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Government Piracy The Internet Your Rights Online

13 Countries On US "Priority Watch List" For Copyright Piracy 277

hapworth writes "The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) has submitted a report on the top 40 countries guilty of piracy to The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which is preparing for its annual 'Special 301' report. This report describes the adequacy and effectiveness of US trading partners' protection of intellectual property rights. Among the 40 countries suggested by the IIPA for the watch list, 13 were recommended for placement on the USTR's 'Priority Watch List.' These countries include Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Spain, Ukraine, and Vietnam. While previous reports have focused on physical piracy, this year's emphasizes cracking down on online piracy."
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13 Countries On US "Priority Watch List" For Copyright Piracy

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @09:51PM (#35365080)
    In my country Windows is counted among free software, you mad?
  • by s4ltyd0g ( 452701 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @09:53PM (#35365098)

    Phoque you eh?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Mashiki ( 184564 )

      Seriously. We have a better and more stringent method for copy protection, and piracy. But we're evil or something. Must be because the 'gov' decided that downloading music isn't evil, or piracy if it's for personal use.

      Well that's okay, I don't listen to the shit they have on the radio.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by pnewhook ( 788591 )

        That's ok that Canada is on the list. The US is on Canada's list of countries harboring war criminals (Bush).

        • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) * on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @11:57PM (#35365890) Journal

          The US is on Canada's list of countries harboring war criminals (Bush).

          That's a bit harsh. Anyway, everybody knows Bush wouldn't have been found competent to stand trial.

          • In the US legal system, and presumably in the Canadian one too, a person judged not guilty by reason of mental defect is usually confined during the course of treatment.

            If you're nuts and kill someone, you don't go to prison, but you aren't leaving the place with the friendly folks in white coats with the Haldol, either.

      • by mark-t ( 151149 )

        Which, in my own opinion, it should not be... because in the case of P2P downloading, which is where almost 100% of it actually occurs, one is downloading it from someone who is typically infringing on copyright in the first place, and as a copy of an infringing copy, there is no compelling reason I can think of that the privileges associated with copyrighted works, such as the ability to legally make a private use copy for your own personal use, should actually apply.

        But if the court were to rule otherw

        • there is no compelling reason I can think of that the privileges associated with copyrighted works, such as the ability to legally make a private use copy for your own personal use, should actually apply.

          Who cares, man? Data is just an idea. Anyone who wants ideas to be owned, longs for tyranny. Fuck that shit.

      • Well that's okay, I don't listen to the shit they have on the radio.

        "Radio"? They play music on the radio up there?

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @10:01PM (#35365178)

        As a Canadian, do you have any idea why Canadia ended up on the list? The rest I can understand, with the possible exception of Spain, but Canada? Really?

        Canada is always included on their list of naughty countries. It's some trade association though, so take any of their claims with a mountain of salt.

        As usual, Michael Geist's site is refreshingly informative.
        http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3920/135/ "U.S. List Unfairly Tarnishes Canada's Digital Reputation" from 2009.

        • Spain is an interesting case because we can read about what goes on in the backroom thanks to the WIkileaks cables. We see how the US embassy to Spain ran around at the bidding IIPA subverting the democratic process (things like stifling public debate and "advising" elected officials not to discuss the new laws with their constituents) all the way to ram through more stringent copyright measures than even the US has. http://iberosphere.com/2010/12/spains-anti-p2p-%E2%80%9Csinde-law%E2%80%9D-her-masters-voic [iberosphere.com]
          • I am not absolutely sure of this, but I understand that in Spain there is a special tax for blank storage media under the rationale that the most common statistical reason of purchase is to use it to copy copyrighted multimedia over- I think this stems from the cassette tape era.

            Again, I am not exactly sure of this but, if true, handling it on an international level is a very interesting approach indeed. The idea here is that even though assuming that citizens are a priori guilty of infringement they can go

      • by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @10:03PM (#35365198) Homepage Journal

        This has been a running issue for a few years now. I think it's largely because they want to make an example of Canada to convince them to pass the Canadian version of the DMCA.

        • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) * on Thursday March 03, 2011 @12:10AM (#35365942) Journal

          I think it's largely because they want to make an example of Canada to convince them to pass the Canadian version of the DMCA.

