MPAA, Microsoft Testify Piracy Funds Terrorism 858
GuyMannDude writes "[Yesterday's] Oversight Hearing on "International Copyright Piracy: Links to Organized Crime and Terrorism" featured the MPAA and Microsoft testifying that software and movie DVD counterfeiting is an acute problem, with criminal gangs operating factories in Russia, Malaysia and other countries that have weak copyright laws. They further claim that intellectual property piracy is a vehicle for financing or supporting acts of terror." There's another article about the hearing at Infoworld.
Sheesh... (Score:5, Interesting)
Scaremoungering (Score:4, Interesting)
Next, they will be saying that filesharing funds terrorism too.
does it bollocks (Score:2, Interesting)
This is why (Score:4, Interesting)
They've claimed silly things in the past to aid themselves
They've screwed over other companies to aid themselves
They've screwed over their own users to aid themselves
Jurisdiction (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:they are getting desparate (Score:5, Interesting)
+5 Funny for Microsoft and the MPAA!
Microsoft funds terrorism.... (Score:5, Interesting)
In case you don't have time to read the story, MS admitted to giving Benevolence International, the Muslim charity that funnled money to al-qaeda, around $20,000. You can buy a lot of box cutters with that money.
MS had better not throw stones in their glass house. And if you're going to start giving money to charities, it's a good idea to research them and make sure they are legit. Say what you will but MS is SUPER guilty of not doing research on this "charity".
Drugs are bad, mmkay? (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't think terrorism is a good thing, but I'm getting sick of all the reports:
"Sometimes, _________ is used to fund terrorism, so _________ is evil."
Drugs are bad because buying them funds terrorism. Yep, that's right. Even when it's homegrown. :P
I know that all those media conglomerates are the true source of funding for these things. So I'm going to buy my movies from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and friends from now on.
I'm sure I could find just as sketchy of a connection between the media companies and terrorism as they can find between [insert comman activity here] and terrorism.
The Solution (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah and Osama Bin Laden is sittin in a cave in Afghanistan with a buncha cds and a burner!
Surely the government must realize that any amount of legislation won't stop piracy, as it is a worldwide problem. U.S. laws won't stop foreign pirates (like the famous 0s4m4) from selling pirated software to other foreigners (Iraq, North Korea, you know...)
Therefore, we must make piracy uneconomical. The reason it is lucrative in the first place is that people don't want to pay MS $100 for a copy of Windows. Our only chance of survival is to make sure they don't even want to pay 41 q43d4 $1 for a copy of Windows. How do we do this? Simple!
I demand that the Federal Government divert huge amounts of money to fund KaZaA and immediately cease all lawsuits against P2P applications to save us from terrorists! After all, we must think of the children. Clearly the RIAA supports this, as made clear by their recent testimonial.
Re:Microsoft Could Wipe Out Most Piracy (Score:2, Interesting)
Federation Against Copyright Theft (Score:3, Interesting)
More hysteria for soccer moms everywhere. I've seen mainstream media pick up on this meme too. As the wise George Castanza once said: "Remember Jerry, It's not a lie if you believe it".
well, yes ... but - (Score:2, Interesting)
B) and they would know, wouldn't they. Yes, software & media companies are the best judges on funding of international terrorism, I'm sure.
C) one more excellent reason to use open source, live concerts, local talent etc. etc. and open source. Did I mention open source? Good.
Re:Guess what? Religion funds Terrorism. (Score:1, Interesting)
Generalizing that all religon is bad all the time and hence should be gotten rid of is a bit discriminatory wouldn't you say?
Re:they are getting desparate (Score:3, Interesting)
All Together Now, With Feeling (Score:5, Interesting)
This is nothing more than a power grab. Plain and simple. That's the only explaination.
You want to know who's funding Osama bin Laden? Osama himself is. That wacky guy has almost $300 million dollars, and it's all his. He's bankrolling his own operation. We've already proven that his buddies have also been funding him, too. Hardcore militant Arabs are all about one thing: sticking to their guns and ousting technology in favor of hardline Muslim rule. That means oppressing women, forcing their will on people, and keeping things in the stone age. The only two uses they have for technology is A) Keeping Osama alive (he's on kidney dialasys) and B) using it against us to further his agenda.
