MPAA, RIAA Seek Permanent Antitrust Exemption 759
Devistater writes "Webcasters sued RIAA two months ago in an antitrust case for anti-competitive behavior. The response? An exemption from antitrust laws. Today's Register tells about RIAA/MPAA's efforts to get just such an exemption written into law. They could become permanently exempt from such a suit, if the bill passes. They snuck it into a bill sponsored by Orrin Hatch called EnFORCE Act (Enhancing Federal Obscenity Reporting and Copyright Enforcement Act of 2003). Orrin Hatch says this bill contains "First... an antitrust exemption in the Copyright Act [for] record companies and music publishers" Why? Because of 'market realities.' Which ones? The 12-year-old girl? The 15-year-old girl? Or the 66-year-old Grandma with a Mac?"
'market realities' (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder whether Mr. Hatch ever paused to consider that porn is a market reality as well...
Re:Oh great... (Score:3, Insightful)
The sad part is, I don't even have that anymore. I, for one, welcome our new RIAA overlords.
Congressman Valar...nice ring... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Republicans, republicans, republicans (Score:1, Insightful)
Not Insightful (Score:1, Insightful)
Democrats (cough, Senator Fritz Disney) are some of the ones that support the MPAA/RIAA.
what market realities? (Score:5, Insightful)
How about we stop allowing them to pay off these lawmakers with huge donations (even through other channels) and they stop being able to throw their weight around.
Although I guess they could just ignore any findings of the government like someone else we know and go about their business as usual w/o fear.
Bah... (Score:5, Insightful)
Clearly the music and movie industries are larg amalgams esigned to stigle anything that resembles competition, is that the reality that they're talking about? The only reason a company would want an exemption from anti-trust laws would be if they were or were planning on becoming a monopoly, or if they are or plan on just raping those laws in the name of extreme profit. Those laws are in place to protect not only consumers but the economic and creative interests of the United States of America.
What a bunch of bums, really. I don't care if no one likes you. I don't care that your companies are losing money because people found out that they didn't have to pay $20 for a CD (they could pay like $10 with I-Tunes). Why should you be immune the the laws? I'm sorry Mr. Corporate Conspiracy Group, but the laws are there to apply to everyone equally, and no one should get exempted from them, this is what we call equality, if you don't like it, then you can stick it in some place and go move your companies out to Vantua with Sharman networks.
Re:Oh great... (Score:5, Insightful)
Support freedom of music people. Only support bands that allow the free copying, distribution, and listening of their music in any format you choose.
It's the public that supports the RIAA by purchasing their merchandise. DO NOT DO IT.
Sharing the Groove [sharingthegroove.com] and FurthurNET [furthurnet.com]
Re:Republicans, republicans, republicans (Score:3, Insightful)
Just a though....
So far this week (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't our government supposed to behave near elections?
Re:Republicans, republicans, republicans (Score:2, Insightful)
When did young girls and grandmas become immune... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:So far this week (Score:3, Insightful)
And so they should, given that MTBE was forced on the oil companies by the government and the 'watermelon' public interest groups in a misguided attempt to reduce air pollution.
If anyone should pay for cleaning up MTBE, it should be the EPA and the Sierra Club. I don't think the oil companies should pay one red cent.
-ccm
Blame the Free Market? Yes, they will (Score:5, Insightful)
A classic argument for this is health care (in the US, sorry for you non-US folks). The argument goes as follows: Health care is expensive, due to those rich capitalist pigs raising the prices of drugs. This conjures the emotional response of jealousy, and subconscious imagery of sick people dying due to 'greedy' doctors. This argument neglects the reality that government monopoly money (in the form of Medicare/Medicaid) was been pouring into the medical establishment for 40 years. Given a customer with infinite cash, any business will jack up its prices to infinite levels.
Returning to the music argument, the industry has so manipulated the legislation that it is far from a free market (DVD encoding, DMCA, even region-encoded discs) that they can no longer claim the same right to protection under traditional law. It was only a matter of time, inevitable, that they would require blatant exemption and special treatment.
Another Market Reality (Score:5, Insightful)
While at the core their arguements against piracy are valid, unfortunately the reason it is so bad for them is because of the "market-plan" they have set for themselves, which isn't an option anymore, people know what CD's actually cost, people know that the artists see pennies on the dollar, people don't want to line **AA's pockets with their cash anymore ....so if **AA's profits are down, you're cutting into their "lifestyle" so whats another way to produce revenue? Lawsuits settlements!
They're saying ,one way or another, they will get your money from you whether you like it or not. Time for them to re-assess their plans.
Re:Republicans, republicans, republicans (Score:5, Insightful)
We Should All Be Ashamed (Score:5, Insightful)
And well you should be. As an American, I am ashamed of virtually everyone congress and the presidency, and a number of Supreme Court justices. It is appalling how deep the rot is
When will the people of Utah wake up and see that he does our state no good and harms our nation as well. Anti-trust laws are there for a reason. To keep companies from running rampant and having ultimate power to do as they will without regard. Nice move Orrin how much money did you take to get this law written?
