MediaDefender Buys MediaSentry For $136,000 (Not $20M) 141
newtley writes "SafeNet paid $20 million for MediaSentry in 2005, but has just sold it to rival MediaDefender for a paltry $136,000, with a promise of more later. MediaSentry's new owner says the combination will allow it to 'dramatically expand its effectiveness.' Is it time for an official government inquiry into MediaSentry and the RIAA? A Chicago student said she was planning on killing herself because the RIAA promised her she'd land in court unless she paid almost $10,000 to 'settle' an alleged copyright infringement. She 'couldn't sleep, couldn't study, couldn't live a normal life because of the worry.' The RIAA 'evidence' came from MediaSentry, accused of operating illegally."
The RIAA (Score:4, Funny)
Are just a bunch of href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5105
I think ... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I think ... (Score:5, Funny)
... timothy failed the Turing Test because the script couldn't figure out there was a problem with the other story before posting this one.
Its this glass bird which rocks forward and backward, pressing the Y key every time around. You know the one:
/. story [Y/N]:
Vent reactor coolant [Y/N]:
Post next
The Old Switcheroo? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Followed by:
- MediaGuard
- MediaWarden
- MediaShield
- MediaSentinel
- MediaWatchdog
- MediaChaperone
- MediaBulwark
And, finally, MediaAegis; point at which they'll get the extremely hard achievement: "Name your company as all Final Fantasy protection spells" totally pwning Bahamut Engineers Inc.
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Let me assure you that this is not one of those shady pyramid schemes you've been hearing about. No sir. Our model is the trapezoid...
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Now now, let's not make false accusations. MediaWhatever and the RIAA aren't fraudsters. They're extortionists. There's a difference.
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> We use the much more trusted MediaDefender these days."?
Trusted? Do you guys not remember MediaDefender-Defenders and the leaked email? As I recall, they were even branching out into partnerships with the government to go after kiddie porn.
Also, it was interesting to read the emails where the MD guys talked about the bestiality porno they had and whatnot.
If they really want THAT to come up in court, well, maybe they should get Jack Thompson as their lawyer. Not that he is a lawyer any more, but...
[C [torrentfreak.com]
You're Hoping for a lot more Change... (Score:4, Insightful)
... than is within reason if you're waiting for a government investigation of the record companies and/or their cronies. The party of Hollywood is in charge of the government, and the RIAA/MPAA are all paid up in their contributions.
Re:You're Hoping for a lot more Change... (Score:5, Insightful)
Owning a portfolio of Senators, Federal Judges, and misc. Whitehouse staffers is not "paid up" in any sense of the words, unless of course you'd like to say that the Democrats or Republican are 'paid up' on their contributions. They say the only good way to rob a bank is to own one. It looks as though this is part of the **AA's new business model - buy the bank, then steal it blind rather than just rob the customers as they come in to deposit their paychecks.
By owning a large enough part of the Federal government, the **AA is able to convince the rest of government that they need international copyright trade agreements that are sealed due to national security. If there really were something we could call the "mark of the beast" I'm willing to bet that it has the **AA members logos displayed aesthetically beneath it.
I'm of a mind to say that even if this girl did share audio files, there is no morality system in the world that is recognized under any name other than evil that justifies how the **AA are treating their own customers, grandkids, mothers, grandparents etc. To paraphrase Mr Gump, "fucking assholes do as fucking assholes do" and no amount of apologetizing will get them a reputation better than that of pond scum.
I welcome this merger wholeheartedly (Score:5, Interesting)
I always end up confusing them, so I'll ascribe something to MediaSentry only to be corrected that no, the company involved was MediaDefender, or vice versa. Every time I wanted to complain to my alma mater [hmc.edu] about Randy Saaf being on their board of trustees (fortunately no longer the case [hmc.edu]), I had to go look up which of the two he was associated with.
So, I would like to thank the companies for kindly removing this frequent source of error.
Good grief!!! (Score:2)
When will people just give up and find new ways to entertain themselves? By this time, who hasn't heard of what the RIAA is doing?
Apparently, a lot of people I suppose. With every attempt to expose what the RIAA is doing, the RIAA attempts to keep it quiet. Perhaps Southpark needs to revisit the issue.
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>>>When will people just give up and find new ways to entertain themselves?
