It's a protocol that allows downloads to be decentralized, good for smaller businesses. Pirates just happen to use it a lot.

Should we ban FTP, TCP, UDP?
 
Oh, Democrats. They've squandered all their political capital shitting out mandated watered down corporate friendly health care reform and toothless financial regulations. What could possibly be next but pissing away resources chasing after people who download a fucking album from the internet? I'm filing this one under "priorities" right next to banning flavored cigarettes (except the one kind that actually comprises a substantial segment of the major tobacco companies' market).
 

Brobzoid

how do I slip unnoticed out of a gloryhole booth?
" The bill also makes it a criminal offense to bypass DRM."


That is hysterically funny. Why not make it a crime to resell used goods? seems like that would be less of a leap in logic.
 
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.

Absolutely ridiculous. The worst of the three, if that's possible, is the fucking thought crimes - it's ripped straight out of Orwell. People laugh off the talk of corporatist control of politics much too often, this is the proof: in an area where politicians have little technical understanding of what's occurring, they defer to the lobbyists. Same thing happened to a certain, truly disgusting, extent with financial regulation reform. Seriously disappointed with Obama at the moment.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
Brobzoid said:
" The bill also makes it a criminal offense to bypass DRM."


That is hysterically funny. Why not make it a crime to resell used goods? seems like that would be less of a leap in logic.

Because our government is fucking stupid *and* corrupt.

Banning the bittorrent protocol doesn't really do anything. It just means someone has to come up with a extremely similar concept and call it something else.
 

SloppehSlawlz

Neo Member
So this proposal is suppose to crack down on piracy, and judging from the reactions in this thread, a lot of people don't want this to happen.

I thought piracy is a bad thing?
 

datruth29

Member
SloppehSlawlz said:
So this proposal is suppose to crack down on piracy, and judging from the reactions in this thread, a lot of people don't want this to happen.

I thought piracy is a bad thing?
It isn't the piracy part. It's the part that makes normal citizens into potential criminals for doing things that they do every day, most of the time without even knowing it.
 

ksan

Member
Fuck ye!
I mean the time with Bush was awesome with the US trying to affect Swedish domestic politics in this regard, but this might make the time with Obama even more awesome!
Who would have thought?

And even better, what's next?
President Beck invading us?
 
SloppehSlawlz said:
So this proposal is suppose to crack down on piracy, and judging from the reactions in this thread, a lot of people don't want this to happen.

I thought piracy is a bad thing?

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.

.
 

SloppehSlawlz

Neo Member
datruth29 said:
It isn't the piracy part. It's the part that makes normal citizens into potential criminals for doing things that they do every day, most of the time without even knowing it.
If you seriously think thats going to happen, then I think you need to take a few days off the internet.
 
So, I know ACTA is horrifically bad, and that's what most of the posts in this topic are about.

But what about the actual thing that the administration announced.

According to the release:

First, we will lead by example. Specifically, we will work to ensure that we do not mistakenly purchase or use illegal products.

Boring. Not about "my torrents".

Second, the strategy underscores that this Administration supports transparency. That includes transparency in our development of enforcement policy, information sharing, and reporting of law enforcement activities at home and abroad.

Still not about "my torrents".

Third, we will improve coordination and thereby increase efficiency and effectiveness of law enforcement efforts at the Federal, state and local level, of personnel stationed overseas and of our international training efforts.

Also not about "my torrents".

Fourth, we will work with our trading partners and within international organizations to better enforce American intellectual property rights in the global economy. In that regard, we will initiate a comprehensive review of current efforts in support of U.S. businesses that have difficulty enforcing their intellectual property rights in overseas markets, with a particular focus on China.

Once again...

Fifth, we must secure our supply chain. To achieve this most important goal, we will take a close look at the unique problems posed by foreign-based websites and other entities that provide access to counterfeit or pirated products, and develop a coordinated and comprehensive plan to address them. We will make sure our law enforcement has the authority it needs to secure the supply chain and also encourage industry to work collaboratively to address unlawful activity on the internet, such as illegal downloading and illegal internet pharmacies.

Finally something about "my torrents"! But this kinda sounds hand wavy, like "sure we'll encourage something about torrents blah blah give us campaign money RIAA!"

Sixth, and finally, we will make sure we spend your money wisely, a process we have already begun. To do that, we have, and will continue to collect and track the amount of money we spend on intellectual property enforcement per year. We will use this information to map out the most effective way to fight this theft.

Case in point, the next thing is about money.


So yeah, what's actually written here doesn't look like anything bad... yet. The real problem is still ACTA, which deserves all the contempt it can get. Anyone who votes yea on that sham should be immediately evicted from office. We'll see how Obama & co. play it.
 

madara

Member
Well it has to end someday. You can't steal movies, music, games and nearly all entertainment forever which gets easier and easier for all masses to do without repercussions. There are amazing deals out there, especially if you save up for black friday week. I got so many $12 dvd box sets for example by keeping an eye out for deals.
 
madara said:
Well it has to end someday. You can't steal movies, music, games and nearly all entertainment forever which gets easier and easier for all masses to do without repercussions. There are amazing deals out there, especially if you save up for black friday week. I got so many $12 dvd box sets for example by keeping an eye out for deals.
The problem is that to end piracy, you also as a matter of consequence end privacy.
 

trupclow

Member
RiZ III said:
Good. Piracy is terrible. Torrent sites need to be shut down.

Except for when you want to do a search for "Toilet Metal" and accidentally click on the google search suggestion "Torrent Metallica" and face a $100,000 lawsuit and a 3 years in jail.

