SOPA Provisions Being Introduced Piecemeal From Lamar Smith 134
bricko sends this disappointing but not unexpected news from Techdirt:
"While it didn't get nearly as much attention as other parts of SOPA, one section in the bill that greatly concerned us was the massive expansion of the diplomatic corp.'s 'IP attaches.' If you're unfamiliar with the program, basically IP attaches are 'diplomats' (and I use the term loosely) who go around the globe pushing a copyright maximalist position on pretty much every other country. Their role is not to support more effective or more reasonable IP policy. It is solely to increase expansion, and basically act as Hollywood's personal thugs pressuring other countries to do the will of the major studios and labels. The role is literally defined as pushing for 'aggressive support for enforcement action' throughout the world. ... In other words, these people are not neutral. They do not have the best interests of the public or the country in mind. Their job is solely to push the copyright maximalist views of the legacy entertainment industry around the globe, and position it as the will of the U.S. government. It was good that this was defeated as a part of SOPA... but now comes the news that Lamar Smith is introducing a new bill that not only brings back this part, but appears to expand it and make it an even bigger deal."
Bit Slavery (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bit Slavery (Score:5, Insightful)
I think Colonialism might be a better word for it.
But, very much the same thing.
I wonder how long before countries decide they aren't willing to receive that person. Already Canada has basically said:
Courtesy of Michael Geist [michaelgeist.ca]. Everyone already knows these guys are industry shills ... adding them to your official diplomatic corps isn't necessarily going to gain you credibility for a position which is an industry one.
Re:Bit Slavery (Score:4, Insightful)
Funny though, that Canada said this EXACTLY AS they signed ACTA and instituted their BRUTAL DMCA style copyright bill.
Don't trust words. Trust actions. Harper is a joke.
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Re:Bit Slavery (Score:5, Funny)
Why? (Score:5, Funny)
How could Lamar do this? I strongly suspect this to be a javelin to the heart of internet democracy, thrown by Lamar with his limp-wristed throwing style.
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Re:Why? (Score:5, Informative)
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+1 Revenge of the Nerds reference
Trying to Sneak Rejected Legislation in (Score:5, Interesting)
Time to get serious with these fucks, or else they'll never learn.
Re:Trying to Sneak Rejected Legislation in (Score:5, Insightful)
There really should be criminal charges for a government representative knowingly acting against the interests of the people. Is there one? Does treason cover it, or is specifically for national security related matters/
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It's called bribery.
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Humm, do I listen to the wishes of the people that merely voted for me, or do I placate to the whims and wishes of my 'friends' that gave me millions in "campaign funding".. Boy that's a tough one...
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Sorry, but the people elected him, so it's presumed he's acting in their best interest. If they don't think so, they're free to elect someone else, but I never see that happen too much.
Maybe you could try charging all the voters in his congressional district with treason for re-electing him when he continues to do treasonous things.
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Sadly, treason may be the only charge that has enough oomph to be effective these days. The only problem is that immediately after it is used on one of them, they'll turn it around and begin using it on regular Americans.
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If they don't think so, they're free to elect someone else
I thought the USA had no direct elections? How can people vote for someone who DOES have their party's best interest in mind if they can only vote for a representative who will vote for them?
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Huh? Our Congresscritters are all directly elected by the people. Over 100 years ago, only the Congressmen were elected, and the Senators were appointed by State Legislatures (which are, in turn, elected directly), but that was changed with the 17 Amendment to the Constitution. Now, the only ones not directly elected are the Supreme Court justices (appointed by President after approval by Congress) and the President (elected by "Electoral College" which is determined by popular election state-by-state, t
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Who will do the same thing.. All someone has to do is dangle $$$ in front of them.
Voting is the biggest fantasy our government has got us to believe in.
The game is rigged, folks. Time to toss the entire chess board..
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I agree, but what are our options? They are working in someone's best interests. They are doing the work that some US citizen wants done. Is it the majority? No, but somewhere, they can point to someone and say, see, he agrees with me.
