To much information. Please don't tell us the rest of your life!

It does NOT mean that they ate their tools. You may down a few beers, but you may not down your tools.

Jeremiah Cornelius! Now, you confess that you were reading my mind! I clicked the link just to tell everyone how much better I feel after Microsoft promised not to read my mail - and you sneaked in here ahead of me to post my thoughts! You psy guys should be ashamed of yourselves!

You are still presuming that some third party has the right and/or authority to dictate what my ISP may or may not allow. We have arrived at the point we are at today, because the MAFIAA's of the world have bullied the world into believing that they have some kind of authority.

In an ideal world, where your rights are actually respected, the MAFIAA's would be required to present each and every case of "piracy" to a court before the court would issue a subpoena to the ISP to reveal any customer's identity. Then, and only then, could the MAFIAA initiate a suit against you - just you, not a long list of John Does.

What would happen here is, the MAFIAA would have to spend a considerable sum of money on each and every prosecution, so they would ONLY go after big time operators who were profiting from the piracy, and actually cutting into their profits.

This whole business of using some torrent logs to demand the identities of thousands of people to mail extortion demands is preposterous. Everything in the system is just wrong today.

And any rational person can readily understand that the MAFIAA's are outright lying anyway. Each and every year, the MPAA posts record breaking profits. If piracy were damaging the MPAA, they couldn't break each new record the following year again. They would be posting LOSSES!

That sounds fair enough, until a MAFIAA starts sending out thousands of subpoenas that all must be answered at the witness' expense. Each and every person must travel to a venue of the MAFIAA's choosing, just to be deposed? Huh-uh, that doesn't sound right to me.

Vux posts a couple posts down that "We're going in circles here."

Allow me to cut the circle here.

I have a contract with the ISP. Some third party comes along and tells the ISP that I'm doing something illegal. Evidence or not, why is it legal for the ISP to terminate my contract based on the unsubstantiated "evidence" that some third party submits to the ISP? In effect, I am being punished by my contract partner, because that third party wants me to be punished.

We see this on Youtube takedown notices routinely. Each of us has an agreement of sorts with Google, that Google is willing to host our media in return for certain considerations. The young mother who posted a video of her baby dancing to some half audible music was so proud of the little munchkin - and some third party took offense that the music was recognizable as their "property". Hell, sometimes, original content is claimed as Intellectual Property, and taken down!

You seem to be willing to allow policing powers to anyone who cares to interfere in our online relations. I can easily manufacture "evidence" for any IP address that I might stumble across.

I don't recognize that the ISP has any policing responsibility, nor do I recognize that any MAFIAA has any policing authority. By default you seem to recognize both to be true.

But, what "evidence" could the ISP provide? Nothing more than has already been established. Someone used the customer's IP address to download copyrighted material. Nothing more, and nothing less. Could be the guy who pays the bill, could be his kids, could be his spouse, could be a house guest, could be some kid out front of the house with a laptop. That seems to be what the judge has ruled.

You mean, if I were to sneak into your home, and run an ethernet wire to your modem, then attach a wifi router so that I could torrent from down the street, your IP address would definitely pin my activity on you? Cool - I'll be there Friday morning!

The problematic word really IS "verified". No journalist should ever have to be "verified". Want to be a member of the press? Just print a card with the word "PRESS" in bold letters. Did Thomas Paine carry a press card? Was Ben Frankiin "verified"? Screw any member or agency of gubbermint that wants to "verify" a journalist!

Castle doctrine, anyone?

Jingle jingle - creeeeaak - BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Officer: "Ma'am, why did you shoot the landlord six times?"

Tenant: "I ran out of bullets, officer!"

RIAA contributes nothing good to society and freeloads off of all content creators period

yes I said it, RIAA contributes nothing good to society. peroid.

all they do is make their money off of others hard work.

sounds like you work for RIAA, or suck the shit out of their anus on the regular?

One of my first jobs after I graduated high school was building homes. I also want to keep receiving benefits from my work. Would it be reasonable for me to charge ten cents every time someone walked into the house? The architect could get five bucks, the contractor could get two and a half bucks, the foreman could get a dollar, and me, the lowly helper, could get a dime. Sounds reasonable to me!

From your second link:

Critics of the Fed make a big deal out of the fact that the Federal Reserve is a private corporation partially governed by the same banks it is supposed to regulate rather than a federal government agency.

And, the answer is more or less, "So what? The foxes are good at guarding the hen house! No chickens escape, after all!"

Interesting attempt to paint the "rightmost elements" of government as being responsible for our dysfunctional government.

I suggest, instead, that the primary problem with our government, and our economy, is the Federal Reserve. Like the World Bank and the various Central Banks around the world, it's interests supersede any national interests. Central banks, especially the Bank of England, are notorious for funding both sides in a war, knowing that the winner will control the assets necessary to repay to funds of both sides.

Left wing, right wing, it doesn't matter. The Fed funds them both, and both are very happy to impoverish the nation while trying to ensure they it rules the country.

While you're so happy highlighting all the evils of the right - you miss all the evils of the left. Welfare, for instance. Why do we have a welfare system that actually encourages generational dependence on the government? Why are welfare recipients using their benefits to purchase luxury goods? Why do 1 in 4 Americans qualify for welfare? Why do illegal aliens often get welfare benefits?

Neither party has any interest in enriching the common man, and both parties cooperate in impoverishing the population of the United States. Each has it's own interests, of course, but the fact is, there is a class war in the US right now. It's the "ruling class" versus all the rest of us.

Left or right, the ruling class fails to identify with the common man, and they have zero loyalty to the rapidly disappearing "middle class".

They are merely copyrighted. Once I have the license to use it, I can use it in any fashion that I choose. Car analogy? I purchase a brand new Rolls Royce, and drive it straight to a body shop to have it altered to my tastes. Chop the top off, extend the frame. install a suana and a bar, and go cruising around like some Hollywood mogul. Or, instead, I install a collapsible deer stand so that I can go hunting with my hunting club. Rolls certainly didn't envision my use of their brand new car, did they? Do they have any right to interfere with my plans? Hell no!