Microsoft and the MPAA/RIAA are only concerned about two things: losing money, and keeping control over their respective industries.
I have only two words for them: Fuck 'em.
Re:Taliban (Score:4, Interesting)
I was also under the impression that the major piracy houses in places like Malaysia were actually semi-legitimate companies - that they operated openly, since it's not illegal there. They might very well still have ties to organized crime, which might in turn have ties to various terrorist groups, but it's not any different than a Mafia boss owning a nice resturaunt.
Alcohol (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:they are getting desparate (Score:3, Interesting)
So far everyone's just looked a bit embarrassed when it's been pointed out that that bank accounts all over the world hold terrorist money.
As for funding terrorism, I believe that the US has handed out cash to 'rogue nations' for as long as memory stretches.
Now, it might be possible to point out that Microsoft supports terrorism by selling legitimate copies of windows to terrorists and is therefore funded by them...
The argument is only as spurious as theirs.
OD
Re:no no, it funds tourism (Score:3, Interesting)
There is but one solution! (Score:2, Interesting)
Likewise, DRM technologies generally work by making it inconvenient or expensive to make copies. As a result, the only people who do make copies are professional pirates--those who can make money off of the copies to pay for the equipment and, presumably, use the excess to fund terrorism.
Therefore, Hollywood and the music industry must immediately stop using any sort of copy protection at all and lower their prices worldwide. Furthermore, all file-sharing networks must immediately be legalized and legitimized worldwide. Only in this way can they undercut the pirates and dry up this source of funds for terrorists.
I realize that it's a big sacrifice for the content industries, but it's one that must be made and I, for one, salute them for it.
Re:convenient bandwagon (Score:5, Interesting)
So does this mean that Oil use funds terrorism??
Re:Guess what? Religion funds Terrorism. (Score:2, Interesting)
It's funny, he was as atheist as you can get and did more terrible things than any other of our time, but people still talk as though "religion" was at the root of these conflicts. Guys--it's used as an EXCUSE, it's not actually a cause. Even these terrorists hate us already, they're just using Islam to cloak it. Of course, it IS true that Islam is very
Re:I'm just not sure which way I want to fund terr (Score:5, Interesting)
Where Do Terrorists Get Their Money? (Real format embedded) [adbusters.org]
If you can't view Real format video directly in your browser, here is a complete URL that you can cut 'n' paste into the "Open Location" menu item of Real Player, or use "Open With":
http://www.adbusters.org/abtv/movies/spotlight/Thi nkTank3/real_high.rpm [adbusters.org]
Thanks go to Adbusters.org.
--
Simon
war on terror = the new communism (Score:4, Interesting)
Pick something that people hate and use the hatred of as a vechicle to drive all kinds of crap under the nose of joe public
"Uh huh, we'd like clean air too buddy, but you know it's them damn terrorists"
"Drilling for oil in the rain forest, before we sell it to the corporate burger guys to raise cattle in inhumane conditions, we'd love to stop it too but you know it's them damn terrorists"
"we'd love to stop bugging your phone but you know
repeat until the next election, kiss baby, smile, wave at camera.
I am taking suggestions, on what will take over from Terrorism, open source anyone?
Re:In this post 9/11 world... (Score:3, Interesting)
- Child pornography
- Antisemitism (at least here in Europe)
It's so easy and done so often...
Re:they are getting desparate (Score:4, Interesting)
Snopes [snopes.com] had an interesting article on this. Can't link directly to it, but it's in the Rumors of War subsection, do a search for "shorted".