Remember, that to most politicians, $1 = 1 voice. Are they wrong for being disconnected? Sure, but also remember that they've been conditioned to be that way. Our system is set up so that he with the most money has the most voice. What I find sad is that it makes complete sens
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No more legalized bribery, no more special favors, and the bureaucrats can do what they were elected to do - represent the People that this nation's government is allegedly comprised of, for, and by. Anyone who tries to stop the de-funding, or engages in said activity after the fact, should be publicly executed to serve as a lesson to their corrupt peers.*
Is that an extreme solution? Sure, but as we see what peaceful protest gets you these days (maced, beaten, and arrested for
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Occupy protesters did everything "right," i.e. non-violently, and yet they were responded to with extreme, violent force.
For the most part, they did not get permits and they stayed well past what was reasonble. They stayed so long that - if it was another president - we would have started hearing comparisons to Hoovervilles. There were also multiple instances of rape, theft, vadalism, drugs, and violence during these protests.
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i wonder if the incidence of rape and violence was actually higher than average. i mean, as you point out, they did stay quite awhile.
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Um, you're biased idiot who reads too much HUFFPO and watches way too much John Stewart/Colbert Report.
Sayeth the biased idiot who doesn't know me from Adam.
Sorry to burst your hyperbole, but no. I do enjoy John Stewart, if only for the fact that he's about the last honest journalist out there... and he's not even a journalist.
FYI, the TP paid for permits, and OWS generally didn't, So, by "everything right" .. not so much.
... and by doing so, the TP played right into the hands of their corporate masters;
Where does the First Amendment say that one has to get permission from Big Brother to assemble peaceably? Nowhere.
What's truly sad about people like this, who support TP/OWS and denigrate the other
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I actually believe they were striving for similar goals, not identical. One believes less government is the solution, while the other does not. One was promoting using democratic principles to change the politics of DC, the other was promoting anarchy. The funny thing is, the anarchists want more government and the ones playing by the rules want less.
The TP should have looked more like OWS and OWS should have looked more like the TP.
There is going to be hell when the TP stops working within the system (beca
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Indeed. I vote we invite them all to a closed session to discuss the legislation, then quietly brick up the doorways. I like to think I am not a violent man, but they are really pushing for some aggressive action.
It's like dealing with certain family members. You tell them no to their belligerent attempts to slam something through, then they think you're negotiating. No means no.
SOPA, ACTA & friends are terribly written pieces of legislation, and this is coming from someone who has applied for a patent!
Headed for Dystopia a la Noir (Score:4, Interesting)
About 10 years ago I submitted a slashdot book review [slashdot.org] for the dark satire, KW Jeter's Noir.
When I first read it, I was convinced he intended it more as a satirical caricature than a cautionary tale.
Now I'm not so sure.
Re:Headed for Dystopia a la Noir (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, Lamar Smith... (Score:5, Interesting)
Does anybody more familiar with the fellow's local style know what he does that keeps him in office, as opposed to some socially-identical baptist or something without a copyright maximalist fetish?
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Well, you're talking about the representative from the Austin area...which tends to be a lot more liberal than the rest of the state. He also has name recognition, as well as a given name that has some ties to Texas history.
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Indeed, there was a *Smith* at the Alamo.
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Austin area...which tends to be a lot more liberal than the rest of the state
That doesn't explain anything. Lamar Smith is a conservative Republican.
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Nothing more conservative than trying to enact new legislation...
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You're missing out on the caricature. You need a secret decoder ring, so I'll lend you mine.
Big Oil / Business / Defense Industry -> Republicans
Liberal Media / Hollywood / Pharmaceuticals -> Democrats
So, despite Lamar Smith running as a Republican, he is elected in an area with a greater percentage of Liberals (Democrats), whose interests are aligned, in this caricature, with Hollywood (MPAA, RIAA & friends); ergo, in representing his constituents, he represents their interests, which are those of
Re:Oh, Lamar Smith... (Score:5, Interesting)
Austin is actually gerrymandered to hell. It is split into about 5 different congressional districts so that the D can never overtake the R. We have no hope of getting rid of these idiots as long as they stuff a bunch of people who see voting as "Vote R for Jesus" into the voting population.