To answer your question, Orrin Hatch whored himself [opensecrets.org] out to the entertainment industry for $150,000 or so. Interestingly enough, he is brazen enough to take $100,000 from the computer industry at the same time (one wonders if that isn't Microsoft priming the pump for TCPA/DRM
Record companies and music publishers? (Score:3, Insightful)
Thanks Orin. I feel so much better now.
Please keep children and grandmother's out of it. (Score:5, Insightful)
I am as much against the RIAA as anyone, and have been a victim of their tactics (in 1998/99 I was threatened with a suit via my school over an ftp site, ended up being protected by my school, but got slapped w/ loss of network access and academic probation for a year). But come on now guys, these quotes are the same type of crap pulled to get these laws in place 'for the children.' (Ok this doesnt apply really to the DMCA, but it doesnt change the central point). What is worse, is that we are now throwing grandmother's in the picture. It is equally heinous to sue your customers regardless of age, or maternal status. Can we please try to keep the loaded language to the mass media and off of slashdot? If not, might as well do some digging around, im sure one of them has or had cancer, perhaps is HIV positive.
Come on guys, lets keep the standards high, and use solid arguments in place of trying to sling mud at the RIAA.
this is insane (Score:2, Insightful)
RI@@ + MP@@ should be disband, just like hollywood studios were ordered to break up their vertically integrated film distribution system in the past. both organizations gives no benefit whatsoeveer to artists and/or consumers. their only interest is their profits only. fsck them.
class system (Score:4, Insightful)
Anti-trust law has been entirely shirked during this administration. In the last, the DMCA was brought into law. It seems to me that the divide between Democrats and Republicans is simply a minor power-struggle in the top class.
Every new politician who might care is used as a pawn, and they will either have to sell out their people to become part of the upper class, or get ousted from the political machine.
Then there is the push by the top powers in the world for "free trade" that is starting to look to me to be anything but.
But here's the real kicker. There is not really any group or persons who controls this political machine, it is simply the manifestation of the greed of the top 1% as a whole. Each one may not see themselves as "selling out" their people, but each one doing so in minor (sometimes more than minor) ways creates this monstrosity of a machine that keeps the rich rich and the poor poor and the middle class working harder and harder.
How do you stop the machine?
Welcome to America (Score:3, Insightful)
Am I the only one out there?
Politicians don't give a rats ass about their constituency. Ever notice when one is interviewed its always "I feel this bill should pass" or "I don't like this bill." Shouldn't it be "the people who put me in office want/don't want this"?
More voting (Score:4, Insightful)
It doesn't matter which candidate or which party you choose, it's all funded from the same source, beholden to the same interests, ready and willing to scratch the same backs. THAT is the problem, and in an incredible demonstration of the chicken-and-egg problem, it is also the reason for much of voter apathy.
Market Realities (Score:5, Insightful)
The "market reality" is that the RIAA and the recording companies that they "represent" have completely lost their sense of reality. They are so afraid of losing the market share they currently posses to new and emerging technologies that they want to litigate and lobby until nobody but them and their archaic means of distribution are legal.
Look at how the movie industry fought against VHS, BetaMax, and more recently DVDs because they would "destroy" the movie industry. Now VHS and DVD rentals and sales are a huge chunk of the movie industry's sales each year. Just as cassettes were once a huge chunk of the RIAA's child company sales.
The simple reality of the situation is that very, very few high quality products are being released in this day and age by large corporate media companies (both music and movie). There are no musical groups that can compete in record sales with the likes of Elvis, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the like and there are no movies any more that can be compared in out-and-out quality with older movies like Scarface, Gone With the Wind, the Wizard of Oz, etc. Everything now is about image and flashy special effects and the simple reality of the market is that this stuff just doesn't sell as well as a good product.
10th Amendment (Score:5, Insightful)
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Ridiculous (Score:3, Insightful)
"The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is the trade group that represents the U.S. recording industry."
The RIAA is not a governmental institution. And as such it is doomed to be interested in protecting only one group of companies/people. Proposing and accepting laws like the one that would excempt them from anti-trust laws would be like putting the RIAA one step above of what it really should be. It would be too much power for them to use it wisely.
But the truth is that both the RIAA and the government are getting so linked and interlaced one with another, that it makes me wonder how much I want the recording industries to get in control of my life.
You see, they play the role of the weak side. They are always being "robbed" by "evil people" (they would try to convince you that "evil people" stands for "everyone"). So they have a "right" to make you pay piracy taxes on the CDs you buy, make you pay by giving you less content and eventually pay more for it, make you pay by instilling fear in your everyday life.
