US politicians identify 5 pirate nations

Hey, I'm from Canada. I'm a pirate. Woo hoo. Argh, mateys.

"Perhaps it would have been good to have members of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) present to discuss the matter from a different view point."

But then that might mean someone having an opposite opinion. Are you feeling okay?

How will this solve our National debt? Maybe they should focus on that instead.

Some people have to much free time.

You can't blame those US politicians for wasting the taxpayer's money on those kind of meetings......they are all owned by the industry from the day they start their election campaigns,looking for sponsors.
In my country we say:'you don't bite the hand which feeds you',so they can't do otherwise,they have to pay their debts.
Piracy is bad,but the "profit loss" can't be measured the way they do,do they really think that people would buy all the stuff they download now if it wasn't available for free?

Agreed

Hatch is just a mouth piece for the music and movie lobby, in Canada we treat fair use as fair use and we are not the tail wagged by RIAA get over it hatch we do not except your definition of a pirate oh and try sanctions and we won't sell you gas or electricity !!

umm google and yahoo link to pirated material. Why aren't they complaining about them? (could it be their big wallets capable of defending themselves? ).

I heard a rumor today.. maybe it wasn't a rumor, that they were going to attach the Canadian copyright bill onto the bill to create a single regulatorly agency for the stock industry. That's pretty low if you ask me.

Here is how asinine the Democrats that control Congress have become. They were supposed to have a budget proposed for next year presented by April 15th. Well, here it is May 20th and they haven't even started the budget process. In fact, the Democrats have said they don't even plan to pass a budget for next year! They don't want to pass one because they know it will be trillions of dollars into the red. The irresponsibility of this action is almost beyond comprehension to me. I also think the budget process will shown just how much red ink the health care bill is going to create which is another reason the Democrats are shirking their responsibilities to provide the public with a working budget.

We have idiots running this country and it amazes me that we have survived their idiocy as well as we have. We are living the real life version of the movie "Dumb and Dumber". Bush and the Republicans were the "Dumb" and Obama, Reid and Pelosi are the "Dumber".

Maybe you haven't read or seen the Re-pubs said they were going to block, filibuster anything Obama tries to do or did the time line leave ya behind?? Maybe those that got use into the mess the past 10 years fess up and admit they royally screwed the taxpayers and now Obama has to clean up the mess that you elected into office during the last 10 years??? You rant one year and yet I don't hear a peep from you for what your party did from what your rhetoric sounds like did nothing but "RUBBER STAMP"...that what they are known for the last 10 years ....

I have to disagree here. We're starting to live the movie "Idiocracy".

I doubt if there will ever be a sanction against China. China owns a lot of the US debts.

Maybe we should try to keep this thread ON TOPIC.

I´d like to mention that there are some nations that are at the other end of the scale...interesting to speculate why
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/3703560/Kiwis-go-unrewarded-for-low-piracy-rates

Like I said, we are living out the movie "Dumb and Dumber". Someone needs to put a lid on Obama because he is spending the USA into national bankruptcy. We will be Greece in a decade if Obama gets his way. You want to complain about Bush and the Republicans, then you also need to complain with even more intensity about Obama and the Democrats. At best Obama is extending Bush policies regarding the Afghan and Iraq wars and at worst he is making Bush look like a spend thrift regarding fiscal policy.

Just as the liberals didn't shut up when Bush was president, don't expect the conservatives to shut up during Obama's presidency. If anything you would think the Democrats would have learned something from watching Bush for eight years. Evidently, they didn't because they are even worse than he was regarding many aspects of running the country.

If you want to see where the Democrats are leading us, all you have to do is look at the fiscal mess that California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois etc. are dealing with. Those states are catapulting toward bankruptcy and insolvency. Europe is now finding out that entitlement heavy societies can not survive financially. The USA is no different and Obama has us riding a fiscal rocket sled to national bankruptcy.

Whether you are a liberal, conservative or a moderate it should be clear that the fiscal path we are on cannot be maintained. The only reason any person would support what Obama and the Democrats are currently doing is out of blind party loyalty because there is no other valid reason, IMO. I have my own theories as to why Obama and the Democrats are being so fiscally reckless but that can wait for another thread.

