U.S. Joins Hollywood in War on Piracy

Section_Ei8ht writes to mention a Washington Post article about a new joint initiative between the U.S. government and the entertainment industry. The government will now be aiding efforts abroad to stop copyright infringement. They cite the recent Pirate Bay fiasco, as well as the problems Russia is having with the WTO as a result of their thriving IP black market. From the article: "The intellectual property industry and law enforcement officials estimate U.S. companies lose as much as $250 billion per year to Internet pirates, who swap digital copies of 'The DaVinci Code,' Chamillionaire's new album and the latest Grand Theft Auto video game for free."

Labor Laws vs IP Treaties

[kthejoker]

How come we can generate these awesomely tight relationships with other countries regarding IP and copyright laws, but we can't get Chinese companies to not use 15 hour work days and below-living-standard wages to produce goods?

Oh, I see. Because neither one is good for Rich White Guys. Carry on, then.

Re:$250 Billion? With a B?

[optimus2861]

They calculate the figure the same way they've always calculated it -- pulling it out of their ass. That figure is higher than the gross domestic product for 35 of the 50 states. It's fully one-quarter of the Canadian gross domestic product. Do they really expect anyone to believe that they're losing as much money as the sum of all economic activity in any of Maryland ($227b), Indiana ($227b), Minnesota ($223b), or Tennessee ($217b), every single year?

Little wonder nobody gives a damn about what they have to say on the issue.

Re:Stupidity in action

[1u3hr]

When you're violating the copyright of citizens from other countries...

TFA talks about 1) the Pirate Bay: a tracker site. It doesn't have any copyright files on its servers. Arguably facilitates copyright infringement, but so does Google or Yahoo if you put in the right search terms. 2) AllofMP3: it has the right, under Russian law, to distribute the files it sells. Rights holders can just ask for their royalty checks, they refuse to do so and claim they're being robbed.