Goodbye piracy, goodbye privacy

[LordJerle]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement

Write in with a resounding "VOTE NO!" to your local representative.  It's a bunch of crap.   This proposal would also pretty well put extreme limitations on freeware and open source software distribution, as I understand it. 
Many free and open source software sites would be impacted, including the SVN currently hosting WM, as well as sourceforge in general.

[Starry]

As one of the people who is disgusted with the amount of piracy in the world...
no
 

[LordJerle]

As one of the people who is disgusted with the amount of piracy in the world...
no

As one of the people who firmly believes in net neutrality and free and open source software, as well as my basic civil liberties and right to privacy, I'm disgusted by the people who think that the internet should become filled with gestapo bursting in digital doorways for no other reason than somebody downloaded a song because they wanted to see if an album was worth buying.

I'm pasting over the speech I made on the wave, because I think it's rather good and provides key discussion points.

As it reads now, WM is screwed, as it opens images that may or may not   be copyrighted.  Free alternative software, such as VLC and Open Office   would be screwed as well.  It also opens the door for the digital   gestapo's bursting in doorways because you downloaded a song to see if a   new album was any good, or because you downloaded an episode you missed   of a show you watch because you worked late, or any number of other   reasons.  If this is given ground to walk on, the net as we know it, is   utterly finished.  Many LEGAL software companies use torrents to   distribute patches and the like to decrease server load, which would be   nixed under that bill due to it also being a method for illegal   distribution.  I urge everybody to write in to their federal government   and say "NO!  WE WANT OUR RIGHTS, WE WANT OUR PRIVACY!  FIND ANOTHER   WAY!  THIS IS WRONG!"
Rather passionate, but I believe my privacy   should not be compromised just because there's enough greedy people in   the world that have the power to take it.  I believe free software is   just as good as software bought in the store, and I believe, most of   all, that we need to fight this.
 

[ShiningRadiance]

As one of the people who firmly believes in net neutrality and free and open source software, as well as my basic civil liberties and right to privacy, I'm disgusted by the people who think that the internet should become filled with gestapo bursting in digital doorways for no other reason than somebody downloaded a song because they wanted to see if an album was worth buying.

I'm pasting over the speech I made on the wave, because I think it's rather good and provides key discussion points.

As it reads now, WM is screwed, as it opens images that may or may not   be copyrighted.  Free alternative software, such as VLC and Open Office   would be screwed as well.  It also opens the door for the digital   gestapo's bursting in doorways because you downloaded a song to see if a   new album was any good, or because you downloaded an episode you missed   of a show you watch because you worked late, or any number of other   reasons.  If this is given ground to walk on, the net as we know it, is   utterly finished.  Many LEGAL software companies use torrents to   distribute patches and the like to decrease server load, which would be   nixed under that bill due to it also being a method for illegal   distribution.  I urge everybody to write in to their federal government   and say "NO!  WE WANT OUR RIGHTS, WE WANT OUR PRIVACY!  FIND ANOTHER   WAY!  THIS IS WRONG!"
Rather passionate, but I believe my privacy   should not be compromised just because there's enough greedy people in   the world that have the power to take it.  I believe free software is   just as good as software bought in the store, and I believe, most of   all, that we need to fight this.

Silly... you have 'no reasonable expectation of privacy' in your own home when you're on your phone. Why would you think you have any expectation of privacy on your computer?


Beyond that, why would you think that representatives represent you? They represent their wallets and always act in their interests.

[LordJerle]

Silly... you have 'no reasonable expectation of privacy' in your own home when you're on your phone. Why would you think you have any expectation of privacy on your computer?


Beyond that, why would you think that representatives represent you? They represent their wallets and always act in their interests.

I don't talk on my phone that much for that very reason.  Only thing I use my phone for is the occasional text message and job interview/seeking related calls.

[Starry]

I'm so sorry that I believe people never did have the right to acquire and redistribute stolen goods.
The internet has largely been an anarchic state since its inception, and now that's changing to mirror the basic expectations of most societies.  You steal, you go to jail.  You assist in the redistribution of stolen goods, you go to jail.
That's pretty much all she wrote.

[LordJerle]

I'm so sorry that I believe people never did have the right to acquire and redistribute stolen goods.
The internet has largely been an anarchic state since its inception, and now that's changing to mirror the basic expectations of most societies.  You steal, you go to jail.  You assist in the redistribution of stolen goods, you go to jail.
That's pretty much all she wrote.

AAAAAND blocked for annoying me with self righteous bullshit and fat cat ignorance and entirely missing the point of the topic.

