U.S. Penalizes Ukraine for Abetting 'Piracy'
Posted by
michael
on Thu Jan 03, 2002 03:24 PM
from the communists-a-little-too-free-for-us dept.
from the communists-a-little-too-free-for-us dept.
The Politech mailing list has a note and follow-up on new trade restrictions levied against Ukraine, since they haven't complied with the U.S.'s demand for 'an
optical media licensing regime.' John Gilmore's response puts the issue in perspective. Update: 01/03 23:08 GMT by M : The RIAA has a press release about the trade penalties and response to Gilmore.
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U.S. Penalizes Ukraine for Abetting 'Piracy'
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Looks like the US... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Looks like the US... (Score:5, Insightful)
But if some foreign country's citizens cause a theoretical loss to a U.S. company, then that's an entirely different matter.
Re:Looks like the US... (Score:4, Insightful)
Movies aren't real life. Great Britain captured the U-boat and cracked the enigma code. Ever heard of a guy called Allan Turing?
Double Standard (Score:3, Insightful)
If don't want something here in America, why should we want it for countries abroad?
Re:I'm not sure I see the issue.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Obviously, you have to release the information anonymously, othervice they would kill you.
Unfortunately, all the paper in the world is marked. The manufacturer has inserted a unique watermark, and they have extensive records of who buys each sheet of paper. If the secret police get their hands on any of the documents you distribute, it will point right back at you. You'll be dead.
To figure out who the "pirates" are, this is what RIAA et al. wants, even if they don't dare state it up front. They want extensive records of all the CDs, so that when a "pirated" CD is found, it points right back at everyone involved, and they can be nailed for it.
I think this small label is not going to do much to achieve that goal, but it is really beside the point.
And so what? Paper is one thing, CDs is an entirely different matter?
OK, so you get a piece of footage. Compressed down to 650 MB (by Ogg Tarkin... :-) ), you can burn it on CDs and distribute it to have it aired worldwide.
Unfortunately, because RIAA needs protection from "pirates" you can't do that. You can't do that to free your country from oppression.
OK, this is a bit far-fetched perhaps, but you never know if this could happen.
Uhhh... wait a second... (Score:5, Insightful)
Next thing we'll have telephone answering machines recording what phone numbers people are calling from....video libraries recording who
borrowed each book and when.....Internet ads that track and record who saw them...hotel room doors that record every time each person goes in or out...cellphones that report every move we make to the authorities...tollbooths that record every car that goes through them... guards in every airport demanding to see 'our papers' before we are permitted to travel in our own country...
Hmmm... Caller ID machines, Doubleclick.net, and Electronic, DB controlled locks at hotels and Post 9-11 'random checks' at airports.
Gilmore's being sarcastic, isn't he?
Remember that the U.S. stoped being 'Of the people, for the people a long time ago'. It's been 'Of the corporate interest for the corporate intrest for quite a while... at least since the Vietnam War, (The Johnsons had a significant stake in Bell Helicopter, which profited outrageously from the war) and probably before, but I'm not a good enough history student to tell you how far back.
I know a 'Sherman Act' would sure as hell never make it out of committee in today's congress.
Well, when it gets too repressive, now I know where I can go. They speak Russian in the Ukraine, right?
United States Iron Fist? (Score:4, Insightful)
Or, is this a legitimate action? Why not protect people who work hard to make their intellectual products? Does information really want to be free, and, if it does, should it be? Who is to decide?
I often find myself torn between these two schools of thought, as I believe that the IP could be integral to the lives of those who do not have the resources to pay for it, but, then again, does that justify the essential theft of such IP? Chairity theft, perhaps?
It's all very complex. Any opinions? I'd hate it if the US hurt more innocent people, only because of something as seemingly insignificant as IP law.
Re:United States Iron Fist? (Score:5, Insightful)
...steps should be made to try and curb the rampant disregard for software licenses.
Isn't a bit of a leap to presume that the laws of the United States prevail for the rest of the planet! You are talking about sovereign nations!
Except that powerful corporate interests defended by the United States would have these countries bend to their will. Who's the 'pirate', 'thief', 'criminal'? Yeah, sure, let's put a little downward economic pressure on the economic might of the Ukraine. Evil, evil, evil, greedy bastards. That's all I can think of to say.
