Corporate Vigilantism

[andysocial]

The MPAA and RIAA want to become their own law enforcement agencies, and the U.S. Congress is aiding and abetting them. This story has a few more details on a recurring trend among the major entertainment industry giants - they are not just above the law, they are the law.

Basically, the MPAA and RIAA want to be allowed to break into your computer if they have probable cause to believe you have stolen some of their music or video files. Since when do we allow anyone besides a legally recognized law officer to decide on probably cause? Why would anyone think it's a good idea to encourage the entertainment giants to crack into your computer? Kind of raises the level of insanity a bit too far, in my opinion.

Of course, we should all feel reassured by the MPAA's senior VP for governement relations, who says that law-abiding Internet users should not be concerned. Yeah, that's what a lot of police states tell you - if you have nothing to hide, why be worried about invasion of privacy?

Comments

[trendywendy.livejournal.com]

argh. and double argh.

dangerously close to trampling on property rights.

argh again. don't even get me started about the college radio station where i volunteer and those riaa peeps.

[kittles.livejournal.com]

*fear*

police states

[justgoto.livejournal.com]

I agree, when are people going to say, "Enough!"?

[ex-ly656.livejournal.com]

ugh..
move to Mexico

[andysocial]

Ah, Mexico, the home of the GNOME project as well as some pretty cool LJ peeps. :-)

Re:

[ex-ly656.livejournal.com]

what's the GNOME project??

What's GNOME?

[andysocial]

I'm shocked that someone in such a vaunted technological position would not be familiar with GNOME. OK, maybe that's overstating things a bit. :-)

GNOME is a desktop GUI system for Unix/Linux systems, led by Miguel de Icaza. He's got an eMexico paper over here. He's a big open source guru, trying to keep Mexico from becoming as much a Microsoft fiefdom as the USA is.

Re: What's GNOME?

[ex-ly656.livejournal.com]

hey! i said i was an hybrid, you cant expect me to know EVRYTHING :P

heh, and my hubby nearly killed me when i asked him about it right after getting your other comment (he's an internet geek too)

Re: What's GNOME?

[andysocial]

I guess, since you're only a semi-geek, you can get away with not knowing one of the most significant exports from your country's IT open source folks. :-)

Re: What's GNOME?

[ex-ly656.livejournal.com]

haha, thanks :P
i read the link tho, pretty interesting

Re: What's GNOME?

[andysocial]

Sure, to you. I have to run it through Babelfish to understand it, and that's always peculiar, at best.

Re: What's GNOME?

[ex-ly656.livejournal.com]

oy, dont use online translators, they suck
i would gladly translate things for you (as long as they are not too big :P)

Re: What's GNOME?

[ex-ly656.livejournal.com]

oh oh and i have to brag
my geeky man has talked to him several times (he's in charge of the .mx domains, here in Mexico the domain names are centralized, so Mr. Icaza is one of his clients)

GNOME Celebrity!

[andysocial]

So you're 2 degrees separated from a big Open Source celebrity, eh? :-)

Re: GNOME Celebrity!

[ex-ly656.livejournal.com]

hahaha, yup, want my autograph?

[talitha-oy.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm pretty sure a good lawyer could get me off with a good faith defense. I used the program that was offered to me FREE and downloaded the files that were offered to me FREE. If someone wanted me to pay for DOWNLOADS, they should have offered a SERVICE.

Because, quite frankly, if the RIAA wins the battle against music sharing, I plan to file a class action lawsuit against them and the entire recording industry, citing fraud and production of bad product. They have been ripping us off for YEARS, selling us 15 and 20 bucks a pop CD's that have only one good song on them, and 14 songs of crap filler. If you try to buy a CD "single", it's often upwards of five bucks, and it's often a remix of the song you want. I don't even like listening to the same band for a full CD anyway, I like variety. I like making mixed CD's of all my fave songs of a genre, and rocking out in the car. I want my music the way I want it, when I want it, and without filler. I'll pay for it the second they provide me with a Napster-like service that gives me ALL the choices the free service did, without costing me an arm and a leg. Make it about $10 per month, and have it let you get ANY music you want, when you want it. Then, I'll CHEERFULLY pay.
But let me tell you, when they won over Napster, the amount of music I could get dropped by 90%. I am NOT paying some rich asshole $20 per month for THAT.