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Here's [tumblr.com] your solution. "Don't Vote. Pray." Pretty cynical. Pretty funny.
Gerrymandering (Score:2)
Do they still have the Congressional district that cuts the entire UT campus out of Austin and ties it via a long, skinny corridor to San Antonio? I always found that a particularly impressive bit of gerrymandering...
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Ignorance of the internal functioning of congress makes money matter more than informed views. That's it.
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Smith is a congressman for a district in north San Antonio and several, sparsely populated counties surrounding, such as Bandera, Kerr, Kendal, and part of Travis. The people he represents are either too lazy, too stupid, or just flat out don't give a damned and only keep voting him in on name recognition alone. That and some of his constituents are fairly wealthy, and probably have some vested interest.
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There was a concerted effort on the part of some in the Internet community to raise money for his challengers in the primary this May, notably Richard Morgan. Unfortunately, the Internet is dominated by slacktivists, unwilling to put their money where their mouths are.
Not enough money was raised to mount a significant challenge to Smith.
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Unfortunately, the Internet is dominated by slacktivists, unwilling to put their money where their mouths are.
Or unwilling to donate money to a Republican.
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There are more ways to promote a candidate than throwing money at them (really!)
Slacktivists could do a really good job of "adjusting" google search results to promote Morgan and demote Smith, for example. A few people with large pipes could donate bandwidth to the robocall and email campaigns (yeah, I know....)
With how pervasive technology is in our lives, the possibilities (even the legal ones) are limitless for promoting a politician. The real hurdle is getting all the talent organized.
Lament of a voter in Lamar's district (Score:2)
I am a voter in Lamar's district (San Antonio, TX) and have been voting against him for the last 12+ years. He runs as a republican in a very "safe" republican district - no democrat will ever fill his spot.
The best way to vote against him is to vote in the republican primary for another republican, in this case Richard Morgan [richardmorgan.com]. Unfortunately, my vote + my families vote + my other friends that I almost have drag to the polling booth don't seem to make much of a dent.
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He is protected from on high in the Texas GOP, and so runs in one of the most gerrymandered districts in the US. Contrary to what the sibling posts seem to suggest, the 21st reaches into Austin to dilute the Democratic vote. If it were not for the gerrymandering, Lloyd Doggett would be representing his areas of Austin. To suggest that Austin supports Smith's positions is ludicrous apologism.
In addition to being in charge of whatever the House committee on IP is called in a given term, he is chair of the Jud
Irony (Score:2)
Re:Irony (Score:5, Insightful)
That's the biggest problem I see with this shit.
They can just keep trying, voer and over again, until either by apathy or random chance it gets through.
We can't all mobilize like we did for SOPA every month.. eventually people run out of energy fighting this stuff.. and then it'll pass.
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Re:Irony (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not even it.
Thing with SOPA is it got people who had no interest in this stuff thinking about it. I know this because a lot of my non-geek friends were asking me about it. That works once.. maybe twice. All the big name sites that participated in the protest arn't going to do it every time one of these bills comes up, and even if they did, people would very quickly start ignoring it again. SOPA protests were effective because they were unprecedented and it got peoples attention.
Without the kind of mass public "wtf is this about" response, it's just a bunch of geeks yelling at a wall.
Re:Irony (Score:4, Insightful)
This is exactly why the digital rights activists need to go on the offensive. As long as we are continually on the defensive we are vulnerable to aggressive industry lobbying. Legislation needs to be promoted and passed that will solidify protection for digital rights, and weaken the position of our opponents. In strategic terms, we need to take the battle to the enemy.
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The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
what'd I tell ya? Dildo legislation. (Score:2, Insightful)
"Oh, No Mr congressman! We don't want that dildo!"
"Well, little voter, don't worry your little head off. We see you can't possibly handle that dildo legislation.. so, how about THIS one?"
"Oh gosh Mr Congressman! That one's even bigger than the last one!"
(Repeat ad nauseum until little voter gets so shocked about what Mr Congressman can pull out of his rape kit that he accepts a "smaller" dildo, but still gets fucked.)