I can only see that offensive and absurd to say the least. I've never heard anyone call thieves his own customers, and then expect them to keep buying.
Diego Rey
Re:'market realities' (Score:5, Insightful)
Recently EMI wanted to buy the music division of Time Warner and Sony and Bertelsman also want to do a large merger. This could be stopped in USA or Europe by monopoly laws ,[legitimate] fear of even more anticompetitive behaviour and anti-trust laws.
But if they proactivly construct laws that can exempt them from lawsuits the mergers could get through easier and with less complications later.
Even after Bronfman bought the TW music division they are planning on mergers to squeeze out a couple of hundred million dollars in "long term" (two year) cost savings.
So expect to se RIAA release a couple of dubious reports that "proves" that "piracy" is hurting their business.
It's sad to see how easily some US politicians are bribed.
Re:10th Amendment (Score:4, Insightful)
The outcome of this proposal is directly related to everyone here who wants more regulation of business, more control of business, and more taxation of business. It has nothing to do with business but with the federal power that is granted to certain individual organizations -- and that can only be enforced at the point of a gun.
The only monopoly here is big government. It is time to downsize, downsize, downsize.
Re:Oh great... (Score:5, Insightful)
Support freedom of music people.
It's even more important than freedom of music. It's our freedom of culture that's at stake. Our true culture has been stolen from us and replaced with manufactured culture. By monopolizing our culture they're taking away who we are and replacing it with a world of culturally ignorant "consumers". It's good for their profit but absolutely horrendous for our heritage, our freedom, our inspiration, our creativity, and our happiness. It's short term thinking that is rotting society from the inside.
FOR SALE: America (Score:4, Insightful)
This is what GWB stands for: if you're a big business that can fund my reelection campaign, you have a friend in the White House.
Happy Thanksgiving, don't choke on the turkey.
Stealth Bill Amendments (Score:3, Insightful)
They 'sneak' thru radical changes on the back of seemingly unrelated or benign bills, or adding things AFTER committee hearings are complete. ( not to mention we have to many redundant and insane laws already... )
This practice should really be illegal, and *everything* should be in the open and 100% straight..
Yes I'm being idealistic, but perhaps if enough people get fed up enough on all the secrete agendas, etc that run our government, we all might be able to do something about it. Short of a total revolution..
Re:what market realities? (Score:3, Insightful)
The reality of the market is that the cost of entry into the music market is no longer very high. Any artist with a few thousand dollars can get his song or album recorded, and distributed through an Indie label (or distribute it himself). No longer do they have to borrow large amounts from big record companies who turn artists into indentured servants.
Another reality is that the cost to become a record label isn't that high anymore either. Many of the small distributors (like CD Baby) started as a hobby project, and have grown into a profitable business over time. These labels offer a better deal to both artists and customers.
In short, the sweet, sweet days of being able to screw both customers and artists are over for the RIAA and its members. The one advantage they have over the upstart labels is deep pockets. Since money is no longer the deciding factor for entering into the music business, the one thing they can spend it on is legal action. Money buys them lawyers and apparently senators as well, and of late it seems that the RIAA is pursuing both these options.
One has to wonder about the brazenness of the whole thing. What they are really saying is: "We are a monopoly, we have been able to skin the general public for years, and we would very much like to continue to do so. Please change the law to let us remain a monopoly, and do something about these upstart Indie labels"
Orrin bought with money, let's buy coleman w/votes (Score:5, Insightful)
We buy our own Senator the old fasioned way. With voice and votes. If you don't like what Orrin is doing I suggest you contact [senate.gov] Norm Coleman. He's been more than willing to go after these assholes before, and if we can show that enough people care, I'm sure he'll continue to do so. Do something about it rather than sitting around and squaking like a bunch of tired old men.
This suprises anyone ? (Score:2, Insightful)
you all need to write your congressperson (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course you could ask them to bitch-slap Orrin as well, but that's probably not going to endear you to your elected official.
People, we can take back America, but it requires you voters doing your job, knowing the issues, and screaming at your reps for doing stupid shit. Do you know how to contact them--let alone who your reps are? If not, you need to find out.
Send a nasty-gram to Orrin Hatch as well...tell him you're not happy with him selling his office like that. Even if you're not in his state, that sort of thing can make a difference as well. It is the right and duty of the populace to complain about stupid shit. This is one of those times.
Re:'market realities' (Score:5, Insightful)
That said, of course this is just another industry-crafted bill that will work its way through the process just like so many others these days. Fall in, RIAA/MPAA, alongside the domestic steel companies, big agri-business, and textile companies while you all leech off the public teat...
