French President Busted For Copyright Violation 317
An anonymous reader writes "ZeroPaid has an interesting take on the story of Nicolas Sarkozy being accused of copyright infringement. The irony, of course, is Sarkozy's pushing of a 3-strikes law — disconnecting from the Internet those accused of file sharing — in France and across the EU. The French president had apparently offered to settle the copyright infringement accusation for one Euro, but the band rejected the offer, calling it an insult. The article notes that each year since 2006, a high-profile anti-piracy entity has been on the wrong end of a copyright infringement notice. In 2008, Sony BMG was sued for software piracy. In 2007, anti-piracy outfit BASCAP received a cease and desist order related to pirated software. And in 2006, the MPAA was accused of pirating 'This Film is Not Yet Rated'."
Do. (Score:5, Insightful)
Do as I say.
Not as I do.
Re:Smart move (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe they don't like his agenda?
Re:Smart move (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe they don't like his agenda?
Seriously, artists are not all automatically on the side of big media. And you're right: they probably saw this as a way to make a point, that they don't like where he's trying to take copyright.
Of course, offering a single Euro as compensation was kinda ridiculous.
3 strikes (Score:1, Insightful)
Okay, so the UMP is getting booted off the internet now, right?
Er...right?
Hypocrisy as the norm... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's amazing that most people simply accept that Hypocrisy is the norm. That's sad.
The copyright organizations call for "zero tolerance" and are then caught themselves.
The congressmen who rail against finding teenagers attractive are caught lusting after them.
Preachers who rail on homosexuals are caught fucking gay prostitutes.
Vigilantes who claim to catch online predators are found to be employing young teens in their exploits and having child pornography on their computers.
Educators who rail against drugs and demand for instant lockup of drug offenders... are found to be drug users themselves...
These are all real stories.
Instead of stepping back and recognizing that their viewpoints may be of questionable value and that they may have made errors in judgment... they just ignore their mistakes and continue in their hypocritical ways.
And the world is a worse place for it.
Re:The band in question (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh, yes, a black out will work... That scares the hell out of them.
Will the 3 strikes policy affect him? (Score:1, Insightful)
The worst thing about this is the much touted "3 strikes policy". Even if the president gets busted infringing on copyright 3 times, do you really think his internet access will be terminated?
"Oh sorry, that law wasn't intended for Important People, such as The President, who need the internet for REAL purposes."
One law for them, one law for everybody else.
Our entire civilization is being screwed up the ass SO BADLY by these people, and there's nothing we can do.
Fuck you frenchy, I hope you and your fat wife drown in a vat of wine.
Well, if he gets cut off (Score:4, Insightful)
He'll just start mooching off his neighbor's wifi.
Not the first time for this stuff (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Hypocrisy as the norm... (Score:5, Insightful)
People often hate most of others what they hate most of themselves. They're angry with themselves that they can't control their own behavior, so they lash out at others and attempt to control theirs. It's a compensation mechanism. Either that, or it's plain old game theory--an attempt to persuade others to cooperate while one defects, thus maximizing personal gain.
I once had a lengthy discussion with a mother who was bat-shit loco against people looking at kiddie porn. She thought anyone who looked at kiddie porn should be sterilized, and that producers should be locked away forever. Deeper into the conversation, she admitted to having looked at kiddie porn, and further admitted to having posted pictures of her nude son on her blog (bathtub pictures). She conceded that she was a hypocrite, but defiantly refused to change her opinion about what should happen to OTHER people who did what she did.
Re:The band in question (Score:1, Insightful)
How can such an insulting bullshit be moderated informative??
This proves a major prejudice about Americans: Most of you don't know shit about the world (outside of your borders).
But I still hope, that there are some here who will fix that. After all, I thought Slashdot users had an above average intelligence.
Re:The band in question (Score:2, Insightful)
And this proves a major prejudice about non-Americans: Most of you immediately assume that anyone on the internet who makes an idiotic or misinformed comment is American.
Re:Smart move (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The band in question (Score:5, Insightful)
I know, it's awful and unfair. But after only 8 short years of Bush being in power, it looks like its going to take a while for these prejudices to subside.
Re:The band in question (Score:2, Insightful)
Non-Americans love to throw out stereotypes like that. And yet when I ask them something like "What is the capital of Florida?"--they don't know. They know as little about our country as we do about theirs. They might even be worse, because they form almost all their opinions about America through portrayals in TV shows, which is really, really stupid.
