Internet Emergency!!!!! Stop ACTA!!!!!

[Masterge77]

From This Page:

"ACTA is an abbreviation for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. It is an International Treaty that will be pushed to implementation by 2010. It has been discussed in secret since October 2007, and has been leaked by government officials who were against the unconstitutional, ineffective, inhumane, and unlawful nature of such a treaty.

Countries affected by this treaty include but are not limited to:

Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, The Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States

The official goal of the agreement is the international enforcement of strong intellectual property rights. Some of our concerns include the vague, amorphous manner in which "counterfeit" is used in many of the public comments. These uses run the gamut from undisputedly illegal products to expressly legitimate generic products. We believe that ACTA holds the potential to restrict innovation, consumer choice and freedom on the Internet by it's many restrictions and its changes to the legal front on copyrights.

The scope of ACTA includes counterfeit goods, generic medicines, Internet censorship, irrational new downloading laws and what is termed "piracy over the Internet". ACTA is a treaty, which would overcome many court precedents in your own country that defines consumer rights as to "fair use" and would remove any limitations on the application of intellectual property laws. This means that ACTA would overrule any laws in your own country, and deal harsher, unfair and ineffective punishment to anyone suspected of piracy, without a trial in court. If you are just suspected of listening to songs illegally, or uploading anything illegal, you may be dealt with harshly, against the laws of your own country.

ACTA also makes Internet Service Providers legally responsible for any of it's users downloaded content. ACTA gives recording industries more rights to enforce copyrights and officers of the law the right to search any digital device for copyrighted material. Did you pay for the songs on your iPod?" (if you paid for the songs but ripped them from a CD you bought and put them on your ipod it would be illegal) "Under the new law, that instantly classifies you as a criminal, and the same classification as murderers and rapists. You will get a criminal record. Even if you do not download songs onto your iPod, you will feel the effects as millions, possibly billions of dollars in taxpayer's money will be poured in to catch these "criminals", money that can be used to save lives.

Part of ACTA deems anyone accused of copyright infringement to "compensate" for the loss in profit to recording companies. They want harsher punishments for these criminals. These recording companies, such as UMG, earn upwards of $1 billion in 2009. However, the RIAA (Recording Industries Association of America) recently sued a 12 year old girl for downloading, as well as many other people. They are seeking $150 000 per song, on allofmp3.com[1]. How much harsher will they go?

Isn't there a point where they must stop?"

And it only gets worse, loss of privacy, higher internet bills to pay for that loss of privacy, random checks of your hardware to make sure you've paid for everything on it. And protection of things like large prescription drug companies international monopolies.

HOWEVER- the final draft of the bill will be released to the public before the politicans "decide to sign it" ( https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67J5A220100821 ) so contact your congressman, spread the word to protect our human rights and freedoms before they are lost for good.

This is against the American Constitution in every possible way, this is infringing on our rights, what they are doing is illegal and immoral

Thaat's just a part of what they are doing, to read more on it, click on the link on the top of the page to read the whole story

How can we stop this? You can start by spreading the word!!!!! Post this on FaceBook, twitter it to your friends, make a DeviantART journal, ANYTHING to keep our privacy!!!!! Contact your local Congressman, download these propaganda fliers against ACTA, print them out, and hand them out to people, or sign the anti ACTA petition

This is not spam, this is not a chain letter, this is a serious situation, our internet lives are at stake here!!!!!

 

[Shanghai Alice]

Hm... However, there is one part of the American Constitution that DOES still hold.

The Second Amendment.


In all seriousness... I honestly can't believe they're serious about this.

Yes, piracy is illegal, and immoral. I fully admit that. HOWEVER HOWEVER HOWEVER...

Look, let's be realistic. How many people have, under the United States (or wherever you live) legal code, "committed a crime?"