          That's only part of it. Personally, I think a lot of the reason my homeland, the USA has a chip on its shoulder about Canada is because you've had the bad manners to have universal health care. I mean, what makes you so special that you think you shouldn't go bankrupt if you get sick like God intended? The least you could do is have old people dying in the streets because everyone knows universal health care is a horrible nightmare. You're making us look bad.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        This wikipedia page might shed some light on why Canada made priority watch list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_sharing_in_Canada

        • by techno_dan ( 591398 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @10:36PM (#35365434)
          I ignore the US on these and many world issues, because they only complain when Oil or money is involved, and only pass laws that increase profit for the few. Since money controls the US government, profit is God, and they will never allow fair use. In Canada, I buy any media, and I can break the encryption so that I can make backups, and also place them on my media server. I never give to others. At the same time, when a new CD comes out, I download some songs for free, and if I like enough of them, then buy the cd. If not, they are deleted. Why, because it is very rare now to hear albums on the radio, and in no way will I pay big bucks for something that ends up having one good track and the rest junk. Some will say "buy individual songs". I would if they were in the lossless format I use. What the world should do, is totally ignore the US. If they stop selling to us, then it is there loss.
          • Human Trafficking (Score:5, Interesting)

            by Oxford_Comma_Lover ( 1679530 ) on Thursday March 03, 2011 @12:02AM (#35365912)

            I ignore the US on these and many world issues, because they only complain when Oil or money is involved, and only pass laws that increase profit for the few.

            Not true; those issues--and complaining, for that matter--just get more press. We put out a watch list for human trafficking, too, as part of the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. (Google it, or look at River of Innocents [riverofinnocents.com] for a good primer on the issue).

            The US does care about money and oil, of course--money and oil pay for everything and make everything work, and we want things to work and influential donors care about those things, so so does the government. But those aren't the only things we care about. The Global Health Initiatives, for example, have tremendously increased the quality of life for hundreds of millions of people, yet they rarely make it into the news. For some reason it's not as sexy to prevent Malaria as it is to do another story on Charlie Sheen.

          • What is this "CD" that you talk about???

        • Looking at the wiki page and the Government of Canada Justice department web site http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/C-42/page-5.html#anchorbo-ga:l_VIII [justice.gc.ca] it looks like copying for private use is NOT piracy. "Copying for Private Use ... onto an audio recording medium for the private use of the person who makes the copy does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the musical work, the performer’s performance or the sound recording." I guess it's not the file sharers the US doesn't like, it's the
      • by hawkingradiation ( 1526209 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @10:32PM (#35365412)
        It is because we have legislation in the works (Bill C-32) that the US government, er music and film industry, thinks will help give them more money. So far, it is called the "DMCA of Canada" for good reason. i.e. restriction of breaking digital locks for any reason, and although the Conservative government says it is willing to make modifications based on the input of Canadians, basically it has ignored the input given last summer by thousands of Canadians through "Copyright Consultations" and is pushing ahead. The Liberals (not a swear word here) have proposed modifications such as an Internet levy to pay for artists, however almost none of the money that the CD-levy has actually not gone to the artists themselves. Here is the Bill [parl.gc.ca], and not is is a lot longer and complex that the original law that we have to today. Our Heritage Minister branded us as "not wanting to modernize Canadian law", because most Canadians who know about the law know that it does not need changing. In fact parts of the Canadian government seem to go lock-step with their US counterparts, with both Prentice (former Industry Minister) and Clement (current Industry Minister) being sent to the US to meet with US government officials about this law as one of the first things they have done when they took office. So to the US who is helping to introduce a law that most Canadians feel is unnecessary: "Go shove it".
        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Yeah, that's basically the situation. The most bizarre thing about Bill C-32 was the way Prentice (relevant minister at the time of the previous version) went into a press conference touting how great it would be for Canadians to be able to legally backup their DVD, CD or other media and transfer it to ipods and other devices. The new provisions in there specifically allowed this, whereas before it was always a grey zone whether it fell under fair dealing or not. When people asked him how it would be pos

          • Actually, a more appropriate response is:

            "America can pucker their lips on my great big, hairy, Canadian, baboon ass, as I present to them a nice, swollen, prolapsed, goatse rectum stretch."

            Fuck those bullying creeps.

        • by aqui ( 472334 ) on Thursday March 03, 2011 @05:24AM (#35366908)

          If it hasn't already been mentioned an interesting source of discussion on the Canadian Copyright can be found on Michael Geist's blog:

          http://www.michaelgeist.ca/ [michaelgeist.ca]

          He's a copyright legal expert and professor that has been vocal (he also writes a column for the Toronto Star) about copyright and striking a balance between users and content producers.