Re:FUCK ARTISTS (Score:3, Insightful)
Is this what they call sarcasm?
It is a very good way to put a point across, but overdone it just makes one look like an extremely frustrated lunatic.
I'm sure there are valid points on your side of the debate, but you're preaching to a highly biased and relatively intelligent crowd. There ought to be a less self-destructive way of making your case.
May he get the worst possible treatment (Score:5, Insightful)
May Sarkozy get the worst possible treatment allowable under law. I hope he gets all his computer (and other electronic devices) seized and thoroughly examined.
Not out of any hate of Sarkozy, or any need for vengeance for the wrongs committed by the RIAA against innocent people.
The purpose is this: I believe that those in power should be feel the impact of their decisions.
You want greater surveillance? Fine, we'll start around your house. You want to wage a war? Fine, any of your eligible children get "volunteered" for army service. You want to give the police power to search people without a warrant? Fine, you'll get searched daily both near your home and near your workplace.
Then, maybe, just maybe, people would think twice. They tend to when there's something at stake for them.
This is really an extensions of Schneier's idea about security: the one in charge will make the decision that matches their own agenda. We the people have to make it a part of the agenda of the people in power to make sure their decisions are sane. I've proposed a way.
May this makes Sarkozy's life really shitty for a while.
Re:The band in question (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:FUCK ARTISTS (Score:1, Insightful)
relatively intelligent crowd
Is it a truth universally acknowledged that any group will always consider itself comprised of people relatively intelligent compared to some "average"?
Do any of you guys reading or posting on Slashdot ever think to yourselves that you might be, in broad intellectual terms, at or below average? Like me, you enjoy tinkering with computer hardware or software, and like me, you may have one or more good academic qualifications. Like me, you probably can quote some self-aggrandizing metric which claims to prove your intelligence. But do you actually think, in the scheme of things, that you're all that great? Do you stop and think about all the things that you cannot do, or has your skill at bullshitting your way out of your weaknesses become so honed that you even manage to fool yourself?
I judge myself as fairly stupid, and, frankly, I judge much of the output of Slashdot posters as hot air. Almost every (+5, Insightful) is a "we agree with what you said" rather than some sharp demonstration of thought. There's also the standard toadying deference to classes of people rather than ideas: whether it's someone who mentions they studied at MIT (omg MIT!!! because turning one's nose up at a well-rounded education is never likely to create an inhuman technocracy). or worked at Google (and why do you think MS is so popular on the desktop? clue: try to overcome your "abusive monopoly" whine), or.. ugh.. NewYorkCountryIPLawyerWhenHe'sNotPretendingToBe"OneOfUs".
During the dotcom boom I cofounded a pregnancy+parenting site, long since sold, and the best way to get hits was to have articles/sections about abortion and all sorts of other controversial topics. Similarly, much of Slashdot is erected as one big flamebait - the editors know that you're going to achieve nothing productive by coming here, but they're appealing to the basic human urge to show everyone else your asshole. You think your shit smells so good, doesn't it, so much more worthy of inhaling than everyone else's?
No, failure. You're going to die in 100 years like the rest of us. Think less of yourself. Hate yourself more for your failures, and show some humility. Realise that what you have to say is probably obvious or bullshit - either way, it's already been thought about by a million people before you, who didn't think themselves so important to speak it out loud. Love yourself and you will become lazy and derive a sense of entitlement based on your abilities and chance; loathe more your very existence and you will strive to be more productive and useful.
The only message worth spreading is this one.
Re:Hypocrisy as the norm... (Score:4, Insightful)
but still a better place. Remove them from power at the first offence would be better, sarkosy wouldn't have made past student rapresentative...
Re:The band in question (Score:4, Insightful)
Also really.. just national capitals would be nice, capitals of states is a much longer bow to draw since the corollary question would be to ask what the capitals of places like Hunan, Alsace, Free State and Tasmania would be.
I think most people would probably assume the answer is Miami because it's the most known of Floridian cities, I knew it wasn't but had to look up the answer. I'm not from the US and do not live there.
I think in broader terms you're right about ignorance not being uniquely a US trait and that entertainment TV shows are a poor educational tool (because they're not meant to be) but if you're trying to change the preconceptions of people then I would say your post isn't doing it.
Re:Excellent-- and not just for schadenfreude (Score:3, Insightful)
We need to enforce these laws against the children of music/movie executives and politicians and the wealthy.
Then the laws will be changed quickly.
But most of those groups think they are immune to the same treatment as the rest of humanity.