Re:'market realities' (Score:5, Insightful)
Scale (Score:3, Insightful)
The scale of the problem is completely lost on you. Who determines the constitutionality of a law? The courts. Who is packing the courts with corporate-friendly judges? The executive branch (with advice and consent of the Senate). Who is mounting massive campaign efforts to replace citizen-friendly Attorneys General with corporate-friendly ones? Corporations. Who is pushing so-called "tort reform" legislation through state and federal legislatures to protect corporations from responsibility for their crimes? Corporate-owned legislators, governors, and the president. It's a massive attack against the citizens of this country and the world. Get on the clue train.
Re:Oh great... (Score:1, Insightful)
only Republicans believe that: (Score:4, Insightful)
o The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.
o Government should relax regulation of Big Business and Big Money but crack down on individuals who use marijuana to relieve the pain of illness.
o "Standing Tall for America" means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.
o A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
o Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.
o The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.
o Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.
o If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
o A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.
o HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of the public at heart.
o Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.
o Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
o Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
o A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.
o Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
o The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.
o You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have a right to adopt.
o What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.
o Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
Re:Great...more power to the RIAA (Score:5, Insightful)
Great. This is what we need. More power to those who hold the purse strings. Give more power to big business and less to consumers.
Stop thinking of yourself as a "consumer." That's exactly how they want you to see yourself. Start thinking of yourself as a citizen with all the power the constitution gives you. The consumer is at the bottom of a food chain. The citizen is at the top in a democracy.
Re:*sigh* (Score:5, Insightful)
No, they latch on to the young and old targets because:
- They're good emotional jumping off points.
- Who the fuck in their right mind expects a 12 year old to understand copyright law when most well-educated adults don't?
- TV = Free imperfect music w/ ads. Radio = free imperfect music w/ ads. Computer =
.... not free imperfect music w/ ads? Huh?
- People are being threatened with lawsuits for the whole purpose of extorting "small" cash "settlements" out of them before they get a chance to defend themselves. Not that they could afford to if they tried.
Besides - bear in mind that the issue at hand right now is the fact that effective monopolies (just like Verizon - yea, they HAVE competition, but go try and find it in any significant way) are trying to become immune to laws that govern that govern the United States. You have a piracy problem? Too fucking bad. Like it or not, black markets are 'market realities' that reflect problems in the product being "pirated". Fix your distribution chain and make the product more attractive to buyers so they don't go to the black market.Yea yea, yap yap - the law says this, the law says that. The law in Kentucky says you can't fish in the Ohio river without an Indiana fishing license. Doesn't mean it's a good law or that anyone with half a brain should pay it any mind. Laws are meant to protect CITIZENS not CORPORATIONS that have, on more than one occasion, proven that THEY have as little disregard for the law as everyone they're yelling at (can we say... "price-fixing").
I hate to be the one to provide the rude wake-up call, but the RIAA, the MPAA, the BSA - they aren't interested in protecting SHIT. There's no money to be made in protecting business interests. There IS money to be made in holding illegitimate customers upside down and shaking them and then trying to turn EVERYONE into an illegitimate customer SOMEHOW.
Frankly - the law can suck my nuts in this matter. When they stop threatening to hand out low-price laws on Capitol Hill to these nutjobs and hold them to the same standards as everyone else, I'll give the law the respect it deserves. I don't expect that to happen anytime soon, though.
And look at that, while I was typing some other mod abused their power by modding the parent a Troll solely because they don't agree with the subject matter. I love Slashdot... I think Slashdot needs to run a censorship article on some of these idiots that get mod points sometime.
Re:*sigh* (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't get why people think this. I haven't yet seen any Slashdot articles advocating piracy and only a small handful of comments that actual advocate it.
What you seem unable to differentiate is the advocation of piracy and the contempt people have for:
tactics used by the RIAA & MPAA to "enforce" their copyrights,
publicized lies, propaganda, and assumptions by the RIAA & MPAA claiming harm from P2P infringements WITHOUT EVIDENCE,
modification of laws by the RIAA/MPAA to remove rights or benefits from consumers/citizens (as in this article),
proposed tactics/laws for acting against P2P (such as destroying the contents of a computer they "find" in violation -- without trial or judicial oversight),
attacks on P2P to make them illegal or shut them down even though they have legitimate legal uses,
hypocrisy of arguing that P2P has no legally legitimate uses and then using P2P to (a) send messages to users and (b) purchasing the download statistics to rate songs for improved marketing,
issuing of supoenas without judicial oversight
attempts to enforce an ancient business model that has little relevence in the modern world,
copyright laws that violate the principle in which they were created (i.e.,limited exclusive right of creators followed by public domain to promote progress, not perpetual exclusive right which hinders progress).
There are possibly other complaints too, these are just off the top of my head. As you see from this list, it's not just a "I want free music" tirade. There are tons of legitimate complaints about copyrights and the RIAA & MPAA.
Campaign Finance Reform = Cheap Influence (Score:4, Insightful)
Our difficulty stems from how we defined the problem. We tend to think of the problem as being "Money in elections." It is not. Attempts to simply limit fundraising are not going to fix the system.