          I go to his site from time to time to get a laugh about how the record companies etc... are trying to misinform Canadians...

      • by jrumney ( 197329 )

        As a Canadian, do you have any idea why Canadia ended up on the list?

        Filesharing site hotfile.com has its servers there.

      • by hjf ( 703092 )

        As an Argentine, I am offended by your statement.

        If Spain is on that list, it's for a reason (Gee, maybe because most of the piracy webs --forums really-- in Spanish are Spain-based? Like, vagos.es for example?)

        And if Canada is too, i'm pretty sure there is a reason too.

        You know, living west on the northern hemisphere doesn't make you automatically innocent. Same way as the "rest of the world", especially us, down south, aren't all crooks.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • by hjf ( 703092 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @11:55PM (#35365878) Homepage

            It's not about that, and here goes my usual rant again:

            Companies DON'T GIVE A FUCK about countries like mine. We don't have itunes, netflix, lala, pandora, hulu, xbox live, nothing. We also don't have game stores (microsoft doesn't import the xbox 360 or games, so even if you have one, you can't buy games simply because there are no places to buy them). Blockbuster closed too.

            Sony does import the PS3 (at USD 800) and games (2-3x the US price).

            So in one hand we have a middle class, with money, willing to buy things. In the other hand we have 60-something investors which think we still live in trees and there is no market for their products, and decide just not to sell them, or a very small "luxury" market, like the PS3.

            If companies one day decided to start selling their stuff, for a reasonable price, I know people will buy them. How do I know this? Because I have a comic book shop. My customers are mostly teenagers who want the latest Naruto episode, and can get it from free from the internet just hours after it's been released in Japan. We have a local Naruto edition (in paper I mean) and guess what? It sells out.

            My dad's friend works at a BMW dealership. They sold all BMWs last year. There is even a waiting list!

            I live in a city of 400,000 and I know there are at least 10 dvd rental stores, and even 1 bluray-only rental store. So much for poor people living in trees.

            You know what the problem with piracy really is? People selling pirated movies in the street. That's the real problem, but movie studios can't do anything about them, because our government won't. And, you see, people selling pirated movies in the street or not, there are dvd rental stores doing just fine.

        • by HannethCom ( 585323 ) on Thursday March 03, 2011 @04:13AM (#35366728)
          The USTR has stated time and again why we are on this list. It comes down to the business laws of Canada. When you pay for something, you get something in return. That thing in return is either a product, a license, or in some very controlled circumstances a limited license which is what renting falls under.

          Under Canadian law when you buy a product, you can do anything you want with it and cannot be restricted by the creator except to void the warranty, though there are some restrictions there as well. If you sell a license to something, then you can put restrictions on how that license can be used, to an extent. When you give something, you have to get something in return. This giving and getting does not have to involve currency.

          The CMPDA and CRIA had movies and music classified as licenses instead of as a product. This allowed them to restricts you from public showings or broadcast of their media. You do not own the media, you own a license to that performance. It doesn't matter how you got that performance, thus why downloading content isn't illegal in Canada. It is only illegal if you watch, or listen to something you don't have a license for. If you download something you don't have a license for and use it, that is illegal.

          This does not fit the US laws very well, as right now if you "buy" a DVD in stores in the US, you do not own the media, or have the right to view what you just bought. You have paid for nothing. There is only the possibility that the MPAA will allow you to watch that video. They have no obligation to allow you to watch what you paid for, they can actually say, no, we will not allow you to watch that and it is then illegal for you to watch it, and they don't have to reimburse you.

          That is illegal in Canada and always will be as giving and receiving are part of the fundamental laws in Canada that all business law is predicated on. Furthermore, our founders made it unconstitutional for any future government to try to change this and any law passed should be tossed out by the courts.

          Basically the US has a problem with our laws that require getting something when you give something.

          Ever wondered why when you "win" a contest you have to answer a stupidly easy skill testing question in Canada? It is because that skill testing questing counts as a form of work that you are giving, to receive what ever the prize is.
          • Ever wondered why when you "win" a contest you have to answer a stupidly easy skill testing question in Canada? It is because that skill testing questing counts as a form of work that you are giving, to receive what ever the prize is.

            Sounds unlikely. The reason for this in the UK is that there are stricter laws governing games of chance than games of skill. If you have multiple people winning a game of skill, then you can pick a random one as a winner and it still counts as a competition, not a lottery. If they didn't have to answer the question then it would be a pure lottery, and these are quite heavily regulated if the prize is worth more than about £50.