They are _not_ enforced. There was an incident about a year or so ago in which some music exec's kids were caught downloading illegal music. What did they get? A stern warning from dad.
Re:Smart move (Score:5, Insightful)
Sigh.
They were hardly protesting against having their music spread to the big masses. They obviously intented to point out that the most influential politician/pro-copyright spokesman of France is a hypocritical asshole.
It's incredible how anyone could miss the point.
Re:FUCK ARTISTS (Score:4, Insightful)
Hate yourself more for your failures, and show some humility.
It doesn't work like that, at least for me. Love yourself more. There's a difference between loving oneself and trying really hard to think of oneself highly. If you love yourself you'll accept your shortcomings, and find it more easy to examine and learn from them.
I'd rather somebody say something obvious, if it were true. To a child it may be less obvious, and there have been countless times growing up where I've wondered why people didn't just point something out. And once someone knows something is obvious (because other people are constantly talking about it), then they can take it one step further and maybe reach something less obvious more quickly.
I agree with you on the moderation. I find myself using +1 Insightful for a post I believe is true, and +1 Interesting for a post I don't think is true but which raises a point. There's always some information about the moderator in a moderation, because terms such as 'insightful' and 'interesting' depend upon the opinion of the moderator.
Re:Do. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The band in question (Score:5, Insightful)
Was this some kind of self-deprecating meta-ironic remark, or did you really extrapolate to all Americans (which you accuse us of doing) based on one anecdotal example and honestly consider that "proof"? And here I thought Europeans were more culturally aware than us lowly Americans.
You're probably American just for speaking English (Score:3, Insightful)
And this proves a major prejudice about non-Americans: Most of you immediately assume that anyone on the internet who makes an idiotic or misinformed comment is American.
The population of the United States (304 M) and anglophone Canada (25 M excl. Quebec) is more than thrice that of the UK (61 M), Ireland (4 M), Australia (21 M), and New Zealand (4 M) put together. So given a random native English speaker who uses no Indianisms [wikipedia.org], you'd be right more often than not to guess that he or she is from North America.
Besides, Slashdot is in the United States.
Re:The band in question (Score:2, Insightful)
We see statistics coming out of America like 92% of Americans believe in a God [washingtonpost.com]. This speaks volumes.
I believe in God you twit. You atheists are worse than the religious nuts, oh wait, you _are_ religious nuts! I'm not American, though, so I must be substandard anyway. Me and my silly God, that is.
Re:The band in question (Score:4, Insightful)
The truth is that I am agnostic towards the idea of an almighty being or beings. I believe what I see, what is testable and falsifiable. If you had a testable and falsifiable hypothesis positing the existance of such a being, that didn't require me to accept that 'God Did It' at any stage of the reasoning, I'll gladly eat my words.
Re:The band in question (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm going to put this as simply as possible. Religious belief requires the suspension of critical and rational thought.
Not at all. One can critically and rationally assess religious doctrine to determine whether it seems to make sense. Or do you also think philosophy is the province of the mentally ill?
Re:FUCK ARTISTS (Score:5, Insightful)
For the sake of capitalism, I truly hope your statement has boundaries. There is no media that can't be ripped and distributed for LESS than the folks that produce it, or ever will be
That is the quintessential form of capitalism.
If I am producing software, and 1 person buys it, copies it, then distributes it for 1/100 (arbitrary number for "best value") of the cost, what incentive do I have to continue producing software?
You don't. At least not for money. You would continue writing software for the same reasons musicians will still sing and play instruments, artists will still paint and sculpt, and authors will still write books: because you want to.
Or maybe some company hires you to work on something they need, much like medieval artists were hired by rich patrons to produce works of art for them. See: Linux
Re:FUCK ARTISTS (Score:3, Insightful)
>>>Do any of you guys reading or posting on Slashdot ever think to yourselves that you might be, in broad intellectual terms, at or below average?
My IQ is 120, so yes I am 20 points above average.
I doubt very many slashdotters are at or below 100.
Most of us are above-average intelligence.
Re:Do. (Score:5, Insightful)
Miss Bruni is the French president's wife?
What I found funny abotu this article was the president's arrogance - "Yes I did violate copyright, but I'm only giving you 1 Euro." Can you imagine any of the rest of us getting-away with that? "Yes RIAA I received you letter demanding $5000. I'll give you 5 instead." Fat chance. ----- Politicians think they don't have to follow the laws that we do. They think we poor schmucks have to pay $5000 settlement to RIAA, or $75,000 per song according to the law, but for THEM.... well now, 1 Euro should be sufficient. Right? After all politicians are "special".