Running a red light. "Borrowing" from a family member (Theft), smacked someone across the face (Assault, for all you ladies out there... -_-), modding any consoles (Breaking international moneymaking copyright laws... I think. There's gotta be some law broken here), called any public official Satan, or anything similar (Slander), written it on the Internet (libel), read books in a bookstore (BOOK PIRACY, LOLZ. No. Really. IT'S THE SAME FREAKING CONCEPT), owned anime (Child pr0n. Crucify me for this and you're an idiot)...

The list goes on.

The point is... Everyone breaks laws (OH NOES! ARREST THE WHOLE HARUHI-FRIGGIN' COUNTRY). Everyone. Except for... children. And I mean infants. They can't break laws. They no no how (IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE). And they can't move anyway. So maybe they can loiter.

BUT STILL.

There are people that have hundreds of gigabytes of ILLEGAL SOFTWAREZ. And there are people like me, who'll download an (Perfectly legal, actually...) IOSYS album, a few subbed shows (Official subs suck, anyway), and maybe the soundtracks (Because I don't have $100 to get the entire Haruhi album, you capitalistic swine!).

Yes. I admit it. I. am. a. criminal. And heck, if someone really wanted to, they could find me and bring me in for this.

However, that's not the issue. The issue is... piracy is typically blown way out of proportion. There are people that download hundreds of gigs (if not terabytes...) of stuff with the intention of reselling them at lower prices and making money.

That's sick and horrible, because nobody is allowed to make money in a capitalist society. Go figure.

And that actually is sorta morally wrong, because you're ripping people off for crappily burned discs. Also, the company deserves the cash (SCREW THE ACTUAL ARTISTS!), not some guy off the streets.

So, there are those people, and then there are people like me. Should the entire Internet be closed down (Well... not really. But sorta), this would penalize me, and people who don't pirate, for a bunch of jerkfaces who are actually being bad peoples.

And... that's not cool. At all. I shouldn't have to pay for other people's crimes (Lulz, taxes. The irony.). I don't want to.

And I actually buy manga and a few DVDs, so that's actually a BAD business plan.


...where was I going with this?


OKAY.

THOUGH IT IS WRONG, PIRACY (Unless, you know, you're doing it to make money and be EVIL), ISN'T THAT BAD. STOP BLOWING IT OUT OF PROPORTION. MOST PEOPLE THAT WATCH ANIME AND PIRATE STUFFS PROBABLY DON'T CARE ABOUT IT ENOUGH TO BUY IT LEGALLY ANYWAY (Which is why Stardock doesn't use DRM. Praise them!). I KNOW I DON'T. SO PUNISHING A SMALL CRIME WHILE THERE ARE SO MANY MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES IS KIND OF IDIOTIC. THIS IS THE DOWNSIDE OF A CAPITALIST SOCIETY, COMPANIES SCREWING WITH POLITICS AND STUFF.

...where was I going with that? I dunno. Koyomi Mizuhara, and find out.

...names probably don't work like that, actually. Her name means "Read between the lines."

 

[Circuit]

That is a load of Bulls**t. That goes way against our rights. And, as Shanghai Alice said, there are a load of much worse crimes being comminted 'round the clock, and they go and be downright bastards towards those download a few theme tunes to an Anime series and a TV series. WHAT THE HELL???? If this actually goes through, the entire society has gone corrupt, and they don't care about anything like the list of crimes Shanghai Alice mentioned. Yes raep is acceptable, but OH WAIT, SOMEONE JUST DOWNLOADED A 3 SECOND CLIP OF A BLIP. LIFETIME SENTENCE FOR THEM!!!!!
Come on. That is just totally and morally wrong.

 

[twocows]

Yes, piracy is illegal, and immoral. I fully admit that.

Piracy isn't immoral. Stealing is immoral because you are depriving someone of a physical object. With piracy, a copy is made and that is all. Only imaginary profits are at stake, and there are even arguments against that. Still, once you get into imaginary land, it should be a place where people can't be prosecuted; the only reason they can is because the RIAA and MPAA and associated industries have stolen so much money from the real artists that they can afford their very own pocket senators to influence the word of law.