          • Not going to bother to look up your other claims... but your final one about the STQ is certianly wrong.

            The reason the STQ is required under the criminal code has nothing to do with making the winner of a prize "do work". It is so that companies can turn contests a game of skill.

            Games of skill and games of chance are treated differently under the criminal code, with games of chance falling under provincial gaming regulations, games of skill or of mixed chance and skill are not.

            It has nothing to do with exch

      • Yes, we are making the short list because our IP laws permit private copy and royalities are collected on blank DVD, CD and a couple of other media and redistributed to the artists as a way to pay them back and recognize at the same time it is impossible to control the phenomenon of file sharing unless we become a totalitarian country, which is not yet in our plans.
    • Ha, this is the most lame "watch list" ever. They should just merge the terrorist watch list with the piracy watch list with the rational: Piracy is terrorism. It terrorizes the music and movie industry. Every downloader is like a suicide bomber killing the music/movie industry profits.
      • ... Every downloader is like a suicide bomber killing the music/movie industry profits.

        She was a rich girl, she don't try to hide it

        Diamonds on the soles of her shoes

        He was a poor boy, empty as a pocket

        Empty as a pocket with nothing to lose

        Thank you, Paul, and Ladysmith Black Mombasa. I can no longer hear of any proposed DMCA legislation without imagining pretty lobbyists with with absurdly expensive footwear in the Washington halls of power.

  • by mooingyak ( 720677 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @09:53PM (#35365100)

    The summary lists 12 of the 13, for those who don't want to RTFA, #13 is Thailand.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @09:56PM (#35365136)

    According to the BSA, the "dollar losses" right here in the U.S. are highest overall. Why didn't we make it on to our own list?

  • HAHAHAHAHAHA (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Hojima ( 1228978 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @09:57PM (#35365144)

    I remember watching a show on knock-off goods sold in China. Some spokesman for Gucci was talking about how they recently made a bust on counterfeit goods and how they potentially earned the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. I couldn't help but laugh at how out-of-touch this dumb-ass was. Does he think honestly think that the country's peasants (who make a big deal out of eating steak with their rice) would save up to buy an authentic Gucci handbag? Similarly, how fucking stupid do you have to be to think that you can stop them from saving money on software. Because that's how they look at it. There are two alternatives in their eyes: free pirated software, and free non-pirated software. No one is going to give two shits about Microsoft's poor employees.

    • Does he think honestly think that the country's peasants (who make a big deal out of eating steak with their rice) would save up to buy an authentic Gucci handbag?

      China doesn't just have peasants. It also has nouveau riche [red-luxury.com].

      • by crossmr ( 957846 )

        Yes, but most of the people who could afford a real gucci bag would buy a real one because they wouldn't want to be caught with a fake. Claiming lost sales from knock-offs (of very high-end goods) is like claiming lost sales from piracy. The people who could actually afford and would buy a knock-off couldn't afford a real gucci and likely would never buy it, much like I think a good portion of pirates probably would not buy the item in question otherwise.

        • Anyway, what's the point buying a Gucci handbag, real or fake, in both cases you will pay too much for it and you end up to be an advertising zombie for Gucci as well. It's just a f... handbag.
          • by crossmr ( 957846 )

            It, like many luxury items, is a status symbol. That's the entire point. Those who can afford the status symbol simply wouldn't buy fakes.

            and yes,I can't wait for the follow up rant about status symbols, but tell me why aren't you wearing a burlap sack or a moo-moo?

          • The point (and I use the word in the loosest possible sense of the word) is to prove that you can afford it. In theory it's also to prove that you have good taste, although the visible brand somewhat diminishes this, as it implies a bit that you need a big neon sign pointing you in the direction of style[1]. An imitation, even an imitation that is a higher quality, defeats this point, because it's indicating that you can't afford the real one. It's a sign saying 'I can afford to spend $1,000 on something

    • You bring up an interesting point. Counterfeiting goods is considered detrimental to legitimate companies because it floods the market with illegitimate goods that are of dubious quality; their cheaper price usually reflects the cheaper construction. Digital piracy, however, is for almost all instances the free exchange of the original software and not a knock-off. Thus the impact is purely financial, which is a spurious argument when considering a comparatively less affluent society. I don't really kno
  • In related news, 13 countries have named the US when asked which country's IP laws they don't give a shit about.