Good analogy.

Don't get the tubes mixed up ....

And the countries with the lowest piracy rates also have the highest software prices?
Seems like the software companies are taking advantage of the lack of "free" competition.

You know the old saying..... "No good deed goes unpunished."

Jist wit intil thi nyi zillinders instill thir own nitionil broadbind nitwirk. Siftwire prices will plimmit.

The NZ nitionil broadbind nitwork, ixpictid ti bi cimplitid by 2020, will privide, 95% if thi pipulition with spids bitwin 16-56Kbps, 4.5% will ricive 1.4-16Kbps, ind thi rimindir, 0.5%, will ricive a niw blinkit for thir smoke signils.

Cipies of Micrisift Office 97 is expicted ti drip 30% bilow thi cirrint price of $300NZ ($3US), Micrisift Windiws 98 will drip bilow $200NZ ($2US), ind gimes for the Super Nintindo and Siga Migadrive are ixpicted to drop bilow $100NZ ($1US).


So sue me ... I'm an aussie

I understand that in China which has the highest piracy rate (was it 75%), that copies of Microsoft windows are being sold for about $1.50-3, similarly for other M$ products. And obviously, china has been flourishing over the last few years .. not so much now that the rest of the world has the GFC, and GFC mk II ...

Obviously, for a nation to flourish, that countries businesses need to do well. The businesses need access to cheaper materials to remain competitive in the globalised marketplace. So pirates are actually doing their civic duty and stimulating their national economy, by providing competitive pricing for their businesses software.

Hurray for pirates! Pirates are national heroes! Purple hearts to all pirates
Ninja's can throw out as many nunchucks as they want ... but the pirates have superior numbers and will win in the end

Starting?
I've been there for years

I have to point out, every time I buy something at a major supermarket, the bills are wrong (prices are wrong, idiot scanned the same item too many times, and etc) and I have to get a refund.
Go to the smaller shops, buy two $1 items ...... hand over a $5 note .. and they give you back 2 $1coins ...

Oh FFS!!!!

Take something in to be repaired ... and they tell you there's nothing wrong with it? Take something in to be repaired, with video evidence .... and they tell you there's nothing wrong with it .. seriously? WTF?

Off topic - I hate Sony.

I think the USA should STFU with this b/s lobby by the entertainment industry... there are other national priorities such as:

1. plugging BP's oil leaks--yup, the Obama camp now owns the problem (tick, tock...)
2. begin those huge subsidies for affordable healthcare-- hasn't happened yet
3. regulate gasoline prices & put the commodity speculators on a short leash
4. create incentives and/or direct loans for people to start businesses -- who needs more walmarts when we need high paying jobs with benefits.

Just for starters...

Not commercially feasible to plug the leak ... until they have a method to harvest the oil lost.
Not commercially feasible.
Not commercially feasible.
Commercially feasible, but walmart is big, and if the government stomps around ... walmart will just move to china ... oh wait, it already has ...

If large amounts of money, in the governments favour, were involved, then the government would jump up and down like a crazed ninja to get this things fixed ... as it stands .... drag the feet

Didn't you get the memo? The BP oil spill is Bush's fault. Obama can't be held responsible for anything because EVERYTHING is Bush's fault.

The USA is broke. If you want those subsidies then ask the Chinese to pay them directly. That is where we are getting the money to fund our deficit spending.

If you think gasoline is expensive now then let the government set the prices. If you want cheap gas then let the oil industry drill in areas that are not so hard to reach like over a mile under the ocean. The North Slope of Alaska, federal lands in the Western USA, off-shore drilling closer to the coastline etc. are far easier to drill, with far less of a chance for mistakes and allows much better response time/resolution for accidents. Sometimes environmentalists are their own worst enemy. I blame them as much as I do BP for this oil spill in the Gulf.