Books are cheap. Just 1 cent on amazon if you buy used. Radio is totally free if you can put-up with the ads, and ditto television if you invest in an antenna, or buy the DVDs which are just $1 an episode. As for movies - well most are )))) anyway, so don't bother. Boycott Hollyweird.
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Books are cheap. Just 1 cent on amazon if you buy used. Radio is totally free if you can put-up with the ads, and ditto television if you invest in an antenna, or buy the DVDs which are just $1 an episode. As for movies - well most are )))) anyway, so don't bother. Boycott Hollyweird
One of the reasons that I selected my new house is because it was w/i walking distance from Alexandria's library. Unfortunately, the buildings in the area preclude my use of an antenna.
But for entertainment value, I couldn't im
Re:Good grief!!! (Score:4, Funny)
Within walking distance of the Library of Alexandria? The walk better be through a hole in space time, I don't think the place ahs too many books these days.
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>>>that long lonely stretch in the middle of Pennsylvania where you had your choice of terrible country and crazy bible radio.
Well there are worse places. Try driving through Kansas or Iowa or Missouri sometime, where the radio is so sparse all you can hear is AM Talk. I don't have satellite radio, but last time I traveled the PA Turnpike I played music off my laptop. I managed to list to some the Billboard Hot 100 for 2000, 2001, and 2002 until I reached my destination.
Kill yourselves over 10k? (Score:4, Funny)
The girl needs to get a grip. Just wait till she gets older, screws up, buys a house bigger than she can afford, runs up 30k in credit cards that gets ramped up to 100k because the overlimit charges are just enough to wipe payments out, bringing on more overlimit charges... sooner or later, you learn to just pay what you can, unplug the phone, and move on with life.
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>>>sooner or later, you learn to just pay what you can
I blame the parents for not teaching the girl that lesson earlier. ("I want a toy." "No." "I wanna toy!" (slap) "Shut up!")* It's called self-sacrifice and learning to satisfied with what you have, instead of what you want. Of course the reason the parents didn't know they were supposed to teach that lesson is because the grandparents failed to teach basic child-rearing skills, preferring to embrace a "live free" philosophy of non-responsi
Sticking up for the kids... (Score:2)
The funny thing is, as spoiled and weak is this new generation supposedly is, they have been one of the best military generations this country has had. They seem to have held unit cohesion and pretty much won a counter-insurgency in Iraq, all the while at a tempo and rate of enemy contact that is pretty far above that of many other wars.
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That's because they are pure military w/o any civilian draftees to muck-up the process. Previous pure military incursions by the 80s/90s generation were also successful.
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sooner or later, you learn to just pay what you can, unplug the phone, and move on with life...
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No, actually, the good old USA. The big dirty secret of credit cards is that, there's really not a whole lot that banks can really do to you. You have all the leverage with them. You have their money, and what can they do? Take back 20,000 cigarette butts, reclaim 2000 gallons of gasoline, or somehow auction off empty mcdonald's cartons? They might get one of those TGI-Friday's ceramic onion ring dip holders, but that's about it. When a bank gives you a credit card, despite all their harassment, phon
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The girl needs to get a grip. Just wait till she gets older, screws up, buys a house bigger than she can afford, runs up 30k in credit cards that gets ramped up to 100k because the overlimit charges are just enough to wipe payments out, bringing on more overlimit charges... ...and then she finally has a REAL reason to kill herself, or what do you want to tell us?
Just because some people are in the doo deeply enough that an archeological dig wouldn't find them doesn't mean that I should be happy when I only
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See, why would you kill yourself though, in a situation like that. Why not kill all the people that keep calling you. That's what I don't get. You get all these guys that lost it all, and take it out on their families...I don't condone what these people do, but, if you are going to do it, then, you may as well take one for the team and take out a couple of incompetent CEOs, politicians, and what not. Seriously, if on
And the receipt read thus: (Score:4, Funny)
Facilities, Equipment, Data: $20,000,000
Goodwill: -$19,000,000
"Losing" the email server: -$864,000
---
Balance: $136,000
Not that there is much of their email we haven't already seen.
On killing yourself (Score:2)
This highlights that downloading media does have this potential consequence.
While it's sad that this student feels this way, and I've done the same activities myself, anyone considering taking up p2p should consider the small risk of being put under this much pressure to the point that you feel like committing suicide.