  • Basically (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pizzach ( 1011925 ) <pizzach@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @10:09PM (#35365258) Homepage

    The US is pointing out countries that are most likely consume English content and don't 100% accept US international copyright laws. Mind how I prefixed international copyright laws with US because they are US laws forced on other countries.

    • Re:Basically (Score:5, Insightful)

      by starfishsystems ( 834319 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @11:00PM (#35365570) Homepage
      Well said!

      For a country founded on the concept of "no taxation without representation", the US shows remarkably consistent disregard for the laws of other nations, even when it comes to the basic matter of sovereign self governance. What certain US lobbyists in their wilful ignorance call "copyright piracy" may well be what our laws have been careful to designate as "fair use".

      For example, in Canada we pay a levy on blank media. The recording industry insisted on this as compensation for the possibility that such media might be used, not to make original art or to perform filesystem backups, but to record copyrighted material. The government agreed, and consumers paid. Offer, acceptance, exchange of consideration. In this country, that's called a contract. And it's binding. Government and consumers have kept their part of the bargain. Now the industry can keep its.

      And if the US counterpart of that industry isn't happy about this state of affairs, well boo fucking hoo. Its shortsightedness and greed is not our problem to solve.
  • And... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kyrio ( 1091003 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @10:12PM (#35365282) Homepage
    Not a single fuck was given.
  • by Macdude ( 23507 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @10:14PM (#35365298)

    ... on their own list?

  • as they think it is crap to worry about the profits of corporations.
  • National Pride (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mdielmann ( 514750 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @10:30PM (#35365396) Homepage Journal

    I'm personally proud to see that my country is on the copyright watch list of a country with one of the most broken copyright laws in the world.

  • But as a Ccanadian (Score:5, Insightful)

    by future assassin ( 639396 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @10:30PM (#35365398)

    I pay a levy to the artists for the privilege of music piracy. Whether the artists get the money after wards, not my problem. Thank you, come again.

      If you want to help stop piracy only download CC licensed music from site like http://www.ektoplazm.com/ [ektoplazm.com]

    • Exactly, the CRIA managed to get levies put on blank CDs and DVDs precisely for this purpose. In Canada, people actually get pissed when they try to pass these dumb DCMA laws, and the politicians have a hard time pushing them through. Why risk getting their asses kicked in the polls for these dumb laws. It's democracy at work.
  • by b4dc0d3r ( 1268512 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @10:37PM (#35365438)

    I downloaded enough stuff to put us over the top. Do I need to step it up?

  • Funny, I haven't seen any bazaars filled with $1 DVDs around here, which is the sort of thing that characterizes the rest of the entries on the list (except possibly Spain).

    We have a cable / satellite duopoly for broadcast TV (nobody uses free OTA here; reception is nonexistent for most) that extracts $80-100/month out of almost every Canadian household - the same duopoly that supplies broadband internet to 90% of the population. Our communications regulator is a puppet of said duopoly: it recently approved

  • Really? Worthy of some kind of priority piracy watchlist? Canada? I guess the Carebears are on a priority terrorism watchlist.
    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Really? Worthy of some kind of priority piracy watchlist? Canada? I guess the Carebears are on a priority terrorism watchlist.

      Anything, and I mean fucking anything that can shoot beams of light out of it's stomach had better be on that watch list.

  • by Isaac Remuant ( 1891806 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @11:14PM (#35365660)

    The perpetual financial crisis in this country along with the lack of moral condemnation makes it a haven of piracy. I'd say that 90 % of desktop computers have ilegal windows and those include many medium-sized companies and goverment instituitons. Those that pay liscenses basically do it in response to fines from possible inspections (or use Linux).

    The 300-plus-page report provides several pages of analysis for each country. As an example, it cites Argentina as having seen 965 percent growth in Internet usage over the last 10 years, with 26 million users (64 percent of the population) now online. Of the entire digital music market in Argentina, piracy represents a staggering 99 percent, with more than 1.25 billion songs downloaded illegally every year.

    There's a 4 to 1 relation between the US dollar and the Argentinian Peso and the average citizen earns much less than first world countries. The cost of life is permanently increasing.

    Taringa.net -- hosted in Argentina; Alexa rank of 116; 7,155 sites linking in, with its biggest audience from Mexico.