ANY FREE SOFTWARE THAT'S USED TO OPEN A COPYRIGHTED ITEM THAT YOU LEGALLY OWN WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO OPEN SAID PRODUCT. 
For example, you will no longer be able to play your DVD's on VLC Media Player.   You will no longer be able to open Word documents in Open Office.  You will no longer be able to put girl pictures in WM due to them potentially being copyrighted. 
If you did not read that sentence in any of the previous posts, you did not read anything I wrote and you're just trolling.
So.
Blocked.

[ShiningRadiance]

Mature.

[TF]

ANY FREE SOFTWARE THAT'S USED TO OPEN A COPYRIGHTED ITEM THAT YOU LEGALLY OWN WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO OPEN SAID PRODUCT.

That's absolutely ludicrous. What're they going to magic your programs corrupt? That's like saying the government's going to pass a law banning the sale of jelly beans and so all the Jelly Bellys you've got stored in your house will suddenly disappear in a puff of logic.

For example, you will no longer be able to play your DVD's on VLC Media Player.

The problem with this is that the people who own the copyrights on DVD's *want* you to be able to watch them. Free programs that let you watch things you've legitimately obtained won't upset them.

You will no longer be able to open Word documents in Open Office.

There is a point to be made regarding programs with their own proprietary file type, but even that is easily worked around if the free program merely uses its own file type.

You will no longer be able to put girl pictures in WM due to them potentially being copyrighted.

This is true, aside from the fact that it's already a gray area as to whether use of the pictures is allowed *now*. Varying shades of gray, depending on whether you're taking into consideration simply whether the pictures themselves have copyrights, whether the artist gives consent, and if the copyrights of the companies on the characters themselves come into play.

[DocClox]

I'm so sorry that I believe people never did have the right to acquire and redistribute stolen goods.

I'm fairly certain that there are already laws making theft (and copyright infringement too, for that matter)  illegal. If that's all that ACTA is about then it can safely be scrapped right now.

  You steal, you go to jail.  You assist in the redistribution of stolen goods, you go to jail.

You infringe copyright you go to jail. Just out of curiosity, do you actually play WhoreMaster, Starry?

Do you have a copy on your computer? Because I'm fairly sure most if not all of those naughty images are copyright SomeoneElse and you downloaded them without permission. 

No doubt you'll do the honourable thing and turn yourself in as soon as the treaty is enacted in to law. Be sure and ask for a south facing jail cell.

[TF]

I'm fairly certain that there are already laws making theft (and   copyright infringement too, for that matter)  illegal. If that's all   that ACTA is about then it can safely be scrapped right now.

I know it's not the point you were making, but the ACTA is a proposal to dictate *international* law, which is at best hazy and at worst non-existent when it comes to copyright law.

I feel a bit bad for Starry, because although I think the ACTA is a laughably horrible proposal, I agree that piracy (and the mindset [of a great deal] of the people who indulge in it) is out of control. I'm certainly no paragon when it comes to downloading; I've used torrents to get many a TV show, movie, or game, but I never felt *entitled* about it... as though downloading anything I wanted was a right that the government was somehow trying to wrest from me with unfair legislation. I do my fair share of rationalizing, saying that I'm testing things, and if they're good enough I'll buy them, or that it's something I would never have *paid for* anyway; and quite often that's true, but it still doesn't give me the *right*.

That said, the ACTA reaches well beyond the scope of managing unauthorized use of copyrighted material and could potentially do a great deal of harm to the future development of freeware products

[Starry]

You infringe copyright you go to jail. Just out of curiosity, do you actually play WhoreMaster, Starry?

Do you have a copy on your computer? Because I'm fairly sure most if not all of those naughty images are copyright SomeoneElse and you downloaded them without permission. 

No doubt you'll do the honourable thing and turn yourself in as soon as the treaty is enacted in to law. Be sure and ask for a south facing jail cell.

More often than I like, although I do not currently have a copy.
If I turned myself in they'd laugh at me and tell me to go home.  The people knowingly distributing illegal content are a different matter.

[DocClox]

If I turned myself in they'd laugh at me and tell me to go home.  The people knowingly distributing illegal content are a different matter.

So while (apparently) copyright violation is the same thing as theft, and stealing is bad, you don't have a problem with your stealing because you're unlikely to be prosecuted, so that makes it ok?

That sounds awfully like a double standard to me.

[Starry]

No.
I have a problem with it.  That's why I don't have WM.
It's an addictive enough game I'd love to keep it, but I can't.

[Bluebeholder]

This looks like an attempt to harmonize copyright law.  While I don't think that's a bad thing the secrecy is a concern for abuse.  Also invariably this will create an attempt for the US to push it's lifetime+70 copyright laws on everyone else.  My concern is that it will be an attempt for public domain to never grow again.