I'll cut and paste a small section:
On 10 September, another uneventful news day, American Airlines' option volume was 4,516 puts and 748 calls, a ratio of 6:1 on yet another day when by rights these options should have been trading even. No other airline stocks were affected -- only United and American were shorted in this fashion. Accelerated investments speculating a downturn in the value of Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch (two New York investment firms severely damaged by the World Trade Center attack) were also observed. The Chicago Board Options Exchange is investigating each of these trades and at this time is declining to offer comment on its progress. The volume traded and the one-sidedness of the trades, however, make it clear that those who had knowledge of the details of the attacks (which airlines would be involved and that the World Trade Center was a target) were behind them and stood to profit mightily from them.
Re:Uh, yeah (Score:3, Interesting)
Not that I think that war is a good idea, just thought I'd point out that its not a religious conflict. In fact I think now its mostly about re-electing Bush, and power hungry military officials trying not to look like idiots. Sort of the "We couldn't find illegal weapons but they're still there because we're never wrong!"
Re:I love todays propaganda, it's so transparent (Score:5, Interesting)
Representative Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat, praised the hearing for highlighting the "disastrous connection" between copyright piracy and organized crime. "I can't help but sit here and wonder ... if parents fully understand the ramifications of what it is to steal a movie or pirate a song," he said. "If more American parents understood the connection between the pirating of
intellectual property and organized crime, I think then there'd be a much more effective public relations response in our own country to better appreciate the disastrous ramifications."
Intended implication being "If your kids illegally download music, they will grow up to be Mafia shills or even terrorists!!"
The truly scary thing is that some people will actually believe this!! One has to pity their kids. :(
Something a bit more worrisome... (Score:1, Interesting)
Therefor, if the Bush administration gets what they want, if you have a single illegal mp3 on you're computer, you can be shipped off to Guantanamo Bay to be tried by a kangaroo court ^H^H^H^H^H military tribunal, and shot.
Isn't it great to be an American?
Re:The Solution (Score:3, Interesting)
Same as all that legislation didn't really stop a monopoly from abusing it's position.
Therefore, we must make piracy uneconomical.
What it distills to is any activity where a profit can be realized will attract copying (whether a physical object of a method of doing something, hence copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc.) The larger the profit margin, the more players attempt to enter the market. If Windows sold for a representative cost of production, Bill Gates and his chums would only be millionaires and piracy significantly lower. (seen any good pirated copies of Linux, lately? I see goobers trying to sell CD's of this stuff on eBay, but for $5.99 a pop, it's laughable)
If the MPAA and RIAA want to reduce piracy, then reduce the price of the goods. Which, of course they won't do because they all want that profit. The music industry isn't the gang of thieves it once was, tho still bad, but must have a large profit margin, thus work to obfuscate their accounting ("sorry, your million selling album only made you $10,000 after production, distribution, litigation and janitorial costs") and seek to protect their profits, even to the ludicrous extreme of a tariff on blank media (Because it might be used for copying, hello Minority Report)
The best thing that can happen is with today's technology, people can get together, record, mix, burn in their own garage and sell it themselves over the internet, an example [largeorange.com]. Software, well the Open Source movement is strong and offers more choice, so you can buy Microsoft or you can go elsewhere. Imagine what a crappy world it would be with no choice, but Microsoft and their token opposition, Apple. Movies are the last, item, and understandably more of a problem. It takes (actors salaries aside) considerable capital to build sets and fund other logistics. Because it's capital intensive it has a higher bar, still, most films don't need a lot of the absurd costs and could be marketed for a fair and low price. Actually, DVD's aren't really all that bad a deal, considering the cost of seeing a film in the theater. Back when movies were first issued on VHS one of the studios insisted upon charching ~$80 for a copy. The model for the industry should be volume. You get your copy, cheap, they sell so many that they realize a profit by volume, and pirates can't compete.
In other news... Microsoft yesterday made a raft of announcements trumpeting what it calls 'Smart Living in the Digital Decade'.
This from a company which struggles with every product they attempt to roll out which doesn't revolve around business. Right...
Re:Oh No!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
The only rational way to argue that piracy funds terrorism is that organized pirates sell pirated copies and transfer the funds to terrorist organizations in order to buy weapons, supplies, Swiss-Army Knives, Freedom Fries and other terroristy things like that.