We tried giving loans to people that had no business getting them and what we got in return was the mortgage meltdown of 2008. Repeating the same mistake with small businesses would not be wise, IMO. If we want jobs then remove the yoke of government from around the necks of the American people and reduce taxes so businesses can expand and maybe afford to manufacture goods in the USA again. We have one of the top corporate tax rates in the world and it is driving manufacturing out of the country. Then throw in excessive government regulation and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see why we can't stop manufacturing from leaving the country.

I have been a small business owner since 1993 and I have no plans in the future to hire more people because I know Obama has his cross hairs on me to fund his socialist programs. I will think about expanding when I know what the future holds and EXACTLY how it will affect me. These yahoos in charge now don't even read the bills they pass, won't let the public read them before they pass and tell us they won't know what is in a bill until it passes. It is one pi$$ poor way to run a country, IMO.

Some threads emulate the steel ball in a pinball machine. This is one of them. Many times they prove to be the most entertaining.

Ding Ding. Whooopaa Whoopa Whooopa . Ding, Ding, Clang ..Boooooiiiiiiinnngggg.
Wha wha wha whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Once the ball's rolling, not much you can do to stop it. Kind of like eating at Taco Bell and then deciding you don't want to go to the bathroom. You pretty much have to just "go with the flow".

Australia will be topping the list shortly, as the last episode of "LOST" will not be airing at the same time as the rest of the world

I totally agree...

1) No country *supports* piracy ... they just don't want to pay the bill associated with enforcing copyrights for greedy american media moguls, which they recognise are not providing value for money.

2) Most pirates don't pay using Visa/Mastercard/Other trackable system. The vast majority of pirates download copyright works for free. A small percentage that don't have access to the internet may purchase pirate content from some bloke on the corner, using cash. This bloke on the corner probably did download it from the internet, however if he/she's part of a criminal/terrorsim network, it's more likely they have a more reliable method of content distribution than uncontrolled P2P. The profit from this bloke on the corner may or may not be related to terrorism/mafia/etc.

The vast majority, will most likely just do without, rather than pay exhorbitant $$$ for the general sewerage that is pumped out these days.

A point for you ... if most people downloading content for free are discouraged ... are they likely to:
a) Do without.
b) Pay a few $ to the guy on the corner who may or may not be supporting the mafia/terrorism? It's just a few $ right? And it's a hell of alot less than the $10/20/30/40+ for something official.

I suspect that if content companies somehow manage to effectively enforce copyright on the internet, they'll be creating more customers for the bloke selling pirate material on the street corner, thereby supporting organised crime & terrorism. Indirectly, this means that copyright enforcement of entertainment material, is actually providing support for terrorism & organised crime.

Ergo: Media Companies discouraging free P2P in order to maintain their own profitability, are actually supporting organised crime & terrorism.
At the same time, a significant proportion of the population will no longer be exposed to their products (because they can't use P2P, and they're too moral to buy from the guy on the corner), and will thereby missing out. Discussion/word of mouth advertising will be significantly lowered for all products as the viewing rate will be significantly lowered, and generally people will be less happy regarding their opiate.

I'll conclude that copyright enforcement for entertainment products provides a negative net effect, and is hence detrimental to Societies overall wellbeing, and should hence be discouraged.

^Sorry to remove the quoted post Debro, but that was just a spammer trying to sneak in a spam link.

Pretty interesting that the "yahoos" just came into charge *now*. After all, we know how competent the federal government was during the previous administration, don't we?

I wonder how many yahoos read, say, The Patriot Act before *that* was passed. If you dislike "the yoke of big government" around your neck, then you must really detest that

Do you really need to know "EXACTLY" what the future holds before you make business decisions? At what time in the history of the United States did we have such clarity? I'll tell you when - never. You've been in business 17 years and yet are still unsure about when a good time for expansion is? Instead of blaming President Obama, why don't you take a long look in the mirror and blame your lack of business acumen?

I'm not even going to get into your absurd paranoia about being in the "cross hairs" of these alleged "socialist programs" because it is pretty clear you have no clue what real Socialism is - all you are doing is parroting buzz phrases designed to undercut the current president.