Most piracy is done by people who would not buy the game anyway, for whatever reason. A study done a while back (sorry, lacking sources here) showed that a large majority of piracy is done by college students with no income source. How does the industry expect people with no money to pay for its products? The remaining minority usually engage in piracy because it's more convenient than leaving and going to the store. This is why Steam has been so absurdly popular; it has made it insanely easy to get a game, so much so that you don't even need to leave your home. In this case, piracy is a symptom of the problem of having a poor business model in the modern age. Steam addresses the problem, not the symptom, and look how profitable it is! That's all the industry has to do, and yet they insist on suing everyone from young children to dead grandparents for a problem that they've created themselves.

But as for ACTA itself, you can read more about it on the EFF page; they explain the issue far better than I ever could. If you appreciate the work they do, you may wish to donate (in my signature).

 

[Zeta Sukuna]

I just love this. "Arrest people for the same amount of time as a murderer or rapist for downloading something that NEVER came out in (Insert country here) and NEVER WILL!" God damn. It's so ****ing stupid. God damn the ACTA Treaty, and I mean that in the HARSHEST possible way. It's like they just try to make everything miserable for the people. Like Shanghai Alice said, why even BOTHER doing that? Why not arrest EVERY SINGLE ADULT, TEEN AND CHILD ON THE PLANET! They all broke some sort of law! NO ONE could go their entire lives without breaking one law, even unintentionally! What the ****?

NO! Who the **** would back this treaty? It directly goes against the American Constitution in such a fashion. I know not every country has that, but even so, let me point out that IT GOES AGAINST QUITE POSSIBLY ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS OF THE CONSTITUTION! And this constitution was a model for other countries once upon a time. Why do you **** with the model this badly? Why?

Not to mention that if they don't like you for whatever reason, THIS can actually be used as an excuse to get you! What, are you just going to put it in then pull out your little black books and get everyone you have a problem with? That's not right!

Besides, why should piracy be equivalent to MURDER? Or even RAPE!? Both of those actually do quite a bit of damage to one person's life. Piracy? You'll still get that money, you corporate fat swine. The people who do it. Like a few people already said, DON'T HAVE THE MONEY! So how would they support you even if you DID do this?

And you want to know the sad part? THIS WILL TURN OUT EXACTLY LIKE THE PROHIBITION ERA! Even if it passes, crime will go up. Believe it or not, and that's the last place that places in the US need, like Detroit and Los Angeles. Bad people will find ways to benefit from this. Sure, you can argue with me on this one, but piracy, while it IS a CRIME, it's not a bad one. But this is forcing it to be an abominable thing, and people won't be happy. People will take advantage of this and exploit it. People will find ways AROUND the law and sell those secrets off, and when those secret ways are gone, someone else will have more.

No one wants this except the diehards or the people who don't understand that it'd hit them too. And they are the minority. Shouldn't even be an issue, but it is. A bill that goes AGAINST EVERYTHING the US, and a few other countries, I bet, but I don't know, since I don't live in them, stands for.

I don't care if I skewered the facts. I got what was on my mind out, now I'm not nearly as pissed off, but if this thing passes, I'm going to have to leave the internet. I don't want to DIE. Which is what I would do if I went to prison for 10-20 years plus. Aren't the US prisons overpopulated enough as it is?

Pfft. Whatever. These people are just morons.

 

[Masterge77]

The only crime one of my family members commited was for breaking the speed limit, I have never commited a crime in my entire life. What ACTA is doing is illegal and immoral, this is clearly going against the First Amendment, this is not North Korea, this is not China, this is the United States, this is where we make the rights, not a stupid orginization.....

WE ARE THE PEOPLE, WE WILL FIGHT THIS BATTLE, AND WE WILL WIN!!!!!

 

[Rich Boy Rob]

The only "pirated" things I have downloaded are games that are no longer for sale. What I want to know is whose money I'm taking in that case? Second hand sellers? Well the selling of second hand things is a legal grey area anyway.