By limiting the supply of money in elections, we ensure that it becomes a critical resource. The marginal value of the next dollar is higher, and the marginal cost (to the politician) of obtaining it is higher. The politician must make each donor's contribution go farther, and on the other side of the equation the donors are assured that even modest contributions will have a large impact on the candidate's behavior.
In short, the system of making it harder for candidates to raise money virtually ensures that political influence will be cheap to buy.
Of course, simply having politicians become more expensive to buy is not really any better. If anything, it would be great if I could buy an hour of my congressman's time for the price of a latte. In a sense, democracy would be restored. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to drive the price low enough that an ordinary citizen could "buy access".
What really needs to be extirpated is not money in elections, but the influence of people with money.
This can be done in two broad ways:
(1) Ban fundraising altogether.
(2) Limit the utility of raised money.
Naturally, banning fundraising would take a constitutional amendment, so its best to focus on limiting the utility of raised momey.
One way to limit the utility of raised money is to impose spending limits. This has two problems. The first is consitutional, of course. The second is that influence will be bought through soft money and "advocacy". Regulating advocacy in particular would require vigorous and unacceptable limitations on free speech.
The best way to limit the utility of money is for the public to make up the difference between the best funded candidates and the least funded ones that meet some minimal criteria of electability (e.g. signatures from a fixed percentage of the electorate stipulating they wish this candidate to receive public funding). This means as a candidate, I can gain no competitive advantage through fundraising. The costs in this scenario tend to be self limiting, since time spent by a candidate in raising funds actually puts him at a disadvantage. The candidate bears the costs of raising money in time spent away from campaigning. In the current system costs to the public are not limited, since the candidate can pay off his contributors with somebody else's money (the taxpayers).
Re:"Free Market" is an oxymoron (Score:2, Insightful)
I think that's exactly his point: the prices in US health care are so high because it's not ruled by the iron fist of government, but the government is pouring limitless amounts of cash into it via medicare et al, which prices everyone but government out of the market. As far as "level of coverage", I'd take the US system over the Canadian any day. Sure, it costs me money to see a doctor and buy antibiotics for an infection, but if I were to need, say, an MRI to check if I have cancer [vhl.org], I better hope it can wait 6 months or more. Or if I needed open heart surgery after October, I might have to wait till the first of the year because my province has run out of cardiac surgery funding for the year. But hey, it's all free, right? The Canadian health care system is an underregulated monopoly with no performance requirements. Privatized and regulated performs better in this case.
Re:*sigh* (Score:5, Insightful)
Ummm... yes, I do expect people to make sure they have the right person before they sue. Maybe I'm old-fashioned that way.
Here's what's cute to me: if I rip and encode a cd and give you the resulting mp3s, that's illegal. But, if I rip and encode a cd, keep the mp3s and give or sell you the CD, that's legal. Something is wrong there.
Record distributers do not have a "right" to make money by distributing music, though they have a right to try. Musicians do not have a "right" to make money recording and performing music, though they have a right to try.
I'll be perfectly honest that I support "pirating" music (though I've never done it) because *anything* that makes big record studios lose money is GOOD. They have been nothing but a negative force in music since the 1930's.
We no longer need centralized A&R, production, or distribution. EVERY SINGLE THING a record studio does can be done more efficiently with commodity hardware, software, and communications. Anything that moves us closer to cutting out unneccessary middlemen, even if it tramples on the imagined "rights" of music rentiers, is good.
Searching ... searching ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Can't find "Corporate Profits" anywhere. It's about time politicians in the US realise that corporations don't have a voting right, and thus are not full citizens.
Bush appears to have a figurehead mentality (Score:5, Insightful)
Vietnam and China, however, don't have such controversial leaders. Jiang Zemin has few blemishes on his record, and therefore China has few blemishes on it's record (despite having human rights violations codified into law). And who knows who Tran Du Luong is or what he has done? Obviously they can't be put onto the axis of evil, because they aren't lead by a James Bond supervillian.
I think few people in this country reacted when George Bush gave his "axis of evil" speech because it was so patently ridiculous to point at three countries with improving diplomatic relations and call them the devil. When Bush gave his "you're either with us or against us" line, people seemed to accept it as a liberally used figure of speech. Now that Bush is claiming that the people who wanted a UN resolution before declaring war in Iraq were supporting Osama Bin Laden, it has become clear that this is actually how the man thinks.
Bush believes himself to be good, therefore everything he does is good and above questioning. Clinton did bad things and therefore is bad, therefore everything he did should be overturned and turned over to the press. Ashcroft is a good man, acting in what he believes to be the public's best interest. Therefore whatever Ashcroft does is in the public's best interest. This logic is, of course, flawed. I'm sure Ashcroft believes he is acting in the public's best interests, but his viewpoint of the world is greatly skewed by the line of work he is in.