I have sympathy for this anonymous student for feeling like killing herself- but you are responsible for your actions and their consequences. It would be different if this was one of the many
Agreed (Score:2)
If you want to kill yourself, it's your problem. The stressor will come at some point. It must.
We can't go campaigning to remove all stress from life because some people have a predilection for suicide. It is up to the suicidally inclined to remove pressure from their life through their actions. Doing something illegal will, in sufficient quantity, provide stress. It is just that lack of conscience will eventually produce stress.
I'm not a media sentry fan, and I have a great deal of sympathy for the woman,
Let's have pity (Score:2)
What if MediaSentry presents an employee, who can't sleep, study, or "live a normal life" because of the worry (over the accusations of operating illegally)? Would that absolve MediaSentry of all responsibility and make us all sympathize with the poor guys?
No? Then why are we all in pieces over the girl in legal trouble (of her own making)?
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No? Then why are we all in pieces over the girl in legal trouble (of her own making)?
Given the "evidence" came from MediaSentry, how can you be so sure?
Further, it's not that she's being punished at all but the huge imbalance between the damage done, and the payment claimed. If MediaSentry's employees were to be put to death most Slashdotters would rightfully complain, just as we probably wouldn't if the girl had to pay only a $100 bill if she lost her case fair and square.
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No? Then why are we all in pieces over the girl in legal trouble (of her own making)?
Because the punishment should fit the crime. She "stole" something that has less value than a pack of chewing gum, and they're attempting to prosecute her as if she had stolen a Mercedes. Besides, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. If you, or anyone you let use your computer, has ever downloaded an MP3 of a song without getting full permission from the copyright holder, go ahead and pay them $50,000 for it, then raise your voice against those who haven't. Until then, shut the hell up.
About half way down one of the linked articles (Score:2)
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/19711 [p2pnet.net]
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Fleeing the country at that age and with those limited resources is worse than suicide. The countries where it's reasonably safe to flee to, even with money, are extradition countries, so she'll be right back in the US in time for summer. And a lot of those non-extradition countries are inhospitable to a poor teenager, so she'll just die or end up a meth-addicted prostitute.
This glowing orb of positivity brought to you by perspective.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Informative)
The countries where it's reasonably safe to flee to, even with money, are extradition countries, so she'll be right back in the US in time for summer
I think you've mistaken a civil action with a criminal one. There's no extradition process that I'm aware of for debt collection. A judgment is just a piece of paper. It would be up to RIAA to find a way to collect on it. Given that she's a student and probably has no assets, good luck with that....
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Exactly. The RIAA would have to track her down in the country she moved to and then get a court there to rule that she had to pay up. Good luck with that, though, because foreign courts are rather reluctant to involve themselves of civil matters that happened outside of their jurisdiction. In fact, they pretty much flat out refuse to.
For that matter, she could flee to Canada or Mexico.
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For that matter, she could flee to Canada or Mexico.
Or Florida. It worked for OJ and he actually had assets.....
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
There's no need for any country-fleeing for someone without significant assets or income. Just pull a Bernie Goetz: do nothing. Let the RIAA obtain all the judgments they can. Declare bankruptcy (the BARF bill a few years ago made it harder, but someone with no assets and low income still has the option). Laugh at the RIAA.
There's also no point in threatening suicide. For students to threaten or even attempt and/or complete suicide over these cases is playing directly into the RIAAs hands; they're trying to frighten people into obeying them, and convincing people that the disobedience is worse than death by one's own hand is an effective motivator.
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Unless you put a radical Islamic-style spin on the suicide, then you can say that you're becoming a martyr. Then the RIAA has a nasty PR mess on their hands.
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Made me imagine a suicide bomber killing a lot of RIAA people... damn, that'd be the first good thing to ever come from Islam!
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
That's what I just can't grasp. Suing students.
What do you have here: Someone who is about 20, who already has racked up around 50k in debt for his tuition, and then you go an sue him for a bazillion (or just one tiny million if he wishes to settle out of court).
So you start your life with over a million down. What would you do? Know what I'd do? Wellfare. Yes, exactly. Work? Am I nuts? You won't get out of debt ever in your life, living the life of a minimum wage slave no matter how much you earn for the rest of your days. Why the heck should I try to pay a debt that was created basically by racketeering and extortion? Often enough without the defendent breaking any laws, his only crime being that he cannot stand up in court against the allegations.
I'm actually waiting for the first to ponder that his life is over anyway, so why not arm up and take a few of those with him that ended it.
