[OT] but concerns all of us

[mikel king]

On Nov 17, 2011, at 12:17 PM, Chad Perrin wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 07:55:02AM -0500, Jerry wrote:
>> 
>> Laws to protect copyrighted or patented goods certainly exist.
>> Unfortunately, they are poorly enforced. There is no universal
>> "standard" for copyright infringement, etcetera. The best way to
>> protect copyrighted material is stopping its pilferage at the source;
>> ie, making every entity in the chain of its illegal usage responsible.
> 
> If there are problems with enforcement, creating new laws will not
> magically fix that.
> 
> What SOPA and PIPA do is essentially let people with intrinsic commercial
> conflicts of interest to bypass the checks and balances of the legal
> system to have competitors and innocent bystanders shut down without due
> process or actual proof of wrongdoing.  These aren't just poorly worded
> bills; they're poorly conceived bills.  MasterCard opposes the bill
> because its executives and legal staff believe it will legally force them
> to cut off millions or billions in revenue generated by perfectly legal
> operations every year.  Google opposes the bill because its executives,
> engineers, and legal staff believe it will require them to *spend*
> millions or billions every year in dealing with enforcement of spurious
> claims by parties with no actionable cause to make their claims.
> 
> 
>> 
>> Theft is theft no matter how a socialist/fascist tries to color it.
> 
> Copyright infringement is copyright infringement -- and not theft -- no
> matter how hyperbolic your choice of phrasing.  Castigate people for the
> unlawful act of copyright infringement if you want to, but please do not
> conflate two separate bodies of law by equating one illegal act with
> another.  This abuse of terms is largely the fault of media conglomerates
> and their lobbying organizations (e.g. the RIAA and MPAA).  The more you
> repeat these abuses of terminology, the more they are emboldened; I think
> it was the RIAA representative at the SOPA hearing yesterday who
> literally equated copyright infringement with *murder*.
> 
> Don't be like that jackass.
> 
> -- 
> Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]

Thanks for sharing your perspective. I could not agree more.

Cheers,
Mikel King
BSD News Network
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