I generally dislike off-topic political tangents (the article is about politics to a certain extent, yes, but your whining has veered far from the original issue), but you made it awfully hard to resist. Quit your whining and bitching and offer some solutions. I'll tell you this - lowering taxes is not a solution. I don't pretend to have the answers, but people like you need to grow the hell up.

Quit blaming the "big government" for whatever ails you. Quit blaming the mexicans. Quit blaming the need for affordable health care and considering it an "entitlement." Quit blaming liberals. Quit blaming the tax rates. If anything, the current government is way too beholden to corporate interests.

We americans have turned into a greedy, spoiled bunch. We never have enough, do we? If a company moves its manufacturing to other countries, I say tax them to hell and back. Thankfully, we live in a country where workers have rights and are able to earn a decent wage. I realize that workers in other countries come much, much cheaper...but at a cost. Does it really need to be spelled out? I wouldn't want to live in a country like that.

At some point, we need to re-assess and tell ourselves, "you know, maybe one car in the garage is enough." We need to stop acting like greedy, arrogant and selfish pigs. We need to look out for one another. If you want to act like a self-centered idiot, be my guest - but don't you dare criticize those who hold to higher ideals besides the bottom line. You are not better than us, and you are NOT somehow more of a "real" american than the rest of your fellow countrymen.

And by the way - if you really consider Bush to be "Dumb" and Obama to be "Dumber" in your wrong-headed analogy, you are even more of an ignorant idiot than I initially assumed. I guess it explains why your small business is, well, still a small business after 17 years.

I apologize to all for having to write this - I realize that this is an international forum and dickheads like this guy make all americans look bad. I just wanted to point out an alternative perspective. I'm done here.

My best,

Anthony

Oh, god! Is this going to be another "Blame Bush" rant? Is it Bush's fault that Obama can't formulate a coherent, effective response 40 days after crude oil started spilling into the Gulf of Mexico? I can list more examples like this if you need them.

You are making an assumption that I am/was a GWB fan. You know what they say about the word assume?

Maybe you have never owned a business and had to be responsible for writing paychecks. I have. Uncertainty is a big problem when expanding a business. Obama, Reid and Pelosi are extremely unfriendly to small businesses and very friendly to mega corporations. This is a FACT. I need to know if the tax rates increase. I need to know if I will be forced to pay $8,000 per employee for health care. Yeah, a good businessperson needs to know the impact the government will have on their business years from now. Just the massive deficit spending alone enacted by the Democrats is enough to stop most businesses cold from expanding. How many businesses fail after just a few years? Funny that you consider a business that has been operating for over 17 years unsuccessful.

It doesn't matter what words I use as long as they are accurate. What do you have to say about the coming meltdown of Europe over their unsustainable social entitlement programs? Do you think we can do better than they have. I have news for you. Excessive socialist entitlement programs cannot be sustained in the long term. Europe is just the second shoe dropping from the demise of the USSR. It just took a little longer for it to happen. It will happen here in the USA if we don't make an immediate U-turn and reduce spending, repeal Obamacare and reduce taxes across the board and at all levels of government. How do you think California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey etc. got into the fiscal messes they are in? It was through excessive spending and taxation.


Here are some solutions. Slash spending to 2005 levels for of areas of government. Allow annuals increases to all budget of 25% of GDP growth for the previous year and only if the current annual budget is balanced or has a surplus. The only exception is for natural disasters and all out war (our current wars don't meet this criteria). This goes on in perpetuity. Cut taxes and regulation across the board. This is the root cause of manufacturing leaving the country. We need to be more competitive with foreign countries instead of having government (at all levels) being a blood sucking vampire for businesses, both small and large.

You are still making assumptions that don't apply to me. Big government is not capable of taking care of people. It is a fallacy that politicians like Obama want you to believe. Ask the people on the Gulf coast if big government is taking care of them. Ask the 10% of the workforce that is unemployed if big government is taking care of them. Ask the children that will have to cover these massive deficits Obama, Reid and Pelosi are generating if big government is taking care of them. Ask yourself why there is corporate interests? Could it be because politicians like the money? If they didn't take the money then the corporations would have no one to bribe. Is this big government looking out for you too?