While the world's exemplar of freedom becomes a police state, and a world police state at that; former police states embrace freedom. Interesting times, indeed.
Are color laser printers really tagging? (Score:5, Interesting)
"Reader, in case you didn't know, every color Xerox machine and color laser printer prints the serial number of the machine on every page they produce, covertly hidden in the output, under a long-standing private "arrangement" with the US Treasury Department. I have been unable to confirm whether this is also true of black-and-white xerox machines."
I'm as paranoid as the next PGP-using, hard-drive encrypting, tin-foil-hat-wearing guy. BUT... I have a really hard time buying this, and I cold not locate any creditble documentation on Google.
Anyone have any good links?
Re:Are color laser printers really tagging? (Score:5, Interesting)
[2] http://www.jj-johnson.com/copiers.htm
[3] http://www.c-prompt-dev.com/bulletin.0119.htm
[4] http://www.naqp.org/staging1/press/copier_fraud.h
[5] http://www.parascope.com/articles/0197/xerox.htm
Back in late 1998, a fella by the name of Michael Castle, I think he was a republican from the north east, said that his committee was considering tagging laser printers the same way that color copiers are already tagged. Search yahoo or google looking for color copier references instead of laser printers, might help a bit in your results.
Right back into the swing of things (Score:5, Insightful)
I find it fascinating that people like the Bush family can't figure out why America is globally hated.
"Sorry, you are not allowed to have strong encryption, supercomputers, nuclear weapons, shoes, food, oil, etc. Why? Because we are the USA, and we said so........"
(...a few years later...)
"Boo-hoo....I don't understand why these people are so mad at us...I don't understand why they would blow up our landmarks..."
Re:Right back into the swing of things (Score:5, Funny)
Here's a theory: The European elite have successfully shifted the blame for most of the messes of the developing world from their own colonial excesses and hasty post WWII withdrawls onto this vague notion of US hegemonic isolationist imperialism. Consequently the US gets blamed for getting involved and not getting involved simultaneously.
Whups... (Score:5, Insightful)
Whups, that already happened... Very sad, and not excusable. If a kid insults enough jocks at school, he's gonna get beat up. Sad, unexcusable, but there definately are preventative measures that could be taken.
I hope you learn the correct lessons. Being the toughest kid on the block shouldn't mean it's ok to thoughtlessly offend anyone you care to. Americans do this far more than they understand. It's time to re-learn the age old skill of diplomacy, understanding, and consideration of others.
Re:Right back into the swing of things (Score:4, Insightful)
You might want to take a US History class - truth is most of these regimes we end up dealing with - like Afghanistan were in fact "made in America" - the Taliban and Bin Laden - trained to fight the "evil empire". Iran? Well they were pissed that we helped prop up the sha of iran because the person who was going to replace was a bit too leftist (IE a commie!). I think they still want his assets back. 1969 - Cuba - Fidel Castro and his team overthrow Bastist - why? Because he was a ruthless dictator - why would the cubans vote him in? They didn't - the US put him there. Same with the dictators in South America, Mexico, Indonesia, the Phillipeans - just about every place there is unrest and strife we had our hands in.
History repeats itself (Score:5, Insightful)
The only thing that this will cause is Ukraine products being shipped somewhere else. This doesn't sound too good, since the former Soviet Union prevented OPEC from cutting production on oil, thereby giving us low gas prices ($.99 where i live)just one month ago!
Hope this doesn't mean that my gas prices will go up to subsidise software companies' "right to innovate"
The RIAA says... (Score:4, Funny)
Human Rights vs. IP (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess it shows what the U.S. is about, eh?
Re:Human Rights vs. IP (Score:5, Interesting)
Frightening (Score:5, Insightful)
I know some people might say I'm overreacting, but this honestly scares me. Over the course of this week, we've given full trade access to China, despite the fact that it is a communist nation of the worst kind that openly hunts, tortures, and kills people for belonging to a religion that isn't sanctioned by the government or coming anywhere near defying the government's will, and we've punished Ukraine for abetting piracy.