    This is the best example. It's the iconic webpage in Argentina for a lot of things and one of those things is file sharing. Everyone who needs certain software knows that the fastest way of getting access to it will probably be to search on that site. People compete for points in a very well thought social system (it includes games and more). Normal people get sucked into this "reputation" thing and become average posters.

    Taringa, in essence, doesn't do anything ilegal because it only has links to hosting sites.

    From the PDF

    Rampant piracy in Argentina remains a very low priority for the government and
    many of its enforcement authorities

    In a country of political turmoil and widespread corruption online piracy is not an issue. Specially when Argentina doesn't have many affected companies or services.

    Regarding the priority actions. Their goals are unrealistic. Many people are hungry and below the line of poverty. If the US wants to provide aid for the goverment, humanitarian needs are closer to what the goverment might look at.

    If they think that pressuring Argentina with bonuses or threats is going to affect this particular line of goverment, they are blatantly wrong. Relations with the US over economy matters are not good after many years of struggles with the International Monetary Fund.

    Tl,DR: Argentinians, used to pay overpriced goods with their low wages don't see any moral problem getting things they'd probably wouldn't be able to have if they didn't resort to piracy and, besides, everyone else does it.

    Arg Gov won't budge in an election year to the likes of USA when there has been no evidence in the past years that this was beneficial (ie: IMF regulations)

    forgive the typos and related grammatical horrors. It's late.

  • by DoofusOfDeath ( 636671 ) on Wednesday March 02, 2011 @11:21PM (#35365710)

    An accurate list of piracy must consider theft from the public domain, and robbing future generations of freedom to use their cultural heritage as they see fit.

    The USA is #1 on that list.

    To get off that list, the US should extradite all MPAA and RIAA to the Hague, as well as those U.S. Congressmen and Presidents who bought by copyright extremists.

  • It seems to be happening all over the internet and in courtrooms. I think something big is brewing. There is more attention than ever on piracy, with publishers blaming everything on pirates, and pirates blaming everything on publishers.

    There may be something amiss with our current laws, seeing as how everyone is upset about them on both sides of the argument. I have a feeling the anti-piracy crowd isn't going to get what they want just because of the sheer numbers of people who are either apathetic abou
  • by SuperDuck ( 16035 ) on Thursday March 03, 2011 @12:37AM (#35366068)

    If the author of TFA had bothered to do any of his own independent research, he would have found that ISOhunt is *NOT* a cyberlocker, but a specialized search engine. Torrents != file storage.

    The only reason us Canadians made the list is because of the previously mentioned reasons of our lack of DMCA-style legislation, and our "copyright" levy on digital media, which allows us far more fair-use of our purchased digital wares than the country that purports to allow fair use.

    The U.S. can "Special 301" us all they want, but with our current government (what with Minister Tony Clement siding with consumers on denying Usage-Based Billing for wholesale accounts, and examining the larger UBB issue for consumer accounts), and the many public hearings on our "DMCA" legislation, I don't think the US FTR is going to hold much sway over our internal priorities.

    Professor Michael Geist and Openmedia.CA FTW! :-)

  • Actually, in many ways we have stronger copyright laws in Canada than the US does, according to copyright expert Harold Knopf [blogspot.com]. The US media companies are just pushing for ever more draconian laws.
  • I think the 13 countries on the Special 301 list should educate their population about (fake FRN = pirated) dollars and place all US government employees, including vacationers, on a watch list.
  • I'm frankly appalled at the lack of effort from the Dutch. Must try harder.

  • Even the USA themselves freely admit that this list is pure, grade A bullshit.

    If you _have_ to accept the yearly Special 301 story, at least make sure it's one pointing this out and moking the practice properly.

  • This is the list made by the lobyist to flag "rogue countries". Is a political list. Is the way to tell these countries "We don't like your laws".

    Well.. *I* don't like YOUR laws USA. Maybe you sould change a system that give more voice to the people with the dollars than the people than vote!? I am going to put USA on a list too.

  • From my strictly personal point of view, this list is of little importance (actually no importance at all). At least until the US cleans up it's act.

    Let me explain: at the moment US copyright laws demand that you register your work with some federal agency (or similar), if you want to have a decent chance of getting any money should someone inside the USA infringe on your copyright. This is all fine and well. EXCEPT for people who live and work outside the USA! I see no reason why I, neither living nor w
  • Calling on all Australians to work extra hard over the coming months to make the list for 2012. Damn those Canadians. Even the Spaniards beat us.

Algebraic symbols are used when you do not know what you are talking about. -- Philippe Schnoebelen

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