Angry.
I don't usually feel like a government hater. Nor do I really feel like one now, completely. But I am infuriated with certain branches of the government, namely the DoJ and their copyright law cronies. I believe they summarize the situation quite well themselves, so here, have a look (opens in new window) here.
You know where that link should've taken you? Well, if you hovered over it, you obviously do, and if you didn't, go do that.
Awesome, we're all on the same page.
I'm a hard case any way you look at it, I know that - I still haven't forgiven the RIAA for shutting down Napster, and I probably never will. I've also got a grudge against TV Asahi and Tokyo Broadcasting for killing pretty much every Youtube account I've had shut down - at last count, that was seven - when I'm also pretty sure they didn't actually have the right to demand removal of some of the videos I got takedown notices for.
Sony Ki/oon, well, they might have been legally justified, although I don't know . . . do copyrights extend to fuzzy performances of a song on TV? I think that might be open to argument. Might fall under fair use, not sure. Not that Youtube lets you argue your case, anyway.
So I'm a hard case. You ask me if I think downloading a song illegally is stealing and I will say not really. You ask me if streaming a video is piracy, I will say not at all. You ask me if I care about the pocketbooks of the MPAA and the RIAA and I will tell you that they can go fuck themselves.
My heart is bleeding for the poor industry magnates, who, even as they are poor and starving from the Evil Pirates, can hire more lawyers than OJ Simpson and can literally pay for bills they wrote to get introduced into Congress. (Also, apparently, can pay to get non-U.S. citizens extradited.) Yes, I am sad for them. They just might lose a few lobbyists. How would they step over the rights of the public in the name of the great Intellectual Property then?
Now the government has actually fucked me over. Even though I can personally attest to the fact that Megaupload gained most of its revenue from regular people like Lily and I - who paid the premium subscription fee - the domain name has still been seized and all my links are broken and all my files are lost.
I did not profit from anything I uploaded. Thus, I am not a pirate. Except, of course, that the government has effectively changed the definition of piracy from copying something for profit to just copying it. Can they do that? Apparently. Can they disrupt and destroy a private enterprise that had just as many, if not more, legitimate users and uses as illegal ones? Apparently.
Here's the thing. Raising capital gains tax above 15% is killing capitalism. Killing it. (So say the politicians.) But arresting the owners of the most successful file-sharing website, because, in essence, they had the most successful business model, is not killing capitalism. Riiiiight. I'm not even capitalism's biggest fan, but the hypocrisy is so obvious it's giving me a headache.
I have absolutely 0% doubt that Universal paid quite a few federal employees for this to happen, especially since in the extradition brief, the feds call the owners of MU the "Mega Conspiracy" multiple times.
Oh, go fuck yourselves. I'm not paying for anything put out by Universal. I don't actually - gasp! - download things for free when I think they're worth paying for, but I've had it. Paying them for shit obviously pays for them to step all over the rights of anyone they please. (I'm also aware that one person going "I'm not paying for your crap!" doesn't have much effect on the company as a whole, but it makes me feel better, ok?)
I also can't think of anything to do about this situation, even though I think it is utterly intolerable and unacceptable, since I can't really go and pick a personal fight with the FBI. I am thinking of finding out who to call in the DoJ and calling them on Monday to give them a piece of my mind, though. (Which also will not make much difference but will also make me feel better.)
I feel very mildly better now. Also, we all have a real example of what the domain name seizure provision of SOPA would do. And lo, it is just as bad as it sounded.
You know where that link should've taken you? Well, if you hovered over it, you obviously do, and if you didn't, go do that.
Awesome, we're all on the same page.
I'm a hard case any way you look at it, I know that - I still haven't forgiven the RIAA for shutting down Napster, and I probably never will. I've also got a grudge against TV Asahi and Tokyo Broadcasting for killing pretty much every Youtube account I've had shut down - at last count, that was seven - when I'm also pretty sure they didn't actually have the right to demand removal of some of the videos I got takedown notices for.
Sony Ki/oon, well, they might have been legally justified, although I don't know . . . do copyrights extend to fuzzy performances of a song on TV? I think that might be open to argument. Might fall under fair use, not sure. Not that Youtube lets you argue your case, anyway.
So I'm a hard case. You ask me if I think downloading a song illegally is stealing and I will say not really. You ask me if streaming a video is piracy, I will say not at all. You ask me if I care about the pocketbooks of the MPAA and the RIAA and I will tell you that they can go fuck themselves.
My heart is bleeding for the poor industry magnates, who, even as they are poor and starving from the Evil Pirates, can hire more lawyers than OJ Simpson and can literally pay for bills they wrote to get introduced into Congress. (Also, apparently, can pay to get non-U.S. citizens extradited.) Yes, I am sad for them. They just might lose a few lobbyists. How would they step over the rights of the public in the name of the great Intellectual Property then?
Now the government has actually fucked me over. Even though I can personally attest to the fact that Megaupload gained most of its revenue from regular people like Lily and I - who paid the premium subscription fee - the domain name has still been seized and all my links are broken and all my files are lost.
I did not profit from anything I uploaded. Thus, I am not a pirate. Except, of course, that the government has effectively changed the definition of piracy from copying something for profit to just copying it. Can they do that? Apparently. Can they disrupt and destroy a private enterprise that had just as many, if not more, legitimate users and uses as illegal ones? Apparently.
Here's the thing. Raising capital gains tax above 15% is killing capitalism. Killing it. (So say the politicians.) But arresting the owners of the most successful file-sharing website, because, in essence, they had the most successful business model, is not killing capitalism. Riiiiight. I'm not even capitalism's biggest fan, but the hypocrisy is so obvious it's giving me a headache.
I have absolutely 0% doubt that Universal paid quite a few federal employees for this to happen, especially since in the extradition brief, the feds call the owners of MU the "Mega Conspiracy" multiple times.
Oh, go fuck yourselves. I'm not paying for anything put out by Universal. I don't actually - gasp! - download things for free when I think they're worth paying for, but I've had it. Paying them for shit obviously pays for them to step all over the rights of anyone they please. (I'm also aware that one person going "I'm not paying for your crap!" doesn't have much effect on the company as a whole, but it makes me feel better, ok?)
I also can't think of anything to do about this situation, even though I think it is utterly intolerable and unacceptable, since I can't really go and pick a personal fight with the FBI. I am thinking of finding out who to call in the DoJ and calling them on Monday to give them a piece of my mind, though. (Which also will not make much difference but will also make me feel better.)
I feel very mildly better now. Also, we all have a real example of what the domain name seizure provision of SOPA would do. And lo, it is just as bad as it sounded.