So much for the 1700s ideal of creating a classless society where everyone is treated equally. Politicians still believe they are nobility.
Re:Do. (Score:2, Insightful)
Yet there you are, plugging FOXNews in your sig.
Doing the richfilth's work for them while pointing out what poopypants they are is just precious.
Re:The band in question (Score:2, Insightful)
You atheists are worse than the religious nuts, oh wait, you _are_ religious nuts!
What, atheism is a religion? Next, you'll tell us that baldness is a hair color! Or maybe that death is a lifestyle... Just to give you a clue: atheism is the lack of religion.
Re:The band in question (Score:2, Insightful)
Obligatory (Score:5, Insightful)
If the president does it, it's not illegal.
Re:The band in question (Score:3, Insightful)
Religious belief requires the suspension of critical and rational thought. At some point, you have to just accept that God Did It, and stop asking 'why'.
And this makes it different from any other belief how precisely? Epistemologies must be inherently circular: at their root they all say that we can know things because X, but then we can only know X because X. Fundamentally any logical system constructed by critical and rational thought must be built on top of axioms which are not constructed by critical and rational thought.
Re:The band in question (Score:3, Insightful)
I believe what I see, what is testable and falsifiable
Why do you believe what you can see? Sight is not objective it's merely the brains interpretation of electrical signals from the eyes. You see everybody has to simply accept something as being true at some point or else you're left with nothing but existing in someway because you are thinking.
Re:The band in question (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm going to put this as simply as possible. Religious belief requires the suspension of critical and rational thought. At some point, you have to just accept that God Did It, and stop asking 'why'.
Not necessarily. For example, I believe that at best, images of God are a loose personification of a divine force that cannot even necessarily be characterized as having a self as we understand the term. 'God' doesn't violate the laws of physics, so anything 'God' does can be explained through physics provided we know enough about physics to do so.
In my view, there can BE no God vs. science. 'God' exists outside of our scientific understanding (that is, the existence or not of God or gods is not a scientific hypothesis at this time).
Spiritual belief is subject to error since even if inspired by the divine, our understanding comes through imperfect non-divine entities (that is, human beings, including ourselves). Where science concludes something counter to spiritual belief, the spiritual belief must be re-evaluated to fit the new knowledge.
Personally I believe that spiritual pursuit mandates the study of science. Know the creation and you gain insight into the creator.
Unfortunately, much of what passes for religion is more like wagging the dog. So-called religious leaders shaping spiritual teaching to conform with their personal preferences rather than the other way around. That and turning simple disagreements into eternal damnation with little or no justification.
So, while I could be said to be one of those in the 92% who believe in 'God', it doesn't necessarily mean what you think it does.
Re:Presumed innocent? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't hate Americans. I consider religious fanatics dangerous, I find arrogance offensive, I think excessive patriotism leads to conflicts as does ignorance about history. And I expect higher standards from self proclaimed 'leaders of the free world' where you can find that kind of persons as well as you can find them in other parts of the world.
When Bush and Rumsfeld proclaimed my country to be part of 'old Europe' because we did not accept their reasons to go to war in Iraq, I was offended.
Can you imagine what Guantanamo did to the image the free world has of the USA, its previous government - and ultimately those who elected it?
But hey, I like some Americans, I admire a few and I find some very dislikeable. But the same goes for most other nationalities on our planet.
Re:The band in question (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The band in question (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm sure you're a 'b', with your comment ''God' exists outside of our scientific understanding (that is, the existence or not of God or gods is not a scientific hypothesis at this time).', so it may comfort you to know that I am too. It would be irrational to think otherwise. We are however outside the 92%, as we don't actually believe that there is or isn't a God.
Re:Smart move (Score:3, Insightful)
thank you.
for every Metallica that you hear on the radio, there are 100 other bands out there who are just as good that you have never heard of, and they are the majority of artists that I am talking about.
they don't make millions sucking the corporate tit, they do what they do, (often at a great financial expense) for the love of creating and performing and expressing themselves. to these artists, local recognition and applause at the end of the night are a concern, not busting fans for making unauthorized recordings.
Re:Do. (Score:3, Insightful)
I read his sig as an argument against the argument that "media is left-leaning". The Fox News brand is based on a manufactured "underdog" image, and a ridiculous one.
Anyway, even if it weren't, there's no contradiction. Rich people aren't one cohesive whole - I wish people would realize this.