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Kinda reminds a person of the concept of "Debtors Prison", don't it??
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Here's the catch. Ever try to finish college with a judgement over your head? Ever try to keep your student loans for your last 2 or 3 years of college after that judgement has been filed (or worse, you've declared bankruptcy)? Or hope that the destruction of your credit (via the judgement or bankruptcy) wont prevent you from getting the job you want (many big employers now do credit checks)?
Or does mom and dad have to bail you out (pay the extortion fees to the RIAA) to ensure that you can continue to go
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And the countries in question would extradite someone because she downloaded some music? Seriously?
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It has become a criminal offense in some countries by now, being in the same book as assault, manslaughter and other real crimes.
I wouldn't rule it out.
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And may soon here. There's currently a line that's getting blurrier every day as to what constitutes civil and criminal copyright infringement - and the RIAA (and MPAA) are actively trying to remove that line.
The other factor is, the "Big 4" gang that comprises the RIAA have similar entities in other countries that can continue their nonsense against the alleged infringers if they were to move to other countries. And being multi-national companies, they can file suit there as well. Of course a lot of that
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you cant escape the maffia that easily
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh give me a break. They'd get a civil judgment. You don't even have to flee the country to escape those. It's called Chapter 7 [wikipedia.org] and it's the first thing I would do if I was a student facing a $10,000 judgment from RIAA. If she's like most students she probably doesn't have many assets and they are likely all be exempt. In other words she'd lose nothing but the bankruptcy filing fee and the time it took to appear at the hearing.
If that's all it takes to make her suicidal then she really needs to seek some outside help. In the grand game known as life she's going to face many challenges that are far more scary than a RIAA action. Better learn how to cope with them now.
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Wouldn't she have to file for bankruptcy AFTER the judgement?
Yeah, so?
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I thought you meant before any court proceedings.
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First off, $10000 is not that much. For a college grad, it's only two months pay. I'd just hand-over that amount and keep downloading. ----- A reason to flee judgment is if you DON'T pay the extortion letter, and instead land in court and get charged with millions of dollars (or jailtime). THAT'S a reason to flee.
Also, depending on circumstances, wouldn't it be easier to just track down the RIAA CEO and shoot him in the head? He's a tyrant who is abusing his power to extort/scare citizens. After al
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You make 5k a month after tax? Are you hiring?
And I like that Jefferson dude more and more. He made some compelling statements.
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Wait, there's a filing fee for bankruptcy?
That's like having an all-you-can-eat buffet at fat camp.
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"In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, ... Many types of unsecured debt are legally discharged by the bankruptcy proceeding, but there are various types of debt that are not discharged in a Chapter 7. Common exceptions to discharge include ... fines and restitution imposed by a court for any crimes committed by the debtor. ..." - Wikipedia, the same article you cited...
IANAL, but I'd recommend reconsidering your legal strategy.
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Damages != fines and restitution.
This is a civil court. It doesn't fine people (save, perhaps for contempt and perjury). The phrasing seems to indicate criminal convictions. So say she showed up to court and told the judge to eat shit twelve times. The fines she might get for contempt would not be discharged, but the damages would be.
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Damages != fines and restitution.
This is a civil court. It doesn't fine people (save, perhaps for contempt and perjury). The phrasing seems to indicate criminal convictions.
You'll also note it says "fines and restitution imposed by a court for any crimes committed by the debtor."
Since this is a civil case, there are no official crimes committed by the debtor (i.e., you're right, it would indicate criminal proceedings).
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IANAL
I can see why, if you don't know the difference between a civil judgment and fines imposed upon a criminal conviction.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
She'd also lose all her liquid assets(if any)
Umm, no, she'd lose her non-exempt assets. I'm not familiar with the specifics in her state but in my state you can exempt up to $2,500 of cash, "tools of the trade", family heirlooms, an automobile worth less than $5,000, etc, etc, etc. The overwhelming majority of Chapter 7s are "no-asset" cases, meaning all of the assets of the debtor are exempt. How many students do you know that have large enough net worths to have to worry about having non-exempt assets?
and she'd have a bad credit rating for the next 10 years
There are worse things in life than a bad credit rating and you'd be surprised how quickly your credit rebounds after a bankruptcy. My bankruptcy was three years ago and my FICO score was 757 the last time I checked. I haven't run into any problems obtaining credit, even after the economy took a nosedive.