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You know, considering how the target countries of these of these "attaches" are going to be screwed both coming and going, they should be renamed 'DP Attaches.'
(Of course, officially, 'DP' stands for 'Digital Property.')
Not all about the internet/freedom (Score:2)
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"This has more to do with the counterfeiting of physical goods, and the stealing of actual, useful research."
No. It doesn't. The manufacturing sector has been yelling about a lack of enforcement for decades. Even they were quiet about SOPA.
This legislation is 100% shit. People can try to fabricate some kind of silver lining, but to what end? We all know how this legislation will be used. Because we have seen it happen again and again and again. The results are ugly.
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Smith is playing with fire though. Right now, there is a fight on who gets to control the Internet. Will it be the US and ICANN, or will it be an international body from the UN (mainly chaired by BRIC) who gets to say who gets an IP address and who doesn't?
Another SOPA-like item might be the final straw.
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This has more to do with the counterfeiting of physical goods, and the stealing of actual, useful research.
That's how they sell so many things. "They came for the counterfeiters, but I didn't speak up because I don't counterfeit. When they came for those that lend purchased DVDs to friends, there was nobody left to speak up for me." They'll serve up the most outrageous first attempt, then see what happens. Sometimes they pass (a la USA PATRIOT Act), most of the time they are shot down, and then they look at the reasons why, and reword or eliminate a few of the most contentious provisions, and submit it once
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These are global trade agreements: everybody wants to trade with each other, that's why we all negotiate and agree to common rules, equally binding on all. Some of these rules may be bad, but nobody is being "bullied".
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"In many cases"... like what?
Are you aware that many European publishers and artists are screaming bloody murder because European Internet parties managed to stop ACTA? They wanted tougher IP laws. It seems whatever special interest group in Europe isn't getting its way, they are always blaming the US instead of fixing their problems at home.
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IIRC, the bill Spain was blackmailed into went beyond US laws in a couple of regards, as did the law Canada was pressured into.
I think their primary beef was that the
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Blackmailed? Did the US say "we are going to drop some nukes on you if you don't sign"? Did the US say "we are going to reveal the extramarital escapades of your prime minister if you don't sign"? I doubt that. What the US may have said is "if you want to trade with us/loans from us, you sign this". That's not "blackmail", that's a business deal, and Spain can take it or leave
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Trade sanctions are economic threats, and can som
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And the US is just fine to set its own laws. That includes choosing not to trade with India or canceling loan guarantees or whatever if other countries choose not to respect US intellectual property.
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No "decision" and no "jumping" happened. US manufacturing keeps growing and is bigger than it has ever been. It's just that other sectors have grown as well, and that manufacturing requires fewer workers per output and doesn't have much use for unskilled labor anymore.
Mass Mailings (Score:4, Insightful)
"Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to you because your government is scheduled to soon receive an 'IP Attache' from my country's Commerce Department. Please be aware that despite the departmental title, this person DOES NOT represent my will, nor the will of the American people as a whole. The position he or she occupies was created through corrupt means and despite our vocal protests. I and my fellow Americans ask that you treat this representative as the corporate thug they are. They are not a diplomat. They have neither your best interests, nor ours, as their goal, only their own. I humbly ask that you treat them as you would any other hostile entity.
Sincerely, (name)"
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Very interesting. I believe I may do this.
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You better be careful! United States federal law forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. Violation of the Logan Act is a felony, punishable under federal law with imprisonment of up to three years. Logan Act [wikipedia.org]
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
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I'm no lawyer, so how the hell does that Act pass constitutional muster? I'd have thought any such correspondence would come under the protection of the First Amendment... and now that I've read the linked wikipedia entry, I see it was passed into law as a form of petty revenge and has not once led to a conviction in the 213 years it has existed (!), despite having primarily been used as a threat to intimidate and to chill freedom of speech.
We keep fighting reactionary battles... (Score:5, Insightful)
A pre-emptive strike is needed.
