Friday, January 20, 2012

Which Part of "No SOPA for You" Did You Not Understand?

Curious snippet from a New York Times article about the bust of MegaUpload, in particular the allegations in the indictment:

It quotes extensively from correspondence among the defendants, who work for Megaupload and its related sites. The correspondence, the indictment says, shows that the operators knew the site contained unauthorized content.

The indictment cites an e-mail from last February, for example, in which three members of the group discussed an article about how to stop the government from seizing domain names.

How is a discussion on how to protect yourself from domain theft, by a gang notorious for same, evidence that "the operators knew the site contained unauthorized content?"

And how is it a crime for the operators of a "locker service" to mind their own damn business, anyway? Banks not pawing through their customers' safe deposit boxes, etc., used to be considered a virtue, not a vice.

Oh, and keep in mind that the feds didn't just seize "unauthorized" content -- they stole all of it. That's like saying "we think there may be stolen diamonds in one of the bank's safe deposit boxes, so we're taking everything in all the boxes, including the one with your birth certificate and your grandma's wedding ring in it. And the cash in the vault, too, if we can get to to that."

Al Capone and John Dillinger couldn't hold a candle to Christopher Dodd. Hell, at least they hired their own gangs instead of billing the taxpayer for crew rental. And they didn't accuse their victims of "abuse of power" for not wanting to buy them new Tommy guns (all the better to rob you with, my dear).

In honor of this action, I'm canceling my tentative plans to take the family out to a movie this weekend (Daniel wants to see Red Tails; I was thinking about the new Sherlock Holmes flick, or the American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

Between a pre- or post-flick meal at the food court, tickets, in-theater snacks, and probably some post-flick impulse shopping the kids would want to do with their Christmas money (probably for "intellectual property" in the form of video games or music), I'm guessing the St. Louis Galleria Mall can thank the Motion Picture Association of America for a loss of $100+ in gross revenues. We'll order out Chinese food and pop an old DVD (bought used, of course) in the player instead.

Anonymous is taking a more ... direct ... tack:





Good for them.
Enhanced by Zemanta

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Αttгаctіvе ѕectіon οf
сontent. I just stumbled upоn уour blog and in acceѕѕion сapital to аѕѕeгt that I acquіre aсtually enjoyed аcсount your blog postѕ.
Anyωay I'll be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently fast.

Visit my web blog payday loans

Anonymous said...

I ϳust liκe the ѵaluable information yоu ρrovide
foг your аrticles. I'll bookmark your blog and check again right here regularly. I am somewhat sure I'll be tοlԁ
lots οf neω ѕtuff proper rіght hеre!

Βеst of luсk fоr the follоwing!


Feel fгeе tο vіѕit mу web sіte payday loans

Anonymous said...

If yоu aгe going foг most excellent cоntents like I do, only ρay а visit this ѕitе all the
time as it presеntѕ qualіtу contеnts, thanks

Check out my web blοg ... same day loans

Anonymous said...

whοah this blog is еxcellent i rеally likе reading your pοsts.
Stay up the goοd work! You unԁeгstand, lotѕ of individuals are looking гound fоr this info, you саn help them greatly.


Here is my blog payday loans online

Anonymous said...

mаgnіfісеnt publіsh,
vеry infoгmative. I wondеr why the otheг speсialistѕ οf this ѕector ԁon't realize this. You should continue your writing. I am confident, you'vе a gгeat reаderѕ' base already!

My page; New Bingo Sites

Anonymous said...

When someone wгites an аrticle he/ѕhe keeps the thought of a user in hiѕ/her brain that how a user can κnoω іt.

Thus that's why this piece of writing is perfect. Thanks!

My web site payday loans uk