I think more needs to be done to define the parameters of what is illegal to download.

The only crime one of my family members commited was for breaking the speed limit, I have never commited a crime in my entire life. What ACTA is doing is illegal and immoral, this is clearly going against the First Amendment, this is not North Korea, this is not China, this is the United States, this is where we make the rights, not a stupid orginization.....

WE ARE THE PEOPLE, WE WILL FIGHT THIS BATTLE, AND WE WILL WIN!!!!!

I'd just like to point out that laws can be changed. The nature of something being amended in the first place means that a pre-existing law was changed or amended for the good of the nation.

 

[Åzurε]

"Under the same classification as murderers and rapists"? Mmm... I think not. In that you're labeled a criminal, maybe, but certainly not to the same degree. It would be more like stealing DVDs or games (BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE DOING!! D:< ).

Not that this means I like ACTA. I have a small (compared to some) collection of pirated games, many of which I wouldn't pay money for in the first place or are old games like Bob said. If it goes through, it probably also means that the ROM Hacking section would utterly dry up, here and everywhere else. No Creepy Black! D:

If the owners of a song or game were worried about piracy, I'm pretty sure they could just ask for a cease-and-desist. I think that's what happened with Nintendo and Romulation. They shouldn't need to ask for a treaty that invades other people's information stored inside their private property.

I agree with Bob in that we need more concise definitions (or not; the grey area thing is what made it all so fun and wide-open. :V).

 

[Shanghai Alice]

C&D orders only work on people who actually want to do (Legally sketchy) good. Everyone else just moves to Sweden.

 

[Dawn]

Down with the corrupt organizations. *Insert murderface here*


That is all.

 

[Legobricks]

This is why Steam has been so absurdly popular; it has made it insanely easy to get a game, so much so that you don't even need to leave your home. In this case, piracy is a symptom of the problem of having a poor business model in the modern age. Steam addresses the problem, not the symptom, and look how profitable it is!

You think? Things like Steam are what's lending me toward favouring the notions of piracy. I want to go to the shop and buy a game, and not come home to find it needs 'activation' online; nor do I want to download games, it doesn't feel right. So now I'm led to find a cracked executable... and it takes off from there.

But I believe you are right in any case, businesses don't generally 'deal' with piracy in the correct manner. They end up alienating their paying customers with protective methods which only take one person to bypass and release on the 'Net anyway, probably even within a week of release. Pirates will have their way every time, so it's a matter of being good to those who are paying.


Anyway, for ACTA specifically, I believe I've already signed a petition. I don't think the agreement will be passed anyway; just look at the public opinion on it. Everyone is either concerned or ignorant, but (almost?) no one is advocating it.

 

[The Corrupt Plague]

There is one good aspect of piracy that many people overlook and it's preservation. There are several roms I have that would be completely extinct if it weren't for piracy and I can name a few examples right off the bat. Who here has played Star fox 2? It was the unreleased sequel to Starfox for the Snes, but someone was nice enough to leak it and it finally saw the light of day. There's also dozens of Satellaview roms from a long dead download service for the Snes that were and still are exclusive to it. The Satellaview would have completely faded into obscurity with it's games dying of bit-rot had a small, but loyal fanbase had not mined the roms out of the memory carts. The point I'm trying to make with this post is that if this ACTA treaty passes, it will also kill any chances of extremely rare and obscure pieces of video game history from ever being preserved.

 

[SBaby]

Kind of like the international laws against commercial whaling. There'll still be people doing it, and the government won't enforce it in every country.

You know what though? There'll always be ways around it.

I'm really on the fence, but I have done that kind of thing before. I'm leaning to the "No-go" for this act, because so many people do it, they will eventually find a loophole, and it will start right up again.

All it'll take is one screw up by the ACTA for people to have the loophole they need. One lawsuit by someone that gets falsely imprisoned or convicted because of this. And it'll happen, because they won't be able to cover all bases.