In a way it is an extension of the monarchy. Bush has actually said on occasion that he has been chosen by God to rule. Once again, this was taken to be the liberal sprinkling of praise for God that peppers oscar acceptance speeches and winning locker rooms. But in light of actions, it is becoming apparent that the man truly believes he has a divine mandate to rule... That god works through him and therefore he is above reproach. As his decisions are perfect, so too must be the decisions of those people whom he chooses, and such the divine mandate trickles to his staff and people.
This is not just a crackpot theory on how the president thinks. This is a theory based upon how the president himself claims that he thinks. Honestly, I would be surprised if he found any problem with either the accuracy of the theory or the morality behind the thought pattern.
do something productive (Score:1, Insightful)
http://www.senate.gov/~hatch/
Re:*sigh* (Score:5, Insightful)
So often these days, corporate profits go down, and some Congressman thinks, oh, they're losing money -- someone must be breaking the law! Uh, no. Maybe if the music industry had a product worth paying for, people would buy it. (You know, that whole "capitalism" thing...)
Re:Why do we even listen to the RIAA and MPAA? (Score:5, Insightful)
Bullshit. (Score:5, Insightful)
The RIAA has no right to act as enforcers of laws. That's what the police and the courts are for. Unlike the RIAA, these bodies are subject to checks and balances, not only from other branches of government, but from the citizens of the United States.
The RIAA has no right to be exempt from antitrust laws. They have no right to be exempt from any law, for that matter.
The RIAA has no right to expect twenty dollars from me every time they release a new album. I don't want it; I won't buy it, I won't steal it. They can't get people to hand over their money voluntarily anymore, so now they want to legislate it out of them.
The RIAA is within their legal right to protect their copyrighted works, but this goes far, far beyond that. How far do they have to go before people see that this isn't about piracy, or theft, or any of the terms the RIAA uses to distract us while they buy our freedom out from under us? How much of the government do they have to own before people stop calling me a hippie and a thief for standing up for my right not to give these assholes any money? What's next, a monthly bill for everyone in the country, whether or not they listened to any music?
I don't advocate music piracy. What I advocate is my government protecting *my* rights, not the rights of corporations. Look at that Constitution. It says "We the People", not "We the Shareholders". As long as we keep on saying "STFU pirate" and ignoring the real issues, they'll keep on taking our country from us, one purchased bill at a time.
I am a citizen, not a consumer.
I am a human being, not a revenue source.
I, for one, reject our new overlords.
Re:*sigh* (Score:3, Insightful)
Kodak could sue Flash Ram manufacturers (Score:1, Insightful)
No, instead Kodak is attempting to adapt, leveraging their brand name in photography and adapting by embracing digital media and competing in the market that erodes their old core business.
Why can't the fucks in the music industry adapt?! Times change.
we need a lobbying group! (Score:4, Insightful)
If enough people who cared about these issues could get organized and donate $5-$20 to an election campaign, it'd be possible to outbid the RIAA. There's a lot more little guys out there then there are people in the RIAA's pocket. Again, you'd have to find the right politicians (certainly not Hatch) but it is possible. What the anti-RIAA/MPAA movement needs is a lobbying group!!
Re:only Republicans believe that: (Score:3, Insightful)
Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
Under Clinton/Gore/Reno, the prison population of the United States DOUBLED, primarily due to nonviolent drug offenders.
Government should relax regulation of Big Business and Big Money but crack down on individuals who use marijuana to relieve the pain of illness.
In 1996, California legalized medical marijuana. That didn't stop the Clinton administration from using federal officers to shut down cannabis buyers' clubs for terminally ill patients in San Francisco.
"Standing Tall for America" means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.
Funny, I thought that was what Wesley Clark said at the Democratic debate the other night. "Let India write the software."
Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.
Yeah, damn that evil Republican President who signed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996! Oh, wait....
HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of the public at heart.
It sure was impressive how the Democrats filibustered that corporate-welfare-laden Medicare bill this week. Oh, wait....
Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.
Go look up the Democrats' voting records on all the Iraq war and spending resolutions. Great opposition party you've got there.
Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
I'd like a link to a mainstream Republican who has publicly stated that creationism should be taught in schools.
Saddam was.... a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
"In light of the U.S. military strike against Iraq, House Republicans agreed Wednesday to a short delay in the debate and vote on whether to impeach President Bill Clinton.... [cnn.com]"
Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
Those are both laws signed by Bill Clinton. I'm not sure what you think they prove about Republicans.
Re:*sigh* (Score:5, Insightful)
There's so many ways that the RIAA could shift its business model to make a killing off of file sharing, and they have instead chosen to not move with the times. They deserve what all organizations deserve that fall behind the times: bankruptcy.