And 10k is the settlement, not the judgement.
So what? Let them get a judgment for more than that if they think they can. It will make the bankruptcy even easier to file.
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Shows how silly it is to sue someone with no assets, it seems in the specific case her parents agreed to pay the settlement though.
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
That was their own damn stupidity. Why would you agree to pay a debt that can't be collected upon and which you have no legal obligation to pay?
Re:Why? (Score:4, Interesting)
The parents probably had the money but didn't have the legal knowledge and I suppose they didn't want their daughter to have to go through the court since she was so stressed out.
Re:Why? (Score:4, Informative)
One would think before you'd write a check for $10,000 you'd get some legal knowledge. A consultation with a lawyer would have been well advised. I'd repeat my earlier bit about her needing to seek some professional help too. If a civil lawsuit is all it takes to make her suicidal then she has serious issues and needs to seek treatment.
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Stop and think about where we are, and what caused it.
"The parents spent $10000 without consulting a lawyer" is symptomatic of a much larger problem. Americans are (in general) careless with money and spend it frivolously without doing any prior research. There's no reason to expect this girl's parents to act any differently from how their society taught them to act. Spend, spend, spend, and don't stop and think. (Or read a $800 billion spending bill.)
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IMHO, they would get a bunch of "maybe"s, "might"s, "possibly"s and other vague statements from a lawyer. So now they have to pay the lawyer without having any hard advice on how to proceed.
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Have you ever read some of the extortion letters they send? I got a series from Microsoft and the BSA once. Talking to a lawyer, they implied, was grounds for them rescinding their "generous offer" and taking legal action.
There was a list of other things that would cause them to do that as well... not sending them the detailed information they wanted, and so on. They also demanded entry into my premises to confirm such. No nothing indicating they had no legal right to enter my premises at will. No nothing
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Umm, any lawyer worth his salt would have just told the girl to file bankruptcy and the parents not to pay. Clearly you've had a bad experience with an attorney in the past but the few times in my life I've had to pay for one (including being wrongfully accused of a crime) it was worth every penny.
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Have you ever read some of the extortion letters they send? I got a series from Microsoft and the BSA once. Talking to a lawyer, they implied, was grounds for them rescinding their "generous offer" and taking legal action.
And I had a debt collector threaten to show up at my house with the sheriff and have me arrested once. So what? People need to learn their rights and stand up for them. You can't expect the person who is trying to extort you to be truthful and honest with you. The fact that they said not to get a lawyer would have been my first indication that I needed one.
So, many uniformed people get scared by the settlement letters and follow through as the RIAA wants.
People are sheep. I can't say that I have much sympathy for them if they aren't willing to stand up and fight back. I'd love to get one of those l
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LoL... we're saying the same thing. And yeah, I found the whole BSA thing quite amusing since we were running virtually exclusively OS/2, 3 Macs, and a single Win2K machine (and owned 22 licenses).
I had a fun time of it.
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And I had a debt collector threaten to show up at my house with the sheriff and have me arrested once. So what? People need to learn their rights and stand up for them.
Amen to that. It's horrifying to watch people jump through hoops because of empty threats.
I've had many situations like that. Security guards are notorious for this stuff. "Give me your ID NOW!" gets a response of "Fine, present your ID as a peace officer of (or for) the state of Texas, or any local or federal agency."
Wal-Mart? "We'd like to stop you to check your receipt." get a hearty "Actually, no. Did you see me steal anything? Since you didn't, you can't assert 'shopkeepers privilege' and I'm under no
Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)
Why kill yourself when you can flee the country? It's not like she's in jail or something. Talk about keeping things in perspective...
And more to the point why just kill yourself when you could wait until the court case and take out a couple or RIAA lawyers too. Note: This is not legal advice!
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They have tight security at most court houses to prevent things like this. Find the identities of the RIAA lawyers before the court date, stalk them to their homes, and then 'deal' with them (and their pets). The insanity and paranoia caused by the case could be a defense.
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+1 terrorism mod?
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Wanting the RIAA dead is on the list of the terr'ists?
Do I have to turn myself in now for being a sympathizer?