The bigger government gets the less of that "decent wage" our workers will keep. This is a fact and not fiction. Socialism works fine until you run out of other people's money.

You want government dictating your life for you? Are you that incapable of making good decisions for yourself? I read what you just posted and I might as well be a cow going through the slaughter house. I want the right to make decisions for myself. That right to make stupid decisions. The right to eat my way into an early grave. Your vision of utopia is poison to me.

Now we get down to the core of many liberal's mentality. You disagree with me so therefore I am an "ignorant idiot." So much for taking the high road.

BTW, do you know how many small businesses started small, stayed small, was carried on by sons and daughters and are still small after decades and decades of operation? You are insulting way more honest, hard working people than me. You have insulted 70% of the employers in the USA. How many paychecks have you signed?

Many people might think you are far from a shining example of the average American. Most Americans don't personally attack those that they disagree with on political issues.

Ok. Putting the brakes on this idiocy. If you have a comment to make about the original topic, the US naming 5 nations for their lack of intellectual property protection, then please go ahead and post.

If you simply want to rant about political topics, please do so somewhere it will be appreciated, which is NOT in this thread.

From one Aussie to another i don't know if most will get the take but very well spoken KIWI.
LMAO...........

Senator Orrin Hatch is collecting Millions in bribesm or "campaign contributions" to act like he is helping. Oddly enough if congress solved the problem one way or another, they will loose millions in bribes. Unfortunately, they will do there best to milk every industry for as much as they can and no one will be better for it. Politicians really suck.

In reality pirates probably lead more people to buy movies and music than any other outlet. You get to try it, lets face it pirate copies are not that high quality, and if you think it is worth buying, you buy it. I have paid for some real bad movies based on critical reviews and threw them in the trash after watching. Music is even worse. The execs support theit "formula groups" that they can create and control completely (which really suck) and ignore real artists who won't bend over and take it up the tailpipe. I am all for direct marketing of music over the net, but that won;t happen with movies....

The funny thing about it is that the yearly cost of piracy is almost exactly what that floppy-eared neophyte is wasting DAILY. As far as the US politicians naming 5 piracy-leading countries, why does it matter? The US doesn't have the littlest bit of jurisdiction in those countries so when it comes down to brass tacks, if we place trade embargoes and sanctions on them, we'll only be cutting off our nose to spite our face. If you really want to improve the US economy, kick dumBO out of office and make sure all of the so-called "initiatives" that were meant to save money are repealed because they're just wasting more money than we can ever hope to repay...

This thread is not about politics. So please stay on topic.


Michael

The way I see it, outside of the opening statement, it is 100% on topic. You need to see this article as it is and look at the bigger picture. What was the motive in identifying the five countries if they weren't worried about "...losing billions and billions of dollars because of the lack of intellectual property protections”? They were obviously fueled by the economic implications of the piracy, which is nothing more than the nose on the bigger face of this country's debt, and the opportunity to stop their involvement in piracy. All my comment said was for them to stop trying to save the ship by fixing a pinhole leak letting in X amount of water every minute when there is a bigger hole letting in 365X a minute.

As the article states, "It still seems like a big waste of time to have all of these politicians and copyright officials meet together just to single out a few nations and websites that support piracy." If it weren't for crooked politicians, on both sides of the isle, that pay attention to the needs of their beneficiaries and not the needs of their bosses, i.e., the American public, this article never would have been written. Let the RIAA, MPA and BSA fix the pinhole while Congress pays attention to the bigger issues facing the nation. That is why I am RESPECTFULLY refuting your claim that I went off topic...

Politicians have too much focused on the problem so they can't see a REAL viable solution. The Industry will have to change the selling model. We need to have a fair model where you pay for a subsription yearly or monthly fee, then you would have access to all the repertory of movies, song, ebooks, ... like Netflix, Napster(pay service) and all others online services accepted by all the Industry. And we should not have to pay twice for the access of content. We pay the Internet Provider, and for the content. Content and Access should be merge. And stop having numerical frontier. Actually, if Canadian customers want to access US content, they have to pay a VPN provider then pay again to access the content. All country should agree to share the content based on a universal license model.