Re:*sigh* (Score:3, Insightful)
Hardly. In the case of music, this "black market" as you call it, reflects, more than anything else, an undeniable disregard for the property rights of others, as well as out-and-out laziness on the part of consumers. If you want it to change, MAKE it change. There are perfectly legitimate ways to do this that are perfectly legal. Oh....but they require something that few Americans seem to have these days - DISCIPLINE.
"No new music for a few months???? Oh, but how will I EVER survive???"
In the grand scheme of things, this is the epitome of "trite". If all the people constantly whining about the RIAA, the price of CDs, and the general quality of music would engage the market and let it work for them, we'd be talking an entirely different ballgame.
Right now, legally, the RIAA has the upper hand, and will continue to seek every opportunity to protect its interests (and it has every right to do so). The only indisputable, absolute power had be every consumer is the control they have over their wallet. USE IT!
Re:*sigh* (Score:4, Insightful)
One of the things that peeved me about a company I worked for was a reduction in employee benefits. The company was in a tighter position than usual, but they were still profitable. They announced the reduction of benefits and payscale freezes because they wanted to show "higher profits" on the books, to enhance share value. Now, 2 years later, the company isn't quite at what they were in the late 90s during the tech boom (who is?), but they are still making a great deal of money and.. they have not restored the employee benefits they "took away". It's not that the employee has a "right" to those benefits, mind you, but it's really shitty for a company to use a declining economy to reduce employee benefits, and then when it's recovered to fails to reinstitute those benefits. It's basically that scenario that reinforced my recently discovered cynicism regarding employment: Fuck them before they fuck me. But that's another topic..
Re:only Republicans believe that: (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:only Republicans believe that: (Score:3, Insightful)
Being a drug addict may be an illness, I don't think we have proof of that yet, and it depends somewhat upon how far you are willing to stretch the definition of "illness". Addiction can also be a moral failing, in the case of relapse, especially if going back to the drugs will hurt others (e.g. you are a parent). It is not, of itself, a crime. It can be related to a crime, if crimes are comitted because of the addiction. Since you're referring to Rush's case, I assume, I'd say it's possibly all three; there just isn't enough information to know for sure. Personally, I don't think drugs themselves should be illegal at all, but rather, users should be held fully responsible for any crimes they commit under the influence. As for the prayers, I'm an apathetic agnostic (I don't know and can't be troubled to try very hard to find out), so I'm not qualified to speak to that issue.
Wow, what incisive insight! Or it could be the case that you are intentionally conflating the group of people that thinks the former, but still thinks it was a good idea to kick Saddam's ass, with the latter, who just think it was a good idea to said ass kicking. Personally, I think the U.N. is not withought value, but is secondary to our own laws and interests. As is probably obvous from my cavalier attitude, lack of spelling ability and strength of convictions that I'm willing to back up with serious arguments rather than empty retoric, I'm an Amarican conservative. However, in this context "our" means "the interests and laws of any given soverign nation". Of course, sometimes those iterests conflict. In those cases, the U.N., or some other vehicle for diplomacy, can be usefull. If that route doesn't work, however, M1A1s, A10s and F18s are the appropriate vehicles.
Yeah, that's a problem. I (and many independant conservatives) think that government should relay regulation on Big Doobie as well. Big Eco-Terrorism, however ... well, reference previous comment about A10s.
Hmmm ... not sure how that is a Republican thing. Sounds like you just pulled that one out of your ass, frankly.
Yeah, and the abortion issue is just that issue. The way both sides of that issue disingenuously oversimplify makes me sick. I don't see how anyone can support abortion in the third trimester, especially in the last six to eight weeks; with modern technology the baby is often able to be saved, virtually always in the last month. OTOH, in the first weeks of pregnancy, I don't see how the blob of cells can be termed a "human". If we just knew for sure at what point sentience is awakened, this would be a much simpler issue. As for multi-nationals, if they break laws or cause real harm to people through their action or inaction, they should be whacked with the largest of c
Re:*sigh* (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes. Absolutely. It is THEIR responsibility. Period.
Filing baseless lawsuits is very much illegal. That cases *continue* to crop up where they're suing people who have nothing to do with piracy pretty much proves A)that they are NOT fulfilling their legal obligations to investigate the cases before launching, and B)that apparently they don't really care.
There is a word for what they're doing, and it is "barratry." A barratry suit hasn't been brought in a long time, but they are quickly proving themselves to be a perfect target of one. The *first* time it was conclusively shown that they had targetted an innocent party, it became their legal responsibility to overhaul their method of detecting pirates. Which they, from all evidence, have not done.
They may be within their legal right to protect their copyrights, but they are *NOT* in their legal right to harass and\or blackmail innocent citizens with threats of legal action, because they cannot be bothered to actually investigate the lawsuits they're filing. And if they are unable to investigate their cases prior to suing, then too bad for them - the rights of the citizenry to not be blackmailed by overeager corporations outweighs the RIAA's right to a slightly higher profit margin. Period.