For Americans, we are now living under a government that cares far more about the profits of groups like the RIAA and MPAA than it does about human lives and our country's base freedoms. This week, it has rewarded one country for cruelty, torture, murder, and oppression, while punishing another for having a potential small effect on industry groups that make large contributions to political campaigns. The DMCA is a stupid and dangerous peace of legislation, and the SSSCA might fully qualify as evil... but these trade decisions belong to a whole new level of sick that nothing else on Slashdot has ever brought up.
The most powerful government in the world openly caring more about profits than about human lives... welcome to the world of several of the dystopian future sci-fi novels you've read.
Re:Frightening (Score:5, Insightful)
Really? Which part?
- Totalitarian government in China
- Human rights abuses in China
- China recently given MFN trading status
- Ukraine recently penalized for copying content
I don't really care how or why any entity behaves the way they do. All that matters are actions. You believe that it is not the intent of any in the US govt to be evil. I believe that too. IT IS IRRELEVANT. Look only at the actions...from actions you can discern true intent rather than marketing messages. The intent of the US govt is exactly as the previous poster stated.
The core issue (Score:4, Interesting)
I find an interesting correlation here between "lassaie faire" business practices and the anti-corporation/IP movement. The movement wants corporations to recieve no help from the government for their business practices (IP, relief from economic hardship, etc), which are essentially leftist ideals. However, the fairly right ideal of lassaise faire essentially espouses the same thing, no? By all means correct me if I'm off base here.
(btw: sorry for the poli-labeling, but it helps to illustrate the constrasts in my point.)
Putting it all in some perspective....... (Score:3, Insightful)
optical media licensing regime that would preclude the piracy of such
products," the U.S. government has levied 100 percent tariffs on
Ukraine exports such as fuel oil, sneakers, paper, and diamonds. --Declan]"
Do we actually BUY that much stuff from them? It seems most of these exports can find ready markets elsewhere. It seems the loss in trade is greater than any piracy could be. Any comments?
Both Ways (Score:4, Insightful)
It becomes a matter of disrespect for national self rule. Also it is a matter of foreign policy being dictated by greed of business interests, morte than anything else.
I somehow like the old system where there always was a place on the planet that was outside the reach of the grasping hand of your local government. This is starting to go away now. Not yet, but soon.
From John Gilmore's Response (Score:5, Insightful)
> the patent licenses issued by Philips). It requires that each CD
> burner record on the CD the serial number of the recorder, so that
> every burned CD-R can be traced back to which individual CD-burner
> recorded it.
Now _this_ was news to me. I'd like to see this proven or debunked. Is this software driven, or done by drives' firmware when a burn is started? Is there any way to disable this?
I don't mind my drive containing an electronic copy of its serial number for the purposes of identifying an individual unit with the manufacturer if I happen to need service.
I sure as hell mind if my drive is disclosing that information without my knowledge or consent!
As an example: John Doe works in a government agency, and notices some truly heinous and illegal activities going on with regards of that agency towards citizens of that government. John wants to blow the whistle, but he isn't stupid either. He anonymizes the information as best he can, cites several sources within the agency for the information in question, and writes it to a series of 5 CD-R's that he then sends to major newspaper editors in the hopes that they'll print it. CD-R's are the write-once/read-many diskette of the day, after all, and you don't have to worry about accidental magnetic erasure, so John thought he was being smart.
The story gets printed, there's a huge public outcry, the agency gets investigated, and this goes all the way to charges being laid and a lot of very powerful people being made _very_ uncomfortable, and quietly swearing to find the mole and give unto him a share of the misery that they are going through.
Fine, it's fictional, it probably has holes in it, and I've probably not drafted the perfect hypothetical scenario, but the basic gist of it is there.
There's a lot of cases where accidental disclosure of any information that would allow the source to be accurately identified is a _bad_ thing. Admittedly in some cases it can be a good thing, but I'm leery of making it _too_ easy.
Is there any way to prevent this little function from working correctly?
1. Change the electronic serial number of the drive?
2. Disable the routine that spits out a serial number?
3. Disable the routine that writes the serial number to the drive?
Rom microcode disassembly anyone?