I don't condone piracy, but getting rid of torrent clients and having this pre-emptive bullshit that sets so many scary precedents it's not even funny is not the way to go about stopping it....
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
SloppehSlawlz said:
If you seriously think thats going to happen, then I think you need to take a few days off the internet.

It already has happened. Look at PC games with DRM. If your internet has a hiccup, game over because you're assumed to be a pirate unless there is an internet connection to confirm your purchase for every second. And nevermind instability issues that the DRM software creates for your property (PC) in general. The consumer be damned, he's a crook.

Just go on amazon, look at PC game reviews. You'll see hits getting 1/5 stars because half of the people can't play it.

It's like those annoying "don't download a car" ads on DVDs. They're fucking stupid because pirates rip that stuff out.
 

isny

napkin dispenser
dIEHARD said:
I miss Bush.

Bush didn't even know what a computer was.

I'm assuming that Canada will still be fine with P2P if this ever does happen? That is of course unless we change our laws here, which I doubt will ever happen.
 

Kifimbo

Member
isny said:
Bush didn't even know what a computer was.

I'm assuming that Canada will still be fine with P2P if this ever does happen? That is of course unless we change our laws here, which I doubt will ever happen.

They recently introduced the Copyright Modernization Act (Bill C-32). No vote yet.
 

npm0925

Member
The media need to ask Biden what effect this proposed legislation will have on porn tube sites. And the real pirates never used torrents or google searches; it was all IRC, FTP sites, and newsgroups.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
speculawyer said:
Meh. The USA runs a massive trade deficit and it would be reduced if we could eliminate some piracy.

And they're going to enforce this in China how?
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
So it says that everyone infringes on IP law in some capacity every day...

Is a Democracy not supposed to obey the will of it's citizens? If all the citizens are doing it, how can you pass a law that is in complete opposition to that?

I'd say thank god I'm Canadian, but a similar law is going through the house of commons as we speak.
 
RiZ III said:
Good. Piracy is terrible. Torrent sites need to be shut down.

Pretty much. Although LOL at "thought crimes" and the fact that the music industry is still completely ignorant.

It's also been an interesting debate as to whether or not piracy is good for the economy vs. bad. I've always found that intriguing. I'm sure most people who pirate a game or movie wouldn't have bought that game or movie to begin with, but I guess there's no way to really tell.
 

stldave2

Member
Goes before the house... and promptly gets shot down.

Every year there are bills that people freak out about but they fizzle and die when it comes time to vote and the reps who want to please their constituents back away from the table slowly.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
The laws aren't about banning piracy. Piracy is already illegal.
 

Madman

Member
Elfforkusu said:
So, I know ACTA is horrifically bad, and that's what most of the posts in this topic are about.

But what about the actual thing that the administration announced.

According to the release:
That all sounds reasonable to me. And given this is what Obama is supporting, I think at least some of the reactions here are excessive. But I guess this is GAF.
 

nemesun

Member
2mwcm0h.jpg
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
Again this isn't about banning piracy.

It's about banning the bittorrent protocol.

It's also about making it illegal for actual customers to bypass DRM. To give you an example of DRM, here's Assassin's Creed 2 on Amazon. 360/PS3 have an average review of about 4.5. PC about 1.5. Why? Because paying customers either can't play it because they are assumed to be a crook, and it has the nice effect of being unstable for their overall PC's OS which can be considered property.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001TOQ8R0/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Does this affect pirates? No because they crack it, along with the key, and other anti-theft devices. Meanwhile paying customers have to put up with this bullshit with their civil liberties eroded into labeling them into guilty until proven innocent. This isn't the walmart guy checking your receipt, it's the walmart guy following you home and monitoring your internet connection and fucking with your OS.

Likewise, all banning bittorrent does is:
1. Have pirate create a nearly identical protocol
2. Small businesses cannot use bittorrent, have to spend lots of money finding something else or spending tons of money on expensive, energy inefficient servers.

It's the same idea with those anti-piracy ads on consumer DVDs, FBI warnings. Only paying customers see this. Pirates remove it.
 

X26

Banned
isny said:
Bush didn't even know what a computer was.

I'm assuming that Canada will still be fine with P2P if this ever does happen? That is of course unless we change our laws here, which I doubt will ever happen.

Rule of thumb: if you want to know what Canada's policy will be in ~6 months, look at what the US is doing now. Harper is a tool
 

gcubed

Member
Sinatar said:
So it says that everyone infringes on IP law in some capacity every day...

Is a Democracy not supposed to obey the will of it's citizens? If all the citizens are doing it, how can you pass a law that is in complete opposition to that?

I'd say thank god I'm Canadian, but a similar law is going through the house of commons as we speak.
Mind blown... This is a joke post right? Right?
 

Kifimbo

Member
MisterAnderson said:
It's also been an interesting debate as to whether or not piracy is good for the economy vs. bad. I've always found that intriguing. I'm sure most people who pirate a game or movie wouldn't have bought that game or movie to begin with, but I guess there's no way to really tell.

Of course it is good. People are "richer" because they can enjoy more music/movies/TV than ever while paying less. The money they don't spend on that kind of entertainment can be use on something else, the next more urgent needs. Of course, there are some losers, mainly the producers of music.

Just like there would be losers if we could somehow create tomatoes out of thin air. But that would be a great boon for mankind. Digital music/movies CAN be created "out of thin air" nowadays, you can copy a song or a movie an infinite amount of times.
 
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