 

[twocows]

When it comed down to it, piracy is stealing.

Piracy is not stealing. Stealing removes the original, leaving the retailer with a direct loss of profits. Piracy makes a copy, which costs the retailer nothing.

 

[Dawn]

You're ignoring a lot of the dynamic variables. Twocows is pretty accurate actually.

 

[twocows]

Well, how I see it, when a mo... I'll make an example.

Movie X becomes a hit at the theatres and is released on DVD 3 weeks later. Person A takes the movie and puts it up for download. Person B downloads it, and doesn't go to the store to buy it. Then 20 other people follow person B. If the movie costs 30 dollars, then the combined profit lost is 22 people times 30 dollars, which is 660 dollars lost. The same is for software. Let's say Word 2020 costs 600 dollars and someone puts it for download. If 10 people download it, then 6000 dollars is lost. It's like stealing, because instead of profit, not as many people will but it, but download it, and a loss of profit will result. That's how I see it. But, you are right, they are copies, and the original remains intact. In piracy, that copy is distributed to the masses, while the original media is still in use and can be used. It's how I see it, I'm not telling anyone to join me. :|

I already addressed that line of thinking in an earlier post. In short, it's arguable that piracy incurs profit loss and is quite possible that it actually leads to profit gains, especially for lesser known works.

 

[Gardenia101]

Well, if this does pass our Emulation forum will shrink down from (90 viewing) to (3 viewing), and 95% of the hackers in our community will have to be either fined $150,000 or thrown in jail for 10 years. 25% of our community would leave and never come back. Too many families would be completely broke because their 12-year-old daughter or dead grandparents downloaded some stupid song, even though they didn't know it was illegal. If the ISP's had that kind of power, hackers could get into our computers left and right, resulting in 73 identities for a single person. People could be tracked down, Rapidshare, Mediafire, Romulation and more websites would probably get closed down with big fines as well. Our IP addresses would never be private again. Dedicated hackers could be fined big if they don't have proof that they didn't download the roms off the web, even though they sold it away on Ebay. Visualboy Advance would be near useless. With ISP's spying on us, we could actually have everything we ever do online recorded, and if any of us post something about classified info, negative comments of the government, or related things we could get into gargantuan trouble and PC could be shut down. And with the ISP's having trouble handling the billions of illegal downloads there will be each day, the internet will be shut down. People would completely lose contact with each other, and other programs relating to the internet like Skype would also be illegal. People wouldn't be up-to-date with Pokemon at all, and all we would know is what is seen on TV. Less and less people would get interested in technology because there's not any tutorials online, and most books are far out-of-date. Yahoo and Google would go out of business, and people that paid ahead for Wifi wastes money. All communications in the world would be halted. Then, soon they'll probably market computers for business use only, so that $800 laptop you bought the other day- yeah, sorry, you have to throw it away. The high-tech future of tomorrow will be gone, and pretty soon we'll just be stuck in the past. Our country will be as bad for tech freaks as Korea is for christians.


I know this sounds exaggerated, but this kind of chain reaction really can happen. It has happened before for other things. This- is morally wrong.



DOWN WITH ACTA!!!!!

 

[Alice]

the RIAA (Recording Industries Association of America) recently sued a 12 year old girl for downloading, as well as many other people. They are seeking $150 000 per song, on allofmp3.com[1].

I seriously laughed out loud when I read that. Really hard.

 

[Happy Azumarill]

a thing like that would never pass the senant unless either the parties are either drunk or really high on something. it might but you can bypass all that internet bull by using big filters. so anyway you look at it we are all screwed no mater way.

 

[tkallab]

Thanks, people of ACTA. You just got me paranoid. Need a place to hide my USB stick, haha. An empty potato chip bag, perhaps? The crawl space? No, just kidding. But this really is going too far. Not seeing a bunch of guilty people overturning this anywhere in the near future, though. Sigh...