Campaign Contributions should not only be public, but limited as being from citizen/residents of the level of office that is representing that district. Would-be representatives should only be allowed to accept funds coming from citizens from within that district and Senator from within the state. This will, in theory, make them more likely to honestly represent the area in question. I doubt Lamar Smith's own district in TX is clamoring for this shit.
Superpacs should not be allowed. I don't think anyone but citizens should be allowed in the campaign contribution. No groups like megacorps, superpacs, NRA, no unions, nothing. At best, special interest groups should be allowed to notify members in the specific area to give to candidate X or Y. That keeps freedom of association.
The way it works now, with the structure of the Congress, special interest groups like the MPAA/RIAA entertainment cartel just have to target a few special senators/representatives that head pertinent the committees and have seniority, like the Bidens/Lamars of the world for bribes campaign donations, and they can usually railroad what they want through unless the apathetic public makes a special effort to counter it.
The problem is that the general public has a life besides watching Congress like a hawk and protesting. These groups can just keep advancing their agendas patiently, like a person playing chess, despite any one-time setbacks.
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So how is this supposed to work? Is everything every company, not-for-profit, newspaper, or church publishes going to go through a government panel or court who determine whether it is allowable non-political speech? Or what?
Candace Duval is running against him (Score:2)
Jews... (Score:1)
... doing what they always do... (and it isn't manual labour...)
Who does your Congress bow down to? Netenyahu. It's sickening.
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small government conservatives nor to be found (Score:2)
God, don't you just love (Score:2)
how these Republicans are working to shrink government and get it out of our lives?
Pink Floyd can answer both of your questions (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Lamar Smith?!?! (Score:5, Funny)
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Neither party is better than the other on IP issues. Once in a while, you seem to get the occasional outlier/fluke (c.f. the fate of the original SOPA/PIPA), but neither are pushing in anything remotely close to the right direction.
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Oh, wait...
Supported by that uber ex-Republican Congressman, Chris Dodd.
I think the operative color here is green, not red or blue.
Re:DAMN DEMOCRATS! (Score:5, Informative)
Copyright (and intellectual-property and Internet legislation in general) is one area where Republicans and Democrats are pretty much equal. Unfortunately for us, they're equally horrible. As a sampling, so far we've had:
The CDA, pushed primarily by a Democrats (Exon) in a Republican congress and signed by a Democratic president.
The DMCA, passed unanimously by 57 Republican and 43 Democratic senators, and signed by a Democratic president.
The CTEA, sponsored from beyond the grave by Republican Sonny Bono, likewise passed unanimously by the same Senate and by a Republican House, and signed by a Democratic president.
Prior to that, we had the Copyright Act of 1976, which among other things also extended the length of copyrights, passed by a Democratic congress and signed by a Republican president.
Copyright Renewal Act of 1992, passed by a Democratic congress, signed by a Republican president.
COICA, introduced by Patrick Leahy (Democrat), unanimously passed by a committee of both parties, blocked by Ron Wyden (Republican).
PIPA, exactly the same as above (though the committee members may have changed, I didn't check that).
SOPA, sponsored by our good friend Lamar, a Republican, but co-sponsored by members of both parties, backed by groups from associated with both parties and by ex-Clinton and ex-Bush 2.0 administration members.
So it's basically been a bipartisan buggerfest, for several decades, for almost as long as there's been consumer-available copying equipment.
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COICA, introduced by Patrick Leahy (Democrat), unanimously passed by a committee of both parties, blocked by Ron Wyden (Republican).
Ron Wyden is a Democrat, not Republican.
You are correct. My bad. Must have been focusing on the wrong end of "D-OR".
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Except "corps" is a French word that has no English translation for the context it is used in. I'm more surprised you didn't pick on the misspelling of "attache".
However, these attachés pretty much work for the entertainment industry so maybe "corp." is more accurate.
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You're arguing about corps being French-only, when the previous word in the sentence is attaché? It even uses a diacritic foreign to our language....
Let's face it: the French had perfected the art of diplomatic screwing before the USA was even a country.
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WRT these "IP attaches", the preferred spelling is 'corpse'.
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