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Thread: Ashcroft prosecuting P2Per's?

  1. #1
    Old Fart
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    Ashcroft prosecuting P2Per's?

    Nineteen of our 'prestigious' lawmakers have signed a letter asking John Ashcroft and the justice dept. to consider prosecuting individual P2P users. It seems to me that there are more pressing areas of enforcement (fraud, insider trading, corporate theft, to name a few) needing attention, but evidently I am mistaken. Read the story link below and form your own opinion. It almost looks like hollywood knows their hacking bill is doomed for failure, so they are falling back to plan 'B'.

    http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,54460,00.html


    As an afterthought, wouldn't it be interesting to know how much 'soft money' these lawmakers have recieved from the entertainment industry? It is a matter of public record....sounds like a job for....GOOGLE!
    Al
    It isn't paranoia when you KNOW they're out to get you...

  2. #2
    er0k
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    the only outcome of that would be the U.S. sinking deeper into the national debt, and ashcroft would be considered more of a moron because of his flawed ideas. The fact is, that it wont be passed, and it wont be enforced even if it is, you cant exactly track down individuals all over the world just for downloading music/whatever from someone else. Mainly because of the millions and millions of ppl that do it everyday. That is like imposing a law to where you can only go 5 mph on the highway. No one would follow that law. And there would be too many ppl doing it to enforce it.

  3. #3
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    You have a good point there, Al. I too was wondering why Ashcroft has such an extremist attitude towards p2p networks and it's users. Could the music industry be persuading him with money?

    er0k also has a very good point. It would be pretty hard to enforce a law that so many people would be breaking. So, what's plan C?

  4. #4
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    The music industry is not facing their own music they have forgotten that music is an art form not a marketing blitz, so canned boyz band, or cute blond and navel ring thing. They are suffering just like the rest of corp america is. They have marketed their stuff for far to long, doctored their books with creative book keeping, and all smochooze with each other and say how great a vision they have. Mean time average person like my son burns like 20 CD's a week just to listen to a riff here or there then gives them to his little brother so he can nuke them in the microwave and watch fireworks. MP3's are not the problem the problem is their marketed crap, fluff for top dollar is not working now. From Ashcroft above and down these old guard people cling to a life and their power and see it was all smoke and mirrors and most of America is not buying or investing in their crap. They are worried big time I am in an age group like many others lost much from my retirement and elections are due in November. I ask hard questions and I vote for a person that will do a job not some media blitz saying give me 4 more years I'll fix it. Check the people out that sent this to Ashcroft then go off and vote them out of office take the lesser of two evils. oops thinks I was just ranting again LOL
    I believe that one of the characteristics of the human race - possibly the one that is primarily responsible for its course of evolution - is that it has grown by creatively responding to failure.- Glen Seaborg

  5. #5
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    Personally I think this is really dumb. Sure some peaple out there use P2P to transport stolen and sometimes bad things accross the .NET but he has no right to tell peaple that they can't give a few peaple music, movies, & games I mean thats like someone sueing you because you gave all of your friends rented movies for 2 days, watched them in one day then gave them to a frieand to watch and then return. Most peaple who download do it for free however I don't think its right that peaple grab movies & music before it has ever even been brought into the public. P2P is a quick and easy way to network... the internet itself was made to share DATA and as far as I can see the .NET is the final front between a war agianst .GOV regulations & freedom, this is just another bomb being set off in this 'INFO-WAR'.

  6. #6
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    Your right about that allenb1963, every law enforcement agent that helps the RIAA, is one less defending the people of this country and will produce yet another unnecessary agency the taxpayers have to support. Fighting them in the courts hasn’t really been all that successful. Their eating away at us a little at a time using P2P networks as their reason.

    Kazaa, Morphous, Audiogalaxy and the others, are in no way comparable to Napster. These are anything for a buck types, who could care less about our rights and privacy as evidenced by the spy-ware they give us and claim to know nothing about. There was even an attempt to use our computers in a distributed computing network for profit, with out our permission Oh yeah, it was very clear in the EULA. Rriight!

    They promote their services by advertising on billboards, placing adds in newspapers and on busses, anything at all to drum up more business. It’s these actions that have supported the RIAA’s attack on us. Their trying too convince us we should fight for our rights, when actually it’s their profits they want us to fight for.

    If we had any sense at all, we’d abandon them in favor of free-net or anything else that was by and for netizens. A place where we can do what we want with what we own, without someone trying to turn a profit and ruining everything in the process.

    As long as someone is making money on someone else’s property there really is no defending it. The loop- holes and technicalities they’re using to defend their business are just that, and are endangering the freedom of the internet.

    As is stands right now, most politicians will not comment on P2P in fear of how unpopular it could make them. But the actions of these P2P Networks are making it easy for the RIAA to get their way. Without these file-sharing for profit companies, the RIAA wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.
    Bukhari:V3B48N826 “The Prophet said, ‘Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.’”

  7. #7
    Senior Member cwk9's Avatar
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    I think that Ashcroft needs to be reminded that the same people who use p2p pay his salary. Once and a while governments forget that they are supposed to work for the people and need a swift kick in the ass.
    Its not software piracy. I’m just making multiple off site backups.

  8. #8
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    on the idea of national debt....
    we're screwed http://www.amark.com/stats/money.asp
    \"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.\" -- Dom Helder Camara

  9. #9
    Old Fart
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    OK...call me slow, but I'm failing to see the national debt relavence here, so lets toss that from the discussion. Although Mahakaal's link is interesting, the relationship between national debt and P2P is at best obscure. Unfortunately, the RIAA will probably pick up on his post and claim that P2P is increasing the national debt expotentially, linked to cancer in lab animals, and causing the hole in the ozone layer to expand and encompass the entire southern hemisphere.
    Al
    It isn't paranoia when you KNOW they're out to get you...

  10. #10
    Originally posted here by Gurl
    er0k also has a very good point. It would be pretty hard to enforce a law that so many people would be breaking. So, what's plan C?
    I wouldn't say that is a good point. We have many laws that huge amounts of individuals defy on a daily basis. Everyone knows atleast one individual that smokes marijuana, I'm sure a majority of you have driven at excess speeds at one time or another. I would hope you guys don't but, driven after a drink or two "NOT DRUNK DRIVEN" just after a drink. What about jay-walking. I'm sure you guys got the point. However, this whole issues is all about the money, and there is nothing else to be said... Except... Show Them The Money....

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