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Being sentenced to pay-off ~10 million dollars in RIAA damages is equivalent to a life sentence because you are working, not for yourself, but as RIAA's wage slave. So if you've decided not to be a lifelong slave, but instead to go-out in the blaze of glory, might as well take the CEO and board of directors with you.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_7,_Title_11,_United_States_Code [wikipedia.org]
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and this got modded informative?
I know, should have been insightful, right? Stupid moderators.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
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I thought we were discussing the U.S., not the UK, France, or China.
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Given how much China cares about patents and copyright, this might actually be the place to go. After all you just copied someone else's idea, you didn't try to think for yourself. Not really a crime in their books IIRC.
Or flee to Cuba. PR reasons alone could give you a warm welcome there.
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Dodging payment can become contempt of court or fraud.
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
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>>>When you can barely get out of bed killing yourself can probably look like a good deal
Yes. I thought about killing myself a few years ago, mainly because I was sick of the "loneliness" of engineering. Go to work, type code all day, go home to an empty hotel room with nothing to keep me company except a television that barely got 3 channels, and 50 kbit/s dialup bittorrent. I eventually decided a miserable life is better than no life, especially when you're getting paid $55/hour, and so I'm st
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
I suspect she's young, struggling in any case, and inexperienced in legal matters. The RIAA tactics are fearsome, and they're deliberately calculated to induce the state of mind she's in now. They've evoked the kinds of feelings of helplessness or hopelessness that can lead to suicidal thoughts in vulnerable people. It's to be hoped that she's able to secure some kind of counseling (or legal counsel) to put the situation into perspective. If you look back, you don't see the RIAA attacking well-established, well-heeled middle aged people. They go after the young, the inexperienced, the poor, the elderly, and the sick--just the sorts of people who are vulnerable. They'd probably be delighted by a suicide. It would scare a few more victims.
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Of course not. Well established, well heeled middle aged people don't bother to obtain music illegally.
They download movies instead.
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>>>deliberately calculated to induce the state of mind she's in now...They'd probably be delighted by a suicide.
You know, I don't wish death on anyone but if this girl had killed herself, maybe RIAA would be sitting in court for third-degree conspiracy to manslaughter (or whatever the legal term is). After all, a neighbor got jailtime for using chat to induce a girl to commit suicide. RIAA v. U.S. - that's a murder case I would love to see. It'd probably get great ratings too on the news chann
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If you remember they couldn't get that person for murder so they charged her for some computer related crime related to breaking the myspace ToS.
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The young, the elderly, the sick... sounds like a predator picking his prey.
The RIAA prey on their target audience. What happens to a predator when the prey goes extinct?
Two entirely different things (Score:2)
I think you are confusing two entirely different things;
1/ Killing yourself. Generally a bad thing. Messy and definitely adversely affects your lifestyle and ability to pursue happiness.
2/ Saying you're going to kill yourself. Gets you attention and sympathy without tying yourself to any future obligations or inconveniences. Tends to get old if used to excess though.
This Chicago student has a healthy understanding of the difference between the two. Although she did chicken out by saying she was planning
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To where? They have to let her in. And the cost of moving properly from one country to another can cost more than what she's being sued for. So she'd show up in some third world country (the only ones that would let her in) with no resources and be worse off than her current situation.
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If you had RTFA you would have gotten the fun news that her parents paid the settlement so her threat was never really serious.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
If you'd ever taken a suicide prevention class (ah, the fun things you get to do in the military), you'd know that most people who either attempt or commit suicide told someone they were going to. Very few people wake up one morning, decide the world is a bleak place and off themselves without a word. Whether or not the suicide attempt itself is a cry for help, or the result of a legitimate desire to end one's life, most people DO "cry for help" before they ever do it. We're hardwired not to want to die, and even when our conscious mind decides it wants to we usually try to find loopholes.
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Typical overreaction, AC! If you had actually come to any of the meetings, the plan was for the financial sector to seize control of the government. And it's worked pretty damn well twenty-six years.
Now we've had a little bump in the road, and if the plan is going to continue we need to appease the people for a year
Re: (Score:2)
No, she did not commit a crime. She allegedly infringed copyright. This is not a crime. It's a civil action, decided in a civil court. If it was a crime, she would be entitled to
- have access to counsel, and if she can't afford it, to have the State pay for counsel
- right of habeas corpus (to see the evidence being arrayed against her at an early stage)
- her day in court, in front of a jury of her peers (civil cases aren't necessarily seen before a full jury, this varies by jurisdiction)
- the other side wou