If all piracy takes place on P2P networks, there's no cash, and thus no profit for Al-Qaida or Iraq.
There are real activities that fund terrorism, such as the illegal sale of oil from sanctioned countries and diamond and gold mining. Trading the latest Britney Spears track, the latest Hollywood movie DVD rip, or the latest Microsoft OS ISO rip is so far removed from terrorism that it's laughable to try to associate them. This is an ad hominem attack of the most blatant kind.
Re:they are getting desparate (Score:3, Interesting)
Why should we trust them since... (Score:2, Interesting)
Let's face it, Microsoft has time and time again (explorer can't be removed from windows anyone?) proven in the past that their testimonies aren't worth anything.
Curiously I was under the impression that lying in these circumstances was against US laws. Then again, I'm not from the US, are they required to tell the truth in these testimonies?
It's the definition of terrorism (Score:5, Interesting)
Unfortunately they have some creedence, since it's become de rigeur for politically motivated paramilitaries to tax or even run their own contraband operations to fund themselves -- FARC in Columbia, the IRA, Serbian paramilitaries, various Afghan groups, the defacto governments in the Southeast Asian highlands, Syria has heavy drug connections in the Bekaa valley and so on.
And of course lets not forget US heroin operations in Laos and Cambodia, coke smuggling in central America. I've also seen first hand hash stamped "support afghani resistance" during the height of the Soviet invasion.
Anti-SUV ads... (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, SUV's fund terrorism only to the degree that oil producing countries support terrorism... hence the (possible) war.
Note that I did not say if I was against or for the war, just the motive for it.
Chilling quote (Score:5, Interesting)
Read that again - federal felony for
Re:supporting terrorism? (Score:5, Interesting)
The same goes for video games. Nintendo says that they lose over $600 million a year to terrorists [komotv.com]. "Pirated goods have proven to be a popular funding arm for terrorists, and Nintendo recently found out they were being used by Hezbollah, a high-profile terrorist group."
Re:Oh No!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
Wait... we're talking about P2P... oh yeah...
The problem with the RIAA and the MPAA is by trying to stomp out P2P they are only making themselves look bad. P2P cannot die. If they use their own little P2P service that you have to pay for to its fullest extent and make it look good, all while leaving underground P2P alone, then they might be able to solve their problem. But trying to end P2P is like trying to kill Ben Kenobi. "I shall only grow stronger."
Remember Napster!
Re:how about the truth? (Score:2, Interesting)
The other posts have got you on your 50% statistic, for my part I'd like to remind you that the original poster talked about "supporting" terrorism - I buy gas so I can take my children to school, and myself to work so I can provide for them. Does this mean I "support" terrorism, I think NOT!
One might argue that if even a few pennies of each of my fuel purchases goes to support blowing up innocents, that is too much - and in a total vacuum of other information, I would agree.
But who's to say which country my 12 galons comes from on any trip to the pump? In addition, I pay taxes to a government that ostensibly is charged with handling such things (OK, OK, I agree that's a stretch, but I do pay taxes!) So either I should be given the choice to purchase alternative fuel vehicles, or recieve protection from accidentally funding terrorsim with oil purchases, or be absolved of paying any taxes at all, and be all on my own for such things.
One can only do so much, my priorities have to be:
The truth is that nothing any moral, law-abiding US citizen does supports terrorism. Trickle-down economics will put some small portion of my purchases into the pockets of terrorists, and I'll do my best to minimize the effect, but it is also up to each of us to demand that our government, which we pay for, take immediate action to stop the flow of oil money by climbing out of the hip-pocket of the American auto and oil industries and start doing what is right for the long-term health of our country.1. My family
2. My extended family and friends
3. My community
4. My country
5. My planet
More Videos! (Score:2, Interesting)
I like my suv [detroitproject.com]
The gas that george bought. [detroitproject.com]
Re:The Merits of Drug Prohibition (Score:2, Interesting)