Re:*sigh* (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, they do have a product worth paying for. Just not worth paying what they want to charge.
Even at used-CD prices ($10/CD), music is way more expensive than video.
I just bought a season of babylon 5 (brand new, shipped, from Amazon) for $55. That's over 15 hours of video, on a half-dozen DVDs. I couldn't get that much music for that price. I couldn't even get that many CDs for that price.
The extended edition LotR:TTT is about $30 shipped or local. That's almost 4 hours of video for the main movie, plus hours and hours of bonus footage, for less than the price of the movie's worth of music.
I challenge anyone to come up with a valid reason why audio CDs cost so much more than video DVDs. So either DVDs are horribly underpriced (and I don't see movie studios going out of business right and left here), or CDs are horribly overpriced. The value/price of a CD is miniscule these days - it's amazing the recording industry is doing as well as they are.
Re:Why do we even listen to the RIAA and MPAA? (Score:2, Insightful)
As it is, it's only because we pay attention that they don't attempt even more outrageous power grabs.
They may not be elected, but when they can get laws passed that favor them over the good of Americans in general, they have power.
Re:Oh great... (Score:5, Insightful)
Great works of classical music, drama, and literature were written, ultimately, to make money...
No, the ones you eventually heard may have been created that way, but the ones that moved the people and created the culture that those works grew out of were created from the heart and the soul. A lot of them are lost to history. No record was made of them because no money was involved and recording them on paper and maintaining the record were, historically, things only the rich had the power to do. Cave men, sitting around the fire, singing and banging on hand-made instruments didn't do it for the money. They did it to create and maintain their culture. It's the human spirit that motivates these things, not money.
A rare and significant example of the real tide of culture was recorded by John Lomax [loc.gov] who traveled the country, funded by the Smithsonian (thank you government) to record musicians where they lived. That's real stuff, not manufactured pablum and it would have been lost to history had he not been there to record it. In fact, there was a man born in Tupelo, Mississippi with a certain swivel in his hip and a voice that made women swoon. But that man never made a nickel because he was black. Then a couple of years later, Elvis came along and the rest is history. Record makers believed they couldn't make money on black artists so they picked white ones who emulated their black peers.
Britney Spears isn't popular because her music is culturally significant. She's popular because she's the tip of huge marketing machine. It just sounds like the ka-ching of a cash register to me or the beep of a truck backing up -- just the sound of money being made. The real culture is hidden and if anyone is guilty of myopia, it the person who can only see and hear what our corporate media presents to them. You are being manipulated and controlled so that someone else can make a buck. Some real artists can still be heard, though. Check out Mountain Stage [mountainstage.org].
Boycott LOTR III (Score:2, Insightful)
Instead of steadily consuming their slop why don't you make them feel your dissatsifaction.
But what I am thinking, this is Slashdot. Spineless.
Re:only Republicans believe that: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm Canadian. And as an outsider, it doesn't matter. Republicans and Democrats are so slightly different. As far as i'm concerned, this is a comment on how the entire Country seems to behave, not just a particular political party. The country is moving togther, probably most citizens are aimless, but you cannot divide this into party politics. You know how every outsiders says they can't tell the difference between Republicans and Democrats? Why do you think that is? Do you think they are ALL wrong? I don't know what party is responsible for the above listed actions, but i know they are all Americans.
This makes more sense as comment on the country, not on a particlar political party.
Re:*sigh* (Score:3, Insightful)
DVDs are a great deal. You get a lot of entertainment for not a whole lot of money. CDs are an awful deal. Why do the record companies pretend this is not the case?
Re:*sigh* (Score:3, Insightful)
Then I vote that we hold them accountable just as you would citizens.
If you, an individual, steal from people, you are removed from society temporarily - you go to jail. Corporations that steal from their employees, customers, shareholders, or the government should be barred from the marketplace for a set number of years.
If you, an individual, steal a lot and repeatedly, or if you commit really heinous crimes, you will be removed from society permanently - either permanent incarceration or the death penalty. Corporations that prove hideously offensive should be dissolved.
What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. It is nonsensical that if you walk into a Walgreens with a gun and score $5 off the cash register, you can be imprisoned for like 15 years - but if you perpetrate white-collar fraud on a massive scale and steal $5 billion from America, the maximum penalty is like five years. If you don't just get off with a fine, that is.
- David Stein
Re:*sigh* (Score:3, Insightful)
I cant count the number of companies in this country that are mired in mediocrity because they insist on paying all their employees bottom dollar and having shitty performance metrics. All the crappy employees work just hard enough not to get fired and dont mind the mediocre pay because its about what they deserve anyway. The good employees who deserve more just hop around until they find someone smart